Bears Cut Loose QB to Clear Room for Teven Jenkins’ Return

Getty Bears head coach Matt Eberflus.

The Chicago Bears walked out of Thursday Night Football with a dominant 40-20 victory over the Washington Commanders, but they did make a change to their quarterback room in the hours before kickoff that flew under the radar.

According to the team’s transaction wire for October 5, the Bears released veteran quarterback Nathan Peterman from their 53-man roster on Thursday afternoon in a move that corresponded with the activation of Teven Jenkins from injured reserve.

Peterman began the season as the No. 2 quarterback behind starter Justin Fields, but his position on the depth chart has been fluid while the Bears have been developing undrafted rookie Tyson Bagent in the background as a long-term backup solution. With Bagnet improving, though, the Bears have little reason to roster three quarterbacks.

Peterman has now been released from the Bears’ active roster twice in the last month, the first time coming on September 20 when they tried — and failed — to poach another team’s player from their practice squad. The Bears ended up re-signing Peterman to the 53-man roster the next day, but general manager Ryan Poles had indicated that their original plan had been to sign him to the practice squad once he cleared waivers.

So long as Peterman goes unclaimed, the Bears will likely revisit that plan and stash him on the practice squad as their third quarterback/emergency elevation option.

The Bears will need to clear a spot on their practice squad in order to re-sign Peterman.

Tyson Bagent Will Be QB2 ‘Moving Forward’ for Bears

Peterman’s release is a notable movement in the Bears’ quarterback room, but it is not exactly a surprise given the writing that was put on the wall over the past several days.

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported ahead of Week 4’s game against the Denver Broncos that Bagent would be the Bears’ new backup quarterback “moving forward” with the team encouraged about his progress following a strong rookie preseason. As Bears head coach Matt Eberflus later explained, it was an opportunity that Bagent had created for himself with his effort and progress in practice and team meetings.

“Based on the opportunity he has created,” Eberflus said on October 2 when asked about Bagnet’s promotion. “He’s created that opportunity. Really good with the practice with what he has done so far. Again, it was his opportunity that he created because we evaluated the practice and the meetings and the walkthrough. He created that.”

Will Bears Cut Ties With Chase Claypool This Week?

While Peterman’s return to the practice squad feels likely, there is another roster move the Bears could be making in the week ahead: Releasing wide receiver Chase Claypool.

Claypool’s tumultuous time in Chicago appears to reaching its end heading into the sixth week of the 2023 season. He has been ruled inactive in two consecutive games and was not even allowed into the facility during the past week, a move the Bears said was “best for the team” as they focused on playing the Commanders in a short week.

If there was any ambiguity about Claypool’s future with the Bears, though, Poles made it clear during his pregame interview on Thursday that they would be parting ways.

“I always look at things from a player’s perspective,” Poles told ESPN 1000 on October 5. “You have a player going into his free agent year, who wants to be productive and help us, and when things aren’t going the right way, sometimes you get emotional, things don’t work out and you struggle to blend in and keep resilient and stay resilient with the rest of the crew. I think Chase is going to learn from this situation, we all will, and I wish him luck moving forward throughout his career.”

Now, it just comes down to when the Bears decide to cut the cord. Poles might want to try shopping around Claypool on the trade market to see if he can recoup any value for the biggest trade blunder of his tenure as general manager, but he is unlikely to get any bites given the Bears have already begun distancing themselves from Claypool.

The Bears do have 10 days of downtime before their next matchup in Week 6 against the Minnesota Vikings on October 15, so they do not necessarily have to rush to cut him following their win over the Commanders, but there’s not much sense in waiting given their eventual separation seems to be unavoidable at this point.