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The Chicago Bears have made a decision about a potential veteran quarterback addition, re-signing third-stringer Nathan Peterman to their 53-man roster.
According to the team’s transaction wire for August 31, the Bears officially signed both Peterman and former Cincinnati Bengals slot receiver and punt returner Trent Taylor to their 53-man roster on Thursday and placed starting left guard Teven Jenkins (leg) and second-year center Doug Kramer (undisclosed) on the injured reserve list.
With Peterman rejoining the roster, the Bears are now three strong at the quarterback position with starter Justin Fields and rookie standout Tyson Bagent the two picked for their initial 53-man roster. It remains unclear, though, if the Bears will list Bagent or Peterman as the No. 2 quarterback behind Fields for Week 1 against Green Bay.
Bears general manager Ryan Poles indicated in his August 30 press conference that he had been hoping to get Peterman back on either their 53-man roster or practice squad because they believe he is “important” to their quarterback room. Whether he viewed Peterman as a true backup over Bagent, though, was something he left up in the air when asked specifically if the undrafted rookie had done enough to earn the nod.
“We’re working through that,” Poles said. “Again, I talked about Nate coming in, we’ve got to work through that and see what we’re comfortable with. It’s hard to answer that question right now.”
Jenkins and Kramer going on injured reserve means both will be required to miss at least the first four games of the regular season and will not be eligible to be designated for return to the active roster until Week 5 against the Washington Commanders.
Releasing P.J. Walker Was ‘Best For the Football Team’
One of the more interesting quarterback subjects that Poles touched on Wednesday was his somewhat surprising decision to release veteran quarterback P.J. Walker, whom he had signed to a two-year, $4 million early in free agency to be Fields’ expected backup.
Walker was coming off a three-year stint with the Carolina Panthers where he played in 15 games and started in seven, but he looked like the Bears’ least capable quarterback over the course of the preseason, completing 11 passes for 96 yards, a touchdown and an interception over 23 attempts and 25 total dropbacks. By the third game, he was bumped back to the No. 3 quarterback slot behind Fields and Bagent in playing order.
The Bears had financial reasons to consider sticking it out with Walker into the regular season, namely the $2 million in guaranteed money they agreed to give him in his deal. Ultimately, though, Poles cut his losses and released Walker ahead of the cut deadline.
“It’s a year-to-year thing,” Poles said. “You evaluate, you try to put guys in a good position to be successful and carry over and go to the next step from what you saw on tape. Sometimes that doesn’t happen. And also, we talk about not putting a ceiling on players. Tyson comes in and takes it one day at a time and shows consistency and, at the end of the day, you’ve got to make decisions that are best for the football team. It’s not about me and what my decision was. When it plays out, it plays out and that’s what it is.
“We had to make the best decision for us, and that’s what we did.”
Poles: Tyson Bagent Was ‘Really Poised’ Through Process
The Bears might decide the best thing for their quarterback room heading into the season opener is to trust Peterman’s experience — as unimpressive as it is — over Bagent’s early success in the preseason, but there is no doubt he is an appealing option for them to continue developing regardless of where he fits in on the depth chart.
Bagent played well beyond the expectations in the preseason as an undrafted rookie coming out of a Division II football program. He completed 20 of 29 passing attempts for 156 yards and added another 25 yards and two touchdowns with his legs; though, he did also throw an interception and fumble once. Even still, Pro Football Focus had him as the second-highest-graded rookie quarterback (83.6) in the preseason behind Las Vegas Raiders fourth-round pick Aidan O’Connell.
Once the Bears bit the bullet with Walker, Bagent was essentially locked to make it.
“The quarterback position was obviously a really cool situation this year. You got to give Tyson a lot of credit for how he handled the situation, really poised throughout the entire process. [He] elevated his game every single week and got better, and you want guys like that to make the roster construction difficult and make it a challenge and for those guys to force themselves on the roster. And he did that and he earned it and I’m proud of him.”
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