The Chicago Bears have added another defensive player to their practice squad, signing cornerback Stanford Samuels III, per the NFL’s January 5 waiver wire.
Samuels signed with the Green Bay Packers as an undrafted free agent out of Florida State in 2020.
He spent last season on Green Bay’s practice squad, getting elevated for the team’s Week 9 and 10 games against the San Francisco 49ers and Jacksonville Jaguars. He finished his rookie campaign with three total tackles, and was ultimately released by the Packers in August of 2021.
The Bears released cornerback Dee Virgin after their Week 17 win over the New York Giants, leaving one spot on their 16-player practice squad. Samuels has now filled that spot.
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Stanford Samuels III: Background & Stats
Samuels comes from a football family. His father, Stanford Samuels Jr., also played college ball at Florida State before spending some time in the Canadian Football League.
Like his father, Samuels attended Florida State, where he started 23 games over three seasons, playing in 34. He spent three seasons at FSU, accumulating 145 total tackles (94 solo, 5.5 for loss), eight interceptions, 1.0 sacks, a forced fumble and 16 pass defenses. He elected to forgo his senior season and chose to declare for the NFL draft.
Samuels didn’t perform the greatest at the 2020 NFL combine, running a 4.65 second 40-yard dash, which was among the worst times for defensive backs present. It may have hurt his draft stock a bit, as he went undrafted.
The 6-foot-1, 187-pound CB was signed by Green Bay shortly after the draft, and he played just 13 defensive snaps and 22 special teams snaps in his time with the Packers.
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What the Experts Have Said About Samuels
With just two NFL games and limited snaps, Samuels doesn’t have much pro tape.
Here’s what top draft analyst Lance Zierlein of NFL.com said this about Samuels in his 2020 draft profile:
“Tall, slender, man-cover corner who is disruptive and physical from press but needs to rely on technique and footwork to avoid penalties at the next level. Stat services dinged him for catches and yards allowed that should have clearly gone on the safety’s tab. He plays with good instincts and athleticism to make plays on the football and is a challenging matchup on 50/50 balls. He possesses the necessary traits to fit into a variety of coverage schemes, but teams will want to see better effort and consistency in run support. Samuels might find starter’s work within the first couple of years in the league.”
Kyle Crabbs of The Draft Network had this to say about the latest addition to Chicago’s practice squad:
“Samuels is a developmental cornerback prospect who would be best served playing predominantly deep third coverages and keyed in zone coverage. Samuels isn’t a great asset near the LOS to play run support and his ball skills would be best accentuated in zone coverage to key the arm of the quarterback. If Samuels is to become more scheme diverse, his footwork and pattern matching skills will require upgrades throughout the early portions of his NFL career.”
With the regular season winding down in less than a week, we’ll see how long he sticks around in the Windy City.
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