Bears ‘Hard Knocks’ Star Suffers Injury, Could Lose Roster Spot

Theo Benedet — one of the stars of the first episode of HBO’s “Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Chicago Bears” — may not be in Chicago much longer.

Benedet caught attention on social media following the August 7 premiere of the Bears’ edition of “Hard Knocks”. The episode featured him singing a karaoke version of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” as part of the team’s rookie initiation talent show, emphasizing his Canadian roots as a former University of British Columbia player.

What really earned Benedet fanfare, though, was his decision to sing the song shirtless and, partway through his performance, strip down to a Speedo with a bald eagle on it. It made for excellent television — and gave a fun behind-the-scenes look at the Bears.

Unfortunately for Benedet, the episode also took a grim turn. The show revealed Benedet suffered an injury after accidentally doing the splits while blocking for the field goal unit during the Bears’ August 1 preseason opener against the Houston Texans. The Bears then discussed the extent of his injury in one of the episode’s final scenes.

“He ended up doing the splits and strained his right hamstring. MRI’d it this morning. He’s got a Grade 2 strain,” said Andre Tucker, the Bears’ senior director of sports medicine and player health. “We are estimating this is going to be anywhere from at least four, maybe even five weeks, so that takes him to the end of camp before he would return.”

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Theo Benedet Injury Sinks Chances of Making Roster

While Benedet remains on the Bears’ 90-man roster, his injury and the team’s diagnosis make it highly unlikely he will make the 53-man roster heading into the 2024 season.

Benedet — a rookie offensive tackle — already faced an uphill battle to make the team as a depth player, but his injury essentially takes him out of the running if the Bears’ estimate is correct, and he will miss the remainder of training camp as he recovers. Head coach Matt Eberflus has said, “Availability is everything,” and Benedet will lose out by default if he is unable to continue competing in practice with the rest of the offensive tackles.

The Bears have a few options if they believe Benedet has potential. They can wait it out and see if he recovers more quickly than expected, perhaps giving him a chance to practice a few more times or maybe even play in the final preseason game at the Kansas City Chiefs on August 22.

The Bears could also waive Benedet with an injury designation and take a chance on his clearing waivers and returning to their injured reserve list. Since Benedet is not a vested veteran with at least four seasons played in the NFL, the Bears cannot place him directly on IR and must waive him first to allow him to go through the waiver wire. He automatically revert to their IR list, though, if no other team claims him.

If Benedet does land on injured reserve, the Bears will then have the option to either keep him there for the remainder of the 2024 season or, down the road, waive him with an injury settlement that allows him to re-enter free agency and find a new team.

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Other Takeaways From Bears’ Debut on ‘Hard Knocks’

Benedet’s Speedo-flashing karaoke performance and subsequent injury made for one of the most memorable storylines in the first episode of “Hard Knocks.” But the Bears had other points of intrigue throughout the 55-minute premiere of the five-part series.

Here are a few more Bears takeaways from August 6’s “Hard Knocks’ premiere:

1.) Nick Saban, Eberflus’ former coach and mentor, had a behind-the-scenes chat with the Bears’ third-year head coach during the episode. At one point, Saban imparted wisdom upon Eberflus about developing quarterbacks and said he always stood behind the quarterbacks in practice so he could be in their ears and watch them closely. Right after, the show cut to Eberflus standing right behind rookie Caleb Williams on the practice field, a sign that the defensive head coach is already hands-on with his new starter.

2.) The moment DJ Moore signed his four-year, $110 million contract extension with the Bears — the largest contract in franchise history — was met with quiet humility. Moore was all smiles when he was called up to Bears general manager Ryan Poles’ office on July 30 toward the end of practice, but he immediately went back to work and rejoined his teammates to watch the end of the day’s walk-throughs. Easy to see why the Bears felt so strongly about keeping him in the fold for the long-term future. A mic also picked up Moore saying, “That’s a mood alterer. One less thing to worry about.”

3.) Kelly Eberflus, wife of the Bears head coach, is the inspiration for her husband’s style change heading into the 2024 season. Matt Eberflus sported a new beard and haircut when he showed up at the 2024 NFL Combine in February, a look she encouraged and that drew quite a bit of positive attention on social media. Good call, Kelly!

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