Getty Chicago Bears head coach Matt Nagy.
Tyler Bray alert. In a move virtually no one saw coming, the Chicago Bears announced via Twitter that they have elevated practice squad quarterback Tyler Bray to their 53-man roster.
The move was a bit of a curious one, as it doesn’t appear to be injury related. The only time Bray was ever elevated to Chicago’s roster over the last two seasons has been when Mitchell Trubisky had been injured. Normally, the Bears carry just two quarterbacks on their active roster, and they keep Bray as their signal caller on the practice squad. They have never had three quarterbacks on their 53-man roster at once during Matt Nagy’s tenure with the team.
If new starting quarterback Nick Foles or backup Mitch Trubisky had been injured this week, the Bears would have had to list the injury on their final injury report prior to Sunday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts, so it’s unlikely Bray is there to be an actual backup.
The addition of the practice squad quarterback to the roster the day before a game left many Bears fans and beat writers scratching their heads, but Matt Nagy surely has a solid reason for making the move. We’re just not sure what it is yet.
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Bears Adding Bray Takes Advantage of New Rules
GettyQB Tyler Bray of the Chicago Bears is set for another year on the team’s practice squad. Bray has been on the Bears’ PS since Matt Nagy’s arrival in 2018. (Photo by Nam Y. Huh-Pool/Getty Images)
The league implemented several new rules this season due to COVID-19, and one rule allows teams to bring two players up from their practice squads prior to games each week. Teams don’t have to cut any players on their rosters when they do this, either; they’re allowed to have 55 players instead of the normal 53, which has never happened before.
Some wondered if the Bears moved Bray up to the active roster to protect him from other team’s poaching him off the practice squad, but that’s not a likely possibility, either, as Bray was the only player Chicago chose to protect on the PS this week.
FWIW, the #Bears had already protected Tyler Bray from being signed off their practice squad, so this move calling him up to the active roster on gameday shouldn’t be because a team was trying to poach him.
Still, Kansas City just lost their practice squad quarterback when Jordan Ta’amu was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list, so it’s a legitimate future concern.
Could Fear of Injury or Illness Be Reason for Move? Or Perhaps Offensive Creativity…
Considering the league is playing in the middle of a pandemic, and several teams are currently having issues keeping their squads healthy, bringing another quarterback up seems like a decent insurance policy. Plus, there’s Foles’ injury history to consider.
Foles broke his throwing hand in 2012, and he also injured his shoulder in 2018, and broke his collarbone twice, in 2014 and last year. Matt Nagy just named Foles’ the team’s starter this week, so it would be a real blow if that turned out to be the case.
Another idea? Perhaps Nagy is planning on using Trubisky’s legs in a Wildcat-type situation a bit, in which case, having Bray around would be a good idea.
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