By the time 2020 is over, it will be remembered as the worst year for incoming professional athletes in history. Especially football. The COVID-19 pandemic has already made it a nightmare for aspiring undrafted free agents. Several big names who probably should’ve been signed somewhere remain unclaimed. Why? Teams aren’t allowed to bring them in for workouts. Well, they won’t be along for much longer. Several who managed to find their way onto the Chicago Bears roster and others may not be safe either.
NFL insider Adam Schefter has it on good authority that the league is planning another drastic change in an effort to combat the spread of the virus. In this case, finding a way to help locker room social distancing. How? By forcing teams to shrink their total roster counts. Typically a squad carries 90 players into training camps. Expectations are that will get slashed by a decent chunk.
“In an effort to combat the spread of the coronavirus, NFL teams are likely to bring fewer than the regular 90 players they ordinarily bring to training camp whenever it begins, per league sources.
One source said he believed it’s likely that teams will go to camp with 80-man rosters, and another source said it’s “definitely not 90.” A third league source said he has “heard lots of discussion about 75 players potentially instead of 90,” especially with the reduction in preseason games and teams not needing as many players for camp as normal.”
Chicago Bears have some tough decisions before camp even starts
This is not the best scenario for the Bears. They’ve had a decent history of finding hidden gems in undrafted free agency. Not to mention the veteran bargain bin. Think Tracy Porter, Bryce Callahan, and Roy Robertson-Harris among others. Having to release 10-15 players they worked hard to sign can’t be what they had in mind a few months ago.
Especially since they haven’t seen any of these guys in practice yet. So how can they possibly make a good judgment call on who should stay and who should go? They can’t. So it’s basically picking out mostly undrafted rookies and cheap veterans and send them packing. For many of those men, it could end up being their last shot at ever making an NFL roster.
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