A few surprises, but not too many. Today, the Bears whittled their roster down to the league mandated 53 players by terminating 3 contracts, waiving 16 players, and placing 3 on Injured Reserve.
Players who were waived included guard Johan Asiata, defensive ends Ervin Baldwin and Joe Clermond, offensive tackle Cody Balogh, quarterback Brett Basanez, cornerbacks Rudy Burgess, Marcus Hamilton and Woodny Turenne, fullbacks Jason Davis and Will Ta’ufo’ou, linebackers Marcus Freeman, Kevin Malast and Mike Rivera, receiver Eric Peterman, and center Donovan Raiola.
The Bears can establish an eight-man practice squad on Sunday and also can claim players who’ve been waived by other NFL teams. In past seasons, the Bears have typically stocked their practice squad primarily with players they released a day earlier during final cuts.
Here’s a breakdown of the 53-man roster as it stands now (in alphabetical order):
Quarterbacks (2): Jay Cutler, Caleb Hanie.
Running backs (3): Matt Forte, Adrian Peterson, Garrett Wolfe.
Fullbacks (1): Jason McKie:
Wide receivers (6): Devin Aromashodu, Earl Bennett, Rashied Davis, Devin Hester, Juaquin Iglesias, Johnny Knox.
Tight ends (4): Desmond Clark, Kellen Davis, Michael Gaines, Greg Olsen.
Offensive linemen (8): Josh Beekman, Roberto Garza, Olin Kreutz, Lance Louis, Frank Omiyale, Orlando
Pace, Kevin Shaffer, Chris Williams.
Defensive linemen (9): Anthony Adams, Mark Anderson, Alex Brown, Jarron Gilbert, Tommie Harris, Marcus Harrison, Israel Idonije, Adewale Ogunleye, Matt Toeaina.
Linebackers (6): Lance Briggs, Hunter Hillenmeyer, Nick Roach, Pisa Tinoisamoa, Brian Urlacher, Jamar Williams.
Cornerbacks (6): Zackary Bowman, Corey Graham, Trumaine McBride, D.J. Moore, Charles Tillman, Nate Vasher.
Safeties (5): Al Afalava, Josh Bullocks, Danieal Manning, Kevin Payne, Craig Steltz.
Specialists (3): Robbie Gould, Patrick Mannelly, Brad Maynard.