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Josh Shirley had a very short Chicago Bears career. He was signed to their practice squad on December 14th. Numerous injuries to the outside linebacker position necessitated his promotion to the active roster on December 31st. He played one defensive snap in the season finale on January 1st, and now today the Bears waived the 25 year old.
For those of you keeping track at home, Shirley’s departure leaves only 52 players on the Bears active roster. They had 19 players end the 2016 season listed on injured reserve. They still have 2 players listed on their practice squad injured list, 1 player still on the reserve non-football injury list and one player still listed on their practice squad.
They also recently signed 9 players to reserve/futures contracts for a grand total of 84 players. The Bears do have 29 players set to come out of their contracts for the 2017 season, not all of which will return.
The NFL allows each team to carry 90 players on their offseason roster, so with free agency, the NFL Draft and the undrafted free agency signing period yet to come, we should expect plenty of changes to Chicago’s roster.