WCG Predicts...The Fifty-Three: Who do we think will make the cut?

The Bears first preseason game is tonight and that means we are encroaching on the point in the year when an NFL general manager’s and head coach’s lives get truly difficult. The evaluation phase of the off-season has begun and that means it is time to start trimming down the roster from 90 to 53.

To this point, we have mainly seen the national writers or others in the media who don’t seem to have a true pulse on the team. If you are in for a good laugh, make sure to check out the Bear’s Den every day as our very own Ken Mitchell always makes it a point to link those articles.

Since every NFL roster has a relatively high number of “locks,” there is no sense in listing out those players 6 times. For the consensus players, we are simply leaving them out of the discussion.

Those players are Mike Glennon, Mark Sanchez, Mitchell Trubisky, Jordan Howard, Tarik Cohen, Benny Cunningham, Adam Shaheen, Dion Sims, Charles Leno Jr., Bobby Massie, Kyle Long, Cody Whitehair, Josh Sitton, Hroniss Grasu, Cameron Meredith, Markus Wheaton, Kevin White, Victor Cruz, Eddie Goldman, Akiem Hicks, Jaye Howard, Jonathan Bullard, John Jenkins, Leonard Floyd, *Pernell McPhee, Willie Young, Lamarr Houston, Jerrell Freeman, Danny Trevathan, Nick Kwiatkoski, Prince Amukamara, Marcus Cooper, Kyle Fuller, Cre’Von LeBlanc, Bryce Callahan, Quintin Demps, Eddie Jackson, Connor Barth^, Patrick Scales and Pat O’Donnell.

Here is a visual format (spreadsheet) for those of us that prefer to look at an image with pretty colors and whatnot.

So that comes out to 40 locks and 13 spots that we see some battles going into preseason. Without further adieu, let’s get to the picks!

Patti Curl

FB Michael Burton

WR Tanner Gentry

WR Kendall Wright

TE Ben Braunecker

TE Daniel Brown

OL Tom Compton

OL Jordan Morgan

DL Mitch Unrein

ILB Christian Jones

CB Sherrick McMannis

S Adrian Amos

S Deon Bush

S Harold Jones-Quartey

Patti starts us off with a fullback sighting! She has Burton plowing the road for Jordan Howard. Zach Miller out, Brown and Braunecker in? That’s how Patti sees it. Based on camp, that is certainly a possibility. Tight end is a deep position. The biggest questions I would have are Unrein, McMannis and Jones-Quartey.

Practice Squad

RB Josh Rounds, FB Freddie Stevenson, WR Daniel Braverman, WR Titus Davis, DL Roy Robertson-Harris, DL Rashaad Coward, OLB Alex Scearce.

Sam Householder

RB Jeremy Langford

WR Josh Bellamy

WR Kendall Wright

TE Daniel Brown

OL Tom Compton

OL Bradley Sowell

DL Mitch Unrein

DL C.J. Wilson

OLB Sam Acho

ILB Dan Skuta

CB Sherrick McMannis

S Deon Bush

S Deiondre’ Hall

Sam was the only writer that could burst our Tanner Gentry bubble, as the only one to exclude him from their prediction. It is also a bold move to keep 2 offensive tackles and Hroniss Grasu as backups while taking the chance of hoping you can slide Jordan Morgan to the practice squad. C.J. Wilson and Mitch Unrein are some other bold moves. Sam looks like the gambler of the group at first glance.

Practice Squad

RB Josh Rounds, FB Freddie Stevenson, WR Tanner Gentry, WR Daniel Braverman, TE Ben Braunecker, OL Jordan Morgan, DL Roy Robertson-Harris, DL Rashaad Coward, DL Kapron Lewis-Moore, S DeAndre Houston-Carson.

Jacob Infante

WR Josh Bellamy

WR Tanner Gentry

WR Kendall Wright

TE Zach MIller

OL Tom Compton

OL Jordan Morgan

DL Roy Robertson-Harris

OLB Sam Acho

ILB Christian Jones

CB Sherrick McMannis

S Adrian Amos

S Deon Bush

S Deiondre’ Hall

Jacob had probably the safest, or quite possibly, the most likely roster. The big surprise here is seven wide receivers. You will have to get some special teams production out of that group, so Gentry will need to step up to join Bellamy as a special teams ace. Other than that, this is a very solid prediction without a lot of surprise cuts.

Practice Squad

FB Freddie Stevenson, WR Daniel Braverman, TE Ben Braunecker, OL Joseph Dieugot, DL Rashaad Coward, S DeAndre Houston-Carson.

Andrew Link

WR Josh Bellamy

WR Tanner Gentry

TE Daniel Brown

TE Zach Miller

OL Tom Compton

OL Jordan Morgan

DL Roy Robertson-Harris

OLB Sam Acho

ILB Christian Jones

CB Johnthan Banks

S Adrian Amos

S Deiondre’ Hall

S DeAndre Houston-Carson

I think I was the only person to take Banks. I think he is overlooked and if he shows some acumen on special teams, should be able to supplant Sherrick McMannis. I am also picking DeAndre Houston-Carson for his special teams ability. This team needs to shed some of the special teams only players and reserve those spots for developing offensive or defensive players.

Practice Squad

FB Freddie Stevenson, WR Daniel Braverman, WR Titus Davis, TE Ben Braunecker, OL Joseph Dieugot, OL William Poehls, DL Rashaad Coward, OLB Alex Scearce, S Deon Bush.

Ken Mitchell

FB Michael Burton

WR Josh Bellamy

WR Tanner Gentry

WR Kendall Wright

TE Daniel Brown

OL Jordan Morgan

OL Bradley Sowell

DL Roy Robertson-Harris

OLB Sam Acho

ILB Christian Jones

S Adrian Amos

S Deon Bush

S Deiondre’ Hall

Another writer taking a fullback. Looks like Ken believes the bears are going to do a lot of power running this year. It is somewhat surprising to see only 5 cornerbacks on the roster. The Bears could be looking for tackling over speed on special teams this year.

^Let it be known that Ken believes that Dan Carpenter will eventually be the Bears Kicker. Since everyone else picked Barth, I just included him as a lock.

Practice Squad

WR Daniel Braverman, TE Ben Braunecker, OL Joseph Dieugot, DL Rashaad Coward, S DeAndre Houston-Carson.

Lester Wiltfong Jr.

WR Tanner Gentry

WR Kendall Wright

TE Daniel Brown

TE Zach Miller

OL Jordan Morgan

OL William Poehls

OL Bradley Sowell

DL Roy Robertson-Harris

ILB Christian Jones

OLB Sam Acho

S Adrian Amos

S Deon Bush

S Deiondre’ Hall

Lester is going with 9 offensive lineman due to the current state of the OL. Long is still coming back from a grizzly ankle injury and with Eric Kush going on IR, the depth of the team could be tested early. This is an astute observation as Poehls was running with the first-team early in camp when Sitton was out.

Let it also be said that Lester originally had Barth making the team before the cut of Andy Phillips occurred. Bonus points shall be awarded.

Practice Squad

FB Freddie Stevenson, WR Daniel Braverman, TE Ben Braunecker, OL Joseph Dieugot, DL Rashaad Coward, OLB Hendrick Ekpe, S DeAndre Houston-Carson.

Robert Zeglinski

Robert has prepared his own Bears 53-man roster article. Here's his projection based on his observations of camp in its entirety. I will also update the Google Sheets document linked above.

Note: The practice squad has 10 spots, however most of us have chosen to pick less than 10 names. This is because we all believe that the balance of the practice squad will be filled by players cut from other organizations.

So what do you all think? Any surprises? Who do you think has the best roster or most likely roster to come to fruition?