Bears claim three players off of waivers

The Sunday following official 53-man roster cut downs in the NFL is always fascinating. This is the time of year where many organizations such as the Chicago Bears can find contributors i.e. diamonds in the rough with advanced preseason scouting. Obviously, the waiver order of NFL teams (based on the prior draft) can play a huge part in this process, but nevertheless, there's nothing wrong with rolling the dice.

On Sunday afternoon, the Bears claimed three players off of waivers of their own, all with a different skill set. Keep in mind, guys like Cre'Von LeBlanc and Eric Kush were claimed in 2016 before making any premature judgments on these latest additions.

Andrew DePaola is the first name, a long snapper who was just waived by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The 30-year-old had been Tampa Bay's long snapper for the last three seasons and will replace the recently signed Jeff Overbaugh - who was signed to replace the injured Patrick Scales (what a carousel!)

Then, there's wide receiver Tre McBride, who was waived by the Tennessee Titans on their final roster cut. The former seventh-round pick out of William & Mary spent two seasons with the Titans and had two catches for 28 yards against the Bears in the team's Week 3 preseason game. Overall, he has two catches in his NFL career to this point. This likely doesn't mean the Bears are done making moves at receiver, as a note.

Finally, in a curious move given the amount of running backs the Bears are already carrying, Chicago claimed running back Taquan Mizzell, who was waived by the Baltimore Ravens. The 2017 undrafted free agent out of Virginia led Baltimore with 126 yards in the preseason and in an excellent showcase of versatility, also caught 12 passes for 90 yards and a touchdown. He was the only player in ACC history with 1,500 rushing and receiving yards each.

As more news trickles throughout the day about players sticking to the Bears practice squad, we at least have an idea of the potential upside players such as Mizzell that they're banking on.

Robert Zeglinski is the Bears beat writer for the Rock River Times and is an editor for Windy City Gridiron. You can follow him on Twitter @RobertZeglinski.