Bears place James Daniels on injured reserve, sign Sam Mustipher

On Wednesday the Chicago Bears made the expected move of putting James Daniels on injured reserve, and to take his place on the active roster they signed Sam Mustipher from their practice squad.

Daniels, Chicago’s starting left guard, injured his pectoral muscle during last week’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. At his press conference earlier today, head coach Matt Nagy indicated that he did not believe the injury would allow Daniels to come back this season.

Against the Bucs, the Bears plugged Alex Bars in for Daniels, but they’ve yet to name a starter this week. Rashaad Coward, who started 10 games last year at right guard, could be in the mix.

Mustipher was an undrafted free agent a year ago out of Notre Dame, and he spent the entire 2019 season on the Bears’ practice squad.

Per the NFL transaction wire, the Bears also added kicker Kai Forbath to their list of protected practice squad players this week. He joins quarterback Tyler Bray who was protected yesterday. As a reminder, teams can protect up to 4 practice squadders each week.

In other news from Halas Hall today, the Bears announced that offensive line coach Juan Castillo would be in quarantine until week 7 because he was in contact with someone that tested positive for COVID-19. Castillo has not tested positive and the person that did was not a member of the Bears.

He’ll still be active with the team via Zoom, but it will be assistant o-line coach Donovan Raiola, who has been with the Bears since 2018, that will handle the in person coaching until then.

The Bears also plan to work out a few linebackers, as they’ll take a look at Deone Bucannon, Justin Phillips, and Manti Te’o.