Bears sign wide receiver Isaiah Coulter

According to NFL insider Aaron Wilson, the Chicago Bears are signing wide receiver Isaiah Coulter. The Bears worked Coulter out a few days ago, and they apparently liked what they saw from the soon to be 23-year old.

Update: The Bears have officially announced this signing with the corresponding roster move of placing inside linebacker Austin Calitro on injured reserve. Calitro was hurt in the preseason game against the Bills.

Coulter (6’2”, 198) was a fifth round draft pick of the Houston Texans in 2020 out of Rhode Island, and he spent some of his rookie season on injured reserve. He appeared in one game for the Texans last year and the team released him earlier this month. At his 2020 combine he ran the forty yard dash in 4.45 seconds and had a 36’ vertical.

Here’s what NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein gave for his scouting overview on Coulter.

Raw but talented X receiver with NFL-caliber length, speed and athletic ability. He runs a limited route tree and doesn’t show enough attention to detail in his route work, but he’s loose and fluid with the ability to get that area corrected. He lets coverage off the hook when he doesn’t burst and separate like he’s capable of, but he has access to plenty of juice when needed. While improvement should be expected, learning to play with better catch aggression and ball-tracking is not a given. Coulter is an explosive, high-upside talent with functional-starter upside, but a lower floor.

Coulter has a bigger body type and I would imagine the Bears would like to see if he can add some value on their special teams.

With the next cut down date for the league coming up on Tuesday, the Bears will need to be at the mandated 80-man limit. Now that this acquisition is official the Bears will need to let five players go from their active roster.

What are your thoughts on this latest Bear?