Bears work out 3 corners, lose a practice squad d-lineman

After watching their secondary get thrashed by the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday Night Football, the Chicago Bears brought in three defensive backs on Tuesday for a work out. D.J. Hayden, Kevon Seymour, and Lafayette Pitts were all in Lake Forrest today trying to impress Chicago’s coaches.

Of those three, the 31-year old Hayden is the most accomplished with 91 games (41 starts) in his eight year career since being a first round draft pick of the Raiders in 2013. Per PFF’s Brad Spielberger, Hayden (5’11”, 190) was a solid nickelback in 2018 and 2019 posting grades of 74.8 and 76.9 those years, but last year injuries held him to just 5 games in Jacksonville.

If Hayden is healthy, I see no reason why the Bears wouldn’t sign him. Duke Shelley was a healthy scratch and Marqui Christian got the start at nickel in L.A., with Artie Burns

Also on Tuesday Bears practice squad defensive tackle Damion Square, who was called up to play in Sunday’s game against the Rams, terminated his practice squad contract. This is usually a precursor to the player signing a contract to play on another team’s active roster, and according to Ian Rapoport that’s exactly what happened as Square is joining the Raiders.

As a reminder, practice squad players are technically free agents able to sign to any teams active 53-man roster. The Bears could have made a counter offer to sign him to their active roster, but ultimately the decision is Square’s to make as a free agent.

It also came across the NFL wire today that the Bears were one of 12 teams that did not protect anyone on their practice squad.