A look at where the Bears' depth chart stands after the NFL Draft

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The Bears’ roster, for the most part, is set after the NFL Draft and a flurry of undrafted free agent signings. Perhaps the Bears will add a free agent or two over the next few weeks, but this more than likely will be the depth chart brought to Bourbonnais in mid-July.

QUARTERBACK

1. Mitch Trubisky
2. Chase Daniel
3. Tyler Bray

A quarterback has not been among the reported undrafted free agent signings that trickled out after the draft ended Saturday, but the Bears could look to add an arm prior to training camp. 

RUNNING BACK

1. Jordan Howard
2. Tarik Cohen
3. Benny Cunningham
4. Taquan Mizzell
5. Michael Burton 
6. Ryan Nall (UDFA)
7. Nick Wilson (UDFA)

While there are seven guys on this depth chart, it’s unlikely anyone is able to crack into the top three and make the Week 1 53-man roster. Howard and Cohen are locks, while the Bears place a high value on Cunningham’s leadership qualities and special teams ability. Burton is a fullback and Nall profiles as one, and while they won’t necessarily be pushed out in Nagy’s offense, they each face an uphill climb to active roster.

WIDE RECEIVER

X
1. Allen Robinson
2. Kevin White
3. Davon Wims (7th round)
4. Marlon Brown
5. Tanner Gentry

Z
1. Anthony Miller (2nd round)
2. Joshua Bellamy
3. Bennie Fowler
4. Garrett Johnson (UDFA)
5. Demarcus Ayers

Zebra
1. Taylor Gabriel
2. Anthony Miller (2nd round)
3. Tarik Cohen 

Nagy emphasized Miller can play all over the field and has the versatility preferred to be a wide receiver in his offense. Who’s “starting” may not matter much, but the Bears will head into training camp with four receivers likely locked into roster spots: Robinson, White, Miller and Gabriel. That would leave Bellamy, Fowler, Brown, Wims and Gentry to compete for one, maybe two roster spots in training camp.

TIGHT END

Y
1. Adam Shaheen
2. Dion Sims
3. Ben Braunecker
4. Colin Thompson

U
1. Trey Burton
2. Daniel Brown

Outside of kicker, the position the Bears needed the least in the draft was tight end, so this depth chart doesn’t change at all. 

OFFENSIVE LINE

LT
1. Charles Leno
2. Bradley Sowell
3. Travis Averill

LG
1. James Daniels (2nd round)
2. Earl Watford
3. Cameron Lee
4. Rashaad Coward

C
1. Cody Whitehair
2. Hroniss Grasu
3. James Daniels (2nd round)

RG
1. Kyle Long
2. Eric Kush
3. Jordan Morgan
4. Will Pericak

RT
1. Bobby Massie
2. Brandon Greene
3. Dejon Allen (UDFA)

The Bears plan on beginning to work with Daniels as a guard, but also will cross-train him at center. Harry Hiestand may not settle on a final O-line combination until sometime in August, but the only thing he’ll really have to figure out is if the line is better with Daniels at guard and Whitehair at center, or Daniels at center and Whitehair at guard. 

DEFENSIVE LINE

DE
1. Akiem Hicks
2. Roy Robertson-Harris
3. Olubunmi Rotimi (UDFA)

1. Jonathan Bullard
2. Bilal Nichols (5th round)

While Nichols played as an interior lineman at Delaware, the Bears view him as an end. He’ll provide, at best, competition for Bullard during training camp; at worst, he’ll be a depth piece. 

DT
1. Eddie Goldman
2. John Jenkins
3. Abdullah Anderson (UDFA)

The Bears need to get a second contract done with Goldman, whose interior presence meant this wasn’t a position of need for the draft. 

OUTSIDE LINEBACKER

1. Leonard Floyd
2. Kylie Fitts (6th round)
3. Isaiah Irving
4. Elijah Norris (UDFA)

1. Aaron Lynch
2. Sam Acho
3. Howard Jones
4. Andrew Trumbetti (UDFA)
5. Cavon Walker (UDFA)

If healthy, the Bears could have a decent group of pass rushers here between Floyd, Fitts and Lynch — but all three of those players carry significant injury concerns. Fitts, in particular, didn’t reach his full potential at Utah due to a string of injuries, which he said was “a run of bad luck, and I think I got it all out of the way.” Bringing in four undrafted free agents shows how much help this group needs. Don’t be surprised if Nick Kwiatkoski gets some work at outside linebacker during OTAs, minicamp and training camp, too. 

INSIDE LINEBACKER

1. Danny Trevathan
2. Joel Iyiegbuniwe (4th round)
3. Jonathan Anderson

1. Roquan Smith (1st round)
2. Nick Kwiatkoski
3. John Timu
4. Nyles Morgan (UDFA)

Smith should step in as a Day 1 starter (and if he doesn’t, that’s a problem), while “Iggy” should get plenty of special teams times as well as some situational work within Vic Fangio’s defense. Most importantly, though, is how well Trevathan and Smith play off each other — at best, they could be the heartbeat of this defense that makes everyone else around them better. 

CORNERBACK

1. Kyle Fuller
2. Jonathan Mincy
3. Sherrick McManis
4. Kevin Toliver (UDFA)
5. Rashad Fant (UDFA)

1. Prince Amukamara
2. Marcus Cooper
3. Doran Grant
4. Michael Joseph (UDFA)

1. Bryce Callahan
2. Cre’Von LeBlanc

Somewhat surprisingly, the Bears didn’t draft a cornerback, although colleague John “Moon” Mullin reported that Ohio State’s Denzel Ward was high on their draft board. There’s plenty of room for competition here, though, with only Fuller, Amukamara, McManis and probably Callahan locked into roster spots. 

SAFETY

1. Adrian Amos
2. DeAndre Houston-Carson
3. Nick Orr (UDFA)

1. Eddie Jackson
2. Deon Bush
3. Deiondre’ Hall

Similar to cornerback, the Bears went largely with the status quo at this position during the draft. Orr was an all-conference safety in the pass-happy Big 12 but faces an uphill climb to a roster spot with Houston-Carson and Bush both playing plenty of special teams. 

PLACEKICKER

1. Cody Parkey

The Bears guaranteed $9 million to Parkey in his four-year contract. He’s the guy, and won’t have any competition in training camp. 

PUNTER

1. Pat O’Donnell
2. Ryan Winslow (UDFA)

The Bears only guaranteed $500,000 to O’Donnell in his one-year deal, so it’s not surprising that they brought in some competition for him. Winslow averaged 44.5 yards per punt in 2017 with Pitt. 

LONG SNAPPER

1. Patrick Scales

He’s the long snapper and doesn’t appear to have any competition for that spot. 

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