Chicago

Bears

Taylor last played with the 49ers during the 2024 season, ending his career with 88 receptions for 845 yards and three touchdowns. He initially spent three seasons in San Francisco before playing two for the Bengals and one for the Bears, finishing his career back where it started. A longtime role player, Taylor made only three starts at the professional level. He announced his retirement on his wife’s instagram account, accompanied by a picture of the two with former teammate George Kittle and his wife, whom Taylor entered the league with in 2017.

The Bears now have all of their rookies under contract with the signing of Roush, mere weeks before the start of training camp. The selection of another tight end in the third round turned heads during the draft, but another athletic and well-rounded option at the position gives head coach Ben Johnson further flexibility to run higher rates of 12 and 13-personnel in the coming year. Roush brings a tantalizing athletic profile to the professional ranks, although he likely needs to improve his blocking abilities to carve out a significant role behind Colston Loveland and Cole Kmet during his rookie campaign.

Wright was absolutely essential to how the Bears operated last year, to the point where Ben Johnson admitted the team favored plays to their right because they knew he’d be rock solid on the edge. The Bears picked up Wright’s fifth-year option earlier this offseason and have two years of team control on him, so jumping out ahead of an extension and spreading it over these next two years would probably be fiscally prudent for them anyway.

Thomas turned in a 4.28-second 40 at the NFL Scouting Combine this year. Per Cronin, he has taken “ample reps as a punt returner this spring and showed that he can be more than a special teams star with his skill set on offense.” Bears coach Ben Johnson said Thomas was regularly making plays, but adds that they need to “make sure that we can trust him and he’s going to align where he needs to and run the route the way we need him to.” It sounds like Thomas is still in the developmental phase, but if he can refine his route running and prove himself reliable, he “could be a big weapon” for the Bears this year.

Wheeler, 24, entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent with the Bears in 2024. He briefly spent time on the Saints’ practice squad last year before making his way to the UFL, where he played for the Louisville Kings in 2026. He was productive as a rusher, posting a 68/370/6 stat line. Wheeler will now compete for the RB4 spot behind James Cook, Ty Johnson and Ray Davis.

Studesville spent 2022-25 serving as the Dolphins’ assistant head coach and running backs coach under former Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel. According to the Chicago Sun-Times’ Jason Lieser, over the past year, Johnson has mentioned multiple times that he is fascinated by McDaniel’s creativity in the run game. Lieser did not elaborate on which tactics Johnson is interested in learning more about, but a cursory PFF data review shows the Dolphins used lead run concepts at the league’s third-highest rate (32.5 percent) last year, while Johnson’s Bears used them at just a 14.6 percent rate. Adding some of the creative — and successful — concepts that Studesville learned from McDaniel can only be viewed as a good thing for Bears RBs D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai.

Despite some discomfort during his first season in coach Ben Johnson’s offense last year, Williams increased his yards per passing attempt from 6.3 in 2024 to 6.9 in 2025. He is expected to take another step this season. Part of Williams’ increased comfort comes from knowing exactly what’s expected of him in the Bears’ offense, and “what to expect when the team returns for training camp in six weeks.” Williams admits to feeling like he was “drowning” while trying to learn the playcalls and verbiage last summer. That’s all in the past now. Johnson’s run-heavy tactics may lead to a few subpar box scores for Williams, but he remains firmly in the QB1 tier and possesses high-end upside.

“It’s watching the tape and knowing, like, it was good for a rookie,” Loveland said Tuesday, “but it’s not going to be good enough for a second-year or third-year guy. Knowing that, it’s, ‘All right, flush that. Clean up on the tape and (dial in on) certain things I need to get better at — which is dang near everything.” Colston was dominant late in the season, functioning as Caleb Williams’ top target in January, into the postseason, where he exploded for eight receptions, 137 yards and a two-point conversion catch in a playoff win against Green Bay. Loveland is in no danger of a low route rate in 2026, as head coach Ben Johnson looks to utilize the tight end as a mismatch against opposing secondaries. Loveland could easily lead all tight ends in fantasy scoring this year.

Gordon has missed the majority of the offseason program with what has been deemed a soft-tissue injury. Not great! Gordon spent a lot of last year banged up with a hamstring issue that sent him to injured reserve. This is an inauspicious start for his fifth season in the NFL.

Odeyingbo tore his Achilles in early November, but it appears the recovery has gone well if he’s already getting full-team reps ahead of training camp. T.J. Edwards (shoulder) joined him in participating. With the Bears not adding much to their pass rush this offseason, they’ll be counting on a healthy Odeyingbo come September.