The Bears have to trim their 90-man roster down to 53 players by the NFL's Tuesday 3 p.m. deadline.
This season has featured fewer position battles than when the Bears were in full rebuild mode. Only three starting jobs were really up for grabs during training camp — cornerback (Tyrique Stevenson vs. Nahshon Wright), left tackle (Braxton Jones vs. Theo Benedet vs. Ozzy Trapilo) and strong-side linebacker (Ruben Hyppolite II vs. Noah Sewell).
The bottom of the roster features questions about which backup offensive linemen will make the team. There's a battle for the fifth and sixth receiver spots and at backup running back, where the Bears have their second-, third- and fourth-stringers injured.
Once the Bears submit their final roster Tuesday, they will play the waiver wire on Wednesday — the have the ninth pick — and then assemble a 16-man practice squad.
Tracking the Bears' moves:
Tuesday
The Bears cut their roster down to 53 players by the 3 p.m. deadline.
To get there, they put running back Travis Homer and linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga on injured reserve. They can return after at least four games. They waived three players with injury designations: offensive linemen Bill Murray and Doug Kramer and cornerback Tysheem Johnson.
The team waived WR Maurice Alexander, RB Brittain Brown, DL Jonathan Ford, S Mekhi Garner, DL Jamree Kromah, T Jordan McFadden, WR Tyler Scott and C Ricky Stromberg. They released WR Miles Boykin and TE Stephen Carlson.
Earlier, the Bears cut rookie long snapper Luke Elkin, a source said. The Iowa alum was one of two snappers on the training camp roster.
Defensive end Tanoh Kpassagnon, whom the Bears signed before training camp and has extensive experience in Dennis Allen's defense, is being cut, a source said. He's expected to join the Bears practice squad Wednesday.
The Bears are cutting defensive tackle Zacch Pickens, per ESPN. The former third-round pick appeared in nine games last year.
The Bears will keep quarterback Case Keenum on the 53-man roster, coach Ben Johnson said. He'll be part of a three-quarterback room alongside Caleb Williams and Tyson Bagent.
Monday
The Bears put cornerback Zah Frazier, who has missed all of training camp with a personal issue, on the non-football injury list.
They cut three veterans: cornerback Tre Flowers, running back Royce Freeman and offensive lineman Joshua Miles.
The Bears cut the following players: safety Millard Bradford, defensive lineman Xavier Carlton, safety Alex Cook, linebacker Power Echols, cornerback Kaleb Hayes, quarterback Austin Reed, running back Ian Wheeler and tight end Joel Wilson.
Sunday
The Bears are cutting WR Samori Toure, a source confirmed. He had five catches for 72 yards during preseason games this year.
The team announced it put CB Terell Smith on injured reserve after he suffered a season-ending knee injury a week ago. Smith was pushing for playing time — he practiced with the starters the week he was hurt — in a position group where the Bears have good depth.
The Bears also waived five players: G Chris Glaser,
LB Swayze Bozeman, TE Thomas Gordon, S Mark Perry and CB Jeremiah Walker.
