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:
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.