The Bears preseason is over. The regular season’s on the horizon, with the finish line of head coach Ben Johnson’s race to Week 1 now in clear view.

The roster must be trimmed to 53 men before then, with a Tuesday afternoon deadline to do so. General manager Ryan Poles and head coach Ben Johnson have started the difficult task of doing so, with their preseason slate now complete following Friday’s victory over Kansas City.

We’ll follow each of these moves as they become known in our Bears roster cuts tracker, with news on each move and analysis on some bigger names and tougher decisions.

Here are the Bears moves to this point:

Tuesday, Aug. 26

3:01 p.m.: The Bears announced a series of moves to get their roster to the 53-man maximum:

Injured reserve; designation to return:

• RB Travis Homer
• LB Amen Ogbongbemiga

Waived/Injured:

• DB Tysheem Johnson
• OL Doug Kramer
• OL Bill Murray

Waived:

• WR Maurice Alexander
• RB Brittain Brown
• LS Luke Elkin
• DL Jonathan Ford
• DB Mekhi Garner
• DL Jamree Kromah
• OL Jordan McFadden
• DL Zacch Pickens
• WR JP Richardson
• WR Tyler Scott
• OL Ricky Stromberg

Released:

• WR Miles Boykin
• TE Stephen Carlson
• DL Tanoh Kpassagnon

Activated:

• DB Jaylon Johnson
  • Activated from non-football injury list
• P Tory Taylor
  • Received international roster exemption during offseason.

11:51 a.m.: The Bears have waived DL Zach Picckens, per ESPN insider Jeremy Fowler. Pickens was a Ryan Poles draft selection in 2023, but had a tough time maintaining his place within an upgraded group of defensive tackles. Fowler also reports that another member of that ’23 class, WR Tyler Scott, has also been waived.

10:00 a.m.: The Bears made a couple of other cuts Tuesday morning, per Chicago Tribune’s Brad Biggs:

Analysis: Seems like some Bears roster mechanisms are at play with this Kpassagnon move. He’s a vested veteran and therefore not exposed to waivers. That means he immediately becomes a street free agent and can’t get claimed by another team. If Kpassagnon has a handshake deal with the Bears to return, the team could keep someone they need to place on injured reserve or sneak onto the practice squad after most spots are full. Biggs reports that he could be on the practice squad and a game day roster in the near future, and that seems likely. If that’s going to be the case, the Bears should do so by early next week, so his base salary is guaranteed by rule.

8:20 a.m.: The Bears are releasing OL Ricky Stromberg, per Jeremy Fowler

Monday, Aug. 25

1:25 p.m.: The Bears announced 12 transactions:

Reserve/Non-football injury list:

DB Zah Frazier

Waived:

DB Millard Bradford
DL Xavier Carlton
DB Alex Cook
LB Power Echols
DB Kaleb Hayes
QB Austin Reed
RB Ian Wheeler
TE Joel Wilson

Released:

DB Tre Flowers
RB Royce Freeman
OL Joshua Miles

Analysis: The Bears were in a tough spot with Zah Frazier. The fifth-round defensive back didn’t practice all preseason for personal reasons, though he was seen before Wednesday’s practice from the sideline and is at least here at Halas Hall. Placing him on the reserve non-football injury list was the only move outside an outright release, which would’ve been giving up on a talented player too soon.

By rule, he must miss at least four games. It sure seems like he’ll miss more than that.

We don’t know why Frazier has been away from the team – personal reasons are good enough – but he could well sit on NFI all season long. The football development that happens in training camp is vital for a rookie and he didn’t get any of it. The Bears are also deep at cornerback and will be fine without him. Should that status change, the team could bring him back, and would have a three-week practice window to ramp him up. It’s not certain that Frazier will experience a lost rookie season, but it seems that way. If he can come back with the personal issue resolved and contribute, that’s good for player and team. — Scott Bair

10:00 a.m.: The Bears are waiving tight end Joel Wilson, per KPRC Houston’s Aaron Wilson.

Wilson, 25, was an undrafted free agent out of Central Michigan and spent time with the Bills, Packers and Giants before the Bears signed him to the practice squad midway through the 2024 season.

He had 11 catches on 14 targets for 85 yards and a touchdown during the preseason.

Sunday, Aug. 24

3:00 p.m.: The Bears waived LB Swayze Bozeman, OL Chris Glaser, TE Thomas Gordon, DB Mark Perry and Jeremiah Walker, and placed CB Terell Smith on injured reserve, per the Chicago Bears.

10:57 a.m.: The Bears have released WR Samori Toure, who played for the Packers in 2022-23, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter

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