General manager Ryan Poles spoke to the media Tuesday, two days after the Bears reached the NFL's mandatory 53-man roster limit. Here are eight things we learned from the 20-minute session:
(1) Poles believes that this is the most versatile roster the Bears have had in his five seasons with the club.
"Getting to 53 is always difficult," he said. "As you get a more talented roster, it gets really difficult to make those tough decisions, and it's really hard to have those kinds of exit meetings as well; guys you care about, guys that you saw fight and not make it. We try to handle that process as best as we possibly can.
"I feel really good about the roster. I love the depth. I love the talent. This is probably the more versatile roster we've had; guys being able to play different positions, which I think is going to really serve us well as we get into the season."
(2) Poles revealed that the Bears are re-signing linebacker Jack Sanborn and defensive tackle James Lynch and placing safety Coby Bryant and tight end Hayden Large on injured reserve.
Sanborn and Lynch were both released as part of final cuts Sunday.
A valuable reserve and special teams contributor, Sanborn spent his first three NFL seasons with the Bears from 2022-24. After playing for the Cowboys last year, the Lake Zurich native rejoined his hometown team in March.
Lynch, who impressed during training camp and the preseason, signed with the Bears this year after playing his first five NFL seasons with the Vikings (2020-22) and Titans (2024-25). He has appeared in 71 games with four starts, recording 98 tackles, seven tackles-for-loss and 3.5 sacks.
Poles is hopeful that Bryant and Large "can make it back at some point on the back end of the season."
(3) The presence of four solid veterans and two promising rookies at defensive tackle made Gervon Dexter Sr. expendable.
The Bears traded the fourth-year pro to the Falcons Sunday in exchange for cornerback Clark Phillips III and a 2027 fifth-round pick.
The deal came after Poles completely revamped the defensive tackle position during the offseason. He signed free agents Neville Gallimore, Kentavius Street and Lynch to join veteran Grady Jarrett before selecting Jordan van den Berg in the sixth round of the draft and signing Jayden Loving as an undrafted rookie.
"It really has to do with the room," Poles said of trading Dexter. "That room was highly competitive. Those young guys started making a push when we got through camp … and we felt like the timing made sense for us. We feel really good and confident in our talent level at that position."
In Phillips, the Bears are receiving a fourth-year pro who appeared in 28 games with seven starts the past three seasons with the Falcons, compiling 63 tackles, 10 pass breakups and one interception. Phillips spent most of last season on injured reserve, playing only nine snaps, all on special teams, in one game.
"He's definitely going to add depth to our corner room," Poles said. "We like, from the tape that we watched, his man coverage skills. Short-area quickness is really good, speed is really good, [he's] sticky in coverage. We're looking forward to getting him on board and getting him going."
(4) Poles feels that quarterback Caleb Williams is much more comfortable in his second season in coach Ben Johnson's offense.
"I love where he's at," Poles said. "What I see is I see joy. I think the first year [in the system], he was white knuckling the whole time trying to figure it out, trying to do it right. He continues to do that, wanting to do it right, but I think you see that joy back in his game where he's playing free.
"I think he sees and identifies where he comes up short faster than when he did before, and I think that's where him and Ben are continuing to work really well together, trying to get better every single day."
(5) Although the Bears have yet to name a starting left tackle, Poles feels a "little bit better" about the depth at the position than he did last year at this time.
Braxton Jones is healthy after being hampered by injuries the past few years. Theo Benedet is back after starting eight games as a rookie in 2025. And Ozzy Trapilo returned during training camp after initially being expected to miss all or most of the season with a knee injury he sustained in last year's playoff win over the Packers.
"Braxton is way healthier than he was last year," Poles said. "I don't know if he was completely himself last year, so he's in a better place. Theo has a bunch of games under his belt, too, and then when Ozzy's ready, he's started a bunch of big games himself, so we feel good about it."
Trapilo's earlier-than-expected return during camp afforded the Bears an opportunity to involve him in full-contact workouts.
"The big advantage of him coming back when he did, which I still think is amazing, is really the padded practices, team periods, really testing his anchor, mobility, all that stuff," Poles said. "In helmets, or not even helmets, it looks fabulous, or he wouldn't be where he is. But he's playing football.
"There's definitely rust to knock off. I don't know how long that'll take before he's involved with the game plan and starting or a rotational guy or active. It's too early to tell right now. But the beautiful thing is when he got back, one of our big concerns was how many padded practices could he get before [the regular season], because once we get going here, those start to drop off and we've got plenty of short weeks that we've got to deal with here too."
(6) Poles stated that a possible contract extension for running back D'Andre Swift is "something we need to look at."
After establishing career rushing highs with 1,087 yards and nine touchdowns last season, Swift enters the final year of his contract.
"He's done a great job," Poles said. "I love his approach to this offseason. He looks amazing. Second year in the system too … I like where he's at right now.
"This is where this job gets tough, is really trying to figure out how you want to allocate everything, not only for now but into the future. We'll have those conversations and see where we want to go from there. But I love 'Swifty.' I love the way that he's working."
(7) Poles lauded Johnson for how he ran his second training camp as Bears coach.
"I thought Ben did a great job with the schedule," Poles said. "He's got a great feel for where the team is at mentally; when he's got a challenge, when he's got to make it fun, when we've got to take time to spend with each other, like the joint practices we talked about. We had organized position groups going out to dinner together. Food trucks at the hotel in Cincinnati. He's got a great feel for the guys now, and it's really impressive to watch."
(8) Poles provided updates on several injured players.
It has yet to be determined whether defensive end Austin Booker will recover in time from a groin injury to play in the Sept. 13 season opener at Carolina.
"I'm not sure yet," Poles said. "We will get through this week. Week 0 is always good to have. We will get through these next three days and be able to assess and see if he's ready to go."
Defensive back Kyler Gordon, defensive lineman Shemar Turner and linebacker Noah Sewell are all on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list, meaning they will miss at least the first four games of the season.
Asked if he thinks Gordon will play for the Bears this year, Poles said: "I don't know. I hope so. I still have hope there. He's going to have to continue to work hard and get back to playing football again."
Poles added that Turner and Sewell are close to returning.
"We're doing a really good job with our performance team, getting those guys ramped up in shape, ready to go, so that when they play, they're ready to make an impact," Poles said. "Talked to those guys this morning. They're fired up to start that clock and get going."
Poles said that Turner, a 2025 second-round pick who tore his ACL in Week 8 last season, is "trending in a really positive direction."
"He's already doing position work off to the side," said the Bears GM. "We'll simulate some individual- and practice-type things to get him prepared mentally and physically, and his endurance needs to continue to improve. But he's working his butt off. I would imagine him being back at some point here when he gets through this little last phase of his rehab.
"And then from there, these guys will get Weeks 3 and 4 to start practicing before they're actually active, knocking that rust off and becoming a football player, starting to get that short-area quickness and really being able to react and have the instincts come back. Especially playing defensive line, you're getting hit from every different direction. So just knocking the rust off, getting the instincts going, when that happens it'll be great and we'll get him back out there, but I'm not exactly sure of when that all is going to occur."
