Badara Traore - Pro Football Rumors

Bears Announce 16-Man Practice Squad

September 6th, 2020 at 2:36pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Teams are starting to announce their full expanded practice squads, and we’ll be bringing you recaps all day. Just in is the Chicago Bears, who announced a full slate of 16 players:

QB Tyler Bray
RB Artavis Pierce
WR Reggie Davis
S Stephen Denmark
WR Thomas Ives
WR Rodney Adams
TE Jesper Horsted
OL Sam Mustipher
OL Jamon Brown
OL Lachavious Simmons
OL Badara Traore
DT Abdullah Anderson
DE LaCale London
LB Rashad Smith
S Xavier Crawford
K Cairo Santos

Bray has bounced between the practice squad and active roster the past couple of years now, and will serve as the third quarterback behind Mitchell Trubisky and Nick Foles. Santos is a veteran kicker with a good amount of experience. Right after he was cut we heard the Bears might be planning on him kicking Week 1 against the Lions if Eddy Pineiro still isn’t ready to come back from his groin injury.

Everybody on this list was with the Bears for camp except Brown, who was cut by the Falcons last month. He signed a three-year $18.75MM deal last March, and started nine games for Atlanta last season.

Bears Agree To Terms With 11 UDFAs

April 28th, 2020 at 10:34am CST by Ben Levine

The Bears announced this morning that they’ve agreed to terms with 11 undrafted free agents, including the brother of one of their star players:

Lee Autry, DT (Mississippi State)
Dieter Eiselen, OG (Yale)
Keandre Jones, LB (Maryland)
LaCale London, LB (Western Illinois)
Ledarius Mack, LB (Buffalo)
Napoleon Maxwell, RB (Florida International)
Trevor McSwain, DT (Duke)
Artavis Pierce, RB (Oregon State)
Rashad Smith, LB (Florida Atlantic)
Badara Traore, OT (LSU)
Ahmad Wagner, WR (Kentucky)

Mack is the most notable name on the list, as he’s the younger brother of Bears Pro Bowler Khalil Mack. The Buffalo product finished his senior season with seven sacks and 11 tackles for loss. The younger Mack is one of four linebackers signed by Chicago, and that’s after the organization added a linebacker (Trevis Gipson) in the fifth round of the draft.

Autry also has some NFL pedigree, as his brother, cornerback Denico Autry, plays for the Colts.

Wagner is perhaps the most interesting prospect in the group. The six-foot-five receiver spent three seasons playing basketball at Iowa before transferring to Kentucky to play football. He hauled in 15 receptions for 254 yards and two scores during his lone season with the Wildcats.