The Chicago Bears announced a couple of roster moves ahead of Saturday’s preseason finale against the Buffalo Bills.
The Bears have placed wide receiver Dante Pettis on injured reserve and waived injured wide receiver Joe Reed.
Pettis signed with the Bears last season, where he appeared in all 17 games, including seven starts. Pettis had 19 receptions for 245 yards and three touchdowns. He also served as a punt returner, averaging 9.1 yards on 18 returns.
Pettis started training camp on the non-football injury (NFI) list, where he missed the first couple of weeks of camp. While he returned, he suffered another injury that’s since kept him sidelined.
With Pettis on IR, the Bears have a glaring hole at punt returner. Velus Jones Jr. is certainly a candidate to fill the role, but he’s had struggles fielding punts dating back to his rookie season. Still, at this point, it feels like Jones is a roster lock at wide receiver.
Reed, a former fifth-round pick by the Chargers in 2020, signed a reserve/future contract with the Bears in January. He served as a kick returner with Los Angeles, averaging 20.7 yards on 21 kickoff returns in 11 games as a rookie. Reed hasn’t played in a regular season game since his rookie season.
Following these and other roster moves this week, the Bears have 86 players currently on the roster, which means they’ll only need to waive 33 players by Tuesday’s cut deadline at 3 p.m. CT.
