Ryan Poles continues a defensive back spending spree, stockpiling veteran experience and undrafted potential to fortify the secondary as training camp roster battles reach a fever pitch.
The Chicago Bears have been busy making roster moves, but there's been a pattern lately since the team's first training camp practice on July 31.
If you've been paying attention to the roster transactions made by the Bears, they have signed a lot of defensive backs.
It started on Aug. 4, when Chicago signed former undrafted free agent Marlen Sewell. Sewell was one of the six players the Bears worked out before training camp.
He played college football at Vanderbilt and went undrafted in April.
Over the last few days, the Bears have added four defensive backs to their 90-man roster.
Xavier Woods was signed on Friday.
Woods spent last season with the Tennessee Titans and accounted for 39 total tackles, two interceptions and one sack. He's played in 134 career games with 121 starts.
On Saturday, the Bears signed two more defensive backs. Chicago brought in Brandon Hill and William Wright, while waiving UDFAs K.C. Eziomume and Gervarrius Owens.
Hill has spent most of his NFL career on the practice squad. He was drafted by the Houston Texans in 2023 and was on the practice squad for most of his rookie season.
He then suffered a season-ending injury in 2024. Hill was waived by the Texans last year and joined the Las Vegas Raiders' practice squad. He got re-signed to the Texans' practice squad earlier this offseason and then was recently signed by the Bears.
Wright joined the Bears after working out with the team as a UDFA after playing college football at Tennessee.
General Manager Ryan Poles wasn't done adding defensive backs on Sunday. The team announced that DB Beanie Bishop was being signed to the roster. Long snapper Luke Elkin was waived to make room for Bishop.
Bishop went undrafted out of West Virginia in 2024 and signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
He had an impressive training camp and made the 53-man roster. He played in 17 games with six starts, recording 45 total tackles, four interceptions, two TFLs, 0.5 sacks and two fumble recoveries.
Unfortunately, he wasn't able to make the 53-man roster the following year and was waived but re-signed to the Steelers' practice squad.
The Steelers eventually released him later that year, and he joined the New Orleans Saints' practice squad. The Saints liked him enough to give him a future/reserve contract in January.
Here's the thing with Bishop, though. He's suspended for the first three games of the 2026 season.
Back when Bishop was still on the Saints, he violated the NFL's substance abuse policy. The Saints kept him around until he was released on July 28.
For the Bears, they are in a tight spot.
They just had Coby Bryant go down with a knee injury, and Kyler Gordon hasn't come off the PUP list since starting training camp there. It's clear that the Bears need depth in the secondary, or they wouldn't have made all these moves.
With Bishop, he could have the tools to make this roster. However, if he does make the roster, then he'd have to sit out the first three games of the regular season.
This will be an interesting development to follow if Gordon and Bryant are out for extended periods.
