With every spot on the 53-man roster extremely valuable, is there a place for Chicago Bears third-string quarterback Tyler Bray to make the team?
Chicago Bears third-string quarterback Tyler Bray will play the entire final preseason game against the Buffalo Bills. It’ll be his best chance to show Matt Nagy and Ryan Pace that he deserves a spot on the 53-man roster.
Bray, who is in his third NFL preseason, has attempted only one pass in his NFL career — an incompletion in the Kansas City Chiefs final regular season game of 2017. He has spent his entire career with new Bears head coach Matt Nagy, which is the main reason he was brought on board in the first place.
Coming out of college, scouts raved about Bray’s arm strength. During this preseason, Bray has shown some zip on his passes and has made some eyebrow-raising throws. However, do the Bears need a third quarterback on the roster? He would clearly be a developmental quarterback, but don’t the Bears already have a developmental quarterback on the roster in Mitchell Trubisky?
If Bray makes the team, the Bears will have to forfeit depth at another position. If the Bears decide to carry only two quarterbacks, the Bears will have the luxury to, for example, carry a fourth running back, a fifth tight end, or an extra pass rusher.
In any case, if an NFL team is forced to play their third-string quarterback in an actual game, they’re in big trouble. If Bray even makes the team, there’s no guarantee he’ll even see the field (which hopefully he won’t have to). So is it worth it to carry a player on the roster who might never play? Probably not.
The Bears are only allowed to have 53 players on their roster and dress only 46 on gamedays. Bray would likely be inactive anyways, so having another player on the roster who could help on special teams instead might be a better idea.
Nagy seems to really like Bray, and Bray’s knowledge of the offense could help Trubisky in the classroom. It wouldn’t be surprising if Bray makes the team, but it might not be the smartest decision either.