Bears conclude negotiations with Alshon Jeffery, Jay Cutler cleared for action
Historically, Bears fans have heaped criticism upon their signal caller for questions regarding his toughness traced back to a playoff game years ago where many questioned why he had taken the back seat. Though just a week removed from tearing his shoulder muscle, he has been returned to play after running non-contact drills last week but officially listed as out for the matchup against the Eagles. The Bears sent him out in light 7 on 7 contact drills and he held up, and his status was upgraded from questionable to being removed from the injury report with the NFL rules eliminating probable as a designation.
This comes the same week that Alshon Jeffery signed a five year deal worth 63.5 million dollars that secures the wide out with the Bears for the majority of his career. "This is someone we could definitely build our offense around. Alshon was originally going to play out this year but we managed to meet in the middle and moved past the franchise tag to keep him as a Bear." Spoke Ted Phillips to reporters following the break of the news. Alshon tweeted out "Bears for life #beardown" shortly before the news broke.
Brian Hartline was also cleared but the team still has him offically listed as out for the matchup against the Cowboys. Further thinning out the receiving corp was Eddie Royal who suffered a shoulder tear and will likely miss a month of action. Royal's injury knocks two receivers from the top of the depth chart, meaning young receivers such as Marquess Wilson and Daniel Bravermann will have to step up in their absence.
"We feel pretty good about the guys that we have right now. We don't have any reason to go out and see what's available, there's some young guys fighting for snaps, they can prove if they deserve more.." Spoke John Fox whom deflected speculation that the team could hunt the free agent ranks for a potential wide out to shore up the unit, though another unit would almost make that a necessity.
Injury news from across the league has the Bengals linebacker corps losing Vincent Rey (MLB) and Karlos Dansby (OLB) for extended action. Rey will be gone for the season with a broken ankle, while Karlos Dansby had his ankle dislocated and will miss about two months for it. The Bills injury report grows even longer, Sammy Watkins joins the list with an abdominal tear, while Kyle Williams (RE), Sterling Moore (CB) and Aaron Williams (SS) will all miss extended action from the defensive end of things.
The defending champions, Denver lost Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders to injuries, both will miss a month. Thomas is nursing a pulled groin while Sanders has a dislocated elbow. Left tackle Russell Okung has a hamstring tear that will make him mixx nearly two months, while tight end Virgil Green has a foot fracture that will make him miss a month. Halfback CJ Anderson dislocated his ankle as well and will miss three weeks.
Vincent Jackson of Tampa Bay broke his wrist and could miss up to two months in recovery time from the injury. The Chargers got hit too as Jason Verrett and Antonio Gates both will miss two months, Verrett dislocated his ankle while Gates has a dislocated hip. Julio Jones will miss about tow months with a knee cartilage tear which will further hurt the Falcons aspirations this season.
Matchup Preview | Week 3 |
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Chicago Bears (1-1, 0-1 Away) | | Dallas Cowboys (1-0-1, 0-0-1 Home) |
Offensive Stats Comparison | 599 | Total Offensive Yards | 872 | 275 | Passing Yards | 692 | 324 | Rushing Yards | 180 | 22.5 | Points Per Game | 31 |
Defensive Stats Comparison | 611 | Total Yards Allowed | 823 | 410 | Passing Yards Allowed | 529 | 201 | Rushing Yards Allowed | 294 | 44 | Points Allowed | 44 | 11 | Sacks | 12 | 3 | Fumble Recoveries | 6 | 0 | Interceptions | 3 |
Injury Report | Hroniss Grasu (C) Complete ACL Tear IR | | Travis Frederick (C) Shoulder Tear 3 Weeks | Eddie Royal (WR) Shoulder Tear 4 Weeks | | La'el Collins (LG) Broken Collarbone 7 Weeks | Brian Hartline (WR) Broken Hand 2 Weeks | | Rolando McClain (MLB) Dislocated Hip 6 Weeks |
| | Cole Beasley (WR) Upper arm fracture 6 Weeks |
| | Kyle Wilber (OLB) Quad Tear 2 Weeks |
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