Bears Camp — Sep 3: Sanborn and Lynch Are Back on the 53

Chicago cut Jack Sanborn and James Lynch on Sunday and signed both back to the 53 on Tuesday. That is the week's biggest actual move. The team's own transaction release has linebacker Sanborn and defensive lineman Lynch signed to the active roster on September 1, with defensive back Coby Bryant and tight end Hayden Large placed on injured reserve as the corresponding moves. Our last episode carried Patrick Norton at CHGO suggesting Sanborn might come back through post-cutdown maneuvering, and called that an expectation, not a signing. It became a signing in 48 hours. Sanborn, the Lake Zurich native, has a hundred and 64 tackles and four and a half sacks in 48 games across three prior seasons here, per Jordan Wilson at Heavy, and fills out a room of Devin Bush, T.J. Edwards, D'Marco Jackson and rookie Keyshaun Elliott. Lynch played 34 games for Tennessee over two seasons before this, per Josh Alper at Pro Football Talk. The room came from injured reserve. Bryant went with a hyperextended knee and bone damage from early camp, surgery behind him and a real risk he misses all of 2026, per Wilson; the team held Large's placement until Tuesday to preserve his return eligibility, and Alper reports Large is eligible to come back in season.

The loudest thing Ryan Poles said this week was about a player who is not coming back soon. Asked Tuesday whether Kyler Gordon would ever play for the Bears again, he would not guarantee it, per Patrick Finley at the Sun-Times: "I think when people come back from injuries, there's different things that happen. Sometimes they return fast, sometimes they're slow." To Larry Mayer at the team's site, the same day: "I don't know. I hope so. I still have hope there." Gordon is on the reserve physically-unable-to-perform list with a calf, has missed all of camp, and the earliest he can play is October 11 against Green Bay, per Jason Lieser at the Sun-Times. Then, roughly a day after Poles spoke, a rehab specialist posted video of Gordon sprinting in Bears gear, per Finley. That is the full record, and it points two ways at once.

A correction from our last episode, and it is a name. We said "linebacker Sewell" went to a reserve list Pro Football Talk described as physically-unable-to-perform. The Bears' own release settles it: that is Noah Sewell, with an Achilles injury, per Lieser. His brother Nephi Sewell is a different player on a different list — reserve/injured since August 25, five days before cutdown, after a right-leg injury at Cincinnati, per Wilson. And there is a third, defensive back Marlen Sewell, an undrafted rookie waived Sunday and signed to the practice squad Monday. The page gets the first name. Two smaller wording fixes with it: Terell Smith was waived, not released, per the team's list, and Jedrick Wills was released with an injury settlement, which is the more specific version of what we gave you.

The waiver wire did nothing for Chicago and took one thing. The Bears made zero claims, per Carter Bahns's league-wide tracker at CBS Sports. Tackle Mason Murphy was claimed by New Orleans and put on the Saints' active roster, per Mike Moraitis at Sports Illustrated — the only Bear anyone took. The rest of Sunday's cuts went to another team's practice squad, to Chicago's own, or nowhere yet: tackle Kiran Amegadjie with the Eagles on Monday, per Brendan Sugrue at Bears Wire — Poles on the 2024 third-rounder, per Alyssa Barbieri at Bears Wire: "It really just wasn't a level of consistency that we were looking for." Tackle Jedrick Wills with Buffalo on Monday, per Charean Williams at Pro Football Talk, still rehabbing a back that Bills general manager Brandon Beane said has him short of a hundred percent. Cornerback Terell Smith with Washington on Tuesday, per Wilson. And 11 were still without a team as of Wednesday, per Moraitis, quarterback Miller Moss and receiver Maurice Alexander among them.

The practice squad is Chicago's own cuts, almost entirely. 11 announced Monday, per Barbieri: running back Salvon Ahmed, offensive linemen Caden Barnett and Kyle Hergel, tight end Stephen Carlson, defensive end Marcus Davenport, receivers Kaden Davis, Scotty Miller and J.P. Richardson, linebacker Wayne Matthews III, and defensive backs Deantre Prince and Marlen Sewell. Three more Tuesday, per the team: linebacker Buddy Johnson off Las Vegas's cuts after a preseason shoulder injury, tackle Christian Jones off Arizona's — six-five, three-20, and a lineman Daniel Popper at The Athletic called "very capable in pass protection" in Arizona's preseason, signed after the team lost both Amegadjie and Wills — and running back Zavier Scott out of Minnesota. 14 as of Tuesday, with two spots still open, per Barbieri. Davenport, Miller, Ahmed and Carlson were all released Sunday — we told you about three of them — and all four took a practice-squad deal instead of leaving. Davenport left Wednesday's practice after individual drills, per Lieser.

Poles' read on the line after losing two tackles, per Matt Rooney at Bleacher Nation: "Braxton's way healthier than he was last year... Theo has a bunch of games under his belt, too. And then, obviously, when Ozzy's ready, he's started a bunch of big games himself. So we feel good about it." On the 53 overall, per Mayer: "This is probably the more versatile roster we've had." The initial 53 as set Sunday, per Moraitis: three quarterbacks, three running backs, five receivers, four tight ends, 10 offensive linemen, 10 defensive linemen, four linebackers, 11 defensive backs, three specialists — before Tuesday's swap moved the front and the linebackers again.

And the question our last episode closed on. Jaylon Johnson was full-go at Wednesday's practice, listed with an elbow, per Lieser — the arm scare from the Tennessee joint practice, answered. Tyrique Stevenson was a full participant too, per Patrick Flowers at Bleacher Nation. Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen on Johnson, per Luis Medina at Bleacher Nation: "I've seen a guy that's taken a step forward." The open question is now Austin Booker's groin: he, Kyle Monangai and D'Marco Jackson sat out Tuesday's first practice of the week, and Poles said he was uncertain about Booker for Week 1, per Finley. Jaylon Jones, whom we listed among the injured-reserve placements, reached an injury settlement and was released Wednesday, per Courtney Cronin at ESPN.

Back in July we previewed the Bears as a team priced like a fluke that isn't one — the core of last season's surge real, with the regression tax likelier to be paid out of depth than out of contention. The core: 11 six, the second seed, an offense that ranked eighth in expected points added per play — the measure of how much each snap moved the expected score — a defense nineteenth by that measure, and a league-leading 33 takeaways. Cut day said the tax would come due in the secondary. This week said the front office is willing to pay it with churn — two players cut and re-signed inside 48 hours, a starting corner the general manager will not promise back, and the Week 1 corner our last episode worried about back at full speed. Defensible, and not clean. Same place last week left it, with more paperwork behind it.

Next is the Panthers, Sunday, September 13, at Bank of America Stadium. What to watch: whether Booker practices by the weekend, and whether Malik Muhammad keeps the nickel job Lieser had him in line to start on Wednesday. The Recap follows the game.

_Data via nflverse._