Last offseason, the Chicago Bears seemed to have their slot cornerback situation all figured out. Kyler Gordon had just signed a lucrative new deal after a strong season, and he looked poised for a breakout year.
Instead, the Bears' nickelback missed precious time with injuries. He barely played and didn't do much when he was 'healthy' enough to suit up in 2025, and he's now dealing with the same ailments that kept him on the shelf last season.
The Bears seem frustrated with his situation, and it sounds like they don't even know for sure whether he'll be healthy enough to suit up for the season opener. Considering that, The Chicago Tribune’s Brad Biggs believes he may not even make the 53-man roster.
The Bears might cut Kyler Gordon
“Considering we’re in the middle of the second week of the preseason and Gordon remains on the PUP list, I’d say chances of him being on the 53 for Week 1 are fading by the day,” Biggs wrote. “Remember, Gordon was tracking to return last summer from a soft-tissue injury suffered in the first week of August, and then he had a hamstring injury flare up before the Week 1 game against the Minnesota Vikings.”
Of course, this would be a desperate measure. According to Over The Cap, cutting ties with their banged-up cornerback would cost them $9.590 million in cap space. They only have $4.5 million in available cap space right now, and while that number will go up after roster cuts, it's still a big hit.
As such, they might only cut him if they feel there's something else — perhaps something fishy — going on behind closed doors. They've been tight-lipped about his recovery, but maybe they don't like his chances of recovering at all.
Rookie Malik Muhammad alternated snaps in the boundary and in the slot in the preseason debut. He looked the part in nickel packages, stuffing the run and making some big plays to potentially throw his name in the hat as a fill-lin — or full-time — replacement.
Gordon was one of the team's proven commodities in the secondary. The Bears' defensive backfield underwent a major overhaul between seasons, and Coby Bryant, their biggest offseason addition, will miss the entire regular season with a knee injury.
The injury bug has stung this team pretty badly in training camp. The season opener is just around the corner, and a defensive unit that already had plenty of doubts is only looking thinner and more brittle by the day.
The front office will have to make some tough calls during roster-cut day, and some might not be driven only by money. If Gordon's situation is as shady and concerning as it looks right now, this might — shockingly — be the end of the line for him in the Windy City.
| More Bears on DaWindyCity |
Add us as a preferred source on Google