The Chicago Bears took a big step towards the 2025 NFL regular season after wrapping up the preseason this past weekend. The next important date on the Bears' offseason schedule is Tuesday, which marks this year's 53-man roster deadline, forcing first-year head coach Ben Johnson's staff to finally name their initial lineup for the upcoming campaign.
Johnson & Co. might struggle to cut or keep certain names, while others are more obvious roster casualties due to poor preseason play. That includes one of the Bears' offseason signings who struggled to look like a legitimate NFL player in this month's exhibition action.
Bears CB Nashon Wright Has Let Chicago Down This Preseason
It isn't a secret that the Bears are fortunate to have some serious defensive playmakers in their secondary. Defensive backs like Jaylon Johnson, Kyler Gordon, and Kevin Byard are among the best players at their position; however, that didn't stop Chicago from fleshing out its secondary with some offseason moves, one of which saw the team sign free-agent cornerback Nashon Wright.
The Bears' signing of the Dallas Cowboys' former 2021 third-round pick made sense at the time. Wright had accumulated plenty of experience from playing 33 games (3 starts) for the Cowboys and Minnesota Vikings throughout the four previous seasons, tallying 27 solo tackles, five broken-up passes, and an interception along the way.
Throw in the fact that people assumed he'd be motivated to prove himself after only playing one game last season, and it seemed like Wright was in the perfect opportunity to showcase his worth.
Much to Bears fans' (and his own) dismay, Wright failed to meet expectations this summer. Although he played well against the Kansas City Chiefs earlier this month, his performance against the Buffalo Bills last week may have ruined his outlook.
Between his three outings, the former Oregon State Beaver conceded four passes on five targets for 76 receiving yards and a 118.8 passer rating in three exhibition appearances. He also missed three of his seven tackling attempts, leading to an awful 28.5 Pro Football Focus tackling grade.
On top of that, Wright also finished with team-worst grades when it came to coverage (27.2), run stoppage (29.8), and overall defensive play (25.4). No matter how anyone looks at those stats, that isn't the type of performance of someone deserving to be on an NFL roster, especially with a first-year coach behind the bench.
Perhaps the Bears will give Wright a chance to solidify his role on the team by keeping him through the 53-man roster deadline. After that, he'll have to work extremely hard to prove that his preseason woes aren't indicative of what he can do on the gridiron.
Otherwise, Wright will continue to do the Windy City wrong.