Hard Knocks recap: Velus Jones Jr., Ian Wheeler, Austin Reed get one last chance to impress Bears
The timing of the NFL's big roster cutdown deadline and the airing of the final two episodes of HBO's "Hard Knocks" makes it a tad awkward as far as storytelling is concerned. We already know which players make the 53-man rosters for all 32 teams.
The latest episode of "Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Chicago Bears" that aired Tuesday night gave viewers a personalized look at the players on the roster fringes struggling to stick with the team for the regular season. These players reside among that multifarious collection of hopefuls — mostly third-day draft picks, undrafted rookies, former practice squad players and future UFL possibilities — that exist almost exclusively in the wilderness that is roster spots Nos. 54-90 in an NFL team’s training camp assemblage.
A lot of hopes and dreams are dashed when teams lay waste to their bloated offseason/training camp rosters on cutdown day. These are the Chicago Bears players (and their now-known cutdown day fates) who were featured in Tuesday's penultimate episode of the 2024 training camp/preseason edition of "Hard Knocks":
Quarterback Austin Reed: Cut
As an undrafted rookie, Reed faced an uphill climb to make the Bears' regular-season roster. No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams and second-year quarterback Tyson Bagent were set as QB1 and QB2. Veteran backup Brett Rypien appeared to be penciled into the third spot on the depth chart, but he also was released on Tuesday.
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It's never a good sign when a player who is not an established starter is not getting preseason playing time. This was the case with Reed, who played sparingly in the Bears' first two preseason games (though, to be fair, his first appearance in the Hall of Fame Game was cut short due to inclement weather) and did not appear in the Bears' third preseason game.
Reed did get to play the entire second half last Thursday against the Kansas City Chiefs, and played well, completing 8 of 10 passes for 63 yards and a touchdown. After helping the Bears complete an undefeated preseason (in four games, no less!), Reed gave his teammates an inspiring speech.
"Hey, we talk about legendary teams," Reed said. "We talk about the Patriots. We talk about the Legion of Boom. We talk about the '85 Bears. Then they are going to be talking about the '24 preseason Bears for the rest of our lives."
Reed always will have this undefeated preseason — which was meticulously documented by NFL Films and HBO — as he heads into the pro football unknown.
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Running back Velus Jones Jr.: Made the team
Jones is attempting to make the switch from wide receiver to running back (though he's still listed as a WR on the team's depth chart). He had a huge game against the Chiefs, rushing for 111 yards on 13 carries, including a 39-yard touchdown. Jones brings game-breaking speed to the field, but how much of it he sees on a suddenly talented Bears offense will remain to be seen.
Running back Ian Wheeler: Placed on IR
This was a real bummer to follow on this week's "Hard Knocks" knowing what happened to Wheeler in the preseason finale.
This week, NFL Films cameras spend a lot of time with the undrafted rookie Wheeler — who is putting medical school on hold to pursue his NFL dream — showing his ups and downs from training camp and the extensive coaching he received from running backs coach Chad Morton and assistant running backs coach Jennifer King.
Wheeler nearly had a long touchdown reception against the Chiefs, but the play was called back after an illegal forward pass penalty on Rypien. Later, Wheeler is injured on a run, limps off the field and then heads off to the locker room. The whole sequence also is shown from the viewpoint of Wheeler's mon, Beaura Wheeler, making it a heart-wrenching experience.
"I'm crushed," Morton says after hearing news that Wheeler suffered a major knee injury.
Wheeler's torn ACL landed him on injured reserve, meaning he will miss the entire 2024 NFL season.
Defensive back Adrian Colbert: Cut
Colbert is a well-traveled veteran player who entered the NFL as a seventh-round draft pick by the San Francisco 49ers in 2017. Since then, he has been with nine other NFL teams. He joined the Bears in 2022, appearing in two games that season before missing 2023 while on injured reserve.
He told the harrowing story about how when he was 9 years old he was hit by a car while riding his bike. Colbert spent a significant amount of time in an ICU and said he was in a coma for about two weeks. A doctor told him that he'd never play football again.
Fast forward to the preseason game against the Chiefs. Colbert was on the wrong end of a missed tackle on running back Carson Steele, who went on a long touchdown run. Later, Colbert breaks up a long pass attempt from quarterback Chris Oladokun to receiver Kadarius Toney (turns out, all three players from that sequence were released Tuesday). Later, a hit by Colbert on Oladokun forces a pick six by Reddy Steward.
In a memorable scene, "Hard Knocks" juxtaposed Colbert's Zen-like pregame ritual involving sound bowls alongside the testosterone-infused, hyper-machismo environs of an arm wrestling contest involving Travis Bagent, the father of the Bears' backup QB. Travis emerged victorious.
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