Chicago Bears practice squad center Doug Kramer has had one of the more intriguing seasons on the entire team.
A former sixth-round pick in 2022, Kramer had his entire rookie campaign wiped out with an injury. He began this season sideline too, sitting out until Week 7, logging two snaps in a win over the Las Vegas Raiders. Then, after the Bears waived Kramer with designs on adding him back to the practice squad from whence he came, the Arizona Cardinals claimed him.
Suddenly, the Hinsdale, Illinois native and University of Illinois alum was on the move. Kramer’s tenure with the Cardinals would be short-lived. The Cards claimed him on November 6. That was two days after the Bears waived him, only to cut him nine days later on November 15. He was back with the Bears on November 17.
“It was nuts,” Kramer told Clocker Sports.
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“It’s one of those things where, obviously, you’re very grateful that another team is going to take a chance on you,” Kramer continued.
Kramer is the second former draft pick by this front office regime to be waived and then signed by another team. The other was 2023 seventh-round pick Travis Bell, who the Atlanta Falcons claimed earlier this season. That is notably the current team of former Bears general manager Ryan Pace. Both times, the Bears intended to bring the player back.
“That’s bittersweet because I definitely love this locker room,” said Kramer, who has earned a lot of confidence for such an unproven player. “I love the guys here, and I truly believe in the guys in this locker room. So, yeah, I mean it was hard to say goodbye.”
The front office’s belief in him is evident in their drafting him and bringing him back.
His back-to-back seasons marred by injuries and their depth woes earlier this season would have made it easy to move on. Kramer called the entire experience a “whirlwind”.
“You don’t have a lot of time to process what’s going on,” Kramer said. “You find out the same day you’re leaving to go to another team. So you really just have to fall back on trying to be the best professional you can be and this is the situation that you dealt with, go make the most of it. Go take the opportunity and run with it.”
Kramer traveled over 3400 miles. It’s a three-hour and 45-minute flight. All over nine days – and a “couple hours” on both ends. He never even got to suit up for the rebuilding Cardinals, made inactive for their Week 10 win over the Falcons.
At any rate, Kramer is happy to be back.
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“I was really excited to see everyone,” Kramer said. “Obviously, being here for a year and a half and battling through some of the adversity that we have together, you grow pretty close with the guys in here. Even with a lot of the staff. You get pretty close with people so it was really nice to see everyone.”
At some point, Kramer’s tenure with the team that drafted him will come to an end – everyone’s does. Be it in retirement or well before, that is inevitable. But, for the time being, Kramer gets to relish living out the dreams of countless Bears fans.
“I was happy to just be able to come back to the team that I grew up loving,” Kramer said. “I get another opportunity to put on this gear this helmet. It means a lot to me. Happy to be back.