The Chicago Bears will play their first preseason game against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday. However, they were still exploring their roster options on Saturday, and they decided to add to their running back room with Brittain Brown.
A seventh-round pick by the Las Vegas Raiders in 2022, Brown has six games of NFL regular-season experience, but he has not played since his rookie season.
His addition could prove telling about the Bears’ RB room.
Bears Expected to Add Former Raiders Draft Pick to Training Camp Roster: Report
Ex-Raiders RB Brittain Brown to Join Bears
“The #Bears are expected to sign running back Brittain Brown, sources tell @CBSSports,” CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz reported on X on August 9. “Was a 2022 draft pick of the Raiders and spent last year on the Seahawks’ practice squad. Posted 2,284 career rushing yards in college at a combination of UCLA and Duke.”
According to Pro Football Reference, Brown has logged 61 regular-season snaps in his career, all of which came on special teams.
However, adding him could be telling about the status of third-year back Roschon Johnson.
Johnson missed the final two practices of the week, and his status for the Bears’ preseason opener against the Miami Dolphins is unclear. Teams do not have to issue injury reports in the preseason like they do in the regular season.
The Bears still have starter D’Andre Swift, rookie seventh-round pick Kyle Monangai, and reserve former undrafted free agents Deion Hankins (2025) and Ian Wheeler (2024).
The Bears also checked in with veteran running back Jamaal Williams.
He is a player that head coach Ben Johnson and defensive coordinator Dennis Allen both know well. A fourth-round pick by the Green Bay Packers in 2017, he played for Johnson in 2022 with the Detroit Lions and Allen with the New Orleans Saints in 2023 and 2024.
“Former Lions running back Jamaal Williams worked out today for the Chicago Bears,” ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter reported on X on August 9.
That is a clear focus on the running back room, regardless of the reason.
Former Bears QB Justin Fields Makes Jets Debut Against Packers
Bears quarterback Caleb Williams is not playing in the opener, per Johnson, but former Chicago first-round pick and starter Justin Fields did for his new team, the New York Jets. Moreover, Fields made his Jets debut against a familiar opponent.
The Packers.
Fields completed 3-of-4 passes for 42 yards, adding another 14 yards and 1 TD on two carries in his lone series.
The Bears traded up with the New England Patriots to select Fields with the No. 11 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. They traded him to the Pittsburgh Steelers during the 2024 offseason before drafting Williams.
Dolphins Media Calls Out Bears Over ‘Cheap’ & ‘Dirty’ Practice
One of the biggest storylines around the Bears in training camp this summer, particularly in the last week or so, has been the physicality with which they have practiced. That continued on Friday in their joint practice with the Dolphins.
There were multiple big hits and skirmishes, including among the Dolphins’ defensive players.
However, the Miami Herald’s Omar Kelly called them out for “clearly trying to create a renegade identity on defense. It was cheap and at times crossed a line. But it was football.”
“It was dirty. You aren’t supposed to hit in a joint practice. The Bears were lighting people up,” Kelly said in a previous post on August 9. “There was one instance where a Bears defender tried to [clothesline] a Dolphins receiver. Who does that on a football field, much less a practice?”
Kelly also noted that the Dolphins needed that wake-up call.
Still, he insisted that only one side, the Bears’ side, was holding a practice with live tackling while the other, the Dolphins, was not.