The Chicago Bears are still fine-tuning their roster at this late stage of the season, with Ty Summers the latest addition.
The Chicago Tribune’s Brad Biggs reported on Wednesday that the Bears signed the veteran linebacker to their practice squad amid their preparations to face the Cleveland Browns in Week 15. It comes on the heels of the Bears’ latest gamble not playing out as they might have hoped.
At any rate, Summers arrives with an opportunity to face his old club in two weeks.
Bears Bolster Special Teams With Journeyman LB Ty Summers
Bears Sign LB Ty Summers to Practice Squad
The Bears had to reconfigure their special teams unit after losing linebacker Carl Jones Jr., whom they waived to sign offensive lineman Jordan McFadden to their 53-man roster last Saturday.
The Baltimore Ravens claimed and were awarded Jones. That eliminated the possibility that he could return to the Bears as a member of the practice squad.
Summer, 29, arrives with 90 total tackles and 1 fumble recovery in 88 career games.
Originally a seventh-round draft pick (No. 226 overall) of the 2019 draft by the Green Bay Packers, he has also played for the Jacksonville Jaguars, New York Giants, New Orleans Saints – notably, under Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen – and the Detroit Lions.
Summers joins a Bears linebacking corps that includes Amen Ogbongbemiga, D’Marco Jackson, and Ruben Hyppolite II behind Noah Sewell, T.J. Edwards, and Tremaine Edmunds.
He joins Jalen Reeves-Maybin on the Bears’ practice squad.
Bears Host Multiple Former Draft Picks in Workout
The Bears were interested in more than Summers, even though he was their only addition on the day.
Biggs also reported on Bluesky at the Bears worked out multiple players on Wednesday.
“#Bears had 7 players in for a tryout today with 2 spots open on practice squad,” Biggs posted on X on December 9. “WRs Jha’Quan Jackson & Dohnte Meyers, NTs Keondre Coburn & Isaiah Raikes, DBs Joshuah Bledsoe & Darrick Forrest, QB Taylor Elgersma.”
Jackson was a sixth-round selection by the Tennessee Titans in 2024, taken No. 182 overall, and has experience as a returner.
Meyers is a CFL product out of Delta State who also offers experience as a returner.
Coburn was a sixth-round draft pick by the Kansas City Chiefs. He won a Super Bowl with the franchise as a rookie in 2023. Raikes is a rookie undrafted free agent and was a teammate of injured Bears rookie second-round pick Shemar Turner at Texas A&M in 2023.
Bledsoe was a sixth-rounder in 2021, taken 188th overall by the New England Patriots. Forrest went No. 163 overall in that same class to the Washington Commanders.
Elgersma is another CFL product who also spent time with the Packers.