The Chicago Bears haven’t stopped looking for ways to improve their roster even with free agency and the draft over. GM Ryan Pace is notorious for churning the bottom of the depth chart this time of year. With mandatory minicamps off and running, it appears he’s still at work. The team had five players present for veteran tryouts. Two of them, Sal Cannella and Tyrone Wheatley Jr., came over from the Spring League. However, it was two more familiar names that should draw interest.
The first is E.J. Gaines. A 29-year old cornerback, he was a 6th round pick of the Rams in 2014. Though he became a journeyman during his career, he did develop a reputation for being fairly reliable from a coverage standpoint. In 43 career games, he has four interceptions and 33 passes defended. Sadly injuries slowed him down the past few years. First, it was concussion problems in 2018 and then a season-ending core muscle injury in 2019. Last season he was one of many players to opt out over the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now he’s hoping to get his career back on track.
The same can be said for the other veteran joining him in Jake Butt. College football fans will remember the name well. Butt was a star at Michigan, considered one of the best tight ends in football his senior year of 2016. Then he tragically tore his ACL in the Orange Bowl. That dark cloud soon followed him to the NFL. He failed to play his rookie year of 2017 with the Denver Broncos because of that injury. Then upon finally returning in 2018, he tore the ACL again. The third time since high school. All on the same knee.
Butt didn’t see action again until 2020 and what little hope he had of staying on the field evaporated after just five games due to a hamstring issue. The poor guy has endured a lot. Now he is hoping for a fresh start. He is still just 25-years old and at least has experience as an effective blocker. The Bears are probably seeking somebody to back up Cole Kmet in that regard. Perhaps he may finally stay healthy.
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#Bears have max allowed 5 players in minicamp on a tryout basis, including former Michigan TE Jake Butt. pic.twitter.com/RuQtpBWmiQ
— Brad Biggs (@BradBiggs) June 15, 2021
Chicago Bears are never wrong to explore such options
Their depth at both cornerback and tight end can easily be called into question. Kyle Fuller and Buster Skrine are both gone. Their secondary is lacking some experience now. Outside of Kmet and Jimmy Graham? The Bears don’t really have much. They lost Demetrius Harris to free agency. Nobody left on the roster has his blocking prowess in case Kmet was to go down. With that context, both Gaines and Butt would make sense.
It comes down to how they look in minicamp practices. Normally in such cases, injury-prone players never escape that tag. However, there are exceptions. Thomas Davis saw his promising linebacker career almost ruined by multiple injuries from 2009 to 2011.
People thought he was done.
He ended up battling back and went to three Pro Bowls. So what Butt is trying to do is possible. Whether he gets that opportunity depends on the first impression he makes this week. It won’t be easy. The Chicago Bears already have a full roster. So the two men will have to look good enough to where the team believes they must cut two other players in order to make room for them. An uphill climb for sure.