The Chicago Bears were notoriously uninterested when both the AAF and XFL tried their hands at spring football the past couple of years. Not a single player from either of those upstart leagues ended up on the Bears’ roster. Now suddenly things have shifted. Just 24 hours after it was revealed Tyrone Wheatley Jr. of the Spring League Blues team would attend their mandatory minicamps for a tryout. It seems another will join him in the form of Salvatore Cannella. He played for the Generals team.
Cannella certainly looks the part of a modern tight end at 6’5, but was always a bit light for his position at 228 lbs. He spent three years of college at Auburn. Though he only caught 24 total passes in 2018 and 2019, five of them were touchdowns. He seemed to have a knack for making big catches in that area of the field. It just wasn’t enough to draw much interest from the NFL.
Even as an undrafted free agent.
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Things seem to have changed. Taking the opportunity to keep playing with the new league, Cannella settled into the new environment quite well. In fact he was an impact player almost from the jump. Defenses had a hard time covering him and his presence was felt every week right through the Generals’ victory in the championship game. The Spring League doesn’t have much data on stats, but the snippets available suggest he was a constant contributor.
He certainly did enough for the Bears to take notice. They already waived tight end Darion Clark this week. So clearly they’re thinking about making some changes to the position. This could be a big opportunity for Cannella.
You know QB Bryan Scott is in the zone when he's calling up all his favorite targets. This time it's TE Sal Cannella (@salnells) for six. Generals retake the lead.
XP by @Lirim_70 is good. pic.twitter.com/no66sln9H6
— The Spring League 🏈 (@TheSpringLeague) November 12, 2020
Chicago Bears are still searching for pass-catching skill at TE
Jimmy Graham will be 35-years old this season. Cole Kmet has loads of potential but remains unproven. So the team is continuing to comb every market possible for help. Cannella has traveled a long road for this shot at the NFL. He had to go the JUCO route in college to start. This helped him to get an opportunity at Auburn and he found ways to contribute. He was also a standout in basketball during those early days.
No doubt that helped with his receiving prowess. For him, it became a matter of whether he could morph his body into something that could handle the rigors of the pro level. Something that clearly wasn’t the case during his college days. By the look of his highlights with the Generals? He’s rectified that problem. It will be interesting to see what the Chicago Bears coaching staff sees this week when minicamps begin.
They’ve never been opposed to signing tryout players.
They already did it once a couple of weeks ago with Chris Lacy. The wide receiver impressed at rookie minicamps and earned the opportunity. Cannella will have a similar chance shortly. Here’s hoping he and Wheatley take advantage. Guys like that are always fun underdog stories for the NFL. Cannella doesn’t face a stacked depth chart if he reaches training camp either. The tight end position is comparatively thin for Chicago.