Bears make last-second move, release veteran wide receiver ahead of Week 1

All eyes are on the Chicago Bears with their season opener this Sunday when the Tennessee Titans come to Chicago.

Expectations have not been this high in Chicago in a while. The feeling is that their defense is solid, if not great, and the offense finally has its savior in Caleb Williams at quarterback. However, in the days leading up to the highly anticipated Week 1 game, the Bears decided to release a veteran wide receiver and trimmed Caleb Williams’ target list by one with Dante Pettis no longer on the team due to injury.

According to Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune , the Bears are releasing wide receiver Dante Pettis with an injury settlement. He suffered the injury in August, but the injury was undisclosed. All anyone knows about the injury was that it was going to last a bit because the Bears were going to put him on their Injured Reserve. What the settlement does is that it completely releases Pettis so he is able to sign with another team instead of just wasting away on Injured Reserve for a few weeks.

Injuries plagued his career in the National Football League over the last two seasons and played a part in why the Bears decided to release him. Pettis caught 19 passes for 245 yards and three touchdowns and played in all 17 games for the Bears during his first year with the team in 2022. While the Bears re-signed him for the 2023 season, he suffered a back injury that landed him on season-ending injured reserve in August and cost him the entire 2023 season as a result.

The Bears still decided to give him another chance for the 2024 season with a one-year contract, despite adding more than a few upgrades to the receiving corps. He made a strong case for the roster in the preseason, with five receptions for 98 receiving yards and two touchdowns, and then the injury happened and it took him out of the running. Pettis is now a free agent and is available for any team that needs some help at receiver, but his market could be small based on how healthy he actually is due to the injury being undisclosed when the Bears made the roster move.

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