Chicago Bears make 2 waiver claims, bringing back a familiar face, and add to practice squad

Chicago Bears cutdown day: What you need to know

It's the NFL's cutdown day, and the Chicago Bears face tough roster decisions. FOX 32's Lou Canellis breaks down who could make the 53-man roster.

Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles was open about how much fun the waiver wire process is after cutdown day.

It's not the same as when he first got to Chicago, which is when he was making five or six claims. But, it's still a process Poles enjoys nonetheless.

"This next phase a little bit is kind of like old school scouting," Poles said on Tuesday. "You have a thousand guys on the waiver and you go to work and we'll be here all night. We've got food ordered and we'll sit in the draft room all night. We'll just sit and we'll identify guys and then we have great communication with our coaches and we'll see if we can find some players that can help us on our 53 or even help on the practice squad and just continue to elevate the entire team."

That process yielded two waiver claims for the Bears on Wednesday afternoon, including one player the Bears are familiar with.

What we know:

The Bears officially claimed defensive back Jaylon Jones from Arizona and linebacker D'Marco Jackson from New Orleans.

Jones is a player the Bears know well. Poles signed him as an undrafted free agent out of Ole Miss in 2022, and stuck with the Bears through the 2024 season. He played in 41 games for the Bears in those three seasons and started five.

Jackson is also a fourth-year player. He was drafted by the Saints in the 5th round of the 2022 NFL Draft. He's played in 27 games for New Orleans, and was mainly a special teams player. In those 27 games, Jackson only played 73 defensive snaps. He played 579 snaps on special teams, however.

With linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga on the short-term injured reserve, the Bears needed some depth at linebacker and on the special teams unit.

In corresponding moves for the waiver claims, the Bears released Devin Duvernay and Scott Daly. However, it would be fair to expect those two players back soon. The Bears have committed to Daly as their long snapper, and need a returnman with a talent like Duvernay.

Bears Practice Squad:

The Bears have also finalized their practice squad:

Maurice Alexander
Miles Boykin
Brittain Brown
Stephen Carlson
Xavier Carlton
Power Echols
Luke Elkin
Tre Flowers
Jonathan Ford
Mekhi Garner
Tanoh Kpassagnon
Jamree Kromah
Jordan McFadden
JP Richardson
Ricky Stromberg

By the numbers:

There were also three number swaps for the Bears before their final training camp practice.

Luther Burden, who wore No. 3 in college, will switch from No. 87 to No. 13. Jahdae Walker will also switch from No. 20 to No. 10. Finally, defensive back Nahshon Wright will switch from No. 25 to No. 26.

Those three will officially change jersey numbers going forward, but will wear their old numbers for one last day in Wednesday's practice.