The Bears’ brass end-of-season press conferences today were…something. Ryan Poles answered just about every question asked of him but didn’t reveal all that much. Kevin Warren and George McCaskey sounded just about exactly how you’d expect.
One bit of good news we did get today, though, was that after missing the final 12 games of the regular season with a concussion, safety Jaquan Brisker is feeling much better and is on track to return next season. Ryan Poles mentioned that both Brisker and offensive lineman Ryan Bates were back to “feeling like themselves” and are expected to be back and healthy for next season, though he didn’t provide a specific timetable.
Injury updates:– OL Braxton Jones had ankle surgery– DL Andrew Billings' pec has been surgically repaired– CB Jaylon Jones had a shoulder surgery– S Jaquan Brisker and OL Ryan Bates are "feeling back to themselves" after concussion issues
— Bleacher Nation Bears (@BN_Bears) January 7, 2025Bears Jaquan Brisker, Ryan Bates Feeling Better After Concussions
Whether you believe either or both of these two can be trusted to play a significant role on Chicago’s football team next year can absolutely be debated, but it’s nice to hear that both players are recovering from their concussions. Bates’ concussion came in Week 11 against Green Bay – nearly two months ago – while Brisker’s came all the way back in Week 5 against Carolina. That’s a long time for both to be dealing with a concussion, and those are nothing to mess around with. So, in that regard, I’m very happy to hear both are back to feeling like themselves.
The next discussion topic will be centered around how much you can trust either of them when it comes to making an impact on next year’s team. Brisker will almost certainly be back. Chicago would only save about $1.7 million against the cap by parting ways with him, and cap space is nowhere near an issue this offseason.
When healthy, Brisker has proven to be a good safety in the NFL, but the problem this year was his health. In the first two years of his career, he started 15 games a piece – that’s not too bad. But coming off as significant of a concussion as this, while you can certainly hope he’ll come back and be the same player he was, you can’t really gamble that he will be or will have the ability to stay healthy. While Brisker will likely be back in 2025, I’d be stunned if there wasn’t a contingency plan there, either using a draft pick on a safety or signing a veteran with some juice left.
Mandatory Credit: Mike Dinovo-Imagn ImagesRyan Bates is a tricky case. Chicago can save $3.5 million against the cap by cutting him. That’s not a huge amount, but it’s also not nothing. This season was the first for Bates since his rookie year that he didn’t suit up for at least 15 games. However, only one of those seasons was spent as a full-time starter. Was this year an injury outlier, or was it more of an indication of being injury-prone with more reps?
That will be for Ryan Poles to decide. Given the Bears’ extreme lack of depth on the offensive line, I wouldn’t expect an immediate decision on this one. If Bates is healthy, he probably presents valuable depth on the offensive line that can slot in at multiple positions. If Poles can add several pieces in the offseason and would like to deploy that $3.5 million elsewhere, you can probably expect him to move on from the 27-year-old guard.
But given that draft capital was given up for him, I would think that Chicago would like to try and hang on to Bates as a depth (granted, farther down the depth chart) option in a year where the offensive line needs a whole lot of pieces added.
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