![\"T.J.](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/chicago-bears-v-las-vegas-raiders-las-vegas-nevada-september-28-e1785959344107.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Bears head coach Ben Johnson.<\/p>\n
The Chicago Bears<\/a> did not have to spend much time in training camp without veteran linebacker T.J. Edwards<\/a> on the practice field with the rest of the team.<\/p>\n Before August 5\u2019s practice, the Bears officially announced<\/a> they activated Edwards from the active\/non-football injury (NFI) list. The 30-year-old had missed the first week of camp with a calf injury that he sustained while training off-site during the offseason.<\/p>\n Bears general manager Ryan Poles had indicated that Edwards was not dealing with a major injury and that the team expected him back in short order, but his return is still a significant boost for a defense that began camp with a shortage of healthy linebackers.<\/p>\n The Bears also placed rookie Keyshaun Elliott<\/a> and Noah Sewell<\/a> on the active\/physically unable to perform (PUP) list when they reported for camp, depriving them of multiple linebackers who are projected to make their 53-man roster entering the 2026 season.<\/p>\n Edwards didn\u2019t return to an intensive practice on Wednesday, as The Chicago Tribune\u2019s Brad Biggs noted that the Bears had a lighter day in shells (shoulder pads and helmets).<\/p>\n The Bears will return to full pads for their next practice on Thursday, August 6.<\/p>\n T.J. Edwards Needs to Avoid Injury Troubles in 2026<\/p>\n That Edwards was able to return from his injury so quickly is an encouraging sign for him as he prepares to embark on his fourth season as a probable starter for the Bears.<\/p>\n Even still, Edwards must make sure that he stays healthy for the duration of the 2026 season if he wants to stick around in Chicago through the end of his $20 million deal.<\/p>\n After signing a two-year, $20 million extension in the offseason, Edwards missed seven regular-season games for the Bears in 2025 due to hamstring injuries. He also fractured his fibula in their wild-card playoff game against the Green Bay Packers<\/a>, knocking him out of their lineup for their divisional-round game against the Los Angeles Rams<\/a>.<\/p>\n While the Bears are likely willing to chalk Edwards\u2019 injury troubles up to bad luck, they won\u2019t have much patience if injuries become a problem for him yet again in 2026. They also have a feasible replacement for him on the roster after extending D\u2019Marco Jackson<\/a> \u2014 who played in Edwards\u2019 place during his absences in 2025 \u2014 on a two-year contract.<\/p>\n Which Linebackers Will Make Bears\u2019 53-Man Roster?<\/p>\n With Edwards back, the Bears are one step closer to full strength at the linebacker role, but there remains some debate about which linebackers will make the 53-man roster.<\/p>\n The veteran linebackers with multi-year contracts \u2014 Bush, Edwards and Jackson \u2014 are all safe locks to make the initial 53-man roster so long as they all avoid injury troubles. Elliott, a 2026 fifth-round pick, is also likely a shoo-in to make the team, but the Bears will need him to come off the PUP list sooner rather than later to truly evaluate him.<\/p>\n Chicago\u2019s job gets trickier after those four linebackers, though.<\/p>\n Sewell is recovering from an Achilles tear that he sustained in late December 2025, but the longer he spends on the injury list, the more likely it is the Bears will shift focus to other competitors for roster spots, such as 2025 fourth-round pick Ruben Hyppolite<\/a> II.<\/p>\n The Bears also have Jack Sanborn<\/a>, UFL standout Tony Fields<\/a> II and Nephi Sewell \u2014 who is Noah Sewell\u2019s brother \u2014 competing for what might only be one roster spot.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tJordan J. Wilson<\/a> is a sports reporter who covers the NFL and MLB for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers. He has previously covered all levels of sports \u2014 high school, college and pro \u2014 for a variety of publications including The Indianapolis Star, The News-Gazette, Springfield State-Journal Register and Peoria Journal Star. More about Jordan J. Wilson<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Bears head coach Ben Johnson. The Chicago Bears did not have to spend much time in training…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":965179,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2070],"tags":[374,692,391,2493,7,6],"class_list":["post-965178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago-bears","tag-bears","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-bears","tag-chicagobears","tag-football","tag-nfl"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117044753445796931","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=965178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/965179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=965178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=965178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=965178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}