The Most Surprising Chicago Bears Cuts at the NFL Deadline

GM Ryan Pace is in his element now. The Chicago Bears cuts, courtesy of John Fox and his coaching staff are now complete. The September 2nd deadline has come and gone. Now the job at hand is to see if Pace and his front office can work a little more magic via the waiver wire and late free agency. It's not unprecedented. He's done it before and never had high position in the pecking order like this year. Of course in the midst of this it's fair to wonder if the team might've made a few mistakes amidst the 37 players they dismissed over the past couple days. It's not like it hasn't happened before. Here are a few names that the Bears allowed to walk in the past 24 hours and why it was at least a slight surprise.

Tanner Gentry (WR)

This of course is the big one. Gentry was the talk of Bears training camp. It seemed like every day he was making a handful of big catches. Fans grew to love the undrafted free agent out of Wyoming. Then in the preseason he provided a couple notable plays including a 45-yard touchdown catch from Mitch Trubisky. Given the Bears' woeful situation at wide receiver, most felt that made him a lock to make the roster. Turns out he might be the next Daniel Braverman. A training camp phenom destined for the practice squad. [video width="1280" height="720" mp4="https://www.sportsmockery.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Every-Mitchell-Trubisky-Play-vs.-Tennessee-Bears-vs.-Titans-Preseason-Wk-3-Player-Highlights000230.793-000257.040.mp4"][/video]

Jaye Howard (DE)

It's hard to figure out the exact reasoning why the Bears decided to part ways with Howard. He seemed to be improving over the course of the preseason and they needed defensive line help. So what happened. Likely two factors. First is the status of his hip. The Bears brass probably weren't comfortable with its healing progress. Second, and more likely, is the emergence of both Jonathan Bullard and Roy Robertson-Harris as legitimate forces over the past month. Along with veteran Mitch Unrein it was just too difficult to find room.

Isaiah Irving (OLB)

The knee injury to Lamarr Houston and shady health of Pernell McPhee put a major squeeze on the Bears outside linebacker position. Edge rushers are at a premium for them with Leonard Floyd and Willie Young being their only viable options. So wouldn't it make sense to keep a young prospect around who had three sacks in two games to end the preseason? Apparently not. Odds are they try to sneak him onto the practice squad.

John Timu (ILB)

All anybody can say about John Timu is he plays hard. The inside linebacker has his faults but he's a smart defender with uncanny ability to time the snap and make stops in the backfield. It looked like he'd done enough to secure a reserve spot after a couple nice games but not so much. Christian Jones also played well and he brings added versatility on special teams. In the end that was something Timu couldn't offer.