USA Today
Expect These Bears to Impress in Exhibition Play
Ken Mastrole owns a unique place in Bears history.
Mastrole runs his own quarterback academy now and has had eventual NFL players attend, including Teddy Bridgewater and Jacoby Brissett.
During his playing days, Mastrole was the 2001 preseason Bears QB darling as a fourth-string guy who looked good in preseaason. He made several nice throws to stand out in meaningless games. At the time, he was throwing mostly to another player trying to earn a roster spot, wide receiver Kenny Christian.
The two had a particularly effective game to close the 2021 preseason. Mastrole threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Christian to rally the Bears subs to a 19-17 win over the Rams. Many seemed convinced Mastrole would make the roster based on these preseason games.
In the end Mastrole didn't make the team. Christian didn't make it. All the excitement over this miracle rise vanished.
Things like this seem to happen every year in preseason games. Two years ago it was Rodney Adams winning the hearts of Bears fans by catching a long TD pass from Andy Dalton in a day preseason game after spending the night at the hospital when his wife gave birth.
At least Adams did get on the practice squad, and then into one game, but never played another one and didn't get brought back in 2022.
This type of thing will happen again this year, just like every year. Some lesser-known or completely unknown Bears player who wasn't drafted by them will be the new Mastrole, Christian or Adams and become all the rage in meaningless preseason games.
What needs to be remembered about this coming preseason is there could be fewer chances because the Bears have made so many changes since last season they may see a need to look more closely at their top players during games. Then again, coaches always seem to say this and it amounts to one series more.
Here are the five most likely to become preseason flashes.
DE Terrell Lewis
Pass rusher get little chance to shine in non-padded or even padded practices because they can't take down the QB. Lewis has done this before and a team with problems at edge rusher is likely to give him as many chances as possible to do it. Considering he has six sacks against NFL players, when he gets into preseason games against inexperienced players he might feast. Lewis was an Alabama player who battled through knee issues in the past and at 6-foot-5, 262 pounds, he is a defensive end who could excel in preseason when he's facing far less-experienced opponents.
"I played with him, so I know what type of player he is," Bears safety Eddie Jackson, a former Crimson Tide player, said. "I feel like right now, he's recreating himself: new team, new identity."
WR Daurice Fountain
He is the 6-foot-2, 210-pound wide receiver who was with both Indianapolis when Matt Eberflus was Colts defensive coordinator and Kansas City when Bears GM Ryan Poles worked in the Chiefs front office. He's made two NFL catches in three targets and has been on NFL practice squads since 2018, including the Bears' practice squad, because they signed him in late October last year. Despite being on a roster with a receiver corps ranked last in the league by Pro Football Focus, he didn't get onto the roster in a regular-season game. In off-season work, Fountain seemed to get targeted an awful lot so expect he'll come out of preseason with a good number of catches.
WR Joe Reed
Reed is a big guy at 6-foot, 224 pounds and the Bears are trying to get the ball in the hands of wide receivers more for running plays, like Deebo Samuel does for the 49ers. It wouldn't be surprising for him to get this opportunity in preseason and impress this way. He had 34 rushing attempts in college with Virginia in addition to 129 receptions. He got in 11 games as a rookie with the Chargers, never caught a pass in three seasons, and is now someone the Bears have been looking at closely in the off-season. He can stand out all he wants at the end of preseason games but the competition will be fierce at wide receiver this year.
QB Tyson Bagent
Of course there is a quarterback on the list. There always is one who throws some TD passes in mop-up time at the end of preseason games and gets everyone excited. Bagent is a Division-II player from Shepherd, the undrafted free agent they signed, and will complete passes against opponents' reserves. Get ready for it. He's not Nathan Peterman, who everyone has seen plenty of already. He's a new face as a passer and when he throws a few TD passes there will be a big social media push to play him more.
DT D'Anthony Jones
An undersized undrafted defensive tackle at 6-foot, 276, who can play end but is too short for that spot in the NFL. The Bears had him lining up as a three-technique for off-season work. He had 15 sacks and 23 1/2 tackles for loss in three seasons for the Houston Cougars, while displaying a real knack for getting into the gap to make big plays. The preseason games will not be much different than college as he is able to outquick opponents who are trying to make a roster at the line of scrimmage. It's when he must face legitimate NFL offensive linemen is when he'd have the problem. He won't really face them in the second half of preseason games so he'll leave an impression in games that's difficult to judge for fans but coaches will have practice tape to peruse.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
