The Bears bring several practice squadders back on their offseaosn roster.

On Monday, the Chicago Bears signed the following ten practice squad players to 2024 reserve/future contracts:

Nsimba Webster, WR

Stephen Carlson, TE

Aviante Collins, OL

Roy Mbaeteka, OL

Bill Murray, OL

Micah Baskerville, LB

Adrian Colbert, DB

Michael Dwumfour, DL

Daniel Hardy, DL

These types of deals are standard this time of year when teams conclude their season, and it’s possible the Bears add to this list.

Our sister site, Behind the Steel Curtain, had a good explainer of what these types of contracts mean in a series they ran last year.

Whether a player is on the practice squad of a team whose season is over or simply a free agent, they are free to sign with any NFL team for the following year. But since rosters are locked when a team season is over, these players signed a type of contract, a Reserve/Future contract, where they do not count on the team’s salary cap or roster count until the beginning of the league year. Once a player signs one of these contracts, they are on the NFL’s Reserve/Future List and they are not free to negotiate with other teams as they are under contract even though the league year has not kicked in.

Teams can sign as many players to futures contracts as they choose as long as it does not put them over the 90-man limit that takes effect the first day of the new league year.