The Bears brought Marcus Davenport in on Aug. 17 as a low-risk swing at a pass rusher, and so far the whole thing has played out like a player with a long injury history being handled carefully.
That was always the backdrop here. Davenport, a former first-round pick, has been tied to defensive coordinator Dennis Allen since his early days with the New Orleans Saints, which gave Chicago at least some reason to believe the fit could make sense. But there’s no shortcut to football shape, and the Bears know better than most that a player who has appeared in just 14 of a possible 51 games over the last three seasons has to be brought along the right way.
Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune recently floated the idea that Davenport could begin the season on the practice squad while he gets fully ramped up. If that’s the route the Bears are considering, it would also make sense that he could clear waivers at roster cuts. That can happen.
For now, though, Davenport still hasn’t shown up on the practice field in Bears colors. Thursday’s joint practice against the Tennessee Titans came 10 days after the signing, and while the schedule around the second and third preseason games has been lighter than earlier in camp, he remains out of sight.
Before that practice, with Austin Booker already dealing with a groin injury, head coach Ben Johnson was asked whether Davenport had any issue of his own.
"He's not dealing with anything", Johnson said. "We want to make sure we're being smart with him.
He's a player that's missed a lot of time over the last three years. So he's being integrated into the program from conditioning, to strength program, drill work, and we're slowly ramping him into it."
Johnson saw plenty of Davenport’s missed time up close last season while serving as the Detroit Lions’ offensive coordinator. Most of the 15 games Davenport missed in 2024 came after a season-ending triceps tear, suffered on a dirty move by Arizona Cardinals offensive tackle Paris Johnson. He had already missed one game before that because of another injury, and the bigger issue has been durability that has followed him through much of his career.
The Bears are right to be cautious. Still, it would have been reasonable to expect Davenport to have gotten onto the field in some limited capacity by now, which is what led to the question for Johnson in the first place. That hasn’t happened.
Chicago knew the risk when it brought him in, even before the workout that came the day before the signing. Whether this turns into anything meaningful for the pass rush remains to be seen. For now, the start has been exactly what you’d expect from a team trying to ease an injury-prone edge rusher into the mix: no hurry, no surprises, and no Davenport on the field yet.
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