Jamree Kromah didn’t wait long to make his case.
In the Chicago Bears’ 34-10 preseason win over the Cleveland Browns, the edge rusher turned in the kind of performance that can change a roster conversation fast. Chicago rolled up more than 400 yards of offense and scored 24 second-half points, while the defense forced three turnovers to help put the game away. But Kromah was one of the names that kept jumping off the field.
He finished with six tackles, three tackles for loss, two quarterback hits, two sacks, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery. His first-half sack, strip, and recovery against Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson set the tone, and he added another sack later against Dillon Gabriel.
Afterward, Bears head coach Ben Johnson pointed to the work Kromah has been putting in behind the scenes.
"You see it in the springtime, the new techniques we're coaching with and he's flashing, but you wonder if this is when he turns it on," Johnson said. "In a game like this, you see the get-off, the relentlessness, and you feel his presence every snap.
The D-linemen were hooting and hollering for him because they see him making plays. He's such a hard worker who's been in the program for a minute, so seeing him have success on the field is huge."
Kromah said the biggest change came in the offseason, when he reshaped his body and his approach.
"I'll say one thing I did for sure, like, changed my body and nutrition because I was much more heavier last year," Kromah said. "So I wanted to make some changes by losing weight.
I lost over 20 pounds, but got stronger and then put more lean mass on. So it's like this is the best I've felt.
So I took advantage of a lot of things and made some changes, but I had to look at the man in the mirror, be true to myself, and come up with a real plan."
For a player who had spent half of the 2024 season on the practice squad and then landed there again last season, the jump was impossible to miss. Last year, Kromah was viewed as a decent edge rusher with some potential, but not someone drawing much attention. Against Cleveland, he looked like a different player entirely - faster off the line, living in the backfield, and wrecking plays from start to finish.
Things can still change over the next two weeks, but Kromah made a loud opening statement. For now, he looks like much more than a practice squad option.
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