Good morning, Bears fans!
And happy first anniversary to Chicago’s Pope Leo XIV! I
May the Bears one day be the first Super Bowl champions to visit the Vatican.
All together now! … “Daaaa Pope.”
— Kevin Kaduk
01 Roster News
Zah Frazier waived
The cornerback missed all of 2025 due to personal reasons after being drafted out of UT-San Antonio in the fifth round. An interesting prospect at 6-foot-3, it’s a shame things didn’t work out. He owned the fastest-ever 40 time (4.36) for a cornerback drafted by the Bears.
02 NFL
Schedule release next week?
Big, if true: A new report has the 2026 slate dropping on either Wednesday or Thursday, which means a steady drumbeat of leaks on Monday and Tuesday. The league also sent out an email promising the imminent release and Caleb was prominently featured on the graphic. (See below).
03 NFL
Aaron Rodgers expected to re-sign with Pittsburgh
Fun fact: The Steelers odds to win the Super Bowl (+7000) did not budge with this report.
Daily news for curious minds.
Be the smartest person in the room. 1440 navigates 100+ sources to deliver a comprehensive, unbiased news roundup — politics, business, culture, and more — in a quick, 5-minute read. Completely free, completely factual.
Rookie minicamp is here
A scheduled football activity is back at Halas Hall and two things can be true.
We can be excited about rookie minicamp.
We will forget about rookie minicamp as soon as it’s over.
That said, it’s a big deal for the young men walking onto those Halas Hall practice fields, particularly for those players who didn’t hear their names called on draft night.
Jack Sanborn, Jahdae Walker and Theo Benedet all entered their rookie minicamps as undrafted free agents and exited with a chance to do real things. They did just that and went on to become real contributors to the franchise.
That’s the goal this year’s crop of UDFAs are chasing when they show up for the padless practices. Find a way to stand out and make the 90-man roster without getting themselves or anyone else hurt.
UDFAs to watch
QB Miller Moss: Caleb’s successor at USC has to impress just to earn a seat behind Tyson Bagent and Case Keenum.
OL Caden Barnett: The “Vanilla Gorilla” out of Wyoming should probably feel secure with his $277K bonus in hand, but he probably also wants to show something worthy of his nickname.
DL Jayden Loving: The Wake Forest product is a pretty raw project and this is the coaching staff’s first opportunity to figure out how much work is needed.
There’s also a group of players who were merely invited as rookie minicamp attendees and are basically there on a tryout. Some names reported on that list are Illinois OL Josh Kreutz (son of Olin), Michigan State LB Wayne Matthews III and UW-Lacrosse OL Dain Walter.
Other thoughts
This is Ben Johnson’s first chance to set his high practice expectations for the rookie class. You know he’ll take it.
The past few rookie minicamps were a little bit more anticipated with Caleb Williams and Rome Odunze coming through in 2024 and then Colston Loveland and Luther Burden (plus Johnson) in 2025. It’s nice the Bears have the bigger pieces in place so now rookie minicamps are more of the less sexy positions that really complete a great team.
That said, I’m most interested to hear what’s said about the speed of the collective group, particularly Thieneman and Zavion Thomas.
The prevalence of AI social media means we’ve already seen the Bears draft class “wearing” a Bears uniform. But it’ll still be good to see Dillon Thieneman, Logan Jones, Sam Roush and others wearing the “C” on their helmet.
Win this ‘Darth Burden’ cutout!
My cutout arrived yesterday and I did an unboxing video!
Should I keep it in my front yard while my neighbor tries to sell her house this weekend?
It can only help her property value, right?
Use your personal link below to refer a friend and enter you both in a drawing for one of these beauties 👇
{{rp_refer_url}}
Also: Use code BEARSBY7 at checkout for 10 percent off and free shipping on everything at TalleyBrand.com. Winner announced May 18. No purchase necessary.
Caleb is featured with the 2024 MVP and the 2025 Offensive/Defensive Players of the Year on the NFL's schedule release graphic.
Think the league has high hopes for him?
Patrick Finley on the work the coaching staff has in front of it. (Sun-Times)
Dan Wiederer on how the Bears plan to maximize Zavion Thomas in ‘26 (The Athletic)
What’s up with the Bears restructuring Garrett Bradbury’s contract? (Bleacher Nation)
A look at Dain Walter’s bid to make the NFL from LaCrosse. (News 8000)
Support Bears By 7 and make your issues ad-free! (Bears By 7)
Smarter browsing. Your data never leaves the room.
Most AI tools are a trade — your data for intelligence. Norton Neo breaks that deal. Powerful built-in AI, anti-fingerprinting, VPN, and ad blocking come standard. No setup. No add-ons. No compromises. Search, summarize, and write with AI that works inside your browser and stays there.
