Nathan Peterman. Mandatory credit: Mike Dinovo-USA TODAY Sports
The Chicago Bears are building for the future and can spend big in the 2023 season, but that means those players are definitely gone next season.
There have never been higher hopes for the Chicago Bears in the 2022 season. Truthfully, their record reflects what we’ve come to expect from this team as they head into Week 16 with just three wins on the year. However, it’s really hard not to feel positive about the franchise’s progression, especially with the way Justin Fields has emerged as a formidable playmaker and seems to be the cornerstone of the franchise they were hoping the Windy City would have.
Now the Bears go into the 2023 season with a boatload of cap space and class capital to build a roster that can win around the fields, and likely to do so quickly. But as harsh as it may sound, it also means that some players who are currently on the roster will not be around in the future.
In particular, these three Chicago Bears players will almost certainly not be along for the ride in the 2023 season.
Chicago Bears: 3 players who will not return in the 2023 season
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Nathan Petermann
QB Chicago Bears
Nathan Peterman is not enough backup for the Bears behind Justin Fields
The most we hear from Nathan Peterman in the 2022 season with Chicago is when he was the substitute for Trevor Siemian while Justin Fields was out with an injury. But that really speaks to why the veteran quarterback who was set to be a free agent won’t return after the end of the year.
Yes, there is always the concern that Fields’ playmaking and rushing ability will leave the young star vulnerable to more strikes and, in turn, more injuries. This makes the backup quarterback incredibly important to the Bears. But it’s hard to look at the combination of Siemian and Peterman and think that this is a viable way to achieve this.
Siemian isn’t going to be a free agent yet, but it would be too much of a franchise duty to let Peterman walk away without a second thought and then consider essentially moving Siemian into the emergency QB3 role Peterman occupied and then look for a promotion with either one of their pool of recruiting picks or Via free agency which is a more capable direct backup to the fields.
This team will go as far as the Fields will take them in the future, without a doubt. But it makes sense to find ways to survive if he misses any time and having Siemian as QB2 and then Peterman behind him isn’t the way to make it happen, so allowing the latter to walk in free agency makes perfect sense.
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