Bears defensive lineman Shemar Turner and linebacker Noah Sewell began the season on the reserve/PUP list. The two are ineligible to play until Week 5, but they returned to practice on Wednesday, per Courtney Cronin of ESPN. The Bears will have 21 days to activate either or both players.
Chicago spent a second-round pick on Turner in 2025, but a late-October ACL tear ended his rookie season after five games. The Texas A&M product played 24% of defensive snaps and made just six tackles before going on IR. Assuming Turner comes back this year, he will give the Bears another edge-rushing option to join Montez Sweat, Dayo Odeyingbo, Austin Booker and Daniel Hardy.
Sewell is a little under nine months removed from tearing his Achilles in a Week 17 loss to the 49ers on Dec. 28, 2025. The 2023 fifth-round selection from Oregon was exclusively a reserve during his first two seasons, but he took on a bigger role last year as the Bears dealt with injuries to Tremaine Edmunds and T.J. Edwards. Sewell played 38% of defensive snaps and recorded 59 tackles, including three for loss, in 13 games and nine starts. He was also on the field for 44% of special teams snaps.
The Bears released Edmunds (now a Giant) in the offseason, but they brought in replacement Devin Bush on a three-year, $30MM deal in free agency. Edwards played every defensive snap during the Bears’ first two games, and Bush wasn’t far behind (97.5%). With those two locked in as starters, Sewell will provide depth alongside D’Marco Jackson, Jack Sanborn and Keyshaun Elliott if the Bears activate him in the next three weeks.
Like Turner and Sewell, cornerback Kyler Gordon is eligible to begin practicing this week. It does not appear that will happen, however. Head coach Ben Johnson said (via Cronin) that he has “nothing to add” on Gordon, whom soft-tissue injuries have dogged for the past year. After becoming the game’s highest-paid nickel corner on a three-year, $40MM extension in April 2025, Gordon played a mere three games last season. Calf problems kept Gordon out of action this spring and summer, and there is uncertainty as to whether he will play in 2026.