Jul 5, 2021
One of the great mysteries about current NFL fans is how every year a group that should be sophisticated after all of the popularity of fantasy football can fail so completely to understand the bottom of a roster come training camp.
Every year social media is abuzz with talk about some players who are 80th or 78th among 90 men on a roster and how they could really have a chance of stepping up to be a hidden gem, a potential starter as an undrafted free agent.
Get real.
In Chicago, it s called Ken Mastrole Syndrome, named for the Bears training camp quarterback who everyone assumed made the team after a big preseason game with the Rams. His sidekick and receiver Kenny Christian was reported to have all but made the team.
Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images Still looking for speed at wide receiver, the Bears signed Damiere Byrd, who caught 47 passes for 604 yards for the Patriots last season, to a one-year deal Tuesday. Byrd has played for three teams in as many years, including the Panthers in 2018 (one catch in eight games) and the Cardinals in 2019 (32 catches for 359 yards). Byrd has returned punts and kicks intermittently in his career, which started in 2015, when the Panthers signed him as an undrafted free agent out of South -Carolina. The 5-9, 175-pounder was used by the Patriots more last year than at any point in his career. He played 901 offensive snaps, up from a career-best 455 with the -Cardinals.