The Bears signed veteran tight end Marcedes Lewis to add depth — and an effective blocker — behind Cole Kmet and Gerald Everett.
Lewis, 40, will be playing in his 19th NFL season. He signed with the Bears last year after five seasons with the Packers and 12 with the Jaguars. He had four receptions (on five targets) for 29 yards and a touchdown in 332 snaps (19.5 snaps per game) but was most effective as a blocking tight end. The Bears were second in the NFL in rushing last season with 141.1 yards per game.
Lewis played all 17 games last season and had his typical youthful enthusiasm when asked about playing in 2024.
“I’m rolling. I’m rolling,” Lewis said on locker clean-out day in January. “It’s always been mentally for me, and my mental fortitude is something that I lean on and I can hang my hat on. The stuff that I put on film this year is stuff that I can be proud of, and it’s crazy because I’ll be 40 in May, but when you watch the film, it doesn’t look like it. . . . I’ll be ready to go [in 2024] when my number is called.”
Lewis, a first-round draft pick by the Jaguars in 2006 (28th overall), has long been valued as a mentor and good teammate — including last season with the Bears.
“I do want to single out Marcedes Lewis. That’s a special human being,” Bears general manager Ryan Poles said at his end-of-season news conference in January. “And I know he’s played a lot in this league but was a really key addition to our staff, our team and locker room — the leadership through some of the hard times, the things he said to pull guys together was outstanding, and I’m really, really thankful for him.”
