Johnson, Dvoracek placed on injured reserve
August 28, 2006
LAKE FOREST, Ill. The Bears on Monday placed fullback Bryan Johnson and rookie defensive tackle Dusty Dvoracek on injured reserve and waived injured linebacker Dwayne Slay.
Johnson underwent surgery last week to repair a hamstring injury he incurred Aug. 4 in practice during the Bourbonnais portion of training camp. The six-year veteran had been showing no ill effects from a foot injury that had dogged him for much of the previous 19 months.
Johnson emerged as a solid lead blocker and receiver out of the backfield in his first season with the Bears in 2004 before a foot injury sidelined him for the final four games.
The 6-1, 244-pounder then spent the first seven weeks of last season on the physically unable to perform list before being activated on Nov. 5. After a recurrence of the injury, Johnson missed three more contests including the Bears' playoff loss to the Carolina Panthers.
Dvoracek, meanwhile, was selected in the third round of the draft out of Oklahoma (73rd overall). The 6-3, 303-pounder injured his foot in training camp and will require surgery.
"We were counting on both players this year," said general manager Jerry Angelo. "Injuries are never easy to take. But it's a part of the business and we've seen our fair share throughout my tenure. The bottom line is going what's best for the player and making sure that they're up and going again, whether it's now or in the future and in this case obviously it's the latter."
Slay, an undrafted free agent from Texas Tech, missed most of training camp with a hamstring injury and then hurt his quad in Friday night's preseason loss to the Arizona Cardinals.
With Monday's moves, the Bears now have 74 players on their roster and won't have to make any cuts Tuesday to reach the NFL's mandatory 75-man limit. But Chicago must trim 21 players to reach the final 53-man roster limit by 3 p.m. Saturday.
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question, dvoracek has been dealing w/ this foot injury for a few weeks now, so why did he suit up and play in the game this past friday?
