Most of the New Orleans Saints players whose practice squad contracts ended last week are still navigating what comes next. Some, like backup quarterback Hunter Dekkers, have chosen to compete in the spring-league UFL. Others, like linebacker Nephi Sewell, have gotten another chance to keep playing in the NFL.
Sewell signed with the Chicago Bears practice squad, per the official NFL transactions wire, reuniting him with some familiar faces. He was a favorite of Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen when Allen was running the Saints defense, so it makes sense Sewell would team up with him again. But it isn’t just Allen. Sewell’s former teammate D’Marco Jackson is also in the Chicago linebackers room, and so is his younger brother Noah Sewell. It says a lot that the Bears signed Sewell just one day after his Saints contract ran out.
That spells the end of Sewell’s time in New Orleans, where he had spent his entire NFL career since turning pro out of Utah back in 2022. He’ll probably sign a reserve/future deal with the Bears once their season ends and compete for a roster spot at training camp this summer. Sewell was a good special teams player for the Saints (logging 473 snaps in the kicking game) and held his own when asked to go in on defense (just 116 snaps across 30 games), and he won the team’s Ed Block Courage Award in 2024 after recovering from a tough knee injury. But Brandon Staley has a different vision for his linebacker corps. Good luck to Sewell in Chicago.
