As I mentioned, part of the reason why I wanted to get into this is because I see it as inevitable and its obviously extremely important. Braunecker is still in the concussion protocol and didn't practice Monday, Jason Lieser of the Chicago Sun-Times reports. He was twice named All-State (Honorable Mention); he was the Southwestern Indiana MVP and twice All-Conference. All rights reserved. It is highly recommended that you use the latest versions of a supported browser in order to receive an optimal viewing experience. If he doesnt make the roster, it wont be from a lack of effort, just that the transition to the NFL level proved to be too much, but dont count Braunecker out. Initially, I think I was guilty in underestimating how infectious and how easily transmissible this was. "It's been interesting and troubling for me as well," Braunecker said Monday morning on the Mully & Haugh Show. While a fun joke for the national media to harp on, it was plain as day the team was going to start whittling that number down at some point. I guess pretty much the same. But Chicago Bears rookie Ben Braunecker isnt most college kids. Braunecker, who majored in molecular and cellular biology, would like to become a doctor specializing in infectious diseases when his football career is over. Hes playing football and hes working on his doctor stuff. Braunecker talked about that fit (also according to Mayer): "I think a nice, strong, reliable Y tight end is what the Bears are looking for right now, so Im just very thankful to be given the opportunity as an undrafted free agent to come into a system and to work with coach Frank Smith, whos great in my first impression at giving me the tools and the opportunity to be able to step in and hopefully make the roster.". Of the four (offseasons) that Ive had, two of them Ive worked in a lab at the Harvard School of Public Health. All Rights Reserved. The thing is Pace is way past delusional. Ben Braunecker contract and salary cap details, including signing bonus, guaranteed salary, dead money, roster bonuses, and contract history. Bears Begin Roster Cuts, Release Tight End Ben Braunecker, Please review our privacy policy here: https://heavy.com/privacy-policy/, Copyright 2023 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. Hes been with the team since 2016. He fought his way onto the roster as an undrafted free agent. [5], Braunecker went undrafted in the 2016 NFL Draft and was signed by the Chicago Bears after the draft. With no noticeable progress to date through the protocol, he has no timetable for a return to action. With Ben Braunecker's touchdown catch, the Bears tight ends now have 1 for the season. He sat there all weekend waiting for his name to get called, and when it didnt, it really got under his skin. Some of your teammates have recorded PSA videos for the Bears Twitter account about flattening the curve. The 26-year-old Braunecker, who played his college ball at Harvard, has been with the Chicago Bears since signing with the team as a undrafted free agent in 2016. Youve just gotta find any way to stay in shape. It has become a running joke in the league to comment on the ber-crowded tight ends room in Chicago, but the room is getting less and less crowded by the minute. Braunecker spent the last two summers working at the biochemistry lab at Harvards Medical School. Ive tried doing that in-season, very minimally, and it really doesnt work that well. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. BIG BEN TV is a YouTube channel of Ghana's top entertainment and news site, that follows current affairs in Ghana and beyond. 15 Best Free Agent Acquisitions of All-Time, Franchise tag and transition tag windows open for Chicago Bears and NFL, How the Chicago Bears can control the running back market in 2023, The Chicago Bears can own the city of Chicago moving forward, Chicago Bears NFL Combine Preview: Quarterback, 7 best free agent tackle options for Chicago Bears. Braunecker graduated from Harvard University with a degree in molecular and cellular biology and has spent the last four seasons as a tight end and standout on the special teams unit for the . All Combine and Draft-Related Analysis, News, Video, and Biographical Information for Ben Braunecker There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. There are some pretty good-sized rocks out here. Braunecker started 11 games for. Infectiousdiseaseguy. Since arriving in Chicago as an undrafted free agent from Harvard in 2016, Braunecker has appeared in 47 games with seven starts over four seasons, catching 13 passes for 142 yards and one touchdown while also regularly contributing on special teams. Meanwhile, Trey Burton (calf) was placed on IR last Saturday, leaving TE reps up for grabs. So stay tuned! ANALYSIS. In fact, hes only been targeted 22 times in four years, so hes been pretty easy to miss. Ben Braunecker. Early life [ edit] As a return specialist, he had 29 kickoff returns for 1,005 yards, while on defense, he recorded 101 tackles and seven interceptions. As long as Braunecker is sidelined, expect J.P. Holtz and Jesper Horsted to split tight end reps for the Bears. He spent the 2013-16 seasons on the Bears beat for Shaw Media publications, including the Northwest Herald, Daily Chronicle and Joliet Herald-News. The Bears will give him every chanceto make this roster, and if he shows some level of promise during the preseason, you can expect the Bears, at a minimum, to keep him on the practice squad. There are two sides to that. Would love your thoughts, please comment. Braunecker wouldve been cut too, but he deserved to go after Shaheen. All Shaheen has to do is stay healthy. His absence leaves Jesper Horsted and J.P. Holtz as the top tight ends in Chicago. "Ben is probably more versatile than those guys because he can do a little bit of everything." Advertisement Braunecker caught 48 passes for 850 yards and eight touchdowns last season with four . Braunecker sat out a second straight practice after suffering a concussion during Week 12's win over the Giants, and coach Matt Nagy said "it'd be a stretch" for the fourth-year tight end to suit up Thursday against the Lions, according to Jason Lieser of the Chicago Sun-Times. They were dating for quite some time before getting engaged in 2020, and they are now happily married. #Bears released veteran TE Ben Braunecker. He knows hes a good fit for this roster, and he knows he has an opportunity. The Chicago Bears have begun thinning out their roster, and they have just released veteran tight end Ben Braunecker, who has been with the team since 2016. Well see how that goes, but thats my tentative plan when football is done. Especially given his lack of special teams presence. Braunecker caught two passes for 24 yards in the Bears' 16-14 victory over the Broncos on Sunday. But you bring up an interesting point whether or not this will change peoples thinking moving forward. Tight end Chase Allen and receiver Nsimba Webster were among seven practice squad players the Bears signed to 2023 reserve/future contracts. The former 2nd rounder has been close to useless most of his time in Chicago, going between near-invisible stretches on the field to stints in the training room nursing one injury after another. Itll always be a yes for you. The Bears on Wednesday claimed cornerback Michael Ojemudia off waivers from the Broncos and waived defensive end Taco Charlton. Just to try to stay as scientifically literate as possible and refresh as much as I can. While Blake and Simpson were tried for horrible crimes, permanently damaging their images, Depp was able to convince a jury that Heard defamed his reputation . Chelsea have an 80m (71m) buy-back clause on Tammy Abraham, Ben Jacobs has told GiveMeSport. A post shared by Sydney Golic (@sydgolic) on Jul 20, 2020 at 4:48pm PDT. [4], Braunecker attended the NFL Combine and was the fastest in the 60-yard shuttle, was ranked second in the vertical leap, broad jump, three-cone drill and 20-yard shuttle and had the third-highest repetitions in the bench press of all tight ends. The offseason is the time to do that. Hes working while hes not working. Braunecker put up career numbers with the Bears last season, logging six catches for 59 yards and his first touchdown across 11 games. The Chicago Bears had 10 tight ends on their roster with training camp approaching. With the Bears having such a stocked roster (they were carrying 90 players and will have to whittle that number down to 80), cuts were inevitable and expected, but Braunecker was thought to have a better chance than, say, Saubert, Horstead or Holtz. I know I want to get into medicine and do research more than clinical work. section: | slug: | sport: football | route: player_profile_home | With the COVID-19 pandemic gripping the world, Braunecker has been fielding plenty of calls and texts from people in the NFL wanting to get his take. It all makes sense and its something that we need to do so we dont overwhelm the healthcare system. Owen and his business partner join Sarah for an . A couple months ago, people were saying, Well the flu kills 20,000 to 40,000 of people every year and nobodys talking about it. But as the cases doubled and everything went exponential, I began to see, wow, this is something pretty serious. ESPN Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved. BroBible is the #1 place on the internet for the very best content from the worlds of sports, culture, gear, high tech, and more. Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) July 23, 2020. Simmons has missed 20 out of a possible 62 games this season because of various ailments related to his knees and back. I can only handle one social media platform at a time. It kind of wants me to get the ball rolling with all this but in due time. Sadly the failures of the 2019 season and the COVID-19 realities ended his tenure. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalised web experience. He was signed by the Chicago Bears as an undrafted free agent in 2016, and played for the team through 2019. I know the Bears equipment staff takes cleanliness very seriously, but youre in a sport with a lot of close contact. [7], He entered training camp battling for a backup tight end position with Khari Lee, Tony Moeaki, Rob Housler, and Greg Scruggs. These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. Starter Trey Burton went on with a calf injury after making a painstakingly slow recovery from a groin injury. He had high hopes for the young tight end back in 2017 and has expressed that same belief ever since. Last year Braunecker played in 11 games with three starts, recording six receptions for 59 yards and his first NFL touchdown. Were not shy. Because we respect your right to privacy, you can choose not to allow some types of cookies. Its a pretty interesting and unprecedented time to try to prepare your body for football activities. Already Subscribed? This has certainly heightened the importance of things we all probably should be practicing all the time. Hes played in just 47 games over his four seasons in the NFL and the most passes hes caught in a single season for Chicago is 6 in 2019. The Bears made a surprising cut Thursday. He played college football at Harvard. (Laughs). [12], On September 3, 2017, Braunecker was waived by the Bears and was signed to the practice squad the next day. This can only be called pure favoritism on the part of GM Ryan Pace. As Burton sees an increase in playing time, Braunecker will become the Bears' third-string tight end, which likely won't carry much fantasy value. This information might be about you, your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to. If you enjoy montages, commentaries, and gameplay, glitches, and other things, stick around. Yeah, a little bit. Braunecker signed a two-year contract with the Bears on Monday, Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reports. I was always told the NFL is a train that waits for no one and apparently it doesnt wait for coronavirus either. People ask me my take on anything in medicine or science. He'll miss his second consecutive contest as a result, leaving J.P. Holtz, Jesper Horsted, Bradley Sowell and Eric Saubert as the Bears' available tight ends. Horstead, who signed with the Bears as an undrafted rookie last season, played in six games for Chicago last year, starting one. Braunecker, who caught his first NFL touchdown last November before a concussion ended his season, talked to The Athletic from Arizona and offered his perspective on the new coronavirus. Braunecker likely will enter training camp below all three -- plus Adam Shaheen -- on the depth chart and may have a tough time making the Week 1 roster. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising. The skills that he showed at the combine were just as impressive as Hunter Henry, Austin Hooper, or any of the other tight ends that were selected during the draft. Braunecker is expected to be the Bears' primary tight end Sunday against the Giants in the absence of Adam Shaheen (foot). The 6-foot-4 Braunecker made three starts for the Bears last season, including the playoff loss to Philadelphia . Braunecker now has a total of 10 receptions in 45 games. The Chicago Bears made their first of what will become many cuts today when they released this tight end. How has this impacted your day-to-day routine for whatever youd normally be doing workout-wise in March? Are you teaching yourself or re-learning how to do certain activities to stay in shape? @Ben_Braunecker. Braunecker was placed on injured reserve last Dec. 14 due to a concussion he sustained Nov. 24 in a victory over the New York Giants. I ask because its been a weird week where everything is shut down, except for the NFL. He was signed by the Chicago Bears as an undrafted free agent in 2016, and played for the team through 2019. The Harvard product joined the Bears as an undrafted free agent in 2016, and he proceeded to spend four years with the organization. Its dominating our daily lives right now so you cant really sidestep it too much. Braunecker's season will come to a close with six receptions for 59 yards and one touchdown. Maybe not this fast though. For average citizens, that was a new phrase to understand. Braunecker (concussion) was listed as a non-participant on Wednesday's practice report. Nothing will be easy for Braunecker, but he is definitely up for the challenge. I like infectious disease, but things can change especially when you go into a four-year commitment like medical school, more training after that like residency. Brooklyn Nets guard Ben Simmons is now dealing with back soreness in addition to the knee soreness that he was already rehabbing from, Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn said prior to Friday's game at the Boston Celtics. Do you look at it differently based on your educational background? So that begs the question. Braunecker chose to stand on his combine numbers for his 3-cone drill, short shuttle, and bench press. [4] He was placed on injured reserve on December 15, 2019. More News Ben Braunecker: Let go by Chicago Ben Hull is in tonight's Coronation Street, playing a business associate of Sarah Barlow called Owen. Its not a surprise that a Harvard graduate can use his brain to fallback on, but the Molecular and Cellular Biology major has taken that to another level. Braunecker couldn't recover from the head injury on the short week after sustaining the concussion in Sunday's win over the Giants. Click to reveal The Bears placed Braunecker (concussion) on injured reserve Saturday. 1 role. Braunecker got a spot start this past Sunday against the Giants, earning 71 percent of the offensive snaps and turning them into two catches (on four targets) for nine yards. Oh, absolutely. What sort of blackmail material does he have that keeps him on this roster? Brooklyn Nets guard Ben Simmons remains the team's biggest question, according to an article published by Bleacher Report on Thursday. But it seems like every conversation between people that know what Im interested in and know my background, this comes up. His release may be a slight blow after the recent good news in his personal life, but the odds of Braunecker landing on another teams roster are good; the Harvard grad is smart and hard-working, and his four years of experience with the Bears wont hurt. Im thankful that this isnt apocalyptic, but its still concerning and Im just hoping we can get through it with minimal lives lost and minimal damage to the economy. But, thats completely unofficial, nobodys told me anything. Just stay healthy and people will see. So if we have any questions, I go straight to him. The questions dont pop up too often because everyones so focused, but when they do, its almost a nice relief to me to bring what I know to the table and make myself useful. Current Bears TEs: Graham, Kmet, Harris, Horsted, Holtz, Saubert, Shaheen, Clark, Kevin Fishbain (@kfishbain) July 23, 2020. Wash your hands, dont touch your face, etc. Braunecker has earned his keep as a special teams player and blocker over his three years with the Bears, but he's logged just seven receptions for 83 yards across that stretch. All advice, including picks and predictions, is based on individual commentators opinions and not that of Minute Media or its related brands. Former NFL player and ESPN radio host Mike Golic has had himself quite a year so far in 2020. 6-keys: media/spln/nfl/reg/free/playerprofiles, Takeaways from NFL combine measurements for WR, TE, NFL combine 2023 tracker: Top performances, highlights, NFL Combine 2023: Colossal Richardson sets QB marks, 2023 NFL mock draft: Four QBs in top seven after trades, Tom Brady sends message to Jon Jones before UFC 285. At your first press conference at rookie minicamp in 2016, everyone was pretty impressed to hear your goal of being an infectious disease doctor. The Bears on Wednesday placed RG Teven Jenkins, RT Michael Schofield III and CB Josh Blackwell on injured reserve, and signed LBs DeMarquis Gates and Terrell Lewis and DE Jayln Holmes. Previously, he covered the NFL from 2010 to 2012 for Pro Football Weekly. He caught six passes for 59 yards and a touchdown last year. Its always interesting the first week of classes and trying to read primary research again is just like, wow. Braunecker is the third Bears tight end to land on IR this season. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Sports Mockery, Inc. 2022 | All rights reserved. With Trey Burton on injured reserve, Adam Shaheen and Ben Braunecker not likely to play, and Bradley Sowell not being the answer, the Bears will have to look elsewhere for a tight end versus the . Braunecker had 13 receptions for 142. The 25-year-old will play a depth role behind Trey Burton (groin) and Adam Shaheen in 2019. Braunecker was seventh on the team in special teams snaps last year, so someone will have to fill his role in that capacity. However, a recent announcement by Golics daughter Sydney that she just got engaged to Chicago Bears tight end Ben Braunecker will, as any father can tell you, is sure to brighten things up for him as he looks for a new job. He was a core special teams performer for them. Muhammad appeared in 16 games with nine starts in 2022, registering 29 tackles and one sack. The 25-year-old will have to fully clear the protocol before returning to game action, putting his availability in doubt for Thursday's matchup with Dallas. The news comes at an inopportune time for Braunecker, who recently announced his engagement to Sydney Golic, the daughter of former NFL player and current analyst Mike Golic. Holtz came to Chicago Week 2 of last season after staring the season with Washington. Thats kinda the perk of having the brainiac with us.. He is also one of the few White Sox fans out there and thinks Michael Jordan is, hands down, the GOAT. Braunecker is still working through the league's concussion protocol and will miss a third straight game. Halas Hall is shut down even for players wanting to work out. A post shared by Sydney Golic (@sydgolic).