Former Chiefs cornerback BoPete Keyes signs with Chicago Bears

The Chicago Bears have given a new home in the National Football League for former Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Thakarius “BoPete” Keyes on Wednesday with the announcement that he’d signed with the team’s practice squad in the wake of other roster moves.

Keyes originally entered the NFL with the Chiefs as their seventh-round pick back in the 2020 NFL Draft. The Chiefs were actually out of picks on Day 3, but Chiefs general manager liked Keyes enough (and felt that another team would draft him before he could be signed as a rookie free agent), so he dealt back into the seventh round in order to take him.

The Chiefs only had Keyes for just over a calendar year, however. After Keyes failed to make the active roster for the Chiefs this fall, he was claimed on waivers by the Indianapolis Colts where he lasted for the first few months of this season. However, he was waived in mid-November and signed to the team’s practice squad instead. He was later released and signed with the New England Patriots for a single day at the end of November.

BoPete Keyes has signed with his fourth NFL franchise in 2021.

Now that he’s signed with the Chicago Bears, it will be interesting to see if he can earn a longer look with the franchise going forward with a reserve/futures deal. However, much of that likely comes down to whether or not the current front office remains in power in Chicago this offseason or whether they clean house.

Keyes was a solid defensive back at Tulane who profiled as a solid special teams addition at the pro level. He played in 8 games for the Chiefs last season and had a total of 8 tackles.