Margus Hunt placed on Chicago Bears active roster after strong performance
The NFL's Chicago Bears has moved Defensive Tackle Margus Hunt to its active roster, following a strong performance at Cleveland last Sunday.
The change in Hunt's status means he cannot be signed by another NFL team. Hunt, 34, from Karksi-Nuia, joined the Bears earlier this month, after being cut by the Arizona Cardinals.
While the Bears went down 26:6 at Cleveland, Hunt pulled off two solo tackles in the game, one of which cost the Browns yardage.
The Bears are now 1-2 in the season so far, after losing at the Rams in week one. Their sole game at Soldier Field so far was against the Bengals, Hunt's former team, who they saw off in a week 2 close encounter, 20:17. This means the Bears, in the NFC North, played two teams from the corresponding AFC division, in immediate succession.
Next up for Hunt and the Bears is divisional rivals Detroit, at home. The Lions currently occupy the relatively familiar (for them) bottom spot in the NFC North, being 0-3 so far.
Hunt is unlikely to start in the game but may be brought on the field as he was against Cleveland and Cincinnati.
Against the latter, he played through six snaps – three on Defense proper and three on Special Teams.
Hunt had appeared in 104 NFL games, 26 of them starts, over nine seasons, The Bears report on their official website.
He was with the Bengals from his debut season in 2013, to 2016, then with the Indianapolis Colts 2017-2019.
A brief period with the New Orleans Saints at the start of last season saw him cut after the team pared its roster down to the requisite 53, but he was picked up by his old team, Cincinnati, for the rest of the season.
That process was repeated at the start of this season – cut by the Cardinals but then picked up by the Bears early this month.
He has clocked 114 tackles, 26 of them for yardage loss, and 8.5 sacks, in his career so far.
Hunt, 6'8'' (203cm) and 295 lbs (134kg) was originally a field athlete specializing in the discus and shot put, and went on a sports scholarship to Southern Methodist University, in Dallas. He switched to gridiron when SMU cut its athletics program, and was duly drafted by the Bengals in 2013.
Originally a Defensive End, Hunt has shifted in one position to Defensive Tackle since then.
He is the sole current Estonian representative in the NFL. Past players with Estonian heritage include Michael Roos, who emigrated to the U.S. at an early age and played as an offensive linesman with the Tennessee Titans, 2005-2014, and Chuck Ehin, an Estonian-American who was also a defensive linesman, and who played for the San Diego (now Los Angeles) Chargers in the 1980s.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte