2024 Pro Football Hall of Fame Game: Bears’ Tyson Bagent, Texans’ Kamari Lassiter among five players to watch

The Chicago Bears and Houston Texans kick off the 2024 NFL preseason Thursday night at 8 p.m. ET in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game. The exhibition coincides with the annual Pro Football Hall of Fame induction, which includes the likes of Dwight Freeney, Devin Hester and Julius Peppers this year. 

Bears head coach Matt Eberflus has already stated that Caleb Williams and the other starters will not see the field in the preseason opener. It is assumed that Houston has a similar approach to the game. Although the game may lack star power, there is still a lot on the line for several players fighting to make the roster or earn extended playing time. 

Here are five players to watch Thursday night:

After starting four games for Chicago last season, Bagent has embraced his role as the backup since the team picked USC quarterback Caleb Williams No. 1 overall. Bagent was recently asked if he had done enough for the team to have confidence in him as the primary backup.

“I might not be getting better, necessarily, at football when I’m doing a workout like that,” Bagent said. “However, the mental edge it gives me in finding out what I can endure versus what the next man can endure, in a sense gives me a little mental edge when I show up to things like [training camp] and people start complaining about our schedule. I can have somewhere in the back of my head that I have done things far worse than this.”

Bagent is expected to get the lion’s share of the snaps for the upstart NFC franchise. It is an opportunity for him to gain advantage on teammates Brett Rypien and Austin Reed. 

The Bears had used their final 2024 NFL Draft selection on Iowa punter Tory Taylor until the franchise traded future draft compensation for the rights to the No. 144 overall selection, which was used on Booker. The rookie is still incredibly raw, but possesses the length and athleticism that intrigues NFL coaches. Coaches and teammates have been complimentary of the ex-Jayhawk to this point. How will he fare when the lights go on and his play really matters?

It will also be interesting to see if 2022 fifth-round edge rusher Dominique Robinson can take the next step as Chicago continues to vet its pass rushing options opposite Montez Sweat. 

Former No. 3 overall selection Derek Stingley Jr. has been fantastic, but injuries have limited his game-day availability. Houston has tried out veterans like Steven Nelson and Jeff Okudah across from Stingley, but Lassiter could provide long-term stability. The second-round pick out of Georgia did not exactly dominate the athletic testing portion of the pre-draft process, but his college tape was really good. Lassiter has the potential to take some of the pressure off Stingley and capitalize on a Texans pass rush that has added Danielle Hunter, Derek Barnett, Will Anderson Jr. and Jerry Hughes over the past year-plus. 

Metchie has made some remarkable catches in Texans training camp thus far as he continues his journey back from defeating leukemia. Houston’s depth at wide receiver with Nico Collins, Stefon Diggs, Tank Dell and John Brown could limit regular-season action for the former second-round pick out of Alabama, so the preseason is his moment to shine. Metchie had 16 receptions for 158 yards in 2023. 

Going into the 2024 NFL Draft, I felt as though Stover was an ideal eventual replacement to George Kittle in San Francisco because the former is tough and committed to being a run-blocking asset. Although he did not land with the 49ers, the next-best scenario occurred when the Texans picked him. Offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik hails from the Kyle Shanahan coaching tree and deploys a similar offense. Veteran Dalton Schultz is essentially playing on a two-year deal and Stover has the preseason to state his case for extended playing time.