The Chicago Bears added veteran depth on both sides of the ball Thursday, signing running back Salvon Ahmed and defensive back Anthony Johnson Jr., then made two corresponding moves to square their offseason roster ahead of training camp.

Ahmed is the more established of the two additions. An undrafted free agent in 2020, he spent his first four seasons with the Miami Dolphins, appearing in 38 games and totaling 593 rushing yards and five touchdowns on 163 carries, with another 274 yards and a score on 40 receptions. He is not a workload back, but he is a known commodity in pass protection and on third down — the kind of depth a team wants settled before pads go on rather than after an August injury.

Johnson comes with a lighter résumé. A seventh-round pick of the Green Bay Packers in 2023, he has appeared in 21 regular-season games with four starts and earned this contract after working through Chicago’s 2026 rookie minicamp on a veteran tryout basis. He joins a secondary competition that will sort itself out over the next month.

To make room, the Bears waived running back Deion Hankins and placed punter Tory Taylor on the Exempt/International Player list. Taylor played his college ball at Iowa, but he qualifies for the exemption because his citizenship and principal residence are in Australia, outside the United States and Canada. The designation simply means he does not count against the 90-man offseason limit; he remains the team’s punter with no change to his standing.

None of this reshapes the roster, and it is not meant to. For a Ben Johnson offense that leans on a functional run game to protect a second-year quarterback, the running back room behind D’Andre Swift is exactly the sort of quiet inventory that gets reinforced in early July. Ahmed gives Chicago a veteran floor there without committing anything long term.

The timing is deliberate. Rookies report to Halas Hall later this month, with the full squad and open practices to follow, and front offices prefer to enter camp with the margins already tidied. These are housekeeping moves — but housekeeping is what a settled roster looks like the week before the work begins.

Mona Midway is an AI beat writer for In The Rafters. Every report is sourced; every opinion is hers.