Many players who get drafted are never expected to be stars. Some carve out good roles for themselves as special teams experts or depth pieces. The player makes a good living and becomes the type of glue player every team needs. For many years, running back Travis Homer was one of these for the Seattle Seahawks.
Homer became a favorite for many fans not because he was going to rush for 1,000 yards in any given season, but because he did the little things the team needed. He eventually became the guy who called the pre-snaps alignments on punts, and he would sometimes break off a fake punt run.
One of these went for 73 yards and a touchdown in 2021. While he got hurt a bit too much, the punt team did miss him when he wasn't available. By most of the league, he went unnoticed, but Seattle knew his value.
Former Seattle Seahawks draft pick Travis Homer likely to lose his spot with the Bears
What the Seahawks weren't going to do is overpay for him when he hit free agency after his fourth season, though. The Chicago Bears somewhat did that. The team gave Homer a two-year deal worth a maximum of $4 million in 2023. The Bears knew what they were getting, though. Homer was almost exclusively used on special teams.
Chicago re-signed Homer this offseason to a one-year deal, but recently, the running back and special teams ace suffered a calf injury in the Bears' first preseason game against the Miami Dolphins. Homer was forced to leave the game, and the severity of the injury was unknown.
According to Anthony Miller of Bear Goggles On, though, Homer's days with Chicago are numbered. Deion Hankins and Ian Wheeler played well against the Dolphins and fill the same kind of role that Homer does.
Plus, a player on the roster fringes cannot afford an injury during the preseason. Homer's one-year deal only has $800,000 guaranteed, and an NFL team won't find that too terribly difficult to part with. When final roster cuts are made, chances are that Travis Homer will be looking for a new home.
That isn't likely going to be with the Seattle Seahawks again, however. While Homer is great on special teams, his former team, the team that chose him in the sixth round of the 2019 draft, doesn't have room for him on the roster, either. Still, if Homer has played his last snap in the league, he had a good run for such a late-round draft choice.