In the four years since leaving he went undrafted out of Ole Miss, linebacker DeMarquis Gates has been a member of the Browns (for three weeks), Commanders (for two months) and Vikings (for five months). He’s played for the Canadian Football League’s Saskatchewan Roughriders, the Alliance of American Football’s Memphis Express, the XFL’s Houston Roughnecks, The Spring League’s TSL Blues and, this spring, the USFL champion Birmingham Stallions. His all-USFL performance landed him a tryout on the Bears, who signed him earlier this month.
Gates knows how tenuous a pro football job can be— and what’s at stake in the next week.