Bears Are 1 Of 8 Teams Currently Eligible To Be Drafted For HBO's 'Hard Knocks'

(CBS) The Bears are one of eight teams that are eligible to be drafted to be featured next season on HBO's "Hard Knocks," the documentary series that follows a team around during training camp for a behind-the-scenes look at the action, should no franchise volunteer to be on it.

There are three stipulations that makes a team exempt from "Hard Knocks," but the Bears don't meet any of them: having a first-year head coach, having been featured on the show in the past 10 years or making the playoffs in the previous two seasons.

John Fox is entering his second season as coach in Chicago. The Bears have never been featured on the show, and they haven't made the playoffs since the 2010 season.

The featured team in 2015 was named in late May, so there doesn't figure to be any immediate news on this.

The Bears were widely rumored to be a candidate for the show in 2014, even though then-general manager Phil Emery wanted no part of it. They entered that season with high expectations and a team full of personalities, making them an appealing choice, but instead the Falcons were on "Hard Knocks." The Bears faltered in a 5-11 campaign that led to the firing of coach Marc Trestman and his staff, but not before an eventful training camp that included tight end Martellus Bennett body-slamming then-rookie cornerback Kyle Fuller.

Other teams that currently are eligible to be selected are the Bills, Jaguars, Raiders, Chargers, Saints, Bucs and Rams -- though with coach Sean Payton's uncertain future in New Orleans, the Saints could fall off this list too.

If a team volunteers to be on the show, the NFL is unlikely to force another team onto "Hard Knocks" -- but in recent years teams have sometimes been hesitant to volunteer, though the Falcons willingly agreed to be on the show in 2015.