Training Camp Thread......

[WindyCity]

This entire Teven Jenkins think reeks of Kevin White.

They are handling it the same way.

We are super thin at OT and should likely call Russell Okung.

[soulman]

Kevin Fishbain......Bear Camp Notes

 

Bears camp notes: Justin Fields excitement, O-line concerns at first padded practice

By Kevin Fishbain Aug 3, 2021 45

The first snap a quarterback takes with his full offense during a practice is in the team install period. There’s no defense. It’s not full speed. They’re literally installing a play for the practice.

Well, when Justin Fields took that snap at Soldier Field on Tuesday, albeit simply to hand the ball off, the fans erupted.

That’s the state of the 2021 Bears — it’s all about the future of the franchise in the form of Fields.

When a play broke down during team drills and Fields scrambled, fans were jubilant. They hoped to be seeing early glimpses of the player who they hope can end the organization’s futility at the position since the days of Sid Luckman (1939 to 1950).

It was a day of firsts: first day in pads, first day at Soldier Field in 2021 and first time playing football in front of fans at their home stadium since 2019.

Here are the news, notes and observations from Tuesday’s practice …

Panic time at offensive tackle?

There was a play early in team drills when the right side of the offensive line was overwhelmed. Offensive lineman Lachavious Simmons hit the deck. The defense swarmed Andy Dalton.

Dalton was playing with backup offensive tackles, which meant Fields had to work with third-string tackles. Throughout practice, that talent gap was apparent.

Rookie tackle Teven Jenkins remained sidelined due to back tightness. While head coach Matt Nagy maintained that Jenkins is trending upward, he couldn’t put a timetable on his return.

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Nagy said when asked if Jenkins might be back in days or weeks. “All I can say is I feel like the arrow is … every day it’s getting a little bit better. It’s not going the other way. So we’ve just got to be smart.

“And when it is time, (head trainer Andre Tucker is) gonna come to me and say, ‘Hey, he’s practicing today.’ Or, ‘He’s going out and he’s doing individual, and then he’s going to do 5-10 reps here,’ and we’ll slowly get him in. And then we’ve got to see how he’s feeling. The sooner the better, for sure. I just can’t predict injuries.”

While Jenkins is missing valuable reps, starting right tackle Germain Ifedi is still on the physically unable to perform list after injuring his hip in the conditioning test at the start of camp.

Then Tuesday, veteran Elijah Wilkinson was absent and eventually was placed on the COVID-19/reserve list. That meant the Bears had fifth-round rookie Larry Borom — who played right tackle in college — as the starting left tackle, and he was opposite 2020 seventh-round pick Lachavious Simmons, who has been manning the right side for Ifedi.

Borom had been getting work on both sides of the line during camp, with Tuesday marking his first reps with the starters.

“I like his footwork,” Nagy said of Borom, who lost 45 pounds this offseason. “I think he’s really light-footed for being such a big man. I don’t know if he can play left tackle. That’s why we’re trying to put him there, to see. It’s not easy when you go from the right side to the left side, but I think now is the time to see really what he can do.”

Badara Traore, an undrafted rookie in 2020, is another reserve left tackle, and Alex Bars got reps at left tackle as well. He has played pretty much everywhere on the line, which included filling in for James Daniels in Tuesday’s practice after the latter had to leave with a thigh injury.

As he is wont to do, Nagy is spinning it positively. He did note how much reps against Khalil Mack and Robert Quinn can help young tackles such as Wilkinson, Borom and others improve, sure, but the clock is ticking on the season, and a stout Rams defensive front awaits in Week 1.

General manager Ryan Pace and the personnel department will always be looking at who’s available, and Nagy wants to “let it all play out.” The problem, of course, is tackles who are not on a roster the first week of August are not on a roster for a reason.

A new and improved Danny Trevathan?

Multiple times last week, we heard about the Bears’ veteran inside linebacker being the cliché for this time of year — “He’s in the best shape of his life,” coaches said. Even if Trevathan’s 2020 season improved, it’s hard to shake the struggles he had in coverage in September.

To get himself ready for 17 games in 2021, the 31-year old used boxing as a training method.

“Every game is a title fight,” he said. “I just wanted to incorporate some stuff that I heard around the league that was real good and guys that recently played the position, that it was good cardio and it works everything. So I tried to get that into my workout and it worked really well for me. I’m expecting to continue that throughout the season.”

The Bears were careful with Trevathan last year, often giving him Wednesdays off. The same could happen this season, too, in order to keep him fresh.

Trevathan finished second on the team with 113 tackles last season, including three behind the line to go along with five passes defensed. Considering his age and injury history, it might be asking a lot for his 2018 numbers, but confidence has never been an issue for Trevathan.

“Last year was last year,” he said. “I’m not really worried about that, but I know what to do this year and I’m working my tail off. I know what I expect of myself and I know what my team needs, and I’m going to give them all of that.”

The Bears re-signed Trevathan over Nick Kwiatkoski in part due to his intangibles. They value Trevathan’s leadership, but they also can’t afford to have a liability on defense. The hope is that a fitter Trevathan can hold up well to complement what he means in the locker room.

“A couple years ago, when we went through the stuff we went through in ’18 with the defense and he was such a great leader for us, and then the last couple years, he’s continued to be the glue for the defense,” Nagy said. “He’s a guy that I have so much respect for. We have a good relationship. When we go through tough times, I go to him a lot.”

Injury update

• Nose tackle Eddie Goldman, long snapper Patrick Scales, inside linebacker Christian Jones and Wilkinson were placed on the COVID-19/reserve list. Players who go to that list either tested positive or were a close contact with someone who is infected. It is believed that Goldman is fully vaccinated. We hope to learn more from Nagy when the team returns to Halas Hall on Thursday morning.

• Daniels and Josh Woods both left practice with thigh injuries.

• Cornerback Artie Burns injured his quad in Monday’s practice and sat out. Safety Tashaun Gipson, who hurt his groin in warmups Monday, was also sidelined.

• Robert Quinn sat out due to back tightness. Said Nagy, “The thing with Robert is, what we’re seeing is, he’s playing and practicing super-hard and so this morning when he came in, he had some back tightness. And we just don’t wanna mess with that.”

Dalton, Fields and Foles … Oh my!

Dalton’s highlight came on a deep post to an open Darnell Mooney. A few plays earlier, he overshot an open Mooney streaking toward the end zone, so this might have made up for it, though the throw was still slightly behind.

Dalton and wide receiver Allen Robinson connected on two plays in a series. First, Robinson got across Jaylon Johnson’s face in his slant route, with Dalton fitting the pass in for the completion. Then when the defense blitzed, Dalton lofted a perfect ball to Robinson, who had a step on Desmond Trufant.

Johnson did score one for the turnover bucket when he picked Dalton off.

 

Fields’ top throw came on a deep ball down the left sideline to Rodney Adams, who caught the pass over cornerback Thomas Graham Jr. in seven-on-seven drills.

As team drills began, Fields went through his progressions before finding one of his favorite targets, tight end Jesse James, in the flat. Later, Fields slid to his right after dropping back and threw a strike to James over the middle of the field.

Fields’ footwork and smooth operating were on display when he ran a play-action pass from under center and found wide receiver Chris Lacy for a first down.

We’re evaluating everything from Fields, right? So I took note that when his timing seemed off on a throw to wide receiver Jester Weah — Weah had not turned yet when the ball went past him — Fields called the receiver over after the play to break it down.

Nick Foles had a big play of his own — remember, he has been dicing up the third-string defense — when he found Lacy for a deep touchdown.

Quick hits

• When the pads come on, we get to see the one-on-one drills in the trenches. On the opening pass-rush drill, Mack handily beat the right tackle, Simmons, as expected.

• Mack’s younger brother, Ledarius, seemed to have an active day getting into the backfield. There is room for a No. 5 outside linebacker behind Khalil Mack, Quinn, Jeremiah Attaochu and Trevis Gipson.

• Another player who will be competing for that, but more likely a practice-squad spot, is undrafted rookie Sam Kamara. No. 78 popped up in my notebook a few times for setting the edge, getting a “sack” in team drills, then winning a one-on-one. Kamara played on the D-line at Stony Brook but is working with the outside linebackers.

• Mario Edwards Jr. got the most cheers from his defensive teammates and coaches when he showed off his quickness and ripped past Traore in a pass-rush rep.

• We know how good Roquan Smith can be, but seeing him in the linebacker versus running back drills really highlights his speed and explosion. The backs, working on their pass protection, have no chance. Said Trevathan about Smith’s 2020 season, “I define it as he was probably one of the best linebackers to ever play last year. I know he don’t get a lot of credit. He don’t really buy into all of that. But I’m going to say it for him.”

• The Bears have an off day Wednesday before four consecutive practices at Halas Hall through the weekend.

(Photo of Matt Nagy and Justin Fields: Jon Durr / USA Today)

Edited August 5, 2021 by soulman

[soulman]

If Nagy has no answer bring out the trainer.  Fans want to know what's with all this crap about "back tightness" and "thigh injuries" and it's only the first day in pads.  Are these guys NFL Football Players or a Russian Ballet Troupe?  This shouldn't be happening with well conditioned players.

[soulman]

51 minutes ago, WindyCity said:

This entire Teven Jenkins think reeks of Kevin White.

They are handling it the same way.

We are super thin at OT and should likely call Russell Okung.

Too soon to assume that much but it's enough of a concern to say more info should be available then is being handed out.

Who you want to get rid of to create enough cap to sign Okung.....or anyone else for that matter.

[Bfan]

1 hour ago, WindyCity said:

This entire Teven Jenkins think reeks of Kevin White.

They are handling it the same way.

We are super thin at OT and should likely call Russell Okung.

I was really hopeing no one would say it so I continue to pretend it wasn't so 🤒

[AZBearsFan]

4 hours ago, WindyCity said:

This entire Teven Jenkins think reeks of Kevin White.

They are handling it the same way.

We are super thin at OT and should likely call Russell Okung.

Or, they’d rather sacrifice a week of mostly non-padded practices to get him 100% right physically before week 1 rather than have him maybe unnecessarily push through something early on and maybe have whatever it is linger all season.

It’s concerning but it’s not OH MY GOD SIGN WHATEVER NAME I KNOW WHO HAPPENS TO STILL BE ON THE STREET IN THE FIRST WEEK OF AUGUST FOR REASONS I WILL CHOOSE TO IGNORE concerning… yet. 

[AZBearsFan]

3 hours ago, soulman said:

If Nagy has no answer bring out the trainer.  Fans want to know what's with all this crap about "back tightness" and "thigh injuries" and it's only the first day in pads.  Are these guys NFL Football Players or a Russian Ballet Troupe?  This shouldn't be happening with well conditioned players.

Everything is about being ready for week 1. Much as we want (and should want) Jenkins to get every possible rep the most important thing is his availability and readiness to play against LA on 9/12. The latter can’t happen without the former, so they’re focusing on the former. 

[soulman]

23 minutes ago, AZBearsFan said:

Everything is about being ready for week 1. Much as we want (and should want) Jenkins to get every possible rep the most important thing is his availability and readiness to play against LA on 9/12. The latter can’t happen without the former, so they’re focusing on the former. 

I get that but the secrecy is frustrating.  Nagy surely knows what the score is, why and how it happened and if it's a sign of something more serious or chronic.  If it is more than just tightness or muscle spasms accurate info is gonna leak out sooner than later.

I'm less concerned with him missing the first few padded practices than I am with what they may be withholding.

If Jenkins would be available soon there wouldn't be much reason for trying every available body at LT would there?

Edited August 5, 2021 by soulman

[AZBearsFan]

27 minutes ago, soulman said:

I get that but the secrecy is frustrating.  Nagy surely knows what the score is, why and how it happened and if it's a sign of something more serious or chronic.  If it is more than just tightness or muscle spasms accurate info is gonna leak out sooner than later.

I'm less concerned with him missing the first few padded practices than I am with what they may be withholding.

If Jenkins would be available soon there wouldn't be much reason for trying every available body at LT would there?

They didn’t start trying every available body at LT until Wilkerson went on the COVID list - from there it’s a matter of “We need someone there or we can’t run drills.” If someone like Borom is ever gonna get LT reps against our top defenders to draw on in case of a game day emergency that’s the situation where they should come.

Personally I think it’s more telling that we have not signed someone like Okung at this point. Even a presumed plug-and-play guy like that would ideally get some time to get acclimated.

Asked days or weeks for Jenkins, Nagy said probably somewhere in between. I took that to mean not today but probably in the next few days up to a week out. Nagy wasn’t here during the rookie year bungling of Kevin White’s injury so I’m not going to apply that skepticism to him with Jenkins. He hasn’t been nearly as evasive the past 3 years about injuries as Fox was. 

[soulman]

22 minutes ago, AZBearsFan said:

They didn’t start trying every available body at LT until Wilkerson went on the COVID list - from there it’s a matter of “We need someone there or we can’t run drills.” If someone like Borom is ever gonna get LT reps against our top defenders to draw on in case of a game day emergency that’s the situation where they should come.

Personally I think it’s more telling that we have not signed someone like Okung at this point. Even a presumed plug-and-play guy like that would ideally get some time to get acclimated.

Asked days or weeks for Jenkins, Nagy said probably somewhere in between. I took that to mean not today but probably in the next few days up to a week out. Nagy wasn’t here during the rookie year bungling of Kevin White’s injury so I’m not going to apply that skepticism to him with Jenkins. He hasn’t been nearly as evasive the past 3 years about injuries as Fox was. 

Guess I missed Wilkinson being put on the COVID reserve as well but than I think Bars could do a better job at OT than Wilkinson.  Hate to sound so down on the guy but he was not good at all playing out here.  I can see giving Borom a shot to see what a rookie can do because we've already evaluated Bars there last year.

As for Okung.  They didn't add him to an OL that seems to need more depth but we did sign Alec Ogletree as an ILB where we don't seem to need more depth.  Kinda hard to figure out what's happening from one day to the next when the COVID restrictions kick in and all of a sudden you're short of players to run drills.

Guess I'll just sit back and let it work it's way out but where I'm reasonably comfortable with Ifedi and Borom at RT I'm equally uncomfortable with what's happening at LT.  But that's for Nagy, Lazor, and Castillo to work out.  They're drawing paychecks to do it.  I'm not. 

Edited August 5, 2021 by soulman

[dll2000]

When top 3 OTs aren’t practicing it makes things look really bad.  That would be true of any position.  

Its still early August though.  Far too early to panic. 

I am sick of hearing lament about Leno and Massie though.  They are not the answer.

Give me any of these young guys over them.  

All that being said.  I think people need to wrap their head around fact that there other teams in league far better than Bears in 2021 even if everyone is playing at their best.

Easy to get excited about your guys when you are only looking at your guys on field with each other.    

Other teams have good football players too.   Better football players at a number of positions.

 

 

[abstract_thought]

It all makes sense now... we signed Dalton to be a crash test dummy.

[soulman]

I wasn't overly optimistic that one offseason is all it would take to resolve our OL issues.

Now that we finally seem to have our future franchise QB I would hope that Pace keeps drafting signing OL to compete and upgrade the OL.

[Bfan]

Theyer mentioned on SCR this morning that Borom actually looked like he  old play left tackle. wouldn`t it be a hoot if Boron was the week 1 started at LT with Jenkins at RT !nd they both looked good doing it.  Oh to dream🙃

[Heinz D.]

2 hours ago, Bfan said:

Theyer mentioned on SCR this morning that Borom actually looked like he  old play left tackle. wouldn`t it be a hoot if Boron was the week 1 started at LT with Jenkins at RT !nd they both looked good doing it.  Oh to dream🙃

Borom getting reps at LT because of all the injuries--and the coaching staff heaping praise on him for his performance. Nagy also pointing out they had second or third round grade on Borom--don't know how they picked him up in the fifth. 

Good news all around.