New left tackle, nickel, d-line rotation, and more Bears practice notes

WCG had a presence at practice today, as Lester Wiltfong, Bryan Orenchuk, and myself were all there. The following observations are somewhat combined from all of us, since we sat together and kept up a running commentary most of the time.

Offense

• We’ll start with the notable injury news of the day, as 2nd year WR Luther Burden limped off the practice field roughly halfway through practice and did not return. The injury occurred during a 1-on-1 route with Tyrique Stevenson right in front of us, but there was no obvious moment when the injury occurred. It looked like Burden had some sort of leg injury from how he was limping. Hopefully it’s nothing serious.

• Looking at the LT competition, Braxton Jones remained out after he got injured a few days ago. Jedrick Wills Jr. got all the 1st team reps I saw. The rest of the OL starters were the usual combination (LG Thuney, C Bradbury, RG Jackson, RT Wright).

  • The 2nd string OL, from L to R, was Kiran Amegadjie, Luke Newman, Logan Jones, Jordan McFadden, and Theo Benedet. I did not see anybody else take a 1st or 2nd team rep on the OL, though several of the 2nd string OL also played some snaps on the 3rd string at times.

• The Bears did a lot red zone work today, from walk-throughs to 7-on-7s and full team drills. One notable play that popped up a few times was a QB keeper. They lined up in shotgun, had the RB motion one way, and then had the QB keep and run off tackle to the other direction. They ran that with all 3 strings in walk throughs, and then brought it back 2 different times in full team drills later.

Advertisement

Defense

• There were a ton of defensive guys out today, so some of the 1st/2nd/3rd string lineups were a bit wonky.

• DE Montez Sweat was out after getting hurt a couple days ago, and DE Shemar Turner has yet to practice while he works back from injury, so DE was definitely shorthanded. With that said, I did find it notable that DT James Lynch got a lot of work at DE with the 2nd string.

  • Given the DE injuries, I also found it notable that Dayo Odeyingbo still got a lot of reps at DT, and even did some positional drills with the DTs instead of the DE.

  • That meant DE Daniel Hardy got a decent number of snaps with the starting defense, which is something we hopefully won’t see during the season.

• DT is the only defensive position not currently decimated by injuries, so it seems particularly notable that rookie 6th round pick Jordan van den Berg continued to get some snaps with the 1s. He was easily the quickest and fastest DT in all the positional drills, and he showcased his strength with some nice bull rushes, too. He seems to be at least DT4 at this point. I didn’t see Neville Gallimore take any 1st team reps, but he could have mixed in at some point.

  • Undrafted rookie DT Jayden Loving also earned some reps with the 2s.

• LB was also extremely shorthanded, as TJ Edwards only did individual drills today and D’Marco Jackson didn’t practice. I’m not sure why Jackson was out, as he practiced Thursday before the Bears’ day off yesterday.

  • Jack Sanborn was the next man up, as he and Devin Bush were the only LB I saw take any snaps with the starters. That probably doesn’t speak well for 2025 4th round pick Ruben Hyppolite’s chances of making the roster, as he is seemingly behind Edwards, Jackson, Devin Bush, Sanborn, and likely 5th round pick Keyshaun Elliot when he returns from the PUP.

• CB is also extremely shorthanded right now, as Kyler Gordon remains on PUP and Jaylon Jones, who had been the starting nickel back in Gordon’s place, is also out.

  • Tyrique Stevenson added to these woes when he got banged up in the same 1-on-1 rep that injured Luther Burden. He landed hard on his tailbone and immediately grabbed at it. He consulted with trainers for a few minutes, and returned to practice while still moving gingerly. He seemed to be back to normal by the end of practice.

  • Rookie 4th round pick Malik Muhammad took advantage of all the injuries, as he was the starting nickel back for the day. When Stevenson was out, Muhammad slid outside and Josh Blackwell filled in as the starting nickel.

• Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but S is also extremely banged up. Coby Bryant is out with an injury, and Elijah Hicks is still on the PUP list.

  • Cam Lewis took Bryants’ available reps with the 1s today, but he got hurt right at the end of practice and was carted off. It looked like he came up grabbing at his ankle.

  • Undrafted rookie Skyler Thomas stepped in with the starters after Lewis left, so he seems to be pushing for a roster (or at least practice squad) spot.

  • Newly signed safeties Xavier Woods and William Wright were out there today. Woods worked exclusively with the 2s, but I would imagine the injury to Lewis helps him slide into the starting lineup sooner rather than later.

  • Rookie Dillon Thieneman made some splash plays in 11-on-11s late in practice. He stuffed Kyle Monangai on a goal-line running play, and then undercut a Caleb Williams Hail Mary (on 4th down) for an interception a few minutes later.

Special Teams

The Bears didn’t do a ton of special teams work today, but they did have a punt drill. A few observations from that, mostly who was playing:

• I spotted RB Kyle Monangai with the 1st team punt protection unit, which really surprised me. He didn’t play a single special teams snap last year.

• The Bears had 3 players working on catching punts: WR Kalif Raymond, WR Zavion Thomas, and WR JP Richardson. Thomas ended up fumbling one of his catch attempts.