The Chicago Bears stay a significant work in progress as coaching camp hums alongside. On Saturday, the group held its fourth camp observe at Halas Hall, persevering with to type via roster battles and pushing ahead towards subsequent week when pads will come on.
Here are three issues we discovered from Saturday’s motion in Lake Forest.
1. Rookie Kyler Gordon is raring to tackle a number one position because the protection’s prime slot nook.
Gordon was the Bears’ prime draft decide in April, chosen at No. 39 in Round 2. And it has been clear from the outset that the Bears have been impressed along with his really feel for the sport, capacity to vary path and playmaking abilities. After 4 camp practices, Gordon appears to be setting himself up for a task during which he may play outdoors within the Bears’ base protection whereas sliding into play nickelback in sub packages.
The rookie not solely has accepted the problem of taking part in within the slot, he has raised his hand to take action.
“That’s a big deal when players want to do what you ask them to do,” Bears defensive coordinator Alan Williams stated Saturday. “Some guys are just compliant. They go, ‘Hey, coach, I’ll do anything you ask me to do.’ But when you have a guy who wants to do what you’re asking him to do, you’re getting a little extra edge in terms of how that guy performs.”
Gordon was emphatic this week that he totally enjoys taking part in within the slot and values his expertise taking part in inside on the University of Washington, studying to sharpen his imaginative and prescient and creating response abilities which have helped him.
“I love nickel,” he stated, “and I love what I can do there.”
Williams stated he already senses Gordon is able to be the Bears’ prime slot nook, impressed along with his quick-twitch athleticism, dimension and intelligence.
“There’s going to be a learning curve because it’s the NFL,” Williams stated. “But we feel good about the direction he’s heading in terms of getting lined up (correctly), where his eyes are and then just making plays.”
Williams additionally referred to as Gordon “a ball magnet.” “For some reason he’s always around the football,” he stated. “And when he is, he turns it over.”
2. Wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown is attempting to make use of his familiarity with Luke Getsy’s offense to assist his teammates.
St. Brown spent 4 seasons with the Green Bay Packers, together with three whereas Getsy was the quarterbacks coach and passing sport coordinator. Getsy contacted St. Brown straight away when free company started, and St. Brown joined the Bears on a one-year contract.
That familiarity has given St. Brown a leg up in a crowded huge receivers room early in camp. St. Brown stated that whereas Getsy has put some new wrinkles within the offense to make it distinctive, it’s comparable sufficient that he feels very comfy in it, even lending recommendation to teammates.
“There are little times where coaches miss, the receivers coach might miss, and I’ll interject or give my two cents on what happened in a game or what might happen when you’re actually out there,” St. Brown stated. “Sometimes I interject and help out.”
St. Brown had 37 catches for 543 yards and a landing over three seasons with the Packers and missed 2019 due to an ankle harm. But St. Brown stated he believes he’s again on monitor and “ready to showcase my talent and take my game to the next level.”
Getsy stated St. Brown’s finest soccer is forward of him after watching him mature final season after initially not making the Packers roster out of coaching camp.
“I saw a transformation of a guy turn into a pro, and his mentality, the toughness and the way he attacked every day, I was just super impressed with how he handled that,” Getsy stated. “I always liked EQ and thought he was good player and then I saw him go through that adversity and the way he handled all that stuff, that’s what these guys are all leaning on. That leadership and that experience that he went through, that’s super for us.”
3. Left guard Cody Whitehair feels a reference to new offensive sort out Riley Reiff.
Over the final decade, Reiff was a well-known identify to the Bears due to his 9 seasons and 127 begins within the NFC North with the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings.
Reiff joined the Bears on a one-year contract to open coaching camp to seemingly be the beginning left sort out, and Whitehair, the participant lining up subsequent to him, likes the addition.
“Riley is great,” Whitehair stated. “From the second Riley came in, I felt like we had a bond. I don’t know if it’s because we are both NFC North linemen or what. But Riley has the same kind of mentality that I have. A guy that is going to work hard, a guy that is going to study and do the right thing.”
Because he signed late, Reiff has been ramping as much as full participation in practices. He took reps at first-team left sort out Saturday, together with one other new veteran, Michael Schofield, who was at proper guard on some reps. Offensive sort out Teven Jenkins remained out with an undisclosed ailment.
“Any time we can get competition in here, that’s a good thing, especially guys that have a lot of experience like those guys do,” Whitehair stated of Reiff and Schofield. “It’s only going to continue to make our room better and help us grow as an offensive line.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com