Bears Training Camp: Justin Fields Impressing in Chicago’s New Offense
Following stops with the Bills, Browns, Colts, Steelers, and Bengals, here are five thoughts from Bears training camp...
1) The secondary’s been a pleasant surprise. Rookie Jaquan Brisker already looks like a complete safety—big enough to play down and fast enough to cover ground deep—and is a name that continually come up in discussions with Bears folks. And fellow second-round pick Kyler Gordon, who fits Matt Eberflus’s scheme perfect as a corner, is assimilating quickly, and, together with Brisker, meshing nicely with vets Eddie Jackson and Jaylon Johnson. This group might be the best one on a reworked roster.
Darnell Mooney continues to impress following his 1,000-receiving yard campaign last year.
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2) Darnell Mooney's quickness, elusiveness, and ability to adjust have all come as advertised in the early days of camp. He’s never going to be the biggest guy, but his development’s been steady, and he’s taken the time one-on-one to build a real rapport with Justin Fields.
3) While we’re on Fields, he’s already made major strides with his footwork, and has shown his head for the game in picking up the new language of Luke Getsy’s offense. He's impressed the new staff with his drive—there’s a story from a week the players had off in the spring where Fields came to the facility and gathered managers to throw to. His deep ball looks good too, and they’ve done a lot of work on his intermediate accuracy. Getsy’s approach with Fields has been to build with him methodically, taking each step deliberately to give him ownership of the offense, to try and get the game to slow down for him after a tumultuous rookie year.
4) The offensive line, as expected, needs a lot of ironing out. Teven Jenkins could be dealt, and starting jobs will be up for grabs with the pads going on this week. Rookies Braxton Jones and Zachary Thomas are in the mix to win real playing time.
5) The biggest question on defense right now is at linebacker, with Roquan Smith “holding in” and not a ton of depth around him. One key camp battle will be Matt Adams and Joe Thomas fighting for playing time at the Sam spot. I’d expect that the Bears would comb the waiver wire for help here later in the summer.
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