Bear Digest

Bears training camp observations: Caleb Williams starts with a pick

Bears quarterback Caleb Williams started out training camp throwing an interception on a day when the first-team offense felt Ben Johnson's wrath.
Gene Chamberlain|
The Bears hit the practice field for the first time and the offense struggled.
The Bears hit the practice field for the first time and the offense struggled. | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Bears quarterback Caleb Williams dropped back and had his first pass in scrimmage on the opening day of practice picked off by linebacker Tremaine Edmunds.

Then the offense had trouble getting out of the huddle and was called back to it by Ben Johnson. Then Johnson pulled the first team off during 7-on-7s when something similar happened again.

So much for the Bears offense arriving at training camp ready to hit the ground running.

"I would just say it's stuff we should know," tight end Cole Kmet said. "It's stuff we should know."

The first practice could be labeled a success from the defense's standpoint, though.

Edmunds' pick set the defensive tone. It wasn't perfect defensively as D'Andre Swift broke what would have been a longer run off tackle and then made a big run up the sidelines on a well-executed screen pass. And Jaquan Brisker nearly had an open-field pick-6 but the ball sailed through his hands.

Still, defensive coordinator Dennis Allen couldn't complain about the execution compared to what the offense was showing.

"I thought today, for the first day out there, was pretty good," Allen said. "I thought the retention from what we did in spring to what we saw out there today, I was pleased with what I saw there. And yet we still have a long way to go. We’re going to keep working every day, continue to battle, and continue to improve and get this defense better.”

Allen even had his players doing up-downs during individual work, a traditional football training drill to improve conditioning but not necessarily in every NFL camp. Often it's a form of punishment and maybe the offense could have used some of them.

"It’s all part of building the culture of what type of defense we’re going to be," Allen said. "You have to pay the toll. You have to pay the price. It’s a privilege to be on this defense.

"We’ve been doing that on every defense that I’ve been associated with since 2009. And it’s a way to mentally train players to be tough and push through adversity. Training camp is going to be difficult, and we have to be able to overcome when we’re tired. How to do we focus? How to we concentrate? How do we dig down deep inside, rise up and make plays in critical situations of the game? A lot of times, that comes with being tired."

Linebacker T.J. Edwards said it was a somewhat refreshing departure.

"It took me back to like seventh, eighth grade a little bit," Edwards said.

"But it was cool," he added. "Obviously, when you're in it it's not that cool but when you get done and you all are kind of a little tired and then you go out to practice, it's kind of what you want. It's that grimy camp start but it was a good time for sure."

Allen summed up the start of training camp in a dramatic tone.

"Training camp is like a long dark tunnel and there’s no light at the end of it," he said. "You just got to focus on one day at a time, one rep at a time, one practice at a time."

For the offense, it appeared there was a light at the end of the tunnel on Day 1 and it was train.

The Wright Stuff

With Jaylon Johnson missing the start to camp due to a leg injury from personal workouts, the starting cornerback on the defense's right side was none other than Nashon Wright.

The former Cowboys and Vikings cornerback is listed at 6-foot-4 and definitely has a reach advantage on receivers. It was a surprise, but with Terell Smith being ramped up from a soft tissue injury during minicamp, they looked around at options and went with someone who became familiar to them in OTAs.

"I think, first and foremost, he was here all offseason and in that position all offseason," Allen said of Wright. "I look at the depth chart right now as just a starting spot. I really don’t look at it as anything set in any sort of concrete or anything like that.

"Throughout the course of training camp, you’ll see guys moving around, switching around. Sometimes, we might want to see a guy who has been running with the 2s, we might want to see him against the 1s to see against a little bit better competition how they respond. And, so, that’s just part of what we do throughout the course of training camp."

Wright has been in 33 NFL games all but one from 2021-23 with Dallas and then one game with the Vikings last year. The offseason Bears acquisition worked under current Bears secondary coach Al Harris in Dallas.

Lining up

The defense switched up Edmunds and Edwards between the middle and weakside, which is what they had done in OTAs.

Allen said they were cross-training players at positions earlier camp for depth purposes.

Left tackle on offense for Day 1 was rookie Ozzy Trapilo, with Kiran Amegadjie playing with the second team.

There were no major breakdowns on Trapilo's side and he did up and out front on a few screens.

The backup center was Doug Kramer and backup left guard was Bill Murray.

The defensive starters went with Gervon Dexter and Grady Jarrett at defensive tackles but also worked in Andrew Billings.

Positive passing

Not every play for the offense was a disaster in the brief (90 minutes), intense workout. DJ Moore caught a shorter pass from Caleb Williams along the sidelines that he broke upfield against Wright. Kmet caught successive passes slanting over the middle for mid-range gains.

However, most of the bigger gains or better receptions were made by backups with quarterback Tyson Bagent, including one deep ball downfield to tight end Durham Smythe.

The catch of practice belonged to undrafted rookie JP Richardson. The Texas Christian product lunged and hit the ground for a one-handed catch 25 yards downfield in tight coverage on a pass Bagent threw as he scrambled.

A series later, Richardson made another reception as he managed to open some eyes on Day 1.

Perhaps better was a highlight one-handed reception in the middle of the field by running back Roschon Johnson because he not only caught it but also kept his feet and broke all the way to the end zone.

Not so special start

The punting of Tory Taylor into a strong wind was off as he was hitting it lower than normal.

It did provide good practice for the return men coming up on punts.

Olamide Zaccheaus had a tough start, muffing the first punt he fielded. Later he dropped another one. They also looked at Devin Duvernay, Rome Odunze and former Lions receiver Maurice Alexander with better results.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.