Bear Digest

Early Chicago Bears camp surprise impresses with skills and instinct

The Bears didn't even draft J.P. Richardson but he's had contributions in all three practices and some were catches on the spectacular side.
Gene Chamberlain|
John Paul Richardson (26) gets set behind Jahdae Walker to runs during pre-practice work at Halas Hall.
John Paul Richardson (26) gets set behind Jahdae Walker to runs during pre-practice work at Halas Hall. | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

With second-round rookie Luther Burden III out of the picture for now at Bears training camp, there are other slot receivers doing a solid job either in his place or with backups at the same position.

Despite all of the negativity regarding every Caleb Williams interception or errant throw, one surprise target almost seems to go unnoticed.

While veteran slot acquisition Olamide Zaccheaus has easily caught the most passes out of that position with starters, the really stunning player has been undrafted rookie JP Richardson from Texas Christian as he works with second- or third-string players.

“I think JP is a guy who has come in here and been intentional about learning the playbook," offensive coordinator Declan Doyle said. 'The first thing is always, ‘do you know what to do?’ At that point, you unlock your ability to show off your ability. He has done a really good job of coming in and learning it."

Richardson is not the fastest, biggest or most athletic guy at 5-foot-11, 192 pounds.

He ran a 4.55 time for the 40 at his pro day with a 33-inch vertical leap. He catches the football, though.

During the first practice he had a one-handed catch in tight coverage while diving to the turf. He has made receptions in each practice, some shorter, while the diving catch was about 28 yards downfield.

"He’s an athletic guy and has a little bit of twitch to him in the route tree," Doyle said. "Obviously, through the first three days it has been fun to see."

The son of former Texas A&M quarterback Bucky Richardson, he made 72 catches in his first two years at Oklahoma State for 671 yards and six touchdowns.

At TCU in his final two years, Richardson made 103 receptions for 1,269 yards and five TDs.

He has a real knack for returning punts, with 29 for 11.6 yards a return and one TD at TCU. Bears special teams coordinator Richard Hightower explored some of these skills of his during OTAs.

It's the kind of ability that lets an undrafted type player win spots on rosters but he is really up against it here as the punt return groups are really loaded.

Devin Duvernay is the obvious No. 1 and they've had Maurice Alexander, Zaccheaus and Rome Odunze also doing it.

Richardson was a receiver in high school but was also a left-handed quarterback at times -- something else for Ben Johnson to explore.

He's a longshot at best to make the roster considering they gave him a running back's or defensive back's jersey number rather than a receiver's number.

There are many receivers with better speed ahead of him, but the competitive instinct is strong here.

As for Burden, he is day to day with the soft tissue injury that has lingered surprisingly since early May. Wide receiver DJ Moore said he should be able to recover from all the missed OTA and training camp time if he has stayed in the playbook and continued to watch what's going on at practice.

“Probably just the speed of the game and route concepts, I would say those are the two that go hand-in-hand that you need to be out there for," Moore said.

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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.