Bear Digest

Five offensive players to watch at 2025 Chicago Bears training camp

Caleb Williams will be the center of attention but Ben Johnson's offense will be the real star with key rookies and other players working within it.
Gene Chamberlain|
Colston Loveland got in some work individually during OTAs but gets his first real exposure to the offense at camp.
Colston Loveland got in some work individually during OTAs but gets his first real exposure to the offense at camp. | David Banks-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Never has the Bears offense been the object of so much scrutiny starting a training camp.

Matt Nagy's offense might have been the next closest in 2018. Although he was also considered a top offensive coordinator, he brought Andy Reid's offense to Chicago.

This is Ben Johnson's offense, and not exactly the attack the Lions ran but one cut from similar cloth.

There wasn't the same buzz about the participants in that 2018 Bears offense, either.

When training camp opens, all eyes are certain to be on Johnson's firt offense and how it's performing, particularly Caleb Williams.

Here are five offensive players to watch when Bears training camp opens Wednesday and, of course, Williams will be found on the list. It's a rookie-heavy list because the new additions could be put into critical roles in the offense immediately.

RB Roschon Johnson

D'Andre Swift's skillset is well known after his 295 touches in the Bears offense last year and Ben Johnson knows him well from being together in Detroit. It's the power back who is a lesser known quantity and entirely

necessary in what his coach wants to do. Roschon Johnson has barely been used in two seasons--a paltry 136 carries and 50 receptions in two seasons. He pass blocks well and this will be critical.

Johnson has had a few injury issues in the past to derail his attempts. They need him healthy and at camp must see his full capabilities.

Rookie Kyle Monangai is a player the Bears would like to see deliver but a seventh-rounder is at least as likely to wind up cut and on the practice squad as on the roster, and a position of prominence in the attack is definitely not a given. The only Bears running backs from Round 7 since the seven round draft started in 1993 were Kerrith Whyte Jr. in 2019 and Michael Hicks in 1996. Hicks gained 106 yards in is Bears career while White got cut, put on the practice squad and then pilfered off it by Pittsburgh. He lasted part of a season in the NFL.
If a back is that good, why did they go in Round 7 and why were 21 other backs taken before Monangai.

It's Johnson to watch at camp, and maybe Monangai is a back to watch in preseason games when the new players at the bottom of the roster get more playing time.

WR Luther Burden III

He'll be watched closely because he didn't get any work after rookie camp and the slot receiver is so important in this attack. One of his great strengths is viewed as yards after the catch and Johnson's offense in Detroit led the league in this stat last year. How quickly he fits into the offense without needed offseason exposure is huge.

TE Colston Loveland

Unlike Burden, Loveland was able to at least get on the field for stretching and some individual work at times early as he rehabbed after shoulder surgery. He was present and at least going through mental reps in the offseason. Loveland’s role will be just as big as Burden’s in the attack as their move tight end, a position frequently targeted in Johnson’s Lions attack.

While they didn’t draft Loveland to block, he will also need to do this at times and his skills here will be closely watched.

LT Ozzy Trapilo

It’s the biggest starting battle of training camp. Trapilo seems to be in a race. Can he immediately impress coaches before Braxton Jones is confirmed back and able to practice after ankle surgery? Kiran Amegadjie is in the picture, as well, but Trapilo was a second-round pick and an ideal left tackle size at 6-foot-8 and 312 pounds.  

While the first practices before the July 27 day off will be important, the real work starts for Trapilo and Amegadjie after that when pads come on and they’re trying to block players like Montez Sweat and Dayo Odeyingbo. Then, all will be revealed.

5. QB Caleb Williams

Of course he’ll be watched. Quarterbacks always are at camp. The Bears need to see progression from the naïve rookie who didn’t know what he didn’t know to one who can stand in the pocket with confidence and throw to spots where receivers will be. There needs to be more anticipatory throws, better understanding of when a receiver actually is open in the NFL in addition to knowing defensive schemes quicker and reacting.

Williams can’t play hero ball as much as he tried to last year. They’ve loaded him up with playmakers and better protection, so he needs to let those players make plays.

The times he’s breaking out of the pocket and running around to extend plays need to be reduced to give Johnson’s scheme a chance to work.

"I think there's a little bit of that that's going on right now and figuring that out, but he's done a great job so far," Ben Johnson said of Williams. "He's digesting, he's working hard. There are still some hiccups out there, when you're watching it, some turnovers or needs the play one more time, and that's part of the growing process."

They didn’t hire a genius coach for around $13 million a year so a QB can ignore his play calls and throw on the run after plays break down.

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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.