Changing Role for Teven Jenkins
The landscape changed significantly for the Bears as a result of injuries and players recovering from them as a short practice week began before Thursday's second preseason game with Seattle.
One of the biggest changes had nothing to do with an injury. Teven Jenkins was lining up at right guard with the second and third team throughout team scrimmaging in practice, next to right tackle Larry Borom.
Offensive coordinator Luke Getsy likes the fit for the team's second-round pick in 2021, who started his career at tackle.
"Well, I think the one thing in our system, I think I said this before, is that guards get stressed mentally more than tackles do in this system," Getsy said. "And so, he's someone that can—that's the strength of his game—and so we want to try that and see what that looks like within what we're trying to get done."
Jenkins had first been displaced at left tackle by Braxton Jones and then the Bears signed veteran Riley Reiff to play left tackle but have since moved him to starting right tackle while they continued to like what they've seen from Jones with starters.
The other chances at practice revolved around player health.
Among those returning after missing Saturday's game and several previous practices were most of their injured cornerbacks, including Kyler Gordon, Kindle Vildor and Duke Shelley.
They also had veteran running back David Montgomery and rookie receiver Velus Jones Jr. back, but two of the players who were keys to Saturday's win over Kansas City were missing work as safety Jaquan Brisker and receiver Tajae Sharpe are now sidelined with unspecified injuries. Also out now on a day-to-day basis is defensive tackle Justin Jones.
Coach Matt Eberflus was not scheduled to speak to the media on Monday and there was no report on the extent of the new injuries.
The Jenkins move was easily the biggest difference. He had been given a few plays at practice at guard last week but nothing as sustained as Monday's practice, when he worked only at that position.
"I mean he's a smart guy," backup quarterback Trevor Siemian said. "So it's telling that he can move inside and didn't miss a beat. Ultra talented, but it's not easy moving positions like that.
"It will be fun to see him if he does move around. It will be fun to see how that goes."
The intelligence factor involves different angles and knowing who different to block.
"I mean it's just, you know, it's a little different, different sets, different angles, everything is different," Siemian said. "And you're playing in a tighter space (than tackle)."
As for the starting left tackle, Braxton Jones continued to impress when coaches looked at game film.
"It's got to be better," Getsy said. "But I would say for a guy that's just got in here and is put in one of the toughest positions in our game, I thought he handled it really for a first crack at it.
"But we've got to get him going. And he's lucky; he's got Robert to go against most of the day here. You talk about getting prepared every day, he has that opportunity here. So I think he's going to just keep getting better."
Other Bears back at practice after missing Saturday's game included defensive tackle Angelo Blackson and tight ends Cole Kmet and James O'Shaughnessy.
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