Defense Not in a Volunteering Mood
New Bears defensive line coach Chris Rumph called his group over to hit a sled at Wednesday's organized team activities and they lined up all—three of them.
This included former practice squad player LaCale London, seventh-round draft pick Khyiris Tonga and undrafted Daniel Archibong. That's all Rumph had to work with as the entire starting defensive line, some backups and most of the starting defense remained among the group of veterans staying away from voluntary on-field practices at Bears organized team activities.
On a day when five of the Bears rookies signed contracts, the team still was without many of the players who are under contract on defense.
No Khalil Mack, no Eddie Jackson or Danny Trevathan. Bilal Nichols, Akiem Hicks and even nose tackle Eddie Goldman was absent a year after opting out for the entire season. Also avoiding OTA practices were Robert Quinn and Tashaun Gipson.
The Bears normally had around 90% attendance for the OTAs, and those who missed usually missed a few days but participated at some point.
All of this is going on in an offseason when defensive coordinator Sean Desai is installing what is a new defensive scheme, although it's based on one they used under Vic Fangio in 2018.
"And for Sean, for coach Desai, for him, you know we can only control what we can control with who's here because of it being voluntary," coach Matt Nagy said. "So, for the guys that are here, what an awesome opportunity for them to be able to come in here and get great valuable reps."
Those players included Duke Shelley and Kindle Vildor, who are vying for a starting slot cornerback spot with rookie Thomas Graham Jr. Also present and accounted for was veteran Desmond Trufant, who is competing for starting left cornerback.
They were all led by one veteran who was available, Roquan Smith.
"The way that he has grown into the player and person, to me it's just, it's super special," Nagy said. "They don't make many players like Roquan Smith, I'll just tell you that right now. They just don't. And we are so lucky to have him as one of the main leaders of this defense.
"And for him to come in here and just, every day, do his thing and just run around, fly around, help teach these younger guys that's really neat. And so we appreciate that. He knows that."
Nagy was quick to point out the veterans have been a part of the voluntary meetings via Zoom, but not physical work on the field.
The NFLPA had advised players not to report for voluntary on-field work because of the pandemic, for one, but also because it's voluntary and they've always been against these summer non-padded drills.
Among the few offensive players not at the camp are franchise free agent Allen Robinson and tight end Jimmy Graham. Cole Kmet was present and making his presence felt with several catches in the limited amount of team work they could conduct according to the rules set forth by the league.
"You know, we can't worry about the guys that aren't here," quarterback Andy Dalton said. "We need to focus on the guys that are here and getting better. That's all that our mindset is, that's all our focus is. Regardless of who's here and who's not here, this is what we're going to be doing, these are the plays we're going to run and we're going to move forward."
The entire starting offensive line is in attendance.
"It's not about coaches in control, it's not about players and not having to do practices and all that," Ifedi said. "It's just about all of us getting better. It's been a great partnership. We have a lot of our offense here and we've been able to get a lot of good work in."
Ifedi discounted the importance of those missing, though.
"It's not the first year that certain guys don't show up," Ifedi said. "It's just everybody has their own things they need to deal with and do during the offseason and some guys have the leeway to be able to be up here. It is what it is.
"We know when we all get together and we know when the bullets start flying our guys will be ready to go."
The draft picks who signed are Tonga, Graham, Larry Borom, Khalil Herbert and Dazz Newsome.
Newsome wasn't on the field practicing with other receivers but was watching with his arm in a sling.
"Unfortunately, yesterday in practice he had a ball that he went up to get and he just landed hard on his shoulder and he ended up injuring his shoulder," Nagy said. "So he'll be out for a little while."
It turned out to be a broken collarbone, and NFL Network says he'll be out eight weeks. That puts him around the first or second week of training camp.
It might be another reason the veterans on defense might have the right idea about non-mandatory practices.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
