Bears Close to Full Strength
The Bears not only had their starting right cornerback on the field for the first time Wednesday at OTAs, they had their entire secondary intact.
Jaylon Johnson returned earlier in the week to practice and now so, too, has safety Eddie Jackson. It brings the full secondary and top competitors for a starting spot all together working immediately as a unit.
Jackson had been out since Nov. 27 with a foot injury suffered against the New York Jets and coach Matt Eberflus said at the end of last season it didn't require surgery.
"Eddie has worked his tail off to get back to where he is," Eberflus said. "He's in really good shape for working with the rehab staff and I want to commend those guys, the training staff, of getting him back and commend Eddie also for the hard work that he's put in to get to this point.
"And we started him off with individual yesterday and the day before and then he's been working into some team reps now. He's been doing a good job with that."
Jackson must be truly healthy now because the Bears have had a habit of bringing players through a ramping up period longer than a day when they come back from a lengthy stay away. There was Jackson breaking up passes and directing traffic in the secondary, like last year when he seemed headed for the Pro Bowl and then suffered the injury.
"Yeah, it just impressed with his work ethic," Eberflus said. "And ... his ability to handle adversities. And he's had that throughout his whole career. Coming out of college he had that. H
"He's had that in some different avenues in his life. He's just a strong man. I just commend him for standing on solid ground. He's done a really good job of coming back from that. He looks at adversity as opportunity. And I think that's a great way to look at it."
Getting Jackson back now is big with minicamp still to go before training camp both for his play and for the leadership he provides.
"It's hard to get into game shape in training camp," Eberflus said. "You've got to start playing games, so that was it. And then he's just a vocal guy.
"The success he's had in the past and the success he had last year, going in before his injury, says volumes for him."
Second-year safety Jaquan Brisker noted the impact of the leadership the Bears get from Jackson, considering every other member of the secondary is much less experienced.
"A lot because I came in as a rookie and he made plays before I made plays in the NFL," Brisker said. "So just seeing him take that leadership instead of another player coming in, I wasn't going to really be able to tell him too much or anything like that.
"He just came in and took the leadership role and taught me a lot of things, showed me a lot of things about different quarterbacks, different formations and things like that. So it was huge last year."
Still Sidelined
Not many injured Bears from last year are left recovering.
Wide receiver Darnell Mooney is one. Eberflus said he expects Mooney back for training camp but didn't mention a possibility Mooney would return for minicamp next week. Mooney said earlier in the offseason he had a "tightrope" surgical procedure done to help strengthen his ankle area after the injury he suffered while blocking against the Jets last year.
The only other possible starter still out after being injured last year is linebacker Jack Sanborn, who had an ankle injury that was said to be only serious enough that he couldn't have played the last three weeks so they put him on IR. Apparently it's taking a while to get over it.
Lining Up
While the emphasis was on players who returned in Jackson, Johnson and guard Nate Davis, the Bears had fifth-round cornerback Terell Smith on the sidelines and riding the stationary bike. ... With Sanborn still out, both Dylan Cole and rookie fifth-rounder Noah Sewell shared snaps with the first team at strongside linebacker.
It's Practice, Man
It wasn't one of Justin Fields' stronger days of work, as he was picked off by backup safety Elijah Hicks but did complete one deeper throw to DJ Moore. The Bears worked the tight ends and backs a bit more in the receiving game than in the first two OTA practices. In particular, Trestan Ebner and Travis Homer caught throws during scrimmage and seven-on-seven while both Cole Kmet and Robert Tonyan Jr. haulted in throws.
The last OTA scheduled is Thursday and then the Bears hold mandatory minicamp Tuesday through Thursday before their break leading up to the start of 2023 Halas Hall training camp.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
