Injuries Impacting Two Players on the First Day

It wasn't the first practice the Bears envisioned but it was one practice session in the books just the same.

First, the Bears announced the 1,500 fans in special groups, who were being allowed in to watch what was deemed a closed practice, would not be allowed Wednesday at Halas Hall as practice was moving indoors to the Payton Center due to poor air quality due to the Canadian forest fires.

Then, it was smoke on the water, or water on the smoke. A deluge hit the area and everything would have been done indoors anyway.

The only Bears player not practicing in full the first day was wide receiver Dante Pettis, who has been put on the non-football injury list. Linebacker Jack Sanborn, who had been deemed ready, was able to get on the field for non-padded practice but only in the individual portion of the workout. He was sidelined during scrimmages.

Fifth-round rookie Noah Sewell worked with the first team defense in the base package at strongside linebacker in place of Sanborn, as he did throughout most of the off-season work.

Sanborn, although healed, will be brought along slowly.

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"All those guys that were injured that came in early to camp for the rookie stuff, they're all in ramp-up mode," coach Matt Eberflus said.

It means they're practice time is scheduled on an individual basis, but it does provide yet more opportunity for Sewell.

The Bears lined up in practce much as at OTAs and minicamp, with rookie cornerback Tyrique Stevenson practicing at the starting left cornerback spot when they are in a nickel defense ahead of veteran returning starter Kindle Vildor.

They also continued moving around Jaylon Johnson at times to have him follow receiver DJ Moore wherever he lined up, indicating they plan to use this method of pass defense they relied on in the past.

The base defense lined up again with DeMarcus Walker at left defensive end and Rasheem Green at right defensive end while both of last year's starters at season's end, Trevis Gipson and Dominique Robinson, are with backups.

Non-Football Injury

Eberflus remained mum on Pettis' injury, although it sounds like he'll be back soon.

"I'm not gonna give timelines or what specific injuries are at this time," Eberlfus said about Pettis. "It's gonna be pretty close, pretty quick, for that. He's in a good spot.

"It's something that sometimes … you injured something during training during the summer, and we just gotta make sure we're gonna be smart about where he is and how we go about getting him back in."

For now, this removes the No. 1 punt returner from the field.

They've worked Velus Jones Jr. and Tyler Scott there, as well as Pettis. Jones had problems fielding punts last year, although he was strong on kick returns.

Lining Up

Former Raiders lineman Alex Leatherwood's spot in scrimmages was backup left guard and not either tackle. The other backup offensive linemen are Kellen Diesch at left tackle, Lucas Patrick at center, Ja'Tyre Carter at right guard and Larry Borom at right tackle. The line behind them is Bobby Haskins at left tackle, Dieter Eiselen at left guard, Doug Kramer at center, Gabe Houy at right guard and Aviante Collins at right tackle.

Collins was just signed late Tuesday and the Bears have cut the big tackle from Cincinnati, 6-foot-9 Lorenz Metz.

Catching Up

The indoor practice gave the Bears a good chance to work their passing game and Justin Fields used this to look for DJ Moore right away. They connected in the back right corner of the end zone on a deep pass.

"I thought the operation on offense was good for the first day," Eberflus said. "Typically, you have a lot of false starts, a lot of guys not lined up correctly, missed motions and all those types of things. We did not see that today so the operation in terms of the alignment, assignment and your technique looked pretty good for the first day.

"Saw some real nice throws out there from Justin. Connected with DJ, connected with EQ (Equanimeous St. Brown), Clay (Chase Claypool), tight ends, Bobby (Tonyan), he connected with pretty much everyone. So, real good there in terms of the rhythm and timing of that looked good for the first day. Boy you can tell they've been working together a little bit in the offseason together."

It has to be noted, they do not yet have pads on and won't until the middle of next week. Also, they limit their pass rush much as they do in the OTAs and minicamp work.

Possibly the best catch came from undrafted rookie Aron Cruikshank of Rutgers and Wisconsin. Off balance and reaching out, he stabbed one with one hand near the sideline in the end zone with rookie safety Macon Clark providing extremely tight coverage.

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