Mitchell Trubisky Jumps Out, Cole Kmet Just Jumps

The Bears' first 90-minute practice in pads came with rookie hazing, or at least teasing.

The serious stuff was the quarterback play.

The team's top draft choice, tight end Cole Kmet, moved before a snap for a false start penalty. Just a case of rookie jitters for going against real NFL players in pads for the first time?

"That's what practice is all about," Bears coach Matt Nagy said. "Cole's not going to be fazed by it. He'll tell you, 'hey, I made a mistake, next time I won't jump offsides or I won't false start.

"As a coach, one of the thirds we like to look for is not making the same mistake twice and being able to refocus your attention to making a good play. I know that he'll do that."

It was one of many sights of training camp now that every practice counts and every action in them does, as well. The practices will gradually expand in length past the 90 minutes.

"We hadn't been in pads since the end of the season, so first day back out there is always good," nose tackle/defensive end Bilal Nichols said. "You're always excited to be back out there with your brothers, grinding."

The Bears practiced without outside linebacker Robert Quinn due to what Nagy called personal reasons and veteran safety Sherrick McManis sidelined with a shoulder injury.

The defense played with former Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Artie Burns taking the snaps with the first team at right cornerback but returning veteran Kevin Toliver taking the snaps with the backups while rookie Jaylon Johnson was back in the pack.

"Artie is a first-round draft pick and has been in this league," Nagy said. "He has experience. So just naturally for him to be able to come in here with Kevin Tolliver, I think that that's normal.

"You'll probably end up seeing more and more reps as the days and weeks go on with Jaylon because we need to evaluate. That's a very important position that we need to get right and only time will tell with reps."

And as rumor foretold, wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson was working out with the running back group.

"He's obviously played some running back before," Nagy said. "So for him to be able to go back there and take some snaps, get used to it, it is different, just because there's different techniques that he's gonna learn.

"And I think between (running backs coach) Charles London and (passing game coordinator) Dave Ragone and the running backs in that room, it's been a good room for him so far. I don't know. We'll see. I'm excited to see what he can do there. We want to be able to get the most out of him. He's a very talented guy as you guys have seen in the past last year. We just feel like when you have weapons like that you want to find ways to get him the ball."

The most critical battle is the quarterbacks, and Nagy said they're focusing on decision making at this time, although some dropped passes marred the look at passers.

"We really look right now for the decision making," Nagy said, "We're trying to test some things in regards to where those guys are at. I thought the decisions were good.

"Yeah, there were a couple of drops out there, but this is the first time that these guys have had pads on since last year, whether it's a rookie in college or being from college or whether you’re an NFL player that hasn’t put them on for months. That's gonna happen. Now you get an opportunity to get another throw and catch like that the next day, we want to see them take advantage of it."

More specifically, Nagy focused on Trubisky and what positives he has seen in his third year within the offensive system.

"Mitch right now is in a place mentally that I really just feel like is really good," Nagy said. "This is now going into the third year with me and me being able to learn who he is. I like where he's at. That's a credit to coach DeFilippo, with John, a credit to Bill Lazor and a credit to Dave Ragone and all those guys to make sure the room goes the right way and then to the players.

"So, time will tell now. I think situationally is where it's going to be really valuable for us as coaches to be able to evaluate that when things are going, how do they handle things? Now that we're able to start stacking practices, that's going to be a big part of the process."

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