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Bear Digest

Bears Players Who Showed the Most Improvement During Training Camp

From the start of work through Wednesday's end to Halas Hall camp, certain players have made the greatest advancement on a day-by-day basis.
Gene Chamberlain|
Colston Loveland made an impact last year but in training camp he has actually improved a great deal.
Colston Loveland made an impact last year but in training camp he has actually improved a great deal. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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Chicago Bears

After players go through offseason work, it's rarely apparent where they are in relation to their playmaking ability.

Their real playing level is clouded by the lack of contact in the offseason work, but once they have on pads and also begin preseason play their play shouts out where they are. By the end of camp, it becomes very apparent.

Certain Chicago Bears have made big moves from the start of training camp. With more and more reps, the place they are compared to where they were when camp began is all the more apparent.

Here is a first-hand account of the Bears who have made the biggest leaps forward and improved the throughout training camp itself, at least according to the naked eye.

Two players absent from the list are Kaden Davis and Salvon Ahmed. That's because both looked good and showed their biggest improvement throughout OTAs, when there were no pads or hitting. But their level of play at this point has not been as high at the end of camp. This is especially true in an area of the game where both need it to be better in order to make the team: special teams.

Coordinator Richard Hightower's assessment Wednesday of both on teams was glowing regarding individual character and willingness to work. At no point did he describe effective special teams players.

11. LB Devin Bush

Bush's speed was obvious from the outset at OTAs because the emphasis there is on the passing game. It's only since the pads came on where his involvement as a run stopper started to show up.

It really showed in goal-line work. Not only has Bush rarely been out of position, but he's tracking down plays that go away from him and his pass coverage has been sideline-to-sideline thoughout as he gained knowledge of Dennis Allen's defense.

10. CB Malik Muhammad

The Bears threw Muhammad for a real loop out of necessity. When they put him at slot cornerback, he was playing a spot he really hadn't explored much in the past. It's taken a while because he was ineffective early. Caleb Williams and the offense immediately picked on him first and he was always trailing receivers or out of position to stop throws. Now he's in much better position and using leverage better. Muhammad is still not a fit for the slot. He's longer and lacks the immediate reaction speed better slot corners have. They need it because receivers inside can go in any direction. He's perfect for manning the outside with his length, but because of Kyler Gordon's injury as well as Coby
Bryant's, he'll have to stay where he is and the Bears will have to survive with a rookie slot cornerback playing out of place. Fortunately for them, he has improved. It's easy to wonder where he'd be if he had been able to play where he should be playing.

9. RB Roschon Johnson

The fact Johnson has gone through camp without a major break for an injury has let his abilities stand out. He's exactly what everyone thought. He is not really a good fit in Ben Johnson's big-play offense, but as an all-around football player for special teams and for short-yardage running he is effective. His pass blocking is better than the other backs. He plays special teams and he'll get the 2 or 3 tough yards they need as a ball carrier, even though Ben Johnson wants 10 or 20. He also has shown off his hands more as a receiver with the injury to Kyle Monangai at camp, and it was always an area he could count as a strength.

8. S Skyler Thomas

Their undrafted rookie safety from Oregon State could have just folded up with the assignment hoisted upon him but his improvement has resulted from constant repetition. It seems he is always on the field getting reps. At first he had more reps against the first team than the Bears would have liked due to injuries, but he is judging situations faster and arriving faster than at the outset. In the second preseason game he gave up a TD but his play overall was better than in the first one and than at the start of camp. He's come a long way and has a long way to go.

7. CB Tyrique Stevenson


Stevenson has his own detractors and early in camp they were all out pointing at his flaws. If the Bears offense didn't burn their inexperienced slot cornerback, they were coming after Stevenson and succeeding. Then it became a situation where Stevenson gave up the occasional big play but not much else. Despite abri ef time off for injury, even the big plays he so frequently allowed have dried up somewhat and he has produced more interceptions than anyone in the secondary.

6. DE Jamree Kromah

Kromah started off so low in pecking order that any improvement would have been apparent and shot him up the charts. He had virtually all the first-team snaps in OTAs on the edge with Austin Booker. He has taken to the extra fundamental defensive line play being emphasized this year by coaches and the result is a developing pass rusher and run defender. It has been obvious in preseason games but it also is apparent in practices.

Cutting Kromah or putting him on the practice squad now would be very tough because he's a budding player, but numbers might dictate they have to do it.

5. Dillon Thieneman

Breakdowns in the secondary when camp started could often be attributed to mental mistakes made by the first-round rookie. He always played with great speed, but it wasn't always directed in the right place. He has learned exponentially, but once the regular season begins it will be an entirely new ballgame. The cat-and-mouse between veteran QBs and young secondary players reboots at an entirely higher level, with the passers way ahead. Will Thieneman be able to handle it? Camp has shown he quickly adapts and progresses.

4. Rome Odunze

When camp started there was a lot of talk about Odunze becoming a dangerous threat capable of 75 to 100 catches. As camp progressed, it became more and more obvious this was possible. The foot situation really is irrelevant now after he supposedly misspoke about it affecting him in OTAs. His ability really has been most apparent in red zone. Odunze had one TD catch in his last 10 regular-season games. From Day 1 of training camp to the end, he looked more like the receiver who caught five TD passes in his first four games of 2025.

3. Jordan van den Berg

Where this all eventually leads isn't certain because rookies can become invisible once the regular season begins, but from the start of training camp to the end there is no one on the defensive side who showed more improvement. Van den Berg's physical ability wasn't always apparent in OTAs, although his quickness off the ball was. When he was allowed to use that great strength and ferocity in pads, it produced a player Ben Johnson called a "beast." He occasionally gets duped out of position and it results in a breakaway run. He'll need to learn to better gauge plays as he breaks off the blocks. He really could be the find for them that they thought on draft day and it's become more and more obvious day by day. Van den Berg shows so much effort and unwillingness to quit that he'll need to watch out for late-hit penalties or unnecessary roughess once games begin.

2. Caleb Williams


His brief preseason play and the overthrow to Colston Loveland — Johnson would say bad decision — aside, Williams is not anything like the passer they had last year or even at the end of OTAs. He's quicker to scan the secondary, knows where the play is supposed to and is likely to break. Also, for the most part his throws have been on the money and not sailing wildly or put in a place where the receiver must slow down and reach back. This aspect of his passing was apparent in OTAs and has gradually improved as camp wore on. The situation in the game with Cincinnati was somewhat of a step back because his awareness of down, distance and field has been an area of his greatest improvement. It was a hiccup. Has he improved to top-five level in the NFL? That's pretty much a reach and an arbitrary number. He really has looked sharper as camp went along. Camp has been a study not in making Williams be "Superman," as he is so often called. It's been about making Clark Kent much better. He has.

1. Colston Loveland

It's become obvious from Day 1 how defenses will need special attention to Loveland and they're going to leave themselves vulnerable to other players, like Kalif Raymond, Luther Burden or Rome Odunze. Loveland is almost always open and almost never drops a pass in practice. He also is usually getting the ball where he can run with it, with even more open space than last season.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.

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