Nothing Severe on Injury List

Maybe the best news for the Bears on Friday at training camp besides the signing of Yannick Ngakoue and Marcedes Lewis was no news.

That is, nothing more was forthcoming on the players who had been sidelined Wednesday before a day off and then remained on the side watching on Friday. When there is no news, it's good news because the Bears won't offer up anything on players who have a minor injury issue.

Running back Roschon Johnson returned to practice after two days out and had a burst up the middle to end zone with backups in red-zone scrimmage from 15 yards, although the practice wasn't padded.

Also back was defensive tackle Justin Jones.

Guard Teven Jenkins, defensive end DeMarcus Walker and guard Nate Davis remained sidelined but were at the practice field watching, and Tremaine Edmunds watched from the side after missing part of Wednesday's practice. But like with the others, there was no news on him. So, no news was good news.

Johnson's absence came during two days when the Bears had pads on and it would have been a chance for him to show his strength, which is being physical in the running game.

"It was terrible. I hated it. I hated every second of it, just not being involved and not getting my feet wet," Johnson said. "I hated it."

Johnson had been talking about that chance to run in padded practices since during rookie camp in April.

"Luckily tomorrow's a padded practice, so that'll change," Johnson said.

Besides running with pads on, he will get to show he can pass-block. The Bears did some pass-blocking drills without pads Friday but they really aren't pass-blocking drills without the pads.

"Once we get pads I can get more physical," Johnson said of his blocking. "I think it was a matter of me getting to the point and attacking with an accurate strike of my hands and having a heavy anchor. I think I’ve been doing pretty good."

Payback

The offense got to crow at the defense Friday after being subjected to that type of taunting by the defense during Wednesday's scrimmage. It wasn't so much that the offense dominated Friday, but was the way one play set in red zone scrimmage ended.

Chase Claypool had the ball in his hands on Justin Fields' pass into tight coverage over the middle, but it flew out as he was spun around. It flew to the side and wound up in the hands of tight end Robert Tonyan Jr. for a reception anyway.

No big deal. But on the very next play, a pass to Tonyan bounced right off his hands, went back to the corner of the end zone, and this time it was Claypool standing there waiting for a touchdown catch.

The offense let the defense have it after that one, hollering and trash talking as payback of sorts for Wednesday.

It capped another strong day for Claypool, who had several contested catches on shorter throws and also took a shorter toss, broke it outside and scampered up the sideline for a big gain during 7-on-7.

Do-Overs

The first play of two-minute drill, Fields threw an interception right to backup slot cornerback Josh Blackwell.

So the first team stayed on the field and started the series over, and Fields went to his most dependable target, DJ Moore, two straight times to initiate a drive to a 40-yard Cairo Santos field goal. ... Santos missed an extra point in practice, then was allowed to kick over and made it. As Bears fans will recall, Santos missed only two field goals all 2022, but had five extra-point misses.

Top Guns

Pass rush/blocking drills weren't much to look at without pads, but two interesting notes were a pancake block by Darnell Wright and a violent, powerful pass rush up the middle by defensive tackle Gervon Dexter against reserve center Doug Kramer.

That's their top two picks in the draft being phyiscal, and what they were looking for from the draft.

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