Scouting Out First Bears Padded Practice: Coby Bryant's Tough Outlook

The Bears didn't even need to get into the heavy contact part of Monday's first padded practice before getting their first injury.

Safety Coby Bryant was merely doing a one-on-one drill against Cole Kmet when he suffered a left leg injury and left on a cart. He was able to get into the cart on his own accord.

According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, it's going to keep Bryant out eight to 10 weeks due to a hyperextended knee and small bone fracture.

The injury could be a big blow to the Bears in many ways, but especially because it further depletes their depth. Bryant's backup, Elijah Hicks, is on the physically unable to perform list with a shin injury.

At the same time, running back Kyle Monangai returned for his first practice since the first day of practices. He only did some individual drills and stretching at the outset, then left with trainers before the team portion of practice began.

Bears safety Coby Bryant is expected to be sidelined 8-10 weeks due to a hyperextended knee, bone bruise and small fracture that he suffered at today’s practice, per sources. No surgery is expected to be needed. pic.twitter.com/LxaZFt4hPP
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 3, 2026

"We're taking it day-by-day right now," coach Ben Johnson said about Monangai. "We're working through it. He's working hard with his rehab and it (full return) should be on the shorter side here."

Because Johnson talked prior to practice, there was no update on Bryant's injury. A few players did comment on it.

"You know, it always sucks to see," tight end Colston Montgomery said. "That's part of it. You know, he's tough, he's a dog. He's going to be fine. We're not worried about it but I don't know. We'll leave (a diagnosis) to coach Johnson."

In light of the Coby Bryant injury news, one would expect a veteran S signing soon. Really need Kyler Gordon to get his calf figured out. #DaBears
— Ben Devine (@Chicago_NFL) August 3, 2026

Cornerback Tyrique Stevenson wasn't sure about the injury but knows what the Bears were getting from Bryant at practice.

"He's like a spark plug," Stevenson said. "He's come in with the juice. Obviously from practice, when he's coming out in the middle of the field to make PBUs, he's just a spark plug. He's bringing that energy every day and he done won it at the highest level so he's not letting nobody slip under the standard."

The leadership part of it is important because the Bears' secondary lost a lot of leadership when Kevin Byard left for Buffalo as a free agent, Jaquan Brisker went to Pittsburgh and when they were planning to start rookie Dillon Thieneman.

Without Bryant or Hicks, the Bears gave time with starters to Cam Lewis and to Gervarrius Owens at safety. Lewis missed much of their offseason work with an injury after signing in free agency, while Owens was on the practice squad last year and was a seventh-round pick of the Giants in 2023. He played three games for them as a rookie and then two games for the Titans in 2024.

Oof, go get Jabrill Peppers in the building pic.twitter.com/QymK16aKR7
— Winners Only Club (@WOCmain) August 3, 2026

Hitting it off

The best part of the padded practices is usually the pass rush work and there was some of this. While eyes focused naturally on the few reps edge Dayo Odeyingbo had, it was defensive tackle where thye really fun work was being done. Odeyingbo took only a few reps during the drill.

Three players stood out and all of them were on the defensive interior. The tackles handled the edge rusher well. Veteran backup Neville Gallimore had a few good pushes but the real surprise was undrafted rookie Jayden Loving from Wake Forest. Loving was relentless as he drove past rookie center Logan Jones on one pass rush, and when the Bears went through full-squad scrimmage Loving had a good penetration and swatted down a Case Keenum pass.

Rookie defensive tackle Jordan van den Berg also had two good rushes, one against Jones and another against guard Jordan McFadden. When both van den Berg and Loving seemed to be stymied, they merely bull-rushed the blockers back to get into a position where they could influence the quarterback.

The veteran defensive tackles weren't going to be denied in these drills, either. Starter Gervon Dexter completely beat Jonah Jackson on the first rush. Kentavius Street managed to slip past center Garrett Bradbury and 6-foot-2, 307-pound Neville Gallimore had one excellent power rush against Jackson.

"Yeah, I've been going against Nev since the Senior Bowl (in 2020), and he's always been a, he's a very big body. Very fast, strong; he's got a good abrupt, subtle hump moves, quick moves, and he can mix it in with power," Jackson said. "So I'm excited to see what the next days ahead, you know, what's he going to do."

Jackson had actually visited Oklahoma and saw the weightlifting boards with players results.

"It was big that I actually seen him on one of my official visits, and I seen the squat board at Oklahoma, and it was like 600 pounds. I was like, ‘Who's doing that?’ And he walked through, I was like, ‘Oh ... that guy.’ ”

Going deep

The one-on-one passing drills always get fans going the most and almost always result in big deep catches by receivers. Monday was no different.

"Always. Always. Always. Any release, any tempo. No rush. Quarterback not going nowhere. So the quarterback makes a perfect throw," cornerback Tyrique Stevenson said. "It varies. But I felt like that is just for defense to get better. At the end of the day, sometimes game on the line, it comes down to one-on-one. Max protect and it’s just you and him out there. So it turns into a one-on-one anyway."

Jahdae Walker and Luther Burden both came away with big catches in one-on-one drills, to the chagrin of the secondary.

It wasn't quite as easy in actual scrimmage with a rush. Caleb Williams had Colston Loveland isolated one-on-one against much shorter cornerback Jaylon Johnson on one play and threw it downfield up high, but Johnson waited and was able to disrupt it for an incompletion.

Taking advantage

Without Coby Bryant in the secondary, the Bears' receivers and passers had their way downfield in full-squad scrimmage. Tight end Cole Kmet had a 30-yard completion from Williams.

The backups got into the act. Tyson Bagent hit Zavion Thomas 25 yards downfield against cornerback Dontae Manning.

Running wild

The pads being on meant the running plays looked more alive than normal. Running back Salvon Ahmed broke off a cutback run for a 25-yard gain on one and Brittain Brown powered into the line hard twice for good yardage. Ahmed also caught a pass from Bagent and turned it upfield for 25 yards before anyone got close.

Future plans

Johnson said the pads would be on again Tuesday, then again on Thursay, with Wednesday being unpadded.

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