Bear Digest

Theo Benedet gets shot with starters in jumbled Bears tackle picture

Tracking Bears at camp: Braxton Jones and Theo Benedet split time with starters at left tackle while Ozzy Trapilo was down Wednesday at backup right tackle.
Gene Chamberlain|
Theo Benedet (79) is showing he can do more than sing in his underwear at Halas Hall.
Theo Benedet (79) is showing he can do more than sing in his underwear at Halas Hall. | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

The Canadian Eagle soared at Wednesday's Bears practice.

Apparently the status quo changed to at least a minor extent when coaches looked at game film from the Bears-Dolphins battle because the starting left tackle wasn't Ozzy Trapilo. Nor was it Kiran Amegadjie, who returned from injury to practice but played with the third team.

Starter Braxton Jones pulled down some of the reps at left tackle with the first team but when he wasn't in there it was none other than Theo Benedet getting about half the plays.

Benedet, who is from Canada, earned his nickname when he stripped down to his underwear with an eagle on them and sang for his initiation in front of veteran Bears on HBO's Hard Knocks last season.

It makes sense for the Bears to look at him at left tackle because they've already seen him at right tackle through much of training camp with the backups. Moving him to the left side was a dramatic departure.

He didn't fair poorly, although he did have a false start. The trained eyes of coaches may have seen something else, though.

Benedet probably caught the attention of coaches with his play in the Miami game. Pro Football Focus gave him the highest grade of all Bears offensive linemen for the game (66.5) and third-best grade for pass blocking (81.4).

Trapilo playing right tackle extensively for the first time definitely could have factored into it, or even dictated it. They couldn't really move Traplio to right tackle and still get Darnell Wright work there with starters so it made sense to let Trapilo play the position with the second team.

"We've really emphasized left, left, left," offensive line coach Dan Roushar had said of Trapilo prior to practice. "We want to get him some right tackle work and you know as guys continue to get healthy and the depth starts to come back, I think we'll be afforded that opportunity."

Trapilo actually played right tackle at Boston College throughout last season and had almost twice as many reps at right tackle as he did at left tackle in college.

Looking at all of this on Wednesday also made sense because the Buffalo Bills are coming to Halas Hall to practice on Friday. They could still look at this option on Thursday but could zero in more on reps for starters who will play the game.

Either way, it showed the Bears' left tackle battle still is raging and more information is needed by coaches.

The moves definitely built up intrigue for the next two practices and the preseason game.

DB Deep Dive

Without injured Kyler Gordon and with Josh Blackwell suffering an injury in Sunday's game, Nick McCloud played starting slot cornerback. All four of the new defensive backs signed on Tuesday practiced, but the health situation was a bit better than it appeared following the game.

Both Terell Smith and Tre Flowers were able to practice despite injuries in the game.

“We will have plenty of numbers and it'll give those new guys some opportunities to get some reps and compete," coach Ben Johnson said. "Schematically we'll be smart and keep it fairly simple in the game so that they (new DBs) can go out there and play ball. I think we'll be just fine in terms of getting the reps that we need to get over the course of the next two weeks."

Peaks and valleys

Caleb Williams rifled several throws for completions during various parts of 11-on-11 scrimmage but the best play they set up was a deeper throw to DJ Moore coming across the middle. It came wide open with no one left in the deep middle to tackle Moore. With no one around him, Moore dropped the pass. ... Red zone and goal line had been problems earlier in camp for the offense, but they executed a perfect D'Andre Swift sweep left behind Jones at left tackle on the first play of their work in close. It broke for a TD. ... One of Williams' better throws was another rifle shot in close over the middle to Rome Odunze as he got inside of Tyrique Stevenson's coverage for a 6-yard TD. ... It was the seventh padded Bears practice and 15th overall practice. While it wasn't as brutal as last Tuesday's practice, there were physical moments. Alex Cook picked up receiver Jadhae Walker after a catch over the middle and slammed him to the turf.

Connection established

Slot receiver Olamide Zaccheaus has built up quite the connection throughout the offseason and camp with Caleb Williams. On Wednesday, he caught three straight passes in a two-minute drill from Williams as they moved into range for a winning kick. The two have been connecting more and more in the two-minute offense in particular.

“The thing is just processing the situation, knowing how many timeouts you have, knowing when you have to get the ball back into the ref for the center and knowing when you have to get out of bounds and stuff like that," Zaccheaus said. "Just being locked in on the situation is a big thing in that drill.”

On second thought

Cairo Santos had been all but perfect throughout training camp and in Sunday's game boomed a 56-yard field goal through after an offseason when he worked at strengthening his leg and extending his kicking range. So the team cut backup kick Jonathan Kim this week to get a roster spot so they could sign DBs.

On Santos' field goal try after his competition was gone, he missed an extra-point range field goal try off the right upright.

Probably no need to get Kim back on the phone as Santos also made kicks from 55 and 48 yards.

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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.