The Chicago Bears wrapped up mandatory minicamp on Thursday, and one recently signed player needs to step up his game during training camp. The Bears gave a few young players reps with the first team, like rookie linebacker Ruben Hyppolite II and rookie offensive tackle Ozzy Trapilo.
While OTAs are a time for the coach to experiment with different personnel, the Bears made a surprising move with their defensive line during mandatory minicamp.
Dominique Robinson was working with the Chicago Bears’ first team
Per Adam Hoge of CHGO Bears, Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen gave Dominique Robinson the bulk of the reps at defensive end with the first team. Head coach Ben Johnson said Robinson was a surprise standout at minicamp.
While that’s good news for the fourth-year defensive end who was thought to be on the 53-man bubble before training camp, Hoge suggested that newcomer Dayo Odeyingbo did not have a promising showing this spring and sat out of practice on Thursday.
“This is why you go through the offseason program and you go through OTAs,” Hoge said. “And you have this, it’s always competition because the reality is the last two days we’ve seen Dominique Robinson running with the ones. And I don’t know what’s going on with Dayo Odeyingbo, but it’s been Dom Robb out there, and very surprising to me.
“But when you look at his size and his length and kind of his traits, they do fit Dennis Allen’s prototype for a defensive end. Now here’s the big question. It’s been great.”
Dayo Odeyingbo was a risky signing
The Bears signed Odeyingbo to a three-year deal worth $48 million in the offseason. That was a questionable and significant chunk of change for a defensive end coming off a three-sack season. He has 16.5 sacks in his four-year career.
Odeyingbo believes there’s more to his game than sack numbers on the stat sheet. But he apparently has more to show in training camp. Robinson was able to beat Darnell Wright and Kiran Amegadjie multiple times in the spring.
The Bears were counting on Odeyingbo to become enough of a threat to make Sweat’s life easier. That wasn’t the case at mandatory minicamp. He was practicing, and it’s still early, but hopefully this doesn’t turn into a Nate Davis-type situation.
Robinson has had strong showings in the spring before. The true test for Odeyingbo and Robinson will come when the pads come on in training camp.
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