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http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/ct-spt-bears-training-camp-updates-20180723-story.html#nt=oft02a-1la1
The sun finally returned to Bears practice Monday after three consecutive rain-soaked sessions, leaving fans to enjoy a picturesque summer morning.
That also meant better conditions for coach Matt Nagy’s passing attack to continue working out the glitches.
Here are five observations from Monday’s practice, keeping in mind these are only snapshots of players trying new things and testing themselves in an effort to improve.
1. It wasn’t even Mitch Trubisky’s best throw of the day, but his deep completion to Taylor Gabriel was a thing of beauty.
Late in practice during 11-on-11 team drills, Gabriel outran cornerback Prince Amukamara down the left sideline. Gabriel had a step and a half on Amukamara about 40 yards downfield when Trubisky’s throw descended perfectly into Gabriel’s stride. The ball was right on the left sideline, too, which prevented safety Eddie Jackson from ranging over from the middle to break it up.
“That's a ball that it's kind of scary to throw because it was Cover-2,” Gabriel said. “But for him to trust me on that deep ball and trust my speed, that's what … I like to see.”
Trubisky has the arm strength and accuracy to complete deep passes, but executing them consistently is a matter of acclimating to each receiver’s speed and perfecting the timing.
Of course, there has to be a clean pocket for Trubisky to execute his throwing fundamentals, which Nagy later detailed.
“Keep your weight balanced,” Nagy, a former Arena League quarterback said. “Your feet have to be set. Any time you do the step-away and you fade away and throw off your back foot — there's times you have to do that and you need to be accurate, but if you have a pocket and those guys are fighting their tail off to give you some green grass to throw, then set your feet, OK, have your balance with your shoulders and then follow through.”
As nice as the deep completion was, Trubisky’s best throw Monday (and camp so far) was a completion to Dion Sims on an over route in team drills. He dropped it in over cornerback Bryce Callahan, who appeared to be in zone and who jumped up with his arm fully extended to try to tip the pass. But Trubisky got the ball over the defender and down to his receiver in stride. A masterful throw for a 20-yard gain.
The second-year quarterback has been intercepted in all four practices. Monday, Amukamara got him during 2-minute situational work. On a third-and-5, Amukamara jumped a slant intended for Trey Burton. Amukamara is a very smart cornerback who understands what the game situation means for the likelihood of a certain route.
Amukamara “was almost kind playing the (line-to-gain and) the clock and knew…that another five yards would really help the kicker get closer,” Nagy said. “He made a good play.”
2. Running backs and tight ends matched up against linebackers in one-on-one pass protection drills, and tight end Trey Burton stood out.
Burton is only 235 pounds, so don’t expect Nagy to frequently keep him in to block edge rushers. As the U tight end, anyway, his main responsibility will be to run routes. But for the Bears to maintain some level of unpredictability, Burton must be able to block. To that end, he’s not 260-pound Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
Burton, though, stayed compact and balanced in stopping outside linebackers Isiah Irving and Sam Acho. He didn’t reach or hold. He stayed low and absorbed the rush, anchoring well enough to give the make-believe quarterback time to throw.
This set of drills came down to a winner-take-all matchup between running back Jordan Howard and linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski. Kwiatkoski tried to bull-rush Howard, but Howard stayed square and delivered an effective punch that stopped the third-year linebacker.
The offensive guys cheered while the defensive guys dropped and did 10 push-ups.
“I'm just a little upset that Vic didn't — I didn't see him doing his 10 push-ups,” Nagy said of defensive coordinator Vic Fangio.
3. Hand-fighting techniques were a coaching point for rookie guard James Daniels in one-on-one pass rush drills.
Second-year defensive lineman Roy-Robertson Harris broke down Daniels’ hands quickly to get past him on one rush, and a reserve lineman did the same on a subsequent rep.
Daniels did stop a Robertson-Harris spin move later, but the drill emphasized the importance of hand fighting for the 20-year-old. Offensive line coach Harry Hiestand constantly harps on hand technique, specifically tight hands and hand placement.
“That’s how you stop a player — get their hands on them before they can get into a rush,” Daniels said. “These D-linemen are too big, too strong for you to not use something to stop them. If you punch a lineman (at their waist) it’s not going to stop them. You’ve got to punch them high in the shoulder so it can stop their rush.
“It’s something I have always worked on. That shows you how hard it is because I’ve been doing it forever. I just have to keep on working it in practice to try to get better every day.”
4. Javon Wims dropped a pass in seven-on-seven, and it wasn’t his first drop of camp. Wims didn’t complete the catch before he tried to turn upfield, and he didn’t take the ball with him.
If the seventh-round rookie he can correct the focus drops, he presents an attractive package. At 6-foot-4 and 215 pounds, his size is an asset. He has a long catch radius, and he has demonstrated through four practices that he's fast. He put a stutter step on a third-string linebacker Sunday that freed him into space, and he can really run well with the ball.
5. New kicker Cody Parkey attempted field goals for the first time in camp. This would’ve been a lot more fun if the Bears had run him out there in the torrential rains that soaked parts of the first three practices, but, hey, it’s easy to understand why they didn’t.
With the first team field-goal unit, including holder Pat O’Donnell, Parkey was 4-for-4, including a 53-yarder.
With the second team, including holder Ryan Winslow, Parkey was 3-for-5. He was wide right from 40 and 54 yards, and he also made a 54-yarder.
Special teams coordinator Chris Tabor watched intently while holding a stopwatch, timing the operation from snap-to-kick. A satisfactory time is anything faster than 1.32 seconds. I did not break out the stopwatch on my phone — that is best left to Tabor.
Participation report: Receiver Allen Robinson (left knee) and right guard Kyle Long (right ankle) sat out on one of their scheduled rest days, Nagy said. Linebackers Danny Trevathan (hamstring) and Joel Iyiegbuniwe (shoulder) did not practice. Rookie linebacker Roquan Smith remains out of camp due to a contract impasse. Tight end Ben Braunecker (hamstring) and cornerback Sherrick McManis did not participate. Tight end Daniel Brown (ankle) returned to practice.
The Bears signed undrafted free agent linebacker Ro’Derrick Hoskins, from Florida State, on Monday afternoon as depth with Trevathan, Iyiegbuniwe and Smith all missing practices.
rcampbell@chicagotribune.com
The sun finally returned to Bears practice Monday after three consecutive rain-soaked sessions, leaving fans to enjoy a picturesque summer morning.
That also meant better conditions for coach Matt Nagy’s passing attack to continue working out the glitches.
Here are five observations from Monday’s practice, keeping in mind these are only snapshots of players trying new things and testing themselves in an effort to improve.
1. It wasn’t even Mitch Trubisky’s best throw of the day, but his deep completion to Taylor Gabriel was a thing of beauty.
Late in practice during 11-on-11 team drills, Gabriel outran cornerback Prince Amukamara down the left sideline. Gabriel had a step and a half on Amukamara about 40 yards downfield when Trubisky’s throw descended perfectly into Gabriel’s stride. The ball was right on the left sideline, too, which prevented safety Eddie Jackson from ranging over from the middle to break it up.
“That's a ball that it's kind of scary to throw because it was Cover-2,” Gabriel said. “But for him to trust me on that deep ball and trust my speed, that's what … I like to see.”
Trubisky has the arm strength and accuracy to complete deep passes, but executing them consistently is a matter of acclimating to each receiver’s speed and perfecting the timing.
Of course, there has to be a clean pocket for Trubisky to execute his throwing fundamentals, which Nagy later detailed.
“Keep your weight balanced,” Nagy, a former Arena League quarterback said. “Your feet have to be set. Any time you do the step-away and you fade away and throw off your back foot — there's times you have to do that and you need to be accurate, but if you have a pocket and those guys are fighting their tail off to give you some green grass to throw, then set your feet, OK, have your balance with your shoulders and then follow through.”
As nice as the deep completion was, Trubisky’s best throw Monday (and camp so far) was a completion to Dion Sims on an over route in team drills. He dropped it in over cornerback Bryce Callahan, who appeared to be in zone and who jumped up with his arm fully extended to try to tip the pass. But Trubisky got the ball over the defender and down to his receiver in stride. A masterful throw for a 20-yard gain.
The second-year quarterback has been intercepted in all four practices. Monday, Amukamara got him during 2-minute situational work. On a third-and-5, Amukamara jumped a slant intended for Trey Burton. Amukamara is a very smart cornerback who understands what the game situation means for the likelihood of a certain route.
Amukamara “was almost kind playing the (line-to-gain and) the clock and knew…that another five yards would really help the kicker get closer,” Nagy said. “He made a good play.”
2. Running backs and tight ends matched up against linebackers in one-on-one pass protection drills, and tight end Trey Burton stood out.
Burton is only 235 pounds, so don’t expect Nagy to frequently keep him in to block edge rushers. As the U tight end, anyway, his main responsibility will be to run routes. But for the Bears to maintain some level of unpredictability, Burton must be able to block. To that end, he’s not 260-pound Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
Burton, though, stayed compact and balanced in stopping outside linebackers Isiah Irving and Sam Acho. He didn’t reach or hold. He stayed low and absorbed the rush, anchoring well enough to give the make-believe quarterback time to throw.
This set of drills came down to a winner-take-all matchup between running back Jordan Howard and linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski. Kwiatkoski tried to bull-rush Howard, but Howard stayed square and delivered an effective punch that stopped the third-year linebacker.
The offensive guys cheered while the defensive guys dropped and did 10 push-ups.
“I'm just a little upset that Vic didn't — I didn't see him doing his 10 push-ups,” Nagy said of defensive coordinator Vic Fangio.
3. Hand-fighting techniques were a coaching point for rookie guard James Daniels in one-on-one pass rush drills.
Second-year defensive lineman Roy-Robertson Harris broke down Daniels’ hands quickly to get past him on one rush, and a reserve lineman did the same on a subsequent rep.
Daniels did stop a Robertson-Harris spin move later, but the drill emphasized the importance of hand fighting for the 20-year-old. Offensive line coach Harry Hiestand constantly harps on hand technique, specifically tight hands and hand placement.
“That’s how you stop a player — get their hands on them before they can get into a rush,” Daniels said. “These D-linemen are too big, too strong for you to not use something to stop them. If you punch a lineman (at their waist) it’s not going to stop them. You’ve got to punch them high in the shoulder so it can stop their rush.
“It’s something I have always worked on. That shows you how hard it is because I’ve been doing it forever. I just have to keep on working it in practice to try to get better every day.”
4. Javon Wims dropped a pass in seven-on-seven, and it wasn’t his first drop of camp. Wims didn’t complete the catch before he tried to turn upfield, and he didn’t take the ball with him.
If the seventh-round rookie he can correct the focus drops, he presents an attractive package. At 6-foot-4 and 215 pounds, his size is an asset. He has a long catch radius, and he has demonstrated through four practices that he's fast. He put a stutter step on a third-string linebacker Sunday that freed him into space, and he can really run well with the ball.
5. New kicker Cody Parkey attempted field goals for the first time in camp. This would’ve been a lot more fun if the Bears had run him out there in the torrential rains that soaked parts of the first three practices, but, hey, it’s easy to understand why they didn’t.
With the first team field-goal unit, including holder Pat O’Donnell, Parkey was 4-for-4, including a 53-yarder.
With the second team, including holder Ryan Winslow, Parkey was 3-for-5. He was wide right from 40 and 54 yards, and he also made a 54-yarder.
Special teams coordinator Chris Tabor watched intently while holding a stopwatch, timing the operation from snap-to-kick. A satisfactory time is anything faster than 1.32 seconds. I did not break out the stopwatch on my phone — that is best left to Tabor.
Participation report: Receiver Allen Robinson (left knee) and right guard Kyle Long (right ankle) sat out on one of their scheduled rest days, Nagy said. Linebackers Danny Trevathan (hamstring) and Joel Iyiegbuniwe (shoulder) did not practice. Rookie linebacker Roquan Smith remains out of camp due to a contract impasse. Tight end Ben Braunecker (hamstring) and cornerback Sherrick McManis did not participate. Tight end Daniel Brown (ankle) returned to practice.
The Bears signed undrafted free agent linebacker Ro’Derrick Hoskins, from Florida State, on Monday afternoon as depth with Trevathan, Iyiegbuniwe and Smith all missing practices.
rcampbell@chicagotribune.com
