AZ54

There's very little discussion here but the practices on Sunday and Monday were excellent for the offense. Trubisky is starting to put it all together and instead of trying to place the ball as he did earlier in camp he's just slinging it into tight gaps in the defense. Plus he seems to be building a very good connection and trust with Robinson, not to mention Anthony Miller. If you aren't able to catch some of the videos out of camp Jordan Howard continues to catch the ball much better than last year. This one may look like nothing much but last year he'd have either dropped this ball, or come to a complete standstill to make the catch. This year he has the ability to flip his hips while getting his hands in the right spot to catch ball and quickly and smoothly transitions to running upfield. Defenders will have to be a step closer to him this year on pass coverage or he'll make them pay.

This is funny...

That's what I was thinking but that's still better than nothing.

I'm just scanning reports from around the league and have come across a few surprising "starters" who used to play for the Bears: Vikings: Cornelius Edison will be the starting center for the Vikings this week. Elflein is still their starter but I was still surprised to see them relying on Edison to protect Cousins on his first outing. Tom Compton will be next to him. http://www.startribune.com/vikings-kai-forbath-in-tough-roster-battle-with-daniel-carlson-s-big-powerful-leg/490179021/ With Easton, Elflein and right guard Mike Remmers — who is battling an ankle injury — out again Monday, the Vikings put Tom Compton at left guard, second-year man Cornelius Edison at center and Danny Isidora at right guard. Steelers: Jon Bostic is in the lead to be the starting OLB replacing Ryan Shazier. https://triblive.com/sports/columnists/kevingorman/13938984-74/kevin-gorman-steelers-jon-bostic-embracing-opportunity-at-inside-linebacker Colts: Andrew Luck will have his blind side protected by J'Marcus Webb this week. Given the nature of the injuries on their Oline that might carry into the regular season. http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000945235/article/nfl-training-camp-winners-and-losers-young-receivers-flashing General manager Chris Ballard admitted that he "screwed up" the team's 2017 offensive line and spent the offseason building depth on the unit. That depth is already being tested, with recent signee J'Marcus Webb going from the street to first-team left tackle in less than a week.

With the unexpected good play of Kush continuing as we near the end of camp the news yesterday was that Daniels will spend the next week practicing at Center. Keep in mind Kush just started the Hall of Fame game at Center and Hiestand said he played well. That means is Kush is the starter at LG he might be the backup Center on game day, or it could be Daniels. Right now it appears the top 3 options at Center are Whitehair, Kush, Daniels. It seems clear Grasu is on the outside looking in as he competes for a roster spot. It's hard to know what coaches think of other interior backups like Morgan and Watford but if they feel they can be viable backups this could be the right time to swing a trade and get something in exchange for Grasu. The Cardinals just lost their starting Center AQ Shipley to a torn ACL. They have options on their roster but you never know who else might be looking for help. We won't get much for Grasu now but we won't get anything after final cuts are made. http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/24287110/2018-nfl-training-camp-preseason-position-battles-watch

Nothing says Wims can't excel but there's been nothing from camp saying he's doing that consistently. There's a ton of positive coverage on Miller beating Fuller and Amukamara at times, and all over the field. Wims played ok against 3rd/4th string players from Baltimore and to be fair he's made some good plays in camp as well. I just don't see him breaking into the top 3 WRs on our roster. I do see him filtting in as a 4th/5th WR but right now White is clearly ahead of him. I don't think Wims will beat out Bellamy on special teams. If we keep 6 WRs Wims has a good chance of being #6. If we keep 5 WRs I think special teams win out and Bellamy has the edge. I'm not as sold as others are that we'll keep 6 WRs because with a coach heavily focused on using multiple TE sets it seems we'd be more likely to keep 4 TEs. Plus Cohen is going to be used quite a bit as a receiver, even lining up there often. That could mean we keep 4 RBs, or 3 RBs and FBs. It's hard to predict how the last few roster spots will be filled and of course injuries will factor into that too.

https://www.chicagobears.com/news/urlacher-shows-humility-gratitude-in-speech Class act all the way. As a fan I'm proud to say he's a Hall of Fame Chicago Bear. I'm glad he introduced my kids to great Bears defense and that great MLB tradition we have.

There are some early signs the offense is starting to come together. Anthony Miller is going to surprise a lot of people this season. I can include myself in that group as I wasn't that high on him in the draft process although the 2nd Rd seemed to be the right value for him. He's going to line up against other team's second or third best CB and that looks more and more like a huge advantage for the Bears. It also appears that Trubisky is starting to feel more confident in this new WR group considering all the tight window throws he completed today. https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/bears/postcard-bears-training-camp-allen-robinson-anthony-miller-mitch-trubisky

I'd do it. Now is the time to take that chance while Trubisky is on his first contract. We gotta get Goldman setup as well IMO but we could do that if get a bit creative. We have $26mil in cap space right now, and projected to be -$40mil next year. That's from OvertheCap.com project cap space for our For sure Kevin White would be gone, replaced by Miller of course. Amos too, replaced by Bush. A bit of that $40 comes back to us because we wouldn't pay 1st or 2nd Rd picks next so that should push cap room closer to $43mil. Depending on how well he plays we might lose a player like Callahan, and that may or may not be a big deal. However, DBs become less of an issue with a strong pass rush. We'll probably start shedding some of these million dollar special teams players like McManus, Bellamy ($2mil/yr). Bellamy's deal is done anyway, McManus is on the books next year at $2mil, this year $1.5mil.

Forgot to add that Bilal Nichols looks strong and he moved better than I expected. How quickly he can grow his skills into those of an NFL player could prove interesting given the battle we have for RDE. Or would the Bears keep him exclusively behind Hicks so Hicks get more snaps off?

I watched the game and tried to focus on a few players. Fitts ... first off he's more stout taking on blocks than I expected. Considering he was going against Orlando Brown Jr, who was considered a 1st Rd talent until he ran the slowest forty ever, Fitts had reasonably good competition to evalaute his play. I thought Fitts held his ground against the 6-8" 345lb RT and was able to use his speed to his advantage at times. It did appear as though Fitts had little pass rush plan at the snap but that's pretty much any rookie pass rusher. He looked agile in coverage too, able to turn and run. Overall he belongs on an NFL field and has some good long term potential. Irving ... it's hard to remember him from last year but it appears he's in better shape and a bit quicker off the snap. I don't recall much variation in pass rush as he seemed to rely on his speed to win the edge. When he won the edge he turned the corner but when engaged with the OT he offered little. He too has much work to do on his pass rush techniques but felt like he might be able to contribute in a backup role this year. Between him and Fitts I give Fitts the edge at this point in time but that's mostly because I see him having more potential. RRH vs. Bullard... Only noticed a couple plays by RRH and his bull rush for a sack IMO showed a lot of growth on that technique versus last year. For Bullard, all I can say is that against this level of competition I wish he would have been more noticeable. The camp battle continues. Wims... looks great on contested catches but unlike most I wish he didn't have to make so many contested catches. Outside of scheme getting him open I saw little to no separation and this was against players who won't be in the NFL this year. Tanner Gentry has the same issues but Wims is better going up high for the ball. Despite all the hype I still predict Wims makes the practice squad. Unless there is an injury, when it comes to WRs who is he going to beat for a roster spot? When you get to the 5th spot he will not beat out Josh Bellamy. People will say ah but he has better hands than Bellamy. True but he clearly doesn't have the speed for coverage teams that Bellamy has. Nall... He looks a little slow in his cuts. I did like how he handled pass protection blocks as he was tossing around blitzing DBs. Need to see more to evalaute him. Burton... It appears he worked on his agility this off-season because he seems a bit quicker in his cuts and he made at least one very difficult catch over his head, and almost had a second IIRC. At least they are difficult for a FB in those huge pads he's wearing. If the battle is between him and Nall for a roster spot it won't be settled until the end of preseason as it appears the coaches are giving Nall (based on his playing time) a good shot to learn the offense and let the best player win the job.

Not so sure about next year's first in that deal but the trade concept I like. Having to pay out one of the biggest contracts, if not the biggest, for a defensive player is a tough pill to swallow.

There are still a lot of timing and execution issues to iron out especially when you consider the volume of plays and especially all the read-options both WRs and QBs have depending on the what the defense does. Still it is good to hear that Trubisky has at least learned the playbook quickly. https://www.chicagobears.com/news/trubisky-exceeding-daniel-s-expectations

The league has created a system where it fines defensive players far more often than offensive players. For years defensive players have been fined while RBs and even WRs and QBs (Cam Newton) sometimes barreled head first into them. I'm not surprised at all to see players being more cautious when the league throws out some new rule even they can't properly explain.

I like this about Nagy. https://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/bears-training-camp-report-observations-analysis-eighth-practice/ Other observations After Mitch Trubisky threw interceptions to Nick Kwiatkoski, Prince Amukamara and Cre’Von LeBlanc, Nagy reiterated that he wasn’t concerned: “I love the fact that he’s trying to learn this offense and make throws. I’d rather him do that than take the five-yard check-down.’’ ----------------------------------- I haven't been to camp but on some of the videos it's obvious to me that Mitch is going to make the downfield throws. Every play we run seems to have a checkdown option. When you think back to Alex Smith who was known for playing it safe, it was Nagy who helped him open up his vision and make more deep passes the last couple seasons in KC. The only way to get comfortable and get the timing down is to throw the ball that way. We have 5 weeks of training camp, the first game is still about 40 days away. There is plenty of time to before the season starts.

I think Smith will end up the starter too but it doesn't hurt to see Kwit doing his part to make him work for it. Kwit may have worked on his coverage skills but I doubt he's that much faster and agile than last year. For plays up the middle Kwit will likely be better than Roquan but getting to the edge and in coverage will be Roquan's advantage. And the new helmet rule that Smith is reportedly arguing over is a really stupid rule. I understand player safety but you can't run if your head is not leaning in front of your body. There is no way you will ever tackle anyone coming straight at you if you don't lean forward. Or else you'll be getting run over which isn't exactly the safe way to take on contact. There's no more diving for the end zone either. That's illegal. Not only that, these athletes are too good to not ever have incidental contact around the head area when players are spinning and twisting for every yard. I think we can all rule out the obvious spearing issues. My preference would be to put a stripe or a line on the top of the helmet and any contact above the line (the crown of the head) is a penalty. This allows players to use good sound body leverage for tackling and when getting hit, and it will promote heads up football too. Incidental contact in the face mask or forehead area is still ok.

Yes, because they are not waiting for Martellus Bennett to walk back to the huddle.

In the meantime Kwiatkoski is making everyone watching training camp practicies forget Smith isn't on the field. It's reaching the point where it's no longer clear that Smith will be the starter.

Nice article on MIller's performance in camp as told mostly by our DBs. https://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/bears_receiver_anthony_miller_training_camp/

Thanks for the update.

Allen Robinson.. https://twitter.com/i/status/1022853811617128449

How much smoother is Jordan Howard as a receiver? This play is not a big deal but in years past he turned his body more toward the QB to make the catch then had to turn upfield and start running. https://twitter.com/i/status/1022848103613902848

I just like the fact that we run this drill... https://twitter.com/i/status/1021422316369203200

Slowly coming together on these deep routes...Trubisky has been throwing too short on most deep passes that I've seen. https://www.windycitygridiron.com/2018/7/27/17621296/chicago-bears-training-camp-live-stream-friday-open-thread-matt-nagy-ryan-pace-robert-zeglinski "Miller gets a step on Fuller and Trubisky lays it out on a platter for an easy deep TD. Sound day for the offense."

It's been one week and early reports from camp indicate (and this is just my sense of what I've read and seen on short video clips). Kevin White. He might not be in the elite category but he's running routes and playing well enough that he's going to see the field this year. Probably in a rotation with Gabriel although both can be on the field at the same time. Two years away from the game and it takes a long time to get back in the flow of things. In some recent video clips I see him starting to return to playing with that physical edge he had in college. There have been some drops but I believe as he plays more and more, especially as he gets hit and gains confidence in his body, that the catching ability will improve too. Of course he has to stay healthy but IMO he's on the right path. Anthony Miller. I have no idea how well he knows the offense and his routes/assignments but his route running is causing the DB's problems every day. It definitely appears that we drafted a very good player. I don't want to put hopes too high on him because he still has a lot of rookie learning to do but it seems clear he'll contribute this year. Gabriel ... he's been ok but he's still a player who needs the scheme to help him. Fortunately when you see the above players looking good it means there will be solid opportunities for him each game. Trubisky... his passes still look to me like they are too mechanical. I just think he's still processing all the offense. Some are criticizing him but one day you see lots of 2/3 TE sets the next day it's 4 WRs with 3 of them bunched up on one side. He has a ton of route combinations to get comfortable with. I also believe Nagy is at times telling him to go deep. That has led to some forced throws but he needs to get the timing down on these deep routes. We have 5 weeks of camp and even then early in the season I'm sure we'll see some hesitation. Overall I think he's doing well to get even a basic grasp of all that's being thrown at him. Reportedly some of our plays calls are 14 or 15 words long. James Daniels is still 2nd string behind Kush. However, more quietly it seems Jordan Morgan is playing well. He pancaked Goldman yesterday although I didn't see it so who knows the real deal. The bigger point is he's going against the 1's on defense. With all this I'm starting to feel we'll have some good depth on the interior of the oline this season. Haven't heard anything good about our OTs and a few bad words about Leno have been tossed around here and there. Cohen... he is going to get some 1on1 chances this year and he'll make teams pay for it. To no one's surprise he looks very good in this scheme. Howard is catching the ball and, more importantly, is looking like it's natural for him. He often works after practice catching passes. Cunningham and Mizzell ... neither has stood out to date although it depends on who's doing the talking. I"m not very confident in our 3rd string here. If Cunningham struggles Mizzell could win the job because he's the better receiver. Shaheen...he's quicker and more agile and it shows on pass routes. Ryan Nall is starting to turn some heads. Is he a FB or H-back? He may be someone to keep an eye on in the last couple preseason games as the battle for the last few roster spots shapes up. Defense: Floyd has looked good in pass rush. Or is that Leno has looked bad in pass pro? Seems to be more Floyd here. Kylie Fitts is turning heads already. With our lack of proven depth at OLB we really need someone to surprise us and play well this year. Kyrie Irving is also improved over last year. I'd summarize things as that he does not look like he's starter material but it seems he might someone who can contribute this year. Amukamara and Fuller are winning a lot of battles and getting turnovers. Overall the secondary is good. Deon Bush is getting some good press from lots of sources at camp. Kwiatkoski is playing well but we await the return of Trevathan and of course Roquan Smith joining the team.