AZ54

I like Stevenson's moxie too. Just don't get too handsy and get penalties. It's football like any good sport there is always a bit of mixing it up.

His little scuffle with Tyrique Stevenson where he put the DB on the ground likely tweaked it a bit. I think on his next rep is where he pulled up on the route. We don't need injuries but we do need some offensive players bringing the competitive fire. Claypool has helped with that. Hopefully just a couple weeks of rest and he's back at practice. Just saw this from the HC and he seems to sense that his team needs that fire: https://bearswire.usatoday.com/lists/bears-training-camp-takeaways-day-12-justin-fields-darnell-mooney-darnell-wright/ Matt Eberflus didn’t seem to have a problem with Claypool’s chirping. “As long as it doesn’t lead to penalties or lack of execution,” Eberflus said. “If you can keep your focus and that’s how you do it and you don’t fight, that’s how I look at it.”

It seems to have taken him 2 weeks to adjust to the NFL. This doesn't mean he's complete but that's a short ramp up in practices against our players. Now carry it forward in games but that learning curve is nice to see and hopefully he's playing well early in the year. Getting less press has been Braxton Jones starting to show improvement in handling the power rush. Not that he's a power rusher but Jones pancaked Ngakoue earlier today. Maybe he's finally learning how to use those long arms properly. https://bearswire.usatoday.com/lists/bears-training-camp-day-12-justin-fields-darnell-wright-dj-moore/

After listening to his press conference yesterday I'm even more of a fan of Gervon Dexter. Class act, humble but confident in what he believes he can do, and he's putting in the work. He was open about the work he's doing to improve his "get off" but feels that our scheme is more of a natural fit for him versus what he did in college. Today he's in the backfield wrecking a bunch of plays.

Pretty sure he has enough money to raise them wherever he chooses. Keep him on speed dial if needed.

I was hoping Szmyt could at least push Santos better than that. Depth chart has already been updated from the earlier release. Roschon moved up to 3rd string RB. WR now has 3 slots (versus where I saw 2 before) with Moore/Mooney/Claypool all listed as starters. Velus, Scott, ESB round out the top 6. There's a long way to go and injuries could be playing a part of this. For sure Gipson and Vildor are on the way outside looking in. https://www.chicagobears.com/team/depth-chart

First depth chart and there are a couple things worth noting. First Kindle Vildor is way down the depth chart...like way down. At OT Kellen Diesch flirted with a backup role at OT but is now behind Borom and some guy I never heard of ..Aviante Collins. At OG Leatherwood is staying in the mix with Carter for a backup OG role. At WR Velus is behind Pettis and Scott but he's also listed first team KR/PR. At DE DomRob is listed as 2nd string and Terrell Lewis 3rd. Trevis Gipson has fallen into the 'other' category. https://bearswire.usatoday.com/lists/chicago-bears-depth-chart-ahead-of-preseason-opener-2023/

Who did we cut? Chase Allen was let go in a swap with Lewis. Now we add this guy? If he was better than Chase we'd have kept him after minicamp. Although I have to say after watching this I think he's got better tools than Allen. Nothing high end but his size with a year in the system could yield a decent 3rd TE. His blocking technique is often poor where he gets out over his skis too far but that can be improved. His agility to turn around on the move and adjust to the ball is pretty good for someone 6'6" tall. As always these are highlights, and against low level competition, so we don't get to see dropped passes and missed blocks. I'd say he has a shot at the practice squad.

PJ Walker is not very good. For a team that’s been searching for QB1 forever I’m not going to worry about QB2.

I think Scott makes the 53 for sure but if he keeps dropping passes and punts like he did today and yesterday we won’t see much of him. Safety depth is interesting and not in a good way IMO. I expected more from Kendall Williamson but he’s been very quiet so far. Hicks is just an average athlete but seems to be assignment sound. That’s the type of emergency player I’d prefer to keep on a practice squad. The door is wide open for Trahan or anyone to earn a spot behind our starters. CB top 5, appear to be set. Blackwell was a special teams stud in coverage last year so I expect he is #5 and makes the 53. You could call him #6 if you prefer. If we keep 6 I can’t guess who it will be other than, barring injury, I doubt it is Vildor. Overall I think Adam is spot on This year I feel like most positions will be good and have one good backup except safety and OT. Adding Ngakoue fixed that concern at DE. I think one or maybe two of DRob or Lewis emerge there. Green will likely be what he’s always been - a backup level player. There is a lot of competition in the bottom 10-15 players competing for the 53 which will make the preseason worth watching, at least for me. Maybe next year we can cut that number in half.

Nobody missed

Just a solid blocker... and that's a good thing. He's still got sticky hands if needed.

Some insight on what we'll see on Sundays. This kind of matches what I suspected were the concerns with him. I don't regret the signing at all and I know he'll help us quite a bit because we simply didn't have this skillset at all. Of course he has to be playing the run on some early downs but I think we'd be best off to keep his rep count down. I think I read somewhere that in recent years he's taken up to 80% of the snaps. I'd rather see him in the 50-60% range. Keep him fresh so even on run plays he has more energy to fend off the big boys or chase plays down from the backside. Then of course take full advantage of his skills on passing downs. I'd especially like to see him get less snaps early in a game and be available more in the 4th quarter when you need a big play to close out the game.

I'm surprised at how small he is. This is not Poles type of edge player at 6'2", 32 1/2" arms, and just 246lbs. Obviously he has sack production but that really explains some of the run defense issues and his inconsistencies in the pass rush where he only has an 11% win rate. Also likely explains the Bears desire to stay away from a multiyear deal. Players who have to rely on quickness in the trenches struggle as they get older. All other DEs on our team are at least 6'4" 260lbs with the exception of DomRob who is 6'5" 253lbs with 33 1/4" arms. Eberflus can say he's an every down player and to a some extent that might be true over the course of a game but everyone knows that isn't what he was brought here to do. They may also want to say that to justify the money and his fit in the locker room. I'll be curious to see how he's used. At least this one gap scheme fits his quickness skillset well. On a run down he needs to get upfield to set the edge... but then has to hold the containment. Can he hold it and squeeze the play inside well enough?

If true, that's good enough for me. Yet that makes me even more curious why we wouldn't give him a multiyear deal considering all the cap space we had. Was his asking price simply that high?

One thing I was concerned with is the culture of the team and a young defense. We’ve seen over the first week that we have leaders in Walker and Justin Jones. In the middle you have Edmunds and Edwards. DBs are taking off with Brisker and Gordon but still anchored by BoJack. We have enough that nobody is looking at Ngakoue as a role model.

He’s been decent in recent years but what does he have left in the tank? He knows the base offense so should be up to speed quickly. At least preseason games got a bit more interesting.

Goodbye Trevis Gipson.

Maybe but if the backup isn't doing so well the starter will know how much leverage he has with the team. In Jaylon Johnson's case he knows there are 2 good young CBs vying for one starting job opposite him. Does the club re-sign Jaylon for big $ now or wait and see how the rookies do early in the season? If Vildor was still holding onto the starting spot then Jaylon (and the team) might be thinking differently.

Love it! Interception and the celebration. Every good defense needs some swagger and an identity. Ours is starting to build. Velus took a handoff from the backfield today. It’s early in camp too. If that was going to be in the playbook I figured we’d hold that look until the private practices. It’s year two in the offense and WR are moving all over the place, slot, wide, strong side, weak side. It’s going to be tougher for a defense to guess plays going off personnel in the huddle. Àlex leatherwood seems to be gaining ground in the competition for backup OG and appears to be ahead of Carter now.

Y’all know this made me smile.

Some good and some bad today and it all depends on which side of the ball you were watching on which play. It is practice so who knows if it's good offense or bad defense but things are different. I like what Wannstedt said...this team, on both sides of the ball, plays fast even with the pads on. That alone bodes well for game day. A couple things are noticeable from all the commentary. For one both young DTs are big and strong and are showing good hand placement already. They have a long way to go on play recognition and things like that but it's a good start for help on the run defense. I saw a lot of videos summarizing the first practice in pads with highlights. Most focus on the splash plays but The Football Scout chimed in with some looks at the line and I thought that was worth sharing. He highlights mostly Darnell Wright but you get to see other Oline and our Dline too. Overall it's day one and I don't make too much of individual wins/losses on plays because it's very early. This just gets you a sense of the physical talent we have. My notes: Billings looks like a beast in the middle. DomRob is playing much stronger this year and conversely Braxton still needs to improve against power. Tev is still getting his feet and hands sorted out on the left side. I'm also linking a video from 670 The Score with Tim Jenkins just because I think the way he outlines the plays the Bears should be able to have success with is worth it (mostly first 5-7min). He explains how the talent and scheme will 1) help ease things for Justin in terms of reading the defense and 2) how it will challenge a defense to cover all the options we have and what he thinks we're already installing to leverage that.

Watch this and you'll get a sense of how Justin's running affected a top defense in the NFL last year. On the first play he breaks down the WRs are Pettis, VJJ, Pringle. Pringle is gone, VJJ was still learning the offense but had the speed to do what he did in taking the safety deep. If Justin has time that's likely where he goes. Swap them out with DJ Moore running the double move instead of Pettis, Claypool - keep him back to block like Pringle he's a lot bigger and stronger, and then pick one of Mooney/VJJ/Scott going deep down the middle. On the 2nd play is when you really see the Justin effect. If that holds true this year with this WR corps we're going to get some big plays. If that happens then defenses will have to adjust and play deeper off the line with the 2nd safety and try to keep it all in front of them. Typically when you do that with an elite running QB teams will want to keep eyes forward and that means more zone coverage. Through the first 4 games teams will be testing Justin and likely mixing up coverages to see what he and the offense struggle with and what doesn't work. I'm sure the revamped Oline gets tested early and often too, especially in week 1. It'll be interesting to see how it evolves later in the season.

It depends how you define the value of 5.

It’s hard to sort out right now. Special teams is a big factor and Velus can do returns and kick coverage. I’m assuming you are keeping ESB on the 53. Is that last spot really for Velus to lose or ESB who does nothing on special teams? Same with Vildor. Without some special trait I can’t see them keeping guys like that on the roster. Pettis on the other hand can do returns. That might have more value thana run blocking WR if injuries forced Velus to pick up more snaps on offense.