Chicago Bears veterans have begun their summer break after last week’s minicamp at Halas Hall, while rookies are taking part this week in the final organized team activities.
That also means the final offseason edition of Brad Biggs’ Bears mailbag. But plenty of topics are covered before it returns next month for the opening of training camp.
With what appear to be greater roster concerns or holes, why did the Bears choose to sign Marcedes Lewis this week? — Glen S., Channahon, Ill.
I alluded Sunday to the possibility the Bears could reunite with Lewis when addressing 10 questions ahead of training camp and the preseason, and the move did not come as a surprise considering how the team felt about him last season. Lewis, who turned 40 last month, remains a high-level blocker in the running game and was a strong addition to the locker room. He’s a great influence on younger players, who can learn from him about developing a plan to prepare their bodies on a daily basis. That has helped Lewis get to four games shy of setting an NFL record for a tight end.
My guess is Lewis has a pretty strong chance of making the roster. It does raise a question of whether the Bears will keep a fullback on the 53-man roster. A blocking tight end — which would be 90% of Lewis’ role — and a fullback might be a little repetitive for offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, who didn’t have a blocking back last season in Seattle. Perhaps there is a spot for both. The Bears also value the veteran presence that fullback Khari Blasingame offers, and he has gotten work on special teams as well. But it’s something to keep in the back of your mind.
Why Lewis and not a player at a different position? There aren’t frontline players out of work and sitting by the phone. Lewis, if he decided to suit up again this season, was going to have this kind of timeline in which he could stick to his workout plan and sign after the voluntary offseason program. It probably had been in the works for a while. Could another move be coming? It’s possible, but anything the Bears did at this point — when 32 teams can carry 90 players each — wouldn’t move the needle.
How about two players off the radar you are looking forward to seeing in training camp and one question no one is asking right now? Can we skip the rest of this Chicago baseball summer and go right to football? — Bubba, New Lenox
Nothing I can do about the baseball part. That’s setting up to be a slog on both sides of town — an epic slog for one team. Two players of interest who are a little bit off the radar? I’m definitely interested to see how third-round pick Kiran Amegadjie fares. The rookie offensive lineman has been sidelined as he finishes recovering from surgery to repair a partially torn left quadriceps suffered in Yale’s fourth game last fall. The Bears wanted to be cautious not to rush him into action, and had he not been hurt, it’s possible he would have been chosen a little higher. He is athletic and moves well, so seeing what he can do with pads on after he acclimates to the offense will be something to keep tabs on.
As for another player who maybe isn’t discussed a lot right now — a lot of players have been analyzed this offseason — how about defensive tackle Zacch Pickens? Gervon Dexter is the second-year player who has generated headlines for reshaping his body during the offseason. Pickens went through a similar learning curve as a rookie and there will be competition for playing time. How will he respond? Will he be more instinctive? He has a chance to help out. It’s about consistency.
Regarding a question that hasn’t been asked much, what about the situation behind starting safeties Jaquan Brisker and Kevin Byard? Not a big storyline, but in a long and very busy offseason, I feel like we’ve covered a lot of ground and even more angles about this team. In eight NFL seasons, Byard has not missed a game and says he hasn’t even been held out of a practice because of injury. He turns 31 in August, and at some point the body shows a little wear and tear. Brisker has missed two games each of the last two seasons.
The Bears have a couple of players in the mix here, and the first who comes to mind is Jonathan Owens. He started 28 games over the last two seasons with the Green Bay Packers and Houston Texans, and his signing indicated he was the leading candidate to be the third safety. Can he nail down that job and be valuable on special teams? Something to consider when you figure Byard and Brisker probably won’t combine for 34 starts at a position that can be taxing. Elijah Hicks is in the mix as well. Good luck with baseball season until football gets cranked up.
Originally, the biggest worry was a defensive end on the other side of Montez Sweat. But Nate Davis being out again to start training camp is a big worry to me. Is there a decent-to-great guard to be had in the free-agent market? — @bearsdfense
I don’t get the sense Davis will be sidelined when training camp rolls around. He was a limited participant in minicamp, and coach Matt Eberflus said the team was being extra cautious with anyone who had minor ailments.
I think you’re looking at this the wrong way. Sure, there are legitimate questions about DeMarcus Walker, rookie Austin Booker and whichever other ends could figure in a rotation opposite Sweat. The Bears also want to manage Sweat’s playing time. Eberflus believes in playing defensive linemen in waves and keeping them fresh so they can be impactful when a critical third down arrives in the fourth quarter. The ballpark for Sweat is probably about 75% of the snaps each game, plus or minus a little depending on game situation. So it’s also a question of who is lining up in his place when he’s taking a breather.
But as I look at this roster, both what’s ahead this season and then to the future, I don’t know how the focus strays at all off quarterback Caleb Williams. The Bears’ ability to develop a franchise quarterback and potentially nail the position for the first time in a very, very long time has to be the focus — and the worry. I’m not saying there should be concern it won’t work out. But if Davis’ availability is an ongoing matter, that wouldn’t derail the 2024 season. If the quarterback struggles throughout, there’s an issue.
As far as “decent-to-great” guards being unemployed right now? No. You won’t find a whole lot on the shelves down at the offensive line store in the middle of June. The Bears have options. Matt Pryor is a veteran with experience. Larry Borom has played plenty. Ryan Bates could slide over to guard. I’m curious if Ja’Tyre Carter can nail down a job this summer.
It’s rare for any team’s “biggest worry” to be related to an interior offensive lineman. There were multiple questions about Davis this week, and I expect him to be with the first team when training camp opens. Where it goes from there, we will see. Obviously the Bears hope he puts together a stronger season than last year.
How is Caleb Williams looking taking snaps under center? Not something he did often, if at all, at Oklahoma and USC. Could this be a problem at the NFL level? — Ed, Plainfield
He has looked fine taking snaps under center. Yes, that’s easier to do when the defensive linemen can’t get after him from the snap. Taking the snap under center is just one part of a bigger developmental bar Williams has to clear. That’s getting the play call in his helmet headset, calling the play efficiently in the huddle, getting to the line of scrimmage, making any requisite presnap reads and then getting the ball snapped.
That’s why you often hear offensive coaches talk about going to ground zero with the absolute basics for rookie quarterbacks. There’s stuff that is taken for granted every play when you watch a regular-season game that these guys have to learn and master. Most of them didn’t do the majority of this stuff in college. It seems like no big deal until the ball is snapped and it ends up on the ground or until a protection call is missed and a defender explodes into the backfield off the snap.
“It’s so interesting,” tight end Cole Kmet said last week during minicamp, “because in that position, like taking a snap under center and saying a cadence is something you would think would be so normal, but most guys aren’t doing that until they get to the league now. So getting guys in the huddle, saying the play call, doing the cadence, those are all brand-new things for him.
“In the huddle he was crisp and clear and all those things. That just comes with confidence in the playbook that he’s gaining. Kind of finding his own voice with the cadence because that’s definitely something that, if you can get going, you can weaponize.”
This is something Williams will get more comfortable with as time goes by. He should be pretty good at it by the time the preseason starts. That’s the hope anyway.
Outside of Caleb Williams struggling or getting injured, what’s the biggest threat to the Bears not reaching their potential? Coaching, injury to Montez Sweat, injury on the O-line, Gervon Dexter and Zacch Pickens not developing or something else? — @gp1127
Are we talking about their potential in 2024 or shortly down the road? My hunch is you’re asking about the season directly in front of us. Maybe the most exciting thing the Bears have going under general manager Ryan Poles is this isn’t a one-and-done thing. It’s a young roster with growing talent that looks likely to be better in 2024 — they have to win eight games to improve — and has a good chance to be even stronger in 2025.
As far as the season ahead, this is a tough question to answer. Football is a complicated game with a ton of moving parts. My first reaction is that Williams is going to struggle at times during his rookie season. It shouldn’t happen all the way through, but there will be ups and downs. If he’s really good, that could look like a rough game here and there. If he’s not adapting quickly, that could look like what you’ve seen from other Bears rookie quarterbacks. Injuries, especially at quarterback, can cripple a team as you know. If you were compiling a list of the top five players who need to remain healthy for a successful season, Williams and Sweat surely would be on it and might be 1-2.
It’s difficult for me to choose one player or one factor. Things that could throw off a season would include offensive coordinator Shane Waldron and the players struggling to implement a new system, even though it won’t be a whole lot different schematically from what they were doing with Luke Getsy. If the offensive line as a whole has issues, that could detour the team.
I’m a little uncertain what you believe this team’s “potential” is. Are you talking about competing for a division title through the end of the season? Ten wins? Maybe 11? Improvement is expected, but I think some people are figuring Williams will be gangbusters from the start. If he is, that would be some kind of story. If he’s not, he would be like 99% of all rookie quarterbacks and I fear those with lofty expectations would be disappointed. Give him some time to grow like all first-year players.
The start to the 2023 season was one of the worst that I have ever seen as a Bears fan, especially considering the roster improved. What has Matt Eberflus and his staff done to ensure that the 2024 season does not start the same way? — @ghawk54
That’s a good question and I think we need to dive into this a little bit. The roster was better last year than it was in 2022, no doubt, but let’s not pretend the Bears had a playoff-caliber roster to start last season. They had a really young cast of players on defense, questions at a lot of positions and legitimate concern the offense and passing game wouldn’t be up to par even with the acquisition of wide receiver DJ Moore. Folks who attempted to sell progress in the passing game last summer were wishcasting.
I will agree things got pretty dark, though, in the first two months of the season. The defense was bad from the get-go. Remember, the team was adjusting on the fly after defensive coordinator Alan Williams split. There was no pass rush to speak of before the midseason trade for Montez Sweat, and before you knew it, the Bears were 1-5 and then 2-7 after a 24-17 loss in New Orleans on Nov. 5. In contrast, other recent seasons that ended in disappointment at least floated above or right around .500 through the first five to seven games. The common theme during most of those seasons was a poor second half. This was a disastrous beginning that raised questions about the viability of Eberflus and even members of the front office.
The Bears played much better in the second half of the season. It wasn’t perfect. They still lost a couple of games they should have won in Detroit and Cleveland. But Eberflus and everyone else did enough to create some hope moving forward and build a little stability.
How does Eberflus prevent a rocky start to what should be a better season? I’m curious about that myself. Does he consider a little more preseason action for starters? I hesitate to say frontline players should play a lot in the preseason. A lot of really smart football folks have gotten away from that because it’s problematic when you lose starters to serious injuries in games of no consequence. But the Bears have to ramp up quarterback Caleb Williams and they need to be able to play with an edge from the first snap of Week 1.
The biggest problem they had in the opening loss to the Green Bay Packers last season, besides a bad passing game, was a lot of confusion in the secondary. Young teams — and the Bears were one of the league’s youngest in 2023 — need to learn how to win. It’s cliche but there’s substance to that. Veteran, winning teams find ways to close out games when it matters. I think the addition of some veterans this season will strengthen the team in that area, but we won’t really know until the season arrives and we see them in action. We’ll see what Eberflus has to add along these lines come July.
Do you have insight into just how serious the Bears are being taken by other NFL teams this year? I’d imagine it’s exponential compared to previous years but is there one word to describe how other teams are looking at Chicago in 2024 and 2025? — @windycitysp0rts
In the NFL, if you start taking an opponent lightly — I don’t care how bad the record, roster and injury situation is — you’re going to get embarrassed. This isn’t like college and high school where teams can cherry-pick a homecoming opponent and feel pretty darn good about the expected outcome. The talent level — even from the elite teams to those near the bottom — is a heck of a lot closer than you would ever imagine. So opponents didn’t take the Bears lightly the last several years. The Bears just struggled, for the most part, to play consistent football.
There’s a range of reactions around the league to what the Bears did this offseason in building upon a roster that was more competitive in the second half of last season. There is genuine curiosity about the organization’s ability to accomplish something it hasn’t done in decades: develop a quarterback. There is respect for the skill-position talent the Bears have amassed. Probably some questions about the offensive line and a feeling that the defense will be competitive. Suffice to say, the Bears will have their opponents’ attention this season, but that’s the case every week of every season. Coaches who can’t maintain that focus for their teams find themselves fired in a hurry.
What do you make of Matt Eberflus going into detail about Caleb Williams’ minicamp interceptions (the ones caused by an extra hitch)? I can’t recall Matt Nagy/Bill Lazor/Luke Getsy ever giving that level of transparency/detail regarding flaws in Mitch Trubisky and Justin Fields. Is this a Caleb-specific approach or new Flus? — @kittenromney
Eberflus was pretty open about the improvements the team needed to see from Fields over the past couple seasons and where they wanted his game to grow. The Bears hoped he would have a better command of the pocket. That’s what Eberflus meant when he talked about playing in rhythm and things of that nature. It just never clicked, and that can be a primary obstacle for young, highly drafted quarterbacks.
To a large degree, the Bears went through similar issues with Trubisky. They didn’t play fast enough postsnap in terms of diagnosing defenses and determining where the football needed to go. That led to more off-script plays than you would desire. Getsy was pretty clear about what was working well and what the Bears needed to improve on. Maybe you had to parse what he was saying at times because Getsy kept things positive and upbeat, but the messaging was definitely there.
So I’m not sure if this is a new approach, and we’re working with a really small sample size here in terms of questions for Eberflus to evaluate Williams’ play. You should expect any young quarterback, even the top pick in the draft, to have some growing pains on the practice field whether he’s going against the starting defense — which Williams has been — or the reserves. You need to see those mistakes to have teaching points so he can see the same situation again and know how to react decisively.
It’s an interesting observation and maybe something to keep an ear out for moving forward. The Bears should have high expectations for Williams, just like the fan base does, and there’s nothing wrong with some transparent evaluations. The Bears have been guilty of coddling some of their players, definitely quarterbacks, in the past. But if you really listened to the messaging at Halas Hall over the past couple years, it was abundantly clear how the team felt about Fields and the passing game, where it was and where it needed to go. And the same was true through the 2019 and 2020 seasons with Trubisky. Not everyone wanted to listen and objectively analyze what was being said. Maybe circle back on this in mid-August.
I’m curious if there are any above-average centers that are due to be salary-cap casualties The Bears still have a little cap space and could afford a solid starter looking to stay employed. Even with the additions they made with Coleman Shelton and Ryan Bates, I fear this will still be a weak point on the O-line. I also think Bates would be better at guard if Nate Davis continues to be inconsistent or Teven Jenkins remains an injury risk. — Erik H., Aurora
For the third or fourth time since the Bears acquired Bates from the Buffalo Bills, I will report that Bates is the leading candidate for the center job. Barring something unforeseen, he will open training camp as the starter and will have to perform at a starter level to maintain that role. Other teams aren’t going to just cut loose “above-average” starters. Maybe they would consider trading one, but the Bears believe they made an upgrade by getting a player they originally attempted to sign as a restricted free agent two years ago. They backed that up by signing Shelton, who has starting experience. Short of an injury — maybe multiple injuries — I don’t envision them making a move for a third center deemed to have starting ability.
Bates is probably a stop-gap player. I don’t think he will be viewed as one of the top centers in the league, but if he’s in the middle of the pack he would be above what they got from Lucas Patrick last season. If I was examining the offensive line and wondering how things will unfold, I’d be more curious about the development of left tackle Braxton Jones in a critical third season as well as the play of Jenkins as he angles for a potential extension. I’d even have greater interest in whether a bounce-back season is in the cards for Davis and what steps Darnell Wright can make at right tackle in Year 2.
To me, the other four positions are more compelling storylines because we have a decent idea that Bates is a rank-and-file player at a position where maybe the Bears will look to the future in 2025. Who knows? Maybe Bates will excel and can hold down the spot for two or three years. He will have to compete to keep the job in training camp and the preseason, but I think there are more pressing questions for the group as a whole.
