LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Our fourth camp finds us in the northern suburbs of Chicago, with the Bears undergoing yet another reset, with an entirely new coaching staff. Here’s what caught my eye after spending my day there:
• The practice I attended was a rough one for Caleb Williams. Early on, he had one off-balance pass throwaway (in the face of immediate pressure) wobble down short of the boundary, another throw out to the flat find no one, and a third throw behind the line of scrimmage batted away by a blitzing defensive back. Red zone work and seven-on-seven weren’t much better. On the other hand, backup Tyson Bagent had a cleaner morning. That said, a good portion of this is by design. Ben Johnson’s Bears start practices with a “wake-up” period that’s 11-on-11 with intentional pressure coming from the defense on every snap. It’s part of the process the Bears are going through to accelerate two things with Williams. One is the amount he’s doing in what they call “P.S.P.” (presnap procedure). The other is the volume he’s getting to see from the defense, so he can apply more of the offense to what he’s seeing from an opponent. The idea was to have him drinking from a firehose in the spring, and keep the load on him to start camp, and then begin to narrow the offense down to what Johnson, OC Declan Doyle, and the staff think he does best. Getting there is just a process (and we’ll have more on it in the Monday takeaways).
• The big position battle on offense is at left tackle. The other four line spots are relatively set. Joe Thuney’s been just what the group needed from a leadership standpoint, Jonah Jackson’s finally healthy (injuries ravaged his only year as a Ram) and Drew Dalman’s fit in, with Darnell Wright back at right tackle. That leaves incumbent Braxton Jones, who’s just returning healthy, rookie Ozzy Trapilo, and second-year man Kiran Amegadjie fighting to protect Williams’s blindside. Jones has the best foot quickness and athleticism of the group (and needs to improve his anchor). Trapilo has the best anchor (and is a good-not-great athlete for the position). Amegadjie has a combination of both qualities, but has the furthest to go from a technical/developmental perspective. That battle could be the difference between the line making a modest or a big jump as a group. That said, Trapilo will be an interesting one to watch—he was primarily a right tackle in college—but Johnson was part of a group that converted Penei Sewell from left to right tackle in Detroit.
• The third receiver and running back spots are also up for grabs. On the former, the Bears are looking for speed to pair with Rome Odunze and DJ Moore. Second-round pick Luther Burden III can give them that, but he’s been nicked up, so they haven’t gotten to see it enough yet, which has opened the door for veteran Olamide Zaccheaus, who had a nice 2024 in Washington, to get a lot of work with the first team (and he’s shown well). Meanwhile, at running back, D’Andre Swift returns with experience in Johnson’s offense from Detroit. But Roschon Johnson, a 2023 fourth-round pick, has started to look more like the player the Bears evaluated coming out of Texas. And rookie seventh-rounder Kyle Monangai has been a revelation, already showing vision, feel and strength better than expected, to pair with the contact balance that was there on the college tape.
• The question lingering on defense is who will play the edge opposite Montez Sweat when Dayo Odeyingbo goes inside on passing downs. Austin Booker is one player, but a guy who’s quietly become one to watch is four-year man Dominique Robinson, who’s big and athletic, and looks natural in new coordinator Dennis Allen’s defense. Sweat has been more consistent, and has excellent energy, working in the new scheme this offseason. Third-year tackle Gervon Dexter Sr. has looked ready to make a leap, and in both cases, some here attribute the gains to the positive influence that veteran Grady Jarrett has had on that position group.
• Finally, linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, now going into his eighth season and still just 27 years old, is another player who has taken to Allen’s scheme. Over his first two years as a Bear, there was a feeling he was overthinking everything, and Edmunds now looks more comfortable and he’s playing free. He and T.J. Edwards should provide Allen with a solid veteran nerve center for a promising defensive group.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Bears Training Camp 2025: How Ben Johnson Is Developing Caleb Williams.
