The Chicago Bears lost a vital member of their defense with nose tackle Eddie Goldman choosing to opt out of the 2020 season due to COVID-19 concerns.
While it’s certainly no easy task asking to replace someone like Goldman, that’s exactly what the Bears have to do. And there are a number of players that are willing to step up to the challenge.
Including third-year defensive tackle Bilal Nichols, who played nose tackle in place of Goldman in Chicago’s first padded practice of training camp. And according to The Athletic’s Adam Jahns, Nichols and defensive tackle Akiem Hicks gave the offensive line some fits in the run game.
#Bears defensive lineman Bilal Nichols played nose today in place of Eddie Goldman. He said believes he can handle it. He and Akiem Hicks gave the offensive line plenty of problems early during some run-game work.
— Adam Jahns (@adamjahns) August 17, 2020
The Bears have several players on their roster that could assume the nose tackle role in Goldman’s absence, including Nichols. Defensive line coach Jay Rodgers also said John Jenkins, Abdullah Anderson and Brent Urban will all get reps at nose tackle during training camp as they’re looking to find the guy to step in Goldman’s impressive shoes.
“We’d like to have options,” Rodgers told the media last week. “What you’d like to have is the best two, three, four guys out there on the field that you could possibly put out there with the ability to substitute when you need to and not have any drop-off. So we’re going to continue to train everybody at every position.”
