ENGLEWOOD, Colo. _ Bears coach Matt Nagy liked how rookie Roquan Smith performed Wednesday in his first practice in pads as an NFL player.
The newly-signed linebacker worked into team drills with the second-team defense and did the same during Thursday's shells-only practice.
Nagy, who on Wednesday reserved evaluating Smith's first practice until he reviewed video of it and discussed it with coaches, shared his assessment on Thursday.
"I thought there were some plays where he showed some flashes of some speed and cutting down angles and the instincts," Nagy said. "I thought his instincts showed up.
"He still, again, didn't get a whole bunch of reps (Wednesday). He got enough, which was good. We didn't want him to get a lot of reps. But from what I saw on tape, I was happy with what I saw."
Because Smith held out for 29 days and missed all of training camp, Wednesday's practice was his only NFL work in full pads. That would seem to significantly diminish the possibility of him playing in Saturday's exhibition against the Broncos, but Nagy opted not to publicly finalize that Thursday. So at this point, Smith's participation in the game can't be ruled out.
