Bad weather in the area forced the Chicago Bears inside the Walter Payton Center for practice today, so, for the second time this year, fans were sent home. My advice for fans traveling a long way for practice: have a backup plan. Don’t just drive in for a 90ish-minute practice that may get canceled if it’s raining. Camp is an enjoyable experience, and the Bears have several vendors and events lined up to make it a fun, family-friendly time, but last-minute cancellations are always a possibility.
As for the on-field action at today’s practice, would you believe that multiple beat reporters praised second-year linebacker Ruben Hyppolite? 1) “Nice day for Ruben Hyppolite out there. He made a few really nice plays, including getting into the backfield.” 2) “Ruben Hyppolite had his best practice of camp. Very active on defense.“ 3) “Made some plays. Sniffed out a screen to Loveland, made the tackle.” But we also had this: “Ruben Hyppolite times fast but struggled covering Cole Kmet on routes.”
The Bear Report’s Zack Pearson shared, “Mixed day for the offense overall. Big play ended practice as Tyson Bagent hit Kaden Davis for a long touchdown. The WR made a nice catch in coverage. Good ball.” He also wrote, “Early in practice, Caleb Williams found Jahdae Walker deep for a 61-yard touchdown. The very next play, Case Keenum hit Kaden Davis for a 60-yard touchdown. A lot of that was YAC.” He also shared that corner Tyrique Stevenson, who was dinged up yesterday, was back and picked off Caleb in a drill.
CHGO’s Adam Jahns said that the blitzes from defensive coordinator Dennis Allen “gave Caleb Williams and Co. plenty of problems in one team period today at practice.”
Also, in case you missed it, with Allen in Canton yesterday for Drew Brees’ Hall of Fame induction, Al Harris took over as the defensive coordinator during practice.
“First-team offense sloppy near the end of a long, physical practice,” per the Chicago Tribune’s Sean Hammond. “Bagent and Kmet were on fire at the end of a team drill with the 2s.”
The Athletic’s Dan Wiederer wrote that “D’Andre Swift looks GOOD. Strong camp to date. Sealed a win during a situational 4-minute offense period with two chunk runs. Burst and vision there.”
And here’s your reminder that we’re just talking ’bout practice.
A few other nuggets from the day.
With Cam Lewis out, Xavier Woods, who was just signed on Friday, was starting at safety alongside rookie Dillon Thieneman early in practice. Lewis had been running with the ones with Coby Bryant sidelined. Woods picked off a Caleb pass on “an extended play prayer,”
Other Bears not at practice today were wideout Luther Burden III, corners Jaylon Jones and Terell Smith, left tackle Braxton Jones, linebacker D’Marco Jackson, and defensive end Montez Sweat.
Linebacker T.J. Edwards is still ramping up since his return and was not in team drills.
Rookie wide receiver Zavion Thomas went down with a knee injury and did not return. (link)
With Braxton out, Kiran Amegadjie was with the ones at left tackle, but Jedrick Wills Jr. rotated in. (link)
Rookie Malik Muhammad II was getting number one nickel reps with Jaylon Jones out. He was also in on Dennis Allen’s dime packages today. (link)
Jahdae Walker worked with the starters at receiver with Burden out.
Rookie defensive tackle Jordan van den Berg was mixed in with the ones again.
In case you missed it, the Bears signed another defensive back today.
And a few videos and pics from the day.
