The Chicago Bears were back at practice on Tuesday after taking the day off on Monday and today’s session featured the return of the players that were heavily featured in Saturday’s preseason opener after sitting out of Sunday’s practice.

On top of that, two key faces were back at practice Tuesday returning from injury but one key player was not seen out there on the field. Let’s get into it.

Zavion Thomas and Xavier Woods back at practice for the Chicago Bears

First and foremost, rookie wide receiver Zavion Thomas was back on the field for the first time since suffering a knee injury on Aug. 9. Thomas avoided a major injury and was considered day-to-day prior to his return on Tuesday. That’s an encouraging sign for the rookie speedster and bodes well for his chances of making his preseason debut this weekend.

Another player that was back at practice was veteran safety Xavier Woods. Woods suffered a groin injury in Saturday’s game against the Cleveland Browns and it was never reported the extent of his injury. Being back already is positive and gives the secondary some relief considering all of the injuries they’ve dealt with the last few weeks.

Tyson Bagent not seen at practice on Tuesday, with no update regarding a potential injury

The biggest news is that backup quarterback Tyson Bagent was not on the field during Tuesday’s practice. Bagent started Saturday’s game and played the entire first-half before being replaced by veteran Case Keenum in the second-half. Bagent is apparently dealing with a hamstring injury that he suffered during Saturday’s game, according to Mark Carman. Head coach Ben Johnson didn’t provide any details about Bagent dealing with any kind of injury during his press conference ahead of practice.

His availability will be one to watch with a joint practice scheduled for Thursday against the Cincinnati Bengals followed by another preseason game on Saturday, although Carman noted his status for Saturday’s game is in doubt.

Johnson reiterated before practice that the plan for playing the starters will come down to how Thursday’s joint practice looks. If the Bears decide to sit Caleb Williams again and Bagent continues to be sidelined, Keenum would get the start with undrafted rookie Miller Moss filling in behind him.

Ben Johnson confirms week-to-week timeline for Kyle Monangai

During Sunday’s practice, running back Kyle Monangai left the session early with a knee injury and it was reported by ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler that Monangai would miss several weeks but avoided a major injury. Johnson confirmed that report on Tuesday noting that Monangai will be week-to-week with Week 1 coming up soon.

That absence puts added attention on the RB3 battle taking place between Roschon Johnson, Salvon Ahmed, and Brittain Brown. The winner of that competition very well could be the RB2 behind D’Andre Swift depending on how long Monangai is sidelined.

Other injury notes

Tyrique Stevenson continues to be sidelined with an apparent injury. Johnson did not provide any updates on his status but he was asked multiple times about Kyler Gordon’s status, to which he responded with these short answers:

“Yeah, there’s nothing to add right now,” Johnson said of Gordon. “I see him in the building. There’s a plan and he’s working toward the plan. He’s rehabbing.”

As for Ozzy Trapilo, he was back out there again on Tuesday after getting activated from the PUP on Sunday. Here’s what Johnson said about the plan for the second-year offensive tackle:

“Obviously, physically, we feel really good about where he’s at or else we wouldn’t have brought him off the PUP,” Johnson said. “Now it’s a race to see how quickly we can rebuild the confidence. It’s going to look different for him than it is anyone else just in terms of how we continue to integrate him into drills, team drills, things like that.”