Bears Mandatory Minicamp: Three storylines to follow as practice picks back up at Halas Hall
The Chicago Bears will be back in action this week at Halas Hall with the next phase of the offseason schedule starting up.The Bears will hold mandatory minicamp from Tuesday, June 4th to Thursday, June 6th this week. Since this is the first mandatory practice of the offseason program, all players are expected to be […]
The Chicago Bears will be back in action this week at Halas Hall with the next phase of the offseason schedule starting up.
The Bears will hold mandatory minicamp from Tuesday, June 4th to Thursday, June 6th this week. Since this is the first mandatory practice of the offseason program, all players are expected to be in attendance.
This shouldn't be a problem for the Bears, who saw nearly full participation over the last two weeks during the organized team activities. Even the players who weren't present were accounted for in some way according to head coach Matt Eberflus. Before the week of practice ramps back up, here are three storylines to follow.
1. We finally might see the Caleb Williams-Keenan Allen connection
During the first two weeks of OTAs, we did not get a chance to see the Bears' newest addition at the wide receiver position in veteran Keenan Allen. While OTAs were completely voluntary, it's usually a good idea to start building your connection with your rookie quarterback as early as possible.
Whatever the case may be for his absence, it was entirely his decision and in no way should be seen as a negative. However, while Allen was absent from OTAs, we got our first glimpse of DJ Moore and Rome Odunze in action catching passes from quarterback Caleb Williams.
Seeing the Williams-Allen connection is definitely something we missed seeing out on the field during OTAs and there's a good chance he's back on the field this week. That means we get an opportunity to see what the new-look Bears' offense will truly look like at full strength against the team's defense.
How will the depth in the secondary shake out?
Outside of the known starting five in the secondary (Jaylon Johnson, Kevin Byard, Jaquan Brisker, Kyler Gordon, and Tyrique Stevenson), the depth at the position could be one of the most enticing roster battles during the week.
We got our first look at what the depth chart in the secondary might look like on Friday during the team's one day of media access last week. During practice, the unit was without Johnson, Gordon, Brisker and Byard in the secondary. From what was reported out of Halas Hall, cornerback Terell Smith filled in for Johnson opposite Stevenson and Elijah Hicks got some work at safety.
The team's front office added some experienced depth pieces to the unit during the offseason such as safeties Jonathan Owens and Tarvarius Moore to who the team already had returning on the roster. Hopefully we get to see more about how these players are shaking up and lining up during team drills this week.
What's going on at the running back position?
When the Bears signed running back D'Andre Swift in free agency, we all assumed he would be the starting back as soon as he walked into the building, but we also expected to see somewhat of a committee approach to the backfield to include Khalil Herbert and second-year back Roschon Johnson.
From what we've seen so far during OTAs, Swift has been the primary back working with the starting offense and has been utilized a ton out of the backfield. And, so far, we haven't heard much at all about Herbert or Johnson.
From what Eberflus said on Friday while speaking to the media following OTAs, Swift will be a main factor in this offense after all and will have the bulk of the snaps.
"We really needed that guy that can really operate on third down and even on first and second down," he explained. [Swift can] be a weapon in the deep part of the field and the short part of the field, and being able to take it the distance. He's got a lot of gas."
Deeper in the position, the Bears also have an ongoing battle between veteran Travis Homer and undrafted rookie Ian Wheeler for a spot on special teams. Special teams coordinator Richard Hightower mentioned Wheeler by name on Friday as a player who could be used as a blocker on kickoff returns.
