Bears OTAs Week 2 Storylines: Will we hear from Caleb Williams and what's the status look like for Luther Burden III's availability
The Chicago Bears kicked off the second week of organized team activities on Tuesday, in a closed-viewing session. On Wednesday, the media will be in attendance for practice and will hear from select players and coaches.During the first week of practice, we didn't learn a whole lot besides the offense starting out slow (rightfully, it's […]
The Chicago Bears kicked off the second week of organized team activities on Tuesday, in a closed-viewing session. On Wednesday, the media will be in attendance for practice and will hear from select players and coaches.
During the first week of practice, we didn't learn a whole lot besides the offense starting out slow (rightfully, it's May and an entirely new system) and the new coaching staff bringing the intense energy.
Once again, please don't be fooled by the social media overreactions about who's taking what reps. It's May people, and head coach Ben Johnson already noted players are not competing for spots nor starting positions right now.
That being said, there's still some important things worthy of focusing on instead throughout these final three days of OTAs.
Will we hear from Caleb Williams, and does it matter if we don't?
This stems from the excerpts released a few days ago in Seth Wickersham's new book. For some reason, what Williams and his father said over a year ago that was included in those excerpts has turned into a big ordeal that the media is still obsessed with.
To the point where Johnson, linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, safety Kevin Byard, and left guard Joe Thuney were all asked directly about it last week. Here's some bits of what they had to say.
"He's his own man," Johnson said. "He's gonna be treated as such. I think we're both really looking forward to turning the page on years prior and focusing on the here and now."
“If that’s how he felt, that’s how he felt,” Byard said. “Obviously, I can’t speak for him, can’t speak for his dad. But since he’s been in the building, since I’ve been around him, I haven’t noticed any of that.”
“I can tell he wants to be here,” Edmunds said. “I can tell he’s a highly competitive person. Caleb wants to be here, man. Caleb wants to win.”
To me, that's more than I needed to hear. The young quarterback shouldn't feel obligated to speak to anyone about what he or his father said last year, before even being drafted by the team. He clearly wants to be here now, case closed. Regardless, we'll see if he ends up speaking on Wednesday and what he has to say.
Luther Burden III's injury recovery and availability
During the final day of media viewing in rookie minicamp, it was reported that second-round wide receiver Luther Burden III hit the ground hard and left the field favoring his midsection. However, he was back on the field the next day at minicamp.
A few days later during the open OTA practice, Burden was again not seen participating with the offense, or even out on the field for that matter.
"He wasn't out there today,” Johnson said about him. “We're working through a little soft-tissue deal with him right now. It remains to be seen when we'll get him back."
There's no need to rush Burden back on the field in May, but if he's cleared and back to normal, we could certainly see him on the field in some capacity this week. Ideally, I'd love to see him working in with the starting offense and being featured on some motions/sweeps.
One-on-One Battles
This is something I'm particularly interested in. And I'm not talking about the work in the trenches, because frankly you can't learn much from that during OTAs while guys are without pads (which is why the first/second-team reps doesn't matter too).
I'm talking about the receiver battles against the defensive backs. The Bears have some savvy veterans in both rooms, along with some exciting young guys.
I want to hear/see how Rome Odunze is looking against the new man coverages. Or how Tyrique Stevenson and Zah Frazier are doing in press coverage on guys like Odunze and DJ Moore. Hopefully we get some more from that.
Bears HC Ben Johnson has already thrown cold water on the overreactions popping up about key positional battle during OTAs
Let’s stop making a big deal over things in OTAs.
