The first Friday of Bears training camp was a muggy day, and the Bears slowed things down accordingly. Three days into camp and we’ve still yet to see any situational periods, like third down, red zone or two-minute drills. That said, there are still takeaways from watching 1-on-1, 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 periods.
CRUISING INTO THE WEEKEND
As temperatures soared at Halas Hall on Friday, the pace of practice dipped. Coaches focused on walkthroughs, which meant installing plays at a slower speed so that players could focus on Xs and Os, and stay safe in the process.
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“Big thing for the Bears here at Halas Hall is player safety,” said defensive coordinator Alan Williams. “So we’re looking at the long-range plan in terms of keeping our guys healthy. They came back in phenomenal shape and they are ready to go. We’re trying to protect against themselves with going a million miles an hour.”
The Bears are still in the ramp up portion of camp and won’t put the pads on until next week. As they get ready to dial up the intensity they’re focusing on the learning portion of the summer program.
CHASE CLAYPOOL DOMINATES 1-ON-1s
Claypool missed a significant chunk of OTAs and minicamp as he dealt with soft tissue injuries, and it looked like he could miss more time to start training camp when he was put on the PUP list. Claypool’s stay on the PUP list was short lived and he ended up participating in full at the outset of camp. Even though Claypool was fully healthy, it appeared that he needed to shake off some rust over the first couple of days.
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On Friday, Claypool stood out during the 1-on-1 portion of practice, which was one of the most competitive periods of the day. Interestingly, both of his notable reps came against Tyrique Stevenson, and he beat Stevenson both times. First, Claypool used his size and physicality to put Stevenson on the ground with a shake of his arm. That led to an easy pitch and catch. On the second rep, Claypool used a shifty double move to get open. He initially broke inside, then planted a foot and changed direction to leave Stevenson in his wake.
JAYLON JOHNSON MAKES TWO SPLASH PLAYS
Given the downtempo nature of Friday’s practice, there weren’t many opportunities for Bears defensive players to add to their highlight reels. Johnson made the most of the limited chances with two reps in particular.
The first was something we haven’t seen many people do: Johnson drew DJ Moore in 1-on-1s, tailed the WR1 well and forced an incompletion. We’ve seen Moore and Justin Fields connect so many times in the early stages of training camp that this incompletion felt more notable than the others.
The second came on one of the rare deep balls attempted on Friday. The Bears dialed up curls and crossers seemingly all afternoon, but on this occasion Johnson drew Velus Jones Jr. on a go route. Jones Jr. appeared to have a step on Johnson and had an opportunity to make a big catch, but Johnson leapt in the air and swatted the ball away while fully extended.
Johnson wants to create more takeaways this season, but reps like that show why he’s still one of the premiere shutdown corners regardless of his lower interception numbers.