The group of Bears standing on the sidelines not participating in practice grew, and grew, and grew again on Wednesday.
Over the course of the 12th practice of Bears training camp, Chase Claypool, D’Onta Foreman and Equanimeous St. Brown all went down with apparent injuries. At this time of the year, the Bears only disclose injuries if they’re deemed to be long term, so we don’t know exactly what happened with those three players.
Claypool and Foreman both project to have significant roles on offense, and St. Brown came in to play with the first-team offense when Claypool went down, so if any of those guys misses an extended period of time it could hurt the team as they try to install schemes and prepare for the regular season.
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The absences also added to an already long list of players sitting out due to various ailments. The team started the day without Tremaine Edmunds, Nate Davis, Jaquan Brisker, DeMarcus Walker, Lucas Patrick, Terrell Smith, Dante Pettis, Travis Homer, Terrell Lewis and Dylan Cole. Marcedes Lewis also sat out but there’s a chance he’s not participating yet since he recently joined the team and is at the beginning of a ramp up period. Either way, that means the Bears ended Wednesday down seven players who are either projected to start, or have played significant first-team snaps. They’re without some key backups, like Patrick, too.
Head coach Matt Eberflus said there’s no concern that Edmunds or Walker won’t be ready for Week 1, physically or mentally, but last week admitted there is some concern that so many guys are missing time on the grass.
“When you miss practices you can’t get better,” Eberflus said. “When you have guys playing off each other and communicating to each other during the course of any play, offense or defense, that’s an important part.”
The Bears host the Titans for their first preseason game of the year this Saturday.
