LAKE FOREST, Ill. — As Caleb Williams’ pass sailed through the air, 40 yards down the field, a few questions could run through the minds of everyone watching.
Did the Chicago Bears’ rookie quarterback put enough touch on the pass? Was it accurate? And would the player on the receiving end, Velus Jones Jr., hang on?
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Yes, yes, and yes.
The highlight of Wednesday’s minicamp practice was Williams’ long touchdown pass to Jones in seven-on-seven. Sure, there was no pass rush, and the throw came against a backup (Terell Smith, who is certainly starter-quality), but we judge what we can judge — Williams put the deep ball on the money, and Jones came down with the touchdown.
V12 turned on the burners 💨 pic.twitter.com/D9av7jHLrE
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) June 5, 2024
It’s the play that preceded the score, though, that provided Williams his learning moment of the afternoon, when middle linebacker Tremaine Edmunds picked off his pass. For head coach Matt Eberflus, it was an example of Williams learning what he can and can’t do against defenses.
GO DEEPERBears minicamp: Caleb Williams has learning moments vs. salty defense“(Edmunds) is a big guy in the middle, and that’s an imposing figure in there, like the Chicago Bears have had in the past,” Eberflus said. “And I think that’s an important part of it. He’s probably going to play most of his opponents and be like, ‘Wow, that (middle linebacker’s) not very big.’ So he’s going to be like that. But yeah, balls that are thrown late over the middle, they’re usually put in harm’s way.”
Eberflus thought it might have been a similar error to what led to Williams’ pick on Tuesday, when he had an unnecessary hitch that led to a late throw.
It’s all part of the process for Williams, whose last practice with the full team before training camp in July will be on Thursday.
Attendance report
Tight end Cole Kmet didn’t practice Wednesday, spending time on the stationary bikes. Wide receivers Tyler Scott, Collin Johnson and Dante Pettis were over there as well.
Left tackle Braxton Jones was not present at practice. Eberflus said Kmet and Jones’ absences were precautionary and he expects them to be ready for conditioning at the start of camp.
Options at right guard
Nate Davis got his first reps in team drills Wednesday. He had previously been limited to stretching and individual work.
When Davis wasn’t at right guard in 11-on-11, Ryan Bates took reps with the starters there, and Coleman Shelton played center. We’ve also seen Matt Pryor fill in for Davis. Bates was the starting center on Tuesday. He and Shelton have been rotating this spring.
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“The versatility there has certainly been helpful,” Eberflus said. “Ryan (Poles) did a really good job of having those pieces in there, so we don’t — like last year or prior years, you know, a guy goes down and we’re like, ‘Oh, what are we going to do?’ At least we have that flexibility at the O-line position.”
Eberflus did say he expects Davis to be the starter, but availability has been an issue for the veteran. It seemed to be a positive sign that he did some team drills Wednesday, as did defensive end Montez Sweat, who was limited to individual work on Tuesday.
Teven Jenkins’ future
The Bears’ 2021 second-round pick enters the final year of his rookie contract. He said his agent approached the Bears about an extension, but “nothing is on the table.”
“Stay healthy. That’s No. 1 and of the utmost importance for me right now,” Jenkins said. “Stay healthy, get through the whole 17 games and continue my strong play from last year, and be a more consistent, reliable guy.”
Jenkins missed five games last season and four in 2022 after missing nearly all of his rookie year.
But when he was available, Jenkins played at a high level.
“It shows me that I can still be a top-10 guard,” he said. “Left guard, right guard, Week 5, Week 6 over there. It shows I can still be versatile, and it shows that I’m confident in myself.”
New contract, new number, new goal
Last minicamp, conversations around Jaylon Johnson were all about his contract situation — and he was quite candid. This year, he has his deal, and he’s sporting No. 1 on his jersey, which is what he wore from middle school through college.
He also has a new goal: “Being the best corner in the league.”
Johnson showed tremendous progress last season, with career-best takeaway numbers and advanced coverage stats. He said two things have improved for him most as a player: his IQ and consistency.
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“I feel like I’ve always been talented physically,” he said. “I think now kind of just getting more reps, seeing things different, talking to guys. Just being able to see the game from a wider lens. I feel like you come in as a rookie and you’re kind of developing. You come in with a narrow lens and all that. For me being in my fifth year, I can open my lens and I can see things that I couldn’t see before in my previous years.
“Pretty comfortable with route concepts and just kind of how offenses go about doing things. Now just finding that rhythm again, getting back into it in minicamp. I feel like I’m on a different level. And then I feel like the consistency part just comes in with honing in on my technique, and that’s something that I take extreme pride in. … I feel like I’m gonna come in better than I ever have just because of my preparation. Just the way that I’ve been able to grow mentally, spiritually and all aspects.”
GO DEEPERJaylon Johnson was defined by what he didn't have, now he has more than enough20-20 club
Nickel corner Kyler Gordon said the defense is constantly talking about takeaways, and has a goal of “20 and 20” — 20 interceptions and 20 fumble recoveries.
“However we gotta get it, we’re gonna get it,” he said. “That’s just kind of the standard that we’re putting ourselves to, that we all hold each other to.”
Gordon said his broken hand from last year is almost back to 100 percent, and he’s learning every day from having to cover Keenan Allen in the slot. Gordon had two of the team’s 22 interceptions last season (the Bears had six fumble recoveries).
Johnson, Gordon and Jaquan Brisker are the three players entering Year 3 in this scheme.
“The more we hang out, the more we play ball together, the more we do anything together, everyone’s just on the same type of timing,” Gordon said. “Who’s going to make the next play? Who’s going to do this? Who’s going to do that? We know what we wanna be. The expectation is high for ourselves, that we put our standards all the way up there. You can just feel that every day in practice.”
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Trick-shot Tory
Rookie punter Tory Taylor put on a show during Wednesday’s practice, sending one punt out at the 1-yard line among several others downed inside the 5-yard line. He had another punt that landed near the goal line, then bounced horizontally and was inches away from staying on the field before being called a touchback.
“He’s like a trick-shot guy,” Eberflus said. “It’s like wow, the spin he could put on it. The one he almost had, he had a couple on the 1 of course, but the spin he could put on it. Really amazing. It’s fun to watch.”
Can confirm: Tory Taylor's got a leg 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/cKJYxNWPpX
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) June 5, 2024
Quick hits
• The offense had a much cleaner day in 11-on-11 drills, with Williams stacking completions to DJ Moore, Allen and Rome Odunze. He did have to dirt a screen pass after Edmunds got through on a blitz.
• One of Williams’ more impressive throws came as he rolled to his right and hit Jones on the sideline while on the run.
• In the two-minute drill, the offense had 90 seconds to move downfield. Williams had six completions — three to Roschon Johnson, two to Allen and one to Odunze — before they handed it off to set up a Cairo Santos field goal. The defensive line was not rushing at full speed during the sequence.
• Brisker and Johnson had pass breakups in seven-on-seven drills.
• The third-string offense got the sideline excited when quarterback Brett Rypien hit a leaping Peter LeBlanc for a big gain.
• On Tuesday, we heard about Williams’ Top Golf experience. Wednesday, Jenkins shared a story about running into his quarterback at a restaurant in Vernon Hills.
“Just a great overall dude. I met him at dinner. He met my daughter, he met my wife, he was just shaking hands,” Jenkins said. “It was really nice of him to go out of his way. We were having dinner off to the side, and he came over and said hi to us. Because you’re like, ‘We don’t want to bother Caleb. He’s here and having his own dinner.’ He came over and said hi to my wife and introduced himself to my wife. I thought that was really cool of him.”
(Photo of Caleb Williams: Kamil Krzaczynski / USA Today)
Kevin Fishbain is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the Chicago Bears. He spent the 2013-16 seasons on the Bears beat for Shaw Media publications, including the Northwest Herald, Daily Chronicle and Joliet Herald-News. Previously, he covered the NFL from 2010 to 2012 for Pro Football Weekly. Follow Kevin on Twitter @kfishbain
