It was a swampy Sunday at Bears practice. The fields at Olivet Nazarene, soaked apparently by an overnight rain, were as marshy as the air was hot. Here are five snapshot observations from the practice, the Bears’ second in full pads:
1. It’s interesting—fun, even—to see receiver Alshon Jeffery and receivers coach Curtis Johnson interact.
C.J., as he’s known to the team, is an intense, vocal, detail-oriented coach, as my Tribune colleague Dan Wiederer profiled so well in June. And now that Johnson is interacting with Jeffery regularly—this was only their sixth practice together—we’ll see how Jeffery receives his tough-love approach.
Jeffery gets no special treatment from Johnson, who doesn’t hesitate to make a player go through a drill a second, third or sixth time if he gets it wrong. But later in Sunday’s session during a water break, there were Jeffery and Johnson, standing together on the sideline talking. It was the “love” side of the coaching formula.
On the field during team drills, Jeffery kept his feet moving to block cornerback Tracy Porter in space to seal a running lane for Jeremy Langford on a carry that resulted in a big gain. In that same series, Jeffery ran off Porter with a sharp break and made a sliding catch coming back to the ball. He’s healthy right now, and when that’s the case, Jeffery is his normal effective self.
2. Speaking of Jeremy Langford, he squared up blitzing inside linebacker Jerrell Freeman on a third down pass during team drills.
As the Bears seek reliability on third down from their entire committee of backs, pass protection will be a major component—knowing who to block and doing it with the mix of patience, aggressiveness and physicality to keep the quarterback free to complete his motion. Langford did it perfectly on that play.
3. Outside linebacker Leonard Floyd will probably appear in this space often as we follow his transition to the NFL. And on Sunday, he made another noteworthy play in run defense.
On a carry to Floyd’s side in team drills, he took on fullback Paul Lasike head-on and stood Lasike up. As Lasike stopped from the contact, Floyd shifted and wrapped up the ball carrier.
Lasike is listed at 258 pounds and Floyd is on the roster at 240, but Floyd won by staying low and exploding up through contact. It’s an encouraging sign for those who worry about Floyd’s relatively light weight being a liability in run defense.
In one-on-one pass rush drills, Floyd was obviously disappointed when second-year tackle Jason Weaver mirrored Floyd’s inside spin move and stopped him from getting home. In team drills, Floyd used his speed rush to beat some third-string blockers—it would have been more noteworthy if he hadn’t.
4. On a run play in team drills, third-round rookie Jonathan Bullard got fully extended and stayed off a block enough to help stop the ball carrier.
His arm length (33 5/8 inches) was one of many traits that attracted the Bears to him coming out of Florida.
Bullard did display his heralded quick get-off on one running play. But the running back’s track went away from Bullard, so his penetration into the backfield simply set him up for a chase.
5. Cornerback Kyle Fuller played the catch point perfectly to break up a fade pass intended for Josh Bellamy in one-on-one drills.
Recall that Fuller struggled early last season on several passes on which he didn’t turn and locate the ball. He improved as the year progressed, and the Bears are optimistic his professionalism and confidence will translate to better production this year. On that play Sunday, Fuller didn’t turn, but he read Bellamy’s attempt to extend for the ball and timed his swipe for a clean incompletion.
Twitter @Rich_Campbell
