Injuries Create Opportunities: Chicago Bears July 31st Camp Notebook
Jul 26, 2013; Bourbonnais, IL, USA; Chicago Bears linebacker D.J. Williams during training camp at Olivet Nazarene University. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports
The big buzz surrounding the fifth day of practice was created by more injuries. The most notable injury was the calf injury that middle linebacker DJ Williams, suffered early in the first hour of practice. He was carted off the field, which led to a lot of speculation about the gravity of the injury until it was revealed that he’s ‘week to week.’ In case you’re wondering, ‘week to week’ is worse than ‘day to day,’ which is the status of left tackle of Jermon Bushrod.
Speaking of Bushrod, he’s still wearing a walking boot, so there was a good game of musical tackles in practice. Presumed swing tackle sat out most of practice with a sore knee, so that only added to the intrigue. Cory Brandon and Eben Britton took reps at left tackle in his place.
J’Marcus Webb appears entrenched at right tackle, with Jordan Mills getting reps with the 2’s. James Brown took some reps at LG with Kyle Long at RG. Don’t worry about Matt Slauson, it’s believed that Brown is getting reps at LG with the 1’s in case he’s pressed into action as the swing guard.
On the defensive side of the ball, Tim Jennings was excused for personal reasons, so Zackary Bowman took reps with the 1’s at CB. We’ve seen this experiment before and it hasn’t worked out well, so it makes me a little nervous about the depth of the corners. Isaiah Frey took reps with the 2’s and is making a strong push for one of those last couple of backup spots in the secondary. Jamaal Anderson also sat out with a sore knee, so we saw more looks with Corey Wootton playing DT alongside DE Shea McClellin.
The biggest development on the defense is rookie linebacker Jon Bostic pressed into action with the first unit in the absence of DJ Williams. Since it looks like Williams will miss a chunk of time, it appears that Bostic will be starting in just over a week when the Bears face the Panthers in their first preseason game. It creates a great opportunity for Bostic to grab that starting position and not give it up.
Other notes:
- Brandon Marshall was back at practice and looked sharp.
- It was nice to see Earl Bennett’s name come up in a few tweets, making some nice plays, including hauling in a 50 yard bomb from Cutler.
- Alshon Jeffery continues to impress with a solid camp, although he did have a fumble in practice.
- There’s nothing that frosts Marc Trestman’s cake more than pre-snap errors. There was a lot of frosting on Trestmna’s cake during Wednesday’s practice.
- The Bears reached an injury settlement with Turk McBride, who blew out his Achilles, and signed Josh Williams, rookie D-lineman out of Kansas.
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