The Chicago Bears wrapped up their rookie camp on Sunday and now turn their attention to full-team OTAs.
The Chicago Bears wrapped up their rookie minicamp on Sunday and there were plenty of opinions flying around after 3 days of light practices. The most notable is that everyone loves Mitch Trubisky. We know Trubisky has just about all the attributes that make up a great quarterback, but his biggest issue was reading defenses. Sure, the Bears did some 7 on 7 and 11 on 11 drills and Trubisky looked sharp, but let’s pump the brakes. Every Bears fan wants a Trubisky to succeed, even if they didn’t like the pick, but let’s slow down the hype train a little bit.
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The media was most excited about Tarik Cohen who flashed some personality and got the media drooling for sound bites. Some, like Larry Mayer, noted that UDFA WR Tanner Gentry looked sharpest amongst the non drafted rookies.
But Cohen was the star of minicamp off the field, joking that his nickname should be “Big Daddy” and generally wooing the media with his sense of humor. Cohen didn’t just impress with the media, but he looked sharp on the field as well. John Fox spoke of Cohen, “He’s got great explosion, good quickness for a little man. He’s got really big hands, which help him in the job description we’re going to have for him.” Fox noted that this type of versatile weapon could really help the Bears mentioning, “We really never had that all of last season.”
Adam Shaheen was another highlight of rookie camp. Shaheen was said to look comfortable at his first practices and showed off the ability that made him the Bears’ second round pick. The question surrounding Shaheen will be if he can make the jump to this level of competition and it’s obviously way too early to say at the his point.
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Finally, there’s fourth round pick Eddie Jackson. Jackson was limited due to the broken leg he suffered last October but the coaches spoke highly of where he was in his rehab. The key with Jackson is if he can stay healthy and from there, the Bears will see if he can make an impact on both the defensive secondary and on special teams as a punt returner.
With the amount of positives being thrown around minicamp, it sounds like the Bears are Super Bowl contenders. While that may be far from the truth, with practices now underway, it is nice that the Bears officially have their dismal 3-13 2016 campaign in the rearview mirror and are fully focused on improving in 2017.