BOURBONNAIS, Ill. — Matt Nagy described the Bears’ practice on Saturday as “sloppy,” with two notable contributing factors: 1) The players who did play in Thursday’s Hall of Fame Game were sore, and 2) Those who didn’t play Thursday went three days between practices.
Saturday was the 11th practice of training camp for the Bears, but the first following an actual game — even if nearly the entire first-team offense and first-team defense didn’t participate in that game. But for Bears rookies Kylie Fitts and Javon Wims, getting back to practice represented their first opportunities to take reps after learning from their solid pro football debuts.
“I want to come out here and perform every practice and game, so I have to take advantage of every opportunity,” Fitts said.
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Fitts stuffed the stat sheet with a sack, hurry and tackle for a loss on Thursday, but his game wasn’t perfect — he lost contain on Robert Griffin III in the first quarter, allowing the Baltimore Ravens quarterback to scramble for a gain (“I just took a bad angle,” Fitts said).
Coach Matt Nagy said he was impressed with how Wims handled getting pressed while playing in the slot, but he wants to see the seventh-round rookie — who had seven catches on 10 targets for 89 yards — improve as a route running.
“In regards to some details, he had some sloppy routes too,” Nagy said. “The numbers speak for what he did with catching the ball and the catches, the targets and the yards, but as always there’s going to be some places he could get better and that was true for him.”
The point for Fitts and Wims is this: No matter how good you looked in your first game with the Bears, there’s always room for improvement. Both players understand that, and both know their place on the Bears’ roster is far from decided.
NFL
“You can’t come out here at a practice and take some plays off,” Fitts said. “It’s every snap, every drill you’re going 100 percent.”
A Roquan Smith Non-update Update
“Nothing’s new with him,” Nagy said. Smith has now missed 15 days, 11 practices and one game of training camp due to his stalemate with the Bears.
Wims, Smith’s teammate at Georgia, said he talks to the linebacker “here and there” but doesn’t know much about the situation.
Sick Bay
Safety Deon Bush (hamstring) and slot cornerback Cre’Von LeBlanc (groin) missed practice, as did offensive lineman Hroniss Grasu. Offensive lineman James Daniels, tight end Ben Braunecker, inside linebacker Joel Iyiegbuniwe and outside linebacker Kasim Edebali were all back at practice in some fashion.
Inside linebacker Danny Trevathan continue to work his way back into team drills and picked off a Mitch Trubisky pass that tipped off the hands of tight end Daniel Brown during seven-on-seven drills.
Outside linebacker Aaron Lynch (hamstring) is expected to miss at least another week, Nagy said.
“We got to be safe with him and make sure he's 100 percent when he's back,” Nagy said. “But once we get him back with (Leonard) Floyd and (Sam) Acho and you have these other guys, these younger guys that are coming up, I feel like we're in good shape at that spot and have depth there."