The Dolphins are taking a look at a veteran running back.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports Jamaal Williams is working out with Miami on Monday.
Williams, 30, spent the last two seasons with the Saints after a pair of seasons with the Lions. He rushed for 164 yards with a touchdown and caught nine passes for 57 yards in 14 games last season.
New Orleans released Williams in March.
The Bears have also recently expressed interest in Williams.
A fourth-round pick in 2017, Williams has appeared in 117 games with 45 starts for the Packers, Lions, and Saints. He rushed for a career-high 1,066 yards with a league-leading 17 touchdowns for Detroit in 2022.
The Bears say they are committed to leaving Soldier Field and the city of Chicago so that they can build an indoor stadium in suburban Arlington Heights.
Bears owner George McCaskey said today that the team’s plans are for a “transformative” stadium that would bring major events to the Chicago suburbs.
Bears President Kevin Warren said the Arlington Heights location, where the Bears bought a property that was formerly used for horse racing, is the best option, and at this point the only option.
“We are still extremely focused on Arlington Heights, on building our stadium there,” Warren said. “That’s the plan. We strongly believe that is the only location in Cook County that will allow us to build a stadium, the new Chicago Bears stadium with a fixed roof. We are making great progress. We are now in the process of having weekly meetings with the leaders at the Village of Arlington Heights. We’re ready now. Everything is in order.”
Warren said the Bears hope to “move dirt this year” and begin building the stadium as soon as possible.
The Dolphins don’t have one of their key offensive players for Friday’s joint practice with the Bears.
Head coach Mike McDaniel told reporters in his press conference that receiver Tyreek Hill won’t participate with an oblique issue.
“He’s trying to practice,” McDaniel said, via David Furones of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “He’s working through an oblique that got worse because he was taking every rep that was on the books.”
McDaniel noted that Hill’s injury popped up from overuse, but Hill still wants to practice.
“He is trying to sneak his way into taking every rep,” McDaniel said.
Hill missed Wednesday’s session before doing some light work on Thursday during individual drills. He did not participate in team drills.
Caleb Williams’ preseason debut with Ben Johnson as his head coach will not come this weekend.
Johnson told reporters in his Friday press conference that Williams and about 17 of the club’s other starters will not play in Sunday’s exhibition matchup against the Dolphins. Chicago is having a joint practice with Miami on Friday, which will largely be a substitute for those in-game reps.
“I think we have about nine on O, nine on D,” Johnson said of starters who won’t play. “We’ll see how the day goes, maybe that number will change. So, we’ll make it through the day, and we’ll make those final decisions when we get there.”
Johnson, however, added that starters are likely to see some action in August.
“I would suspect that we will have them play at some point, yeah,” Johnson said. “But that’s to be determined.”
For this week, Johnson noted that Williams and the team’s pass catchers will go through an extensive workout before the game on Sunday. They’ll also be able to get reps the day before and the day after.
"[T]he guys that aren’t playing, they’re going to be getting a substantial number of reps that’s actually higher than the guys that are playing,” Johnson said. “So, we’ve talked about it as a staff, we feel very good about this plan going forward, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
At least for this week, Tyson Bagent is set to start against Miami and play for the first half.
Caleb Williams defended himself after a fan’s video of the Bears quarterback missing his target while throwing into a net went viral. It prompted arm-chair quarterbacks to question Williams’ progress since last season.
“I look at it, and I laugh at ‘em, as always,” Williams said Thursday, via Courtney Cronin of ESPN. “We’re out here working. We’re getting after it. We’re competing, and that’s one of the drills in which we were competing.”
Williams explained that the drill — throwing into a net from close range — is designed to work on a quarterback’s quick delivery. He is supposed to throw the ball into the bottom left corner of the net as quickly as possible without turning the laces.
Williams was shown missing four consecutive throws before yelling and stomping off, but he said his reaction was misconstrued.
“We actually have a rule in own QB room — if you miss the board, you have to do something funny or something like that,” Williams said. “We’ve had some competition in those areas, also. It’s something fun, something competitive. I was competing and I missed it, and it was fake anger that I had, that I showed. That’s what [it is]. You’re competing with your friends and something like that happens you give maybe a little few words that you may say, choice words after losing to your buddies.”
Bears General Manager Ryan Poles also laughed it off, telling Cronin he didn’t know “it was a national crisis of Caleb struggling.”
The No. 1 overall pick in 2024 completed 62.5 percent of his passes for 3,541 yards with 20 touchdowns and six interceptions. The Bears went 5-12 last season and hired Ben Johnson as their head coach this offseason.
