Bears camp notes: Growing injury list, Justin Fields highlights and Jimmy Graham’s gripes

Matt Nagy doesn’t want this to be how we start our reports from training camp. No coach does. This space should be about Justin Fields or that day’s star in practice.

Instead, we must sort through a long list of absences.

We’re still more than a month away from Week 1 and no injury seems serious, for now. Everything could be fine. As Nagy said Tuesday, he prefers to trust that “it will all play itself out.” And it might.

But this is a team that can’t really afford to be missing players. It’s not the deepest, most talented club in the league. These reps are crucial.

Artie Burns (quad), James Daniels (quad), Tashaun Gipson (groin), Teven Jenkins (back), Michael Joseph (hamstring), Robert Quinn (back), Badara Traore (knee) and Josh Woods (knee) did not practice Thursday.

Germain Ifedi (hip) and Tarik Cohen (knee) are still on the physically unable to perform list. Eddie Jackson is still on the non-football injury list.

It seems surprising that some of these players — most notably Jenkins — remain out. Nagy was asked about timelines before Tuesday’s practice and wanted to clarify those comments and be careful about setting any sort of projection.

“These guys are all different in how they react to things and what they do,” he said. “To that question with Teven, again, I had no expectations. Every day is a new day for all these guys with the way their bodies go. I just know this, if you’re not out there, it gives somebody an opportunity, right? At any position, forget just left tackle. It’s right now in training camp, what a great time for people to know there (are) opportunities.”

The list of absent players included the Bears’ top three tackles, another tackle in Traore and a starting guard in Daniels. Is it time for Nagy to be concerned about his offensive line?

“Well, yeah, I mean, availability is real,” he said. “We need guys to be available. But when you say ‘concern,’ I think for us, it’s, ‘OK, what’s the opportunity?’ With (Jenkins) being a draft pick, for us, we understand and he wants to be out there, but we can only control what he’s doing with his body, his health with our trainers, and then whenever they tell us we roll with. In the meantime, if he’s not out there, then other people get opportunities.”

Meanwhile, Nagy had no updates on the four players who were placed on the COVID-19 reserve list: Eddie Goldman, Christian Jones, Elijah Wilkinson and Patrick Scales. He is hopeful that the team avoided an outbreak outside of those four players.

With that, here are our notes and observations about those who did practice Thursday.

Concern level with Jenkins

Fishbain: We’re seven practices into training camp and the presumed left tackle of the present and future still isn’t practicing. I know Bears fans are trying to avoid memories (nightmares?) of Chris Williams and Gabe Carimi, but it has to be time to raise the concern level. Not only is Jenkins set to encounter the regular challenges of playing on the offensive line in the NFL for the first time, but he’s also being counted on to play on the left side after spending most of college on the right. He needs reps.

Jahns: From the outside, Jenkins’ situation is tough to figure. Seeing him work on the side with the training staff, including some work that appears pretty arduous for anyone’s back, would seem to suggest that his injury isn’t as serious. It’s probably why Nagy came off as optimistic early on when discussing it. But Jenkins still hasn’t returned to practice. Nagy is now seemingly perplexed by his status now, too.

Fishbain: “Trending in the right direction” has been the line the past couple of days, but until we see Jenkins in a helmet in drills with his teammates, it’s hard to know how optimistic that trajectory is. It’s easy to question the decision to release Charles Leno now as we wait to see Jenkins, but the other issue is that Wilkinson is currently on the COVID-19 reserve list. The Bears seemed hopeful about what Wilkinson could bring until Jenkins was ready.

Jahns: Well, enter rookie Larry Borom. It’s easy for the Bears to talk him up. They drafted him in the fifth round, but as Nagy reiterated, the team had second- and third-round grades on him. He didn’t look out of place at left tackle Thursday. His work will continue there as long as Jenkins is out. Over the next three days, his work will be in pads, too.

Fishbain: They believe they have a steal in Borom. If he’s actually able to play at a starter’s level for the regular season, that’d be great. But that’s staking a lot in a rookie, especially when they’re already relying on another rookie. Then you’ve got the interior, which is the Bears’ strength. They’re fortunate to have someone like Alex Bars to fill in when Daniels is hurt, but they’re expecting big things from the 2018 second-round pick this year. Any setback is not ideal.

Jahns: Yeah, it’s pretty obvious that the Bears believe they have something in Borom. Here’s what Nagy said: “He’s been doing good things this whole camp. He has a really positive attitude. He’s extremely focused. He fits in well with the guys. And he’s coachable.” Last year, similar comments were made about receiver Darnell Mooney. Becoming consistent and reliable up front might be a more difficult task for Borom, but he’s a fifth-round pick like Mooney.

Fields’ fastball and Dalton’s consistency

Jahns: During the offseason, the touch Justin Fields had on his deep passes was noteworthy. Early in camp, it has been his ability to hit tight ends down the seam. He consistently puts passes in an area where only his player can catch the ball. On Thursday, it was his ability to change the velocity of his throws. I’ve made note of this throughout camp. His deep balls and touch passes over the middle require precision. But his fastball is something, too.

Fishbain: When the Bears did drills near the goal line, Fields looked to his right before coming back to his left and fitting in one of those fastballs on a slant to Javon Wims for a touchdown. That play displayed everything: going through reads, then accuracy, precision and zip to his receiver. He also had a strike to Jester Weah in the back of the end zone, with Weah skying to pull it down.

Jahns: This is a good place to draw attention to what Jimmy Graham said about Fields after practice Thursday:

“Man, I love the kid. He sits beside me in the locker room and, man, he wants to be good. He wants to be great. He puts in the work. The guy really can throw the ball. That’s been impressive to see his arm strength.

“At some point, I’ve got to get him matched up with the guy up there in Seattle. Especially, you know, the ability to make plays while (he’s) running. It’s been impressive to see him so young, so focused. And I can tell it definitely reminds me a lot of Russell Wilson.”

Having played with Wilson, Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees, Graham surely knows what a good quarterback looks like on and off the field.

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Fishbain: For our purposes, I’m glad Graham didn’t downplay what he’s seen from Fields so far. When practice began and the quarterbacks were doing deep patterns with receivers in a one-on-one drill, all you had to do was listen to the cheer to know which quarterback had just completed a pass. The quarterback Graham lines up with had a solid day, too. Andy Dalton got in a rhythm with Marquise Goodwin in red-zone drills and led a productive two-minute drive, hitting Cole Kmet several times, then dropping a pretty ball in the bucket to Damiere Byrd to set up a “game-winning” field goal.

Jahns: I said this on “Hoge & Jahns” recently: Dalton would have easily won the Bears’ quarterback competition if he played like this. He has played that well. At this point, the Bears aren’t close to changing their plan for Fields. He’s still behind Dalton, who continues to be praised by his teammates. What they’re saying about Dalton feels genuine, too. Dalton has backed it up with his performances in practice.

Fishbain: The bar is definitely low for Dalton as it relates to how we view his abilities. I mean, we watched Nick Foles vs. Mitch Trubisky last summer. We watched Mike Glennon in 2017. We saw all the picks Trubisky threw in 2019. However, Dalton has not had anything close to a “nightmare” practice. He’s doing in camp what the Bears hope he can do during the season — keep things afloat, minimize mistakes and make some plays, too.

Graham vs. the NFLPA

The Bears aren’t usually the team with players ready to spark a battle with the NFLPA, but Graham, a veteran tight end, voiced his frustration with the players union over a “culmination” of things.

Graham’s present gripe was with an NFLPA memo that had recommendations for increased COVID-19 protocols for vaccinated players due to the Delta variant, but he used it as an example of the communication issues he has experienced between the players and their union. He also mentioned the addition of the 17th game as an issue.

“This offseason, early in the season, I tweeted something,” said Graham, who is vaccinated. “I have to ‘at’ the NFLPA to even get an answer. That’s kind of frustrating, because this is the National Football League. I’ve got a lot of guys in the NBA I know. I’ve got a lot of guys in MLB. They don’t have these situations with their (players associations). They’re pretty strong.

“At times I feel like there’s a lot of miscommunication. There’s a lot of things being done, and we have no say in it. It’s, like, crazy. This frustration is on many levels, on many things they’ve done over the past. … I’ve been in the league going on 12 years now and it’s been kind of frustrating at times with them. I’m not going to hold back. I’m a grown man. And I wish somebody would talk to me and speak to me like a grown man and let me have a little bit of say in some things.”

Vildor’s opportunity

Second-year cornerback Kindle Vildor paid close attention to the Bears’ transactions this offseason. He knew that the Bears were showing confidence in him by the moves they didn’t make at corner, setting up the current competition between him and Desmond Trufant.

“I feel like it’s a big opportunity for me to solidify myself as a starter in this league and on this team and everything like that,” Vildor said. “I kind of knew that once I (saw) what was going on in the offseason, and that’s just been my focus, just working hard every day, putting in the work and showcasing my talent the way I usually do.”

The Georgia Southern product, who first caught the eyes of Bears scouts with his performance against Clemson in 2018, got crucial experience late last season filling in for the injured Jaylon Johnson.

“It showed that I can play in this league,” he said. “I know after the game, when Chuck (Pagano) was here, he was telling me how it was such a good job I did in that playoff game. Our defensive backs coach, Deshea Townsend, was just telling me how much I did and how I played and everything like that. So it stuck with me, and in the offseason I just was grinding every day, just working for my opportunity.”

Nagy Rewind

This year, the coach addresses the media before practice, so we’ll use this space to recap his analysis from something that took place in the previous day’s session.

There was only one brief scuffle during the first padded practice Tuesday at Soldier Field. It happened early in practice during the drills between the offensive line and defensive line, and Nagy brought the two sides together to tell them, well, to knock it off.

Nagy does have to balance wanting intensity and competitiveness and not wanting anything to escalate.

“You love competitiveness,” he said. “You don’t like the combativeness when you cross that line. You see across the league that things are getting chippy right now and other teams as well. To me, it’s discipline, and we have to make sure that we understand that if we get beat or if you don’t like something, you handle it the right way by getting back at them the next play, legally.

“You don’t go to throwing punches, you don’t go to shoving matches. You just don’t. I think that’s a reflection of who we want to be, and it was my job as a leader to say, ‘OK, enough is enough, get your tails back in here, let’s focus and re-shift and it’s not going to happen again.’ If it does, there are going to be consequences.”

Quick hits

• Graham beat cornerback Jaylon Johnson one-on-one for a short touchdown from Dalton in a team drill by boxing him out. He celebrated by violently spiking the ball, prompting a defender to throw it back at him. Graham then booted the ball out of the end zone.

“Yeah, I got a ball chucked at me,” Graham said. “That’s why I kicked it.”

Graham, though, continues to enjoy sparring with his defensive teammates, who seem to have become more vocal under new coordinator Sean Desai. Early in camp, Graham got caught on the defensive line after a pass breakup. The taunting was relentless.

“I love it,” he said. “One of the things that’s so awesome about this team is our defense is good. I played on a lot of teams that had some really good defenses, and that’s what makes them: their competitiveness and ability to bring the juice and to bring that energy. That’s why I play this game is to compete and to go out there and talk a little noise.”

It included his own celebration Thursday.

“I had a couple words, but I always tell them all you’ve got to do is stop me and I won’t do it,” he said.

• One of the most athletic plays of practice was made by special-teams ace/safety DeAndre Houston-Carson. He made a leaping interception of a Dalton pass in the red zone. It might have been nullified by an offsides penalty, but he made an impressive jump at the goal line to make it.

• We saw the new “takeaway bucket” — a basketball hoop attached to a garbage bin — when Alec Ogletree, who was signed Wednesday, picked off a Nick Foles pass. Ogletree was a 2013 first-round pick by the Rams, and he overlapped for two years with current Bears linebackers coach Bill McGovern when he played for the Giants.

• The Bears were not in pads Thursday but will hold three consecutive padded practices through the weekend, which will include some sessions of live tackling.

(Photo of Andy Dalton, Justin Fields and Nick Foles: Robin Alam / Icon Sportswire via Associated Press Images)