Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Shane Waldron continued the theme of positive reviews for rookie No. 2 pick Caleb Williams during training camp. He credited Williams for making the incremental improvements the coaching staff has sought since his arrival.
Waldron also spoke about not wanting to limit Williams? natural playmaking ability. For his part, Williams knows there is a fine line between playmaking and recklessness.
Bears Training Camp Notes: Caleb Williams Making ‘Impressive Throws’
Caleb Williams ?Tough? on Himself
Williams said that some of his playmaking ability came from playing different positions in his younger days. He also said that it is something he works on. That playing style can lead to mistakes, especially with a rookie at the game?s most important position. But Williams ? who has been credited for how he bounces back from negative plays ? said he is his toughest critic.
?I’m always tough about the mistakes. That’s the part about me I think that ? drives everything,? Williams told reporters after Monday?s practice. ?Being tough on myself, being tough about the mistakes that happen ? whether it’s you know MAs [missed attempts?] or it’s actually a turnover or anything like that ? just being tough on myself, but understanding that there are going to be mistakes.
?How I respond to those mistakes ? all of that always provides an outcome. Whether it’s a good or bad response, the outcome from that response is always going be there.?
This is a continuation of Williams saying he was trying to take something away from every rep.
To that end, Williams had a much cleaner day running the show and delivering the ball to his receivers. He completed noteworthy throws to Gerald Everett, Keenan Allen, and Rome Odunze during various 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills.
He also found D.J. Moore on a relative layup given that ended up in the end zone, underscoring the levels of touch Williams has.
?He’s made some impressive throws,? linebacker Jack Sanborn said. ?Even today I mean he made a throw in the back that I even gave him a little high five for because it’s impressive. And it’s something that as a defense, even when he makes throws on us, it’s tough when it first happens. But you got to kind of sit back and say, ?Damn, we’re happy that he’s on our side.?
?Just the strides that he’s kind of make made from OTAs now into training camp, just kind of setting the offense up and being confident out there and looking like he knows what he’s doing and how everything’s supposed to be run and truly running an NFL offense, I think it’s been encouraging.?
Sanborn acknowledged it was still early in the process. He added he is excited to see how Williams continues to progress.
Jack Sanborn: ?There?s Always Excitement? About a New Season
Sanborn also talked about the returning players? comfort in Year 2 of the defense, noting that while they want to carry over the momentum of last season but saying they also have to keep striving to improve.
He agreed with Eberflus that their standing as one of the best defenses toward the end of the 2023 season means little and that, ?You have to prove it every week.?
Still, he acknowledged the palpable excitement around this group.
?There’s always excitement anytime football season starts, and I think that’s just the city and this town in general. It’s a football city,? Sanborn told Clocker Sports on Monday. ?But yeah, this year there’s obviously a lot of excitement. You guys [the media] know about it. It’s not like we’re blind to it here in the facility. But at the same time, we have a job to do and we got to focus on ourselves with it. But it definitely is exciting. Definitely excited for the future.?
Sanborn, who went to high school in Lake Zurich, Illinois, also praised teammates Tremaine Edmunds and T.J. Edwards for helping him in his second season. Sanborn has 93 total tackles in his first two seasons on roughly 39% of the defensive snaps, per Pro Football Reference.
His versatility allowed the Bears to withstand a pair of missed games from Edmunds last season, finishing with 17 total tackles across those two contests.
Sanborn drew 10 starts in his 17 games played in 2023.
Austin Booker Taking ?Anything? He Can from Montez Sweat in Bears Training Camp
Rookie fifth-round defensive end Austin Booker is long, lean, and inexperienced. A self-proclaimed ?sleeper,? Booker said the coaching staff is looking for him to continue ?master the basics? including working on his pad level and learning the playbook.
Booker is not only looking to his coaches, though. He also said he is looking to learn as much as he can from Montez Sweat.
?I watch him take every rep,? Booker told Clocker Sports. ?There?s even a pass rush rep the other day, he did a long arm like I normally do. But then he pulled through to get around the edge, and I just took that right out of his bag. So literally anything I see, anything I don’t have in my bag, I’m going take for sure.?
Barring a veteran addition, Booker will likely back up Sweat and/or DeMarcus Walker in some rotation with 2022 fifth-round pick Dominique Robinson and 2024 free agency signing Jacob Martin, who is nursing an injury.
At 240 pounds, he could stand to bulk up. But Booker has at least looked the part of a rotational end in training camp, which is the biggest caveat of all.
Shane Waldron: Nate Davis Still RG1
Waldron?s most telling comments of the day were about Nate Davis. Davis is dealing with what Eberflus termed as a ?strain,? and has missed the last two practices.
Ryan Bates has replaced him but Waldron said not to read too much into that beyond the injury.
?At right guard, right now, we’re looking at all the guys. I know Nate has been out right now, so that was more of a injury thing than a competition thing right there,? Waldron told reporters on Monday. ?Nate’s still still there.?
This comes on the heels of Eberflus addressing Davis missing time in camp when the pads come on.
?Availability is everything, right, in this league,? Eberflus said on July 27. ?And so you got to be available to practice, you got to be able to go through ?hard? in terms of doing hard better during training camp.
?That’s all part of preparing for the first part of the season. To be able to do that, to callous yourself. That’s your individual responsibility to the football team.
?When you’re not out there, guess what? That doesn’t happen. So availability is important at every position. And sometimes guys get injured, and that’s the way it goes. And there’s some things you can do, but they have to get back as fast as possible. Because to me, there’s a lot of competition on this roster.?
The Bears signed Davis to a three-year, $30 million contract in free agency in 2023.
The Bears can get out of the deal ? which includes $17 million fully guaranteed ? with a $2 million dead cap hit and $9.5 million in savings if they designate him as a post-June 1 cut in 2025.
Bates is in Year 3 of a four-year, $17 million pact, which he signed with the Buffalo Bills after they matched the Bears? offer sheet in 2022.
Mounting Injuries a Recurring Theme
Several injuries in training camp and the preseason disrupted the Bears’ 2023 campaign.? That was true on both sides of the ball, where the offensive line cycled through interior players and even left tackles.
2023 first-rounder Darnell Wright was the only starting offensive lineman to start all 17 games.
On defense, it was the secondary that got hit hard early. They also helped spark the turnaround when they got healthy later on. It is why a team that finished 31st in sacks like the Bears ? who also ranked No. 1 against the run ? still received the acclaim they did down the stretch.
This season, Davis and Kyler Gordon have been the two projected starters to miss time due to injury in camp so far. It is still early enough for it to not be a significant concern just yet.
However, as the Bears learned in 2023, the weeks quickly go by.
Training camp turns into the preseason which turns into the regular season seemingly in a blink when all is said and done. With so much attention going to the development of the QB, keep an eye on the injury situation.