Slauson just happy to be back in the mix with Chicago Bears

BOURBONNAIS - It's rare that any football player looks forward to training camp and what it brings: hot weather, tedious on-field drills, long practices, endless meetings and, when there's a coaching change, continuing the process of learning a new playbook.

Eleven-year veteran safety Antrel Rolle sums it up pretty well.

"I've never liked training camp, and I still don't like it," the 32-year-old Rolle said. "But I love it. I never liked it, but I do love it because it's something that's a necessity. It's something that you need for a team to bond and jell and get to where you need to get in order to start preseason off right."

Bears left guard Matt Slauson has a different mindset, at least this year. He's enjoying every bit of the work.

That's because the seventh-year veteran, is back on the field, 100 percent, mixing it up after suffering through the first injury-plagued season of his career in 2014.

A sprained ankle in the season opener ended Slauson's streak of 65 straight starts, sending him to the sideline for three weeks. Four games after he returned, the 6-foot-5, 315-pound Slauson suffered a season-ending torn pectoral muscle.

Now he's enjoying everything he missed - even training camp.

"This is the first year of my career where I'm extremely juiced up to be in camp," he said. "I'm just stoked and real excited to get the physicality going, flying around, punching, all the things I love to do."

Having participated in off-season minicamps and OTAs, Slauson was confident he was fully recovered from the chest injury.

But, if there was any doubt in his mind, a recent exchange during a 1-on-1 pass-blocking drill should have convinced Slauson he was all the way back.

Going against 6-foot-4, 303-pound Jeremiah Ratliff, maybe the most ferocious member of the Bears' defense, Slauson braced for a wicked club move when he saw the nose tackle wind up to deliver the blow. The impact would have knocked an average man into next Tuesday, but Slauson shook it off as if he would a fly.

A strict regimen of weightlifting - not just for the bulk strength an offensive lineman needs but additional exercise to prevent a re-injury - has Slauson back to full strength and then some. Now that he's back on the field, the final obstacle is to remain there, as he did in every season before the last one.

"The only thing I need to prove to myself and the team and the staff is, can I stay on the field all year long?" Slauson said. "This is the first year of my career where it's an issue."

A healthy Slauson provides continuity and leadership on a unit that started a ridiculous nine different combinations last season because of multiple injuries. The O-line also is without longtime anchor Roberto Garza, who was released after starting for the Bears the previous 10 seasons.

Two-time Pro Bowl right guard Kyle Long said it's great to have Slauson back.

"When you have Matt Slauson, he's a guy that does everything right," Long said. "And he's just a total bad-(bleep) about everything. He's a true character and also a true pro and a veteran. It's great to have him in that (position meeting) room."

For Slauson, it's great to be anywhere associated with playing football.

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