No worries as healthy Alshon Jeffery returns to Bears camp

Before Tuesday morning's start of Chicago Bears minicamp, the most interaction coach John Fox had with Pro Bowl wide receiver Alshon Jeffery came when they ran into each other at a Cubs game last month.

The Bears used the franchise tag in March to secure Jeffery for the 2016 season at a cost of $14.599 million.

Jeffery wants a long-term deal, so he stayed away from the two months of optional off-season activities leading up to the mandatory minicamp.

That's his prerogative. But it's not an ideal situation, especially when the offense is in its first year under coordinator Dowell Loggains, the quarterbacks coach last season.

Jeffery was the only player to boycott the optional portion of the off-season program, choosing to train in South Florida.

After Tuesday's two-hour practice, Fox downplayed Jeffery's earlier absence.

"In the off-season, your key is to get better as a football team and have players ready for the regular season," the Bears' coach said. "Sometimes, if it's a guy who's a veteran player, then you get him rested through the off-season.

"Whatever it takes to have them ready for the season is really all I care about."

Still, it's worth noting that the only two other players to skip the optional part of the off-season under Fox - Matt Forte and Martellus Bennett - are now ex-Bears.

Jeffery passed the eyeball test on the field at Halas Hall. He appeared hale and hearty while taking reps with the first team following a 2015 season that included four soft-tissue injuries that kept him out of the preseason and caused him to miss seven regular-season games.

Officially, the soft-spoken Jeffery says he chose to train in South Florida hoping to avoid the groin, calf and two hamstring injuries that hampered him last year.

Unofficially, staying away from the optional portion of the off-season program is a negotiating ploy used by players on the advice of their agents.

Despite last year's injuries, Jeffery led the Bears with 54 catches and 807 receiving yards. The two sides have until July 15 to agree on a long-term deal, which is doubtful at best.

There's little chance general manager Ryan Pace will commit tens of millions of dollars in guaranteed money to Jeffery until he again demonstrates the durability and productivity he showed in 2013 and 2014, when he caught 174 passes for 2,554 yards and 17 touchdowns.

"That's the goal," Jeffery said of a long-term contract. "But that's between Mr. Pace and my agent."

Though he declined to elaborate on the status of negotiations or much of anything else, Jeffery did so with a smile.

"The team is always first," he said. "I'm on the Chicago Bears. I'm still under contract. Whatever else happens will take care of itself. I'm here."

The 6-foot-3, 217-pound Jeffery wants what the Bears want: a healthy season.

"My thought process is to continue to work hard, to come back in the best shape I can and do whatever it takes to help the team out," Jeffery said. "Me and my agent talked about it and felt it was best for me to train somewhere else."

Quarterback Jay Cutler admits Jeffery has some catching up to do but has confidence the fifth-year veteran will be the go-to guy he must be for the offense to function at peak efficiency.

"Alshon's a pro," Cutler said. "I know how important football is to him. I know what kind of competitor he is. Just coming out here (Tuesday), it would have been easy for him to say, 'Hey, I haven't been here. I don't really know some of this stuff,' and not taken the reps.

"But he was out there the whole time doing his thing. I'm not worried about that at all. We're going to catch him up.

"He'll be ready. If we get him 100 percent for 16 games, he's going to do some damage."

If that happens in 2016, Jeffery and the Bears will have a much easier time getting together on a new contract.

Asked if he would report to training camp with his teammates in late July, Jeffery said, "That's the plan."

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