Bears safety Jaquan Brisker grateful to be back on the field with his teammates at minicamp

Jaquan Brisker smiled as he walked into the PNC Center’s interview room at Halas Hall on Wednesday afternoon. The Bears safety had just wrapped up the second day of mandatory minicamp and came in ready to answer questions.

For many players, the moment was just a requirement to speak with reporters during the offseason. But for Brisker, it was the first time speaking with reporters after a concussion forced him to miss the last 12 games of last season.

It meant that everything was finally getting back to normal.

“It was hard being away from football, especially week-to-week,” Brisker said. “It was kind of sad, depressing, things like that. But I got over it, it’s time to move on and I’m back now.”

His absence started when he entered concussion protocol after the Bears’ Week 5 win over the Carolina Panthers. Brisker violently collided with Panthers tight end Tommy Tremble and left the game. But he returned and finished the game.

Brisker told reporters Wednesday that he noticed something was off later that night of the game. The Bears were scheduled to leave for London to play the Jaguars the next day. Although Brisker wanted to fight through and say everything was OK, something told him that he shouldn’t.

That moment started a weekly guessing game for Brisker when he’d come back.

“I really thought I was fine, to be honest,” Brisker said. “I mean, it was just a hard process, a hard thing. Obviously, I wanted to be out there playing football, but I just couldn’t. I physically couldn’t. But every day I told my mother, I will be playing this game. I just, every time I came here, I just couldn’t get past a certain process.”

The Bears eventually placed Brisker on injured reserve in November and he missed the rest of the season.

Brisker said that he met with a doctor at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, who told him he had a “vestibular” concussion and taught him how he could retrain his brain. During the offseason Brisker did different exercises like moving side-to-side and catching a tennis ball in order to track his eyes and get them moving.

He’s worked his way back to the field and has taken part in organized team activities and minicamp practices this offseason.

Brisker credited his teammates for helping him get through the absence. He said he would go crazy watching games with his family because he couldn’t be out there with his team. But Bears players helped Brisker get through the months and back onto the field.

“A lot of teammates helped me, especially, you know, shoutout to Montez [Sweat] and things like that, shoutout to teammates like that who were talking to me, who let me get in the hyperbaric chamber and things like that, just told me just relax, we got this, things like that,” Brisker said. “Once they told me that, I was more relaxed.”

The concussion wasn’t the first time Brisker dealt with the brain injury. He has been diagnosed with three concussions over three seasons with the Bears.

Despite his history with the brain injury, Brisker said he never talked about or considered retiring. He also doesn’t plan on changing his aggressive style.

“I’m going to continue to play the same way,” Brisker said. “That was my first time having a contact injury. He hit his head on my neck, kind of hit his helmet on the right spot. Really just moving on.”

Brisker will enter an important season this year. He has one year left on his rookie deal and will try to live up to the potential he’s shown when he has been on the field. Brisker has 3 interceptions to go along with 8 quarterback hits and 6 sacks over 35 games.

Despite the big year ahead, Brisker said he didn’t need to prove anything. He’s just grateful to get a chance to be back out on the field.

“Obviously I love playing football, so just being out there, especially coming from where I’m from, just seeing what I seen, there’s so many people who want to be in this position, so many people who just want to be in my shoes, so I’m just blessed just to be here,” Brisker said. “It means a lot and I don’t take it for granted.”

Minicamp Day 2:

The Bears held the second practice of their three-day mandatory minicamp Wednesday. The team continued to have near full attendance.

Bears coach Ben Johnson said cornerback Jaylon Johnson and safety Elijah Hicks both had excused absences. Linebacker TJ Edwards, cornerback Kyler Gordon and wide receiver Luther Burden III continued to miss practice because of soft-tissue issues.

Johnson and his staff switched over to more situational drills compared to their previous offseason practices. The Bears also practiced two-minute and four-minute drills as the players started incorporating what they’ve been learning over the past few months.

“Really everything that had been installed over the last few weeks was up, and we’ll see the tape to see who handled it and who didn’t,” Johnson said. “Some guys better than others. You could tell out there. But it was good to see. It felt more like football even though we don’t have the pads on.”

Practice highlights:

Bears quarterback Caleb Williams had one of his best practices that reporters have seen this offseason.

The highlight of the day came when Williams led the first-team offense 94 yards down the field in 58 seconds for a touchdown. Williams hit wide receiver Olamide Zaccheus on a scramble for a long pass to move the Bears down the field. He eventually hit rookie running back Kyle Monangai for a 6-yard touchdown.

Johnson said the defense had been winning for much of the offseason. But Williams showed some good things on that drive that led to a touchdown.

“What we thought about [Williams] was when the lights are bright, that he was going to show up and it felt like the game slowed down a little bit for him and he was able to just go out and find an open guy and get a completion,” Johnson said. “So that was good to see. There might have been some sacks mixed in there so it was a little bit more slanted to the offense, but in terms of the drill and the situations that came up, I thought it was really good learning for everybody.”