Loveland wastes no time making impression with Bears

Bears rookie tight end Colston Loveland didn’t waste time making an impression in his first padded practice. After a shoulder injury kept him off the field for nearly six months, he had waited long enough.

When a pass from quarterback Caleb Williams during a 7-on-7 drill Monday was a bit high, Loveland didn’t hesitate and acted on instinct. He leaped up and snagged the ball before catching it as he fell to the ground.

It was a play that showed why the Bears selected him No. 10 overall in April’s draft. It also showed Loveland he was back.

“It’s a blessing,” Loveland told reporters Tuesday at Halas Hall. “It’s a blessing to finally be out here with the guys, just working every day, continuing to get better. You can’t ask for much more. Learned a lot throughout the process, obviously, and became a better man. I’m just excited to be out here and work with my team.”

Loveland returned after shoulder surgery forced him to miss team practices in the spring. He returned to the field for the first time at the start of training camp last Wednesday and took part in his first team drills on Saturday.

Despite missing time on the field, Loveland made sure to prepare himself when he was cleared to get back. Loveland said he learned the playbook conceptually so he knew what everyone was supposed to do on a play in order to fully understand it.

There are formations where Loveland will be required to be out wide, while wide receivers will be inside, acting as a tight end. The Bears have already shown some of those sets during the first week of practice. Loveland trained and did mental repetitions to be ready to perform whatever he’s asked to do.

“That’s a great thing about this offense: You can be anywhere, receiver, tight end, running back,” Loveland said. “Being able to learn the whole offense and be put in positions maybe you weren’t put in, that’s a blessing for sure.”

Although Loveland has only been on the field for roughly a week, Bears head coach Ben Johnson has been impressed with what he’s seen. When the team drafted Loveland, Johnson already liked Loveland’s playmaking ability and how he serves as a security blanket for the quarterback.

But now that Johnson has a chance to see it in person, it’s different.

“You can’t gauge until you get them on the field, the football instincts,” Johnson said. “And it showed up from the get-go. He had a particular block the other day where the defensive end looked to spin out of it and he was able to anticipate that and able to stay on top of it. Those are things that really stand out to the coaching staff that maybe if you’re just a regular bystander you might not see and it’s really encouraging when you look at a young player like that and the growth that he’s going to be able to have the more reps that he gets.”

Loveland said his shoulder feels fine and it’s taken time to get used to landing on it again. He caught a few passes during 11-on-11 on Tuesday but also dropped one he felt he should’ve caught.

It’s all part of the process as Loveland makes his transition to the NFL.

“Right now, I think as a team, we’re all just in the moment, attacking each meeting, each play, each whatever it may be with our full ability,” Loveland said. “That’s the main thing: just stay in the moment and just attack everything we’re doing right now. Do 100% at it and then good things will happen.”

Practice notes

Williams and the first team offense had a solid start to practice on Tuesday. Rome Odunze made a nice diving catch during one of the 11-on-11 sessions, while Johnson showed how he could use DJ Moore in space on an end-around.

The unit didn’t end practice on a good note, though. The offense had the ball at its own 47-yard line trailing by five points with 54 seconds left in the game. Williams threw two incompletions after facing pressure from the defense.

The defense then sacked Williams on third down before he completed a pass to Devin Duvernay that was short of a first down.

Second-round wide receiver Luther Burden III continued to progress in his ramp-up after returning to practice for the first time Monday. He competed in team drills for the first time on Tuesday and was targeted by Williams on a high throw up the middle. But Burden will need to continue making up for lost time after not practicing since rookie minicamp in the beginning of May.

“Yeah, it shows up already,” Johnson said. “I mean, we were in the walk-through yesterday afternoon and the misalignments — we have to re-huddle, we have to start it all over again. He’s a little bit behind right now.”

Battle at left tackle

The top position battle of training camp continued during the second day of practice with pads on. Braxton Jones, Ozzy Trapilo and Kiran Amegadjie split first-team snaps at left tackle.

Johnson said before practice that the Bears’ coaching and personnel staffs will come together Friday during the players’ day off to assess where the left tackle competition stands. But Johnson also mentioned he’s not in a rush to make a decision.

The Bears are scheduled to hold a joint practice with the Miami Dolphins on Aug. 8 before their preseason opener Aug. 10.

“It takes time for the five guys to gel,” Johnson said. “It does. That’s been my experience. So, the sooner we can identify who those five guys are going to be, the quicker we’ll be at our top strength. But we got to identify who those five guys are first.”

Injury update

Backup center Doug Kramer and defensive lineman Tanoh Kpassagnon returned to practice Tuesday. Kramer left Saturday’s practice with a leg injury and was ruled day-to-day. Kpassagnon came back after he was carted off during Monday’s practice.

Offensive lineman Bill Murray missed his first practice on Tuesday, while rookie cornerback Zah Frazier (personal) and rookie defensive tackle Shemar Turner (ankle) continued to be out.