Chicago Bears training camp report: Braxton Jones and Montez Sweat exit a physical practice early

The longest practice to date for the Chicago Bears was the most physical, with left tackle Braxton Jones and defensive end Montez Sweat both exiting early with an athletic trainer Thursday at Halas Hall.

Coach Ben Johnson wanted to turn up the intensity after a short session the day before, and the Bears accomplished that with an inside-run-drill period and extended 11-on-11 periods.

Jones was shaken up in one-on-one pass-rush drills. He was upset after being pushed back by defensive end Austin Booker on the first rep and he took out his frustration, punching some padding surrounding a camera location.

After a second rep against Booker, Jones was visibly irritated and emotional. Offensive line coach Dan Roushar visited with him briefly. Jones paced for a while, attempted a few pass blocking sets and then went inside Halas Hall.

“I didn’t see too much, I’m kind of just doing my thing,” Booker said. “Obviously that’s my brother, so (my) heart’s with him.”

Early indications from a league source — as practice was ending — are that Jones avoided a serious injury. All of this transpired shortly after Johnson talked about the progress made in determining a starting left tackle.

“We’re hoping maybe middle of next week we’ll have a lot of clarity there,” Johnson said before the two-hour, 12-minute practice. “We’re going to continue to roll guys through. Kiran (Amegadjie) has certainly taken some reps over there. Jedrick (Wills Jr.), Theo (Benedet) is in the mix.

“I mean, this is not a done deal by any stretch of the imagination. We’re going to continue to cycle guys through.”

Jones saw the vast majority of the first-team reps in the first three practices of the week and in drills before his exit Thursday. How players are deployed in practice is usually the best way to piece together what the depth chart will look like.

Amegadjie took nearly all of the remaining starter reps after Jones left, with Wills taking a few. Whether Jones’ injury pushes out the loose timeline Johnson referenced before practice remains to be seen. Players are off Friday and have practices Saturday and Sunday before a walk-through Monday.

“We’ll go as long as we need to,” Johnson said about picking a left tackle. “And even if that means into the (regular) season. We’ll do whatever it takes.”

Sweat exited during a team period not long after right tackle Darnell Wright decisively won three consecutive one-on-one pass-rush reps against the veteran edge rusher.

Later in practice, cornerback Dallis Flowers (right leg) and safety Gervarrius Owens (left leg) suffered serious-looking injuries. Flowers had to be assisted off the field, while Owens was taken off by cart.

Caleb Williams watch

Team drills started with a bang for the offense. Receiver Rome Odunze found himself with nobody around him, and Williams lofted a pass toward him along the right sideline.

Odunze caught the ball and ran up the sideline before breaking a tackle attempt from safety Cam Lewis and powering his way into the end zone. It went for a 43-yard touchdown, and offensive players whooped and hollered with a huge celebration.

“We didn’t start how we wanted to start,” Lewis said of the defense. “They scored on the first play, so that’s never good. But I felt like we bounced back throughout the day.”

The defense did bounce back. In that same team session, cornerback Tyrique Stevenson intercepted a Williams pass after Odunze slipped on his route.

Tight end Colston Loveland continued to make plays with consistency. At one point, he hit cornerback Dontae Manning with a vicious stiff-arm.

During a two-minute drill at the end of practice, Williams worked his offense downfield, connecting with Loveland, Odunze, running back D’Andre Swift and receiver Kalif Raymond along the way. That set up a 4-yard touchdown pass to Luther Burden III over the middle.

“I think the details, man,” Raymond said of the two-minute drill. “We always say, ‘Comms, comms, comms’ — like communication. It don’t matter the defense knows what we’ve got, but as long as we know what we’ve got, everything will work.”

Kyler Gordon update

Status quo isn’t where the Bears want to be with the injured Gordon. Still, before practice, Johnson snapped off a terse response to a question seeking clarification on the nickel cornerback’s situation.

“There’s no update,” Johnson said. “Just continue to rehab.”

Gordon has been sidelined basically since the start of the offseason program with a calf injury. He was originally injured during training camp a year ago and missed 14 regular-season games with calf, groin, and hamstring injuries. The amount of practice time he has missed since last August — including during the voluntary offseason program — is staggering.

General manager Ryan Poles used the word “delay” in describing Gordon’s situation when camp started. It was a curious word choice.

“We had a delay in that,” Poles said July 28. “All hands on deck to get him back.”

It’s apparent Johnson isn’t interested in entertaining questions about Gordon until he’s back on the field.

Seen and heard

It was another good day for Cairo Santos, who was 6-for-6 on field goals. Santos connected twice from 56 yards (with room to spare) and made kicks from 50, 40, 33 and 47 yards in the special teams period.

Rookie defensive tackle Jordan van den Berg, a sixth-round pick from Georgia Tech, has worked his way into some reps with the starters. Van den Berg overmatched rookie center Logan Jones and Luke Newman, a second-year interior lineman, in one-on-one drills. That was right after he blew up undrafted rookie guard Caden Barnett in an inside run drill to torpedo the play in the backfield. He’s a player to keep a close eye on in preseason.

Johnson said he’s not sure if he has seen a player improve as much in 18 months as Wright, who was rewarded Tuesday with a four-year, $116 million contract extension.

Don’t look for Wright to wind up on the left side of the line any time soon, even if the Bears are cycling through options at left tackle.

“I think pass rushers are equally good on both sides these days,” Johnson said. “I don’t subscribe to that viewpoint necessarily (that the best pass blocker has to be at left tackle). I think (Wright) does a really good job on the right side. He’s very comfortable over there, and we’ll continue to find that left tackle that helps complement our offense.”

Johnson’s notion is reflected when you look at pay for the top tackles. It used to be that left tackles dominated the wage scale. Now, elite right tackles are commanding similar pay to the counterparts on the so-called blind side.

Player in the spotlight: Safety Cam Lewis

It has been a mixed bag for Lewis at free safety through three padded practices, sometimes finding himself on the business end of some big catches.

Lewis, a free-agent acquisition from the Buffalo Bills, has been thrust into the starting position by Coby Bryant’s knee injury, which could keep Bryant out for eight to 10 weeks.

Lewis, who played multiple positions during his six seasons in Buffalo, found himself splitting time between nickel corner and safety before Bryant’s injury. Now his focus has shifted to safety.

The position switch isn’t the challenge.

“Playing safety is playing safety,” he said. “(It’s) just understanding the system and what they are asking you to do in that system. And the communication aspect. Once you get it, then you are able to go out there and play football, play the game you’ve been playing since you were a kid.”

Last season, Lewis started two games at nickel and two at safety. He was a reserve in the wild-card game against the Jacksonville Jaguars but started in the divisional game against the Denver Broncos.

In 2024, Lewis started a career-high six games. So he has been down this road before.

“You’ve just got to be ready to go out there and play and can’t be afraid to make mistakes,” Lewis said. “Because I am going to make mistakes out there. I am not perfect. Nobody on this defense or this team is perfect.

“But just go out there, fly around, have fun doing it and you should be all right in the end.”

Quote of note

While answering a question about Booker’s progress, Johnson said coaches need to see consistency from all of the Bears’ edge players. The coach suggested that sloppy play from the offense can sometimes be a detriment to the defense too.

“That’s where these padded practices are so, so valuable,” Johnson said. “And that’s why I get upset when the offense is sabotaging practice a little bit, because our defensive players need these reps as much as anybody else.”

With limited reps to go around, Johnson needs both sides to be sharp.

Injuries and participation

Guard Jordan McFadden and cornerbacks Terell Smith and K.C. Eziomume were not present during practice.

Six players remain on the non-football injury or physically unable to perform lists: Gordon (calf), safety Elijah Hicks (shin), linebackers Keyshaun Elliott (back) and Noah Sewell (Achilles tendon), defensive end Shemar Turner (knee) and offensive tackle Ozzy Trapilo (knee).