Healthy Amukamara a welcome addition to Bears secondary
Getting seven-year veteran cornerback Prince Amukamara back should help a Bears secondary that will be tested by a Pittsburgh Steelers offense that was tied for fifth in passing yards last season.
Amukamara suffered a sprained ankle in the preseason and missed the first two games. He made it through a full practice Thursday for the first time this season and was not listed on Friday's injury report.
"He's got the quick-twitch you're looking for from a cover guy," coach John Fox said. "His transition (in coverage) is pretty good."
The knock on the 6-foot, 202-pound Amukamara is that he has picked off just 7 passes in the previous six seasons (57 starts).
"He hasn't had a lot of picks, but he's worked very, very hard on his hands," Fox said. "We've missed him the first two weeks."
Amukamara began working to improve his catching ability back in training camp, and he has continued to make that a priority.
"(Defensive backs) coach Ed (Donatell) has been doing a great job keeping me accountable, and we're always trying to do some type of catching drills," Amukamara said. "He encourages me to jump in with the receivers, too, so I've been doing that a lot also."
Amukamara also has received input from wide receiver Kendall Wright on improving his catching skills, and he's studied the basics by wide receivers, including hand placement and how they receive the ball.
"I feel like there's an art to catching it and just where their eyes are," the former first-round pick said. "Kendall, he quizzed me a couple weeks ago, he said, 'How do you catch the ball, with your hands or your eyes?' I said, 'your hands,' and he said, 'EHHHHHH (buzzer noise), you're wrong, it's your eyes.' You're basically making sure you look it all the way in - focus."
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