Bears Treat Injuries with Caution for Now

Several injury situations cropped up during minicamp and OTAs and the Bears will keep an eye on those as they head toward training camp in late July

USA Today

The Bears will head toward training camp watching some players who have injuries, and they added another one on the defensive line as minicamp ended Thursday.

With nose tackle Eddie Goldman taking an unexcused absence from the entire mandatory minicamp, the Bears also finished the camp without another starting defensive lineman when Bilal Nichols had to sit out practice.

"With Bilal, he has an issue with his toe," Bears coach Matt Nagy said. "So we're just working through that and I think right now, it happened the other day in practice. 

"So we've just got to work through that with (trainer) Andre (Tucker) and kind of keep a status on that moving forward. I feel like he's going to be fine. But again, on the conservative level, we want to make sure we don't make it any worse."  

Defensive end Angelo Blackson filled in with the starters on the defensive line during minicamp practices.

Conservative was the theme with injuries throughout minicamp and OTAs. 

Robert Quinn did not practice at all due to a lower back injury. Quinn's absence is important because he had a poor 2020 season and will be playing a bit different role on the edge position in the scheme Sean Desai deploys over what he did in the Chuck Pagano scheme. Even as a veteran, he could have used the reps in this defense.

Tackle Germain Ifedi did not practice due to an unspecified injury.

Running back Tarik Cohen is recovering from an ACL tear and Nagy said he had some leg stiffness during minicamp. Cohen wasn't practicing, anyway, as he's rehabbing the injury, but was running on the field during OTAs on the side. Then he couldn't do this at minicamp. 

All are injuries for the Bears to be concerned with if they remain issues at the end of July when training camp begins. 

Anthony Miller had what Nagy described as a "nick" at OTAs and was held out but during minicamp he practiced well. 

One injury in the rear-view mirror is the shoulder problem Jaylon Johnson had last year. 

Now the No. 1 cornerback after Kyle Fuller's departure, Johnson suffered the injury tackling Deshaun Watson at the goal line in the rout of Houston and didn't play again in the final three regular-season games. It kept him out of the playoff game and there was initial concern he might need surgery because he had shoulder surgery in the past. 

Johnson wasn't at OTAs like most defensive starters, so the minicamp offered the first chance to see him playing since the injury and he did fine.

"There was no structural damage," Johnson said. "There wasn't anything major like that. It was just being able to get my shoulder back to 100%. I'm not going to go into the exact details of what exactly happened but it was just about being able to get to 100%. I've been rehabbing, staying on top of my treatment and therapy with my shoulder. I'm just getting back healthy and trying to stay healthy."

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