Where Competition Is Fierce for Bears

Some Bears players face the prospect at minicamp and training camp of very fierce battles, sometimes from multiple players.

Bears coach Matt Eberflus described the situation very succinctly when offseason work began.

"The NFL is all about competition," Eberflus said.

He had Charles Tillman come in and deliver a talk to rookies about this and it's not always rookies who need the talk.

Some players need to compete harder.

OTAs came and went, but most of the work done there is install and working into the offense and defense. The real competition is at training camp, and to an extent starting this week at minicamp.

Coaches want to see as much of players competing as they can in three straight days of more intensive minicamp work.

The idea at training camp, as offensive coordinator Luke Getsy said, is to "...hit the ground running."

So here are the Bears who really must ramp up their competitive instincts.

1. WR Velus Jones Jr.

If there's anyone on the roster who needs to be ready to compete it has to be their second-year receiver from Tennessee. His rookie production left much to be desired, with seven catches for 107 yards and nine rushes for 103 yards. The two muffed punts showed he isn't good handling those. But he showed so much big-play potential by finishing third in the NFL in kick returns and breaking off one big catch and one big run in the limited reps when he was on the field.

Perhaps no player on the roster besides Justin Fields and DJ Moore has more ability to provide immediate punch for this Bears team than Jones because he runs the 40-yard dash faster than anyone at 4.31. And he's a physical player at 200 pounds and 6-foot.

There have been some who claim Tyler Scott ran 4.2s but that's not what the combine showed. He ran 4.44, a good time but not as fast even as Darnell Mooney or Chase Claypool ran.

Jones' special teams importance seems diminished by the NFL rule put into effect letting teams call fair catches to take the ball at the 25-yard line. So he's going to need to be a better receiver to make his impact.

Jones also took it onto himself to try and get a better on-field rapport going with Fields, as he and Khalil Herbert trained for a while with their QB.

Jones has impressed receivers coach/passing game coordinator Tyke Tolbert in some ways.

"Yeah, he's got a lot more, I guess, juice," Tolbert said. "A little more pep in his step. I say that, and everybody knows he's the fastest guy in the room."

Tolbert sees some evidence Jones has worked to correct a flaw from last year, or at least the passage of time within the offense has helped.

"But when he gets out there, he hears the play now, he lines up really fast and knows what he's doing," Tolbert said. "I think it's the confidence in knowing what to do, because he would tell you himself last year he was like a deer in the headlights a lot of the times.

"Now he knows what to do, he answers all the questions in the meetings, then he gets onto the field and knows how to go out there and execute it. I think, again, being a year in the system has helped him tremendously. Probably helped him more than anybody in the room."

So Jones is better prepped to compete.

"I think his fire's always been lit," special teams coordinator Richard Hightower said.

2. CB Kindle Vildor

Rookie Tyrique Stevenson seems like he was selected in Round 2 to take Vildor's job at left cornerback. Fifth-round cornerback Terell Smith missed last week's OTAs injured but had been playing prior to that and was making occasional plays.

"He's another guy that has really good size," defensive backs and defensive passing game coordinator Jon Hoke said. "He's a physical player at the line of scrimmage so again, a lot of the similar things that Tyrique had, you saw in Terell."

They also have undrafted Jaylon Jones back, after he his SEC pedigree as apparent last year. With all those players hunting for playing time on the outside, Vildor seems like a hunted man. But he does have an experience edge over all of these players. He has 1,487 defensive snaps played, more than 1,000 more than the other three combined. That's because the only one of those who has played an NFL down, Jones, had 464 plays last year.

At a position with as much potential for disaster on defense as cornerback, experience is a huge asset.

3. RB Trestan Ebner

Talk about someone who has been sqeezed. First they added D'Onta Foreman, then Travis Homer, then drafted Roschon Johnson.

To his credit, Ebner has worked well within the offense during OTA practices the media has seen. He runs routes and catches well. He needs to because Homer was signed to a two-year contract, so it's up to the sixth-rounder from Baylor to establish himself as something more than a special teams player.

Ebner ran for only 54 yards on 24 carries last year and caught two passes for 8 yards. They need to see more from him considering the greatly expanded group of backs they've brought in to compete.

Ebner did display a real knack for blocking in the return game last year, enough to excite coaches. So if he can do this it's possible he could adapt it to the offense. Any back on offense who blocks well is going to have an edge.

4. LB Jack Sanborn

Sanborn wasn't a strongside linebacker before. He was moved there in the offseason without work being involved, and he hasn't been able to practice as he gets over an ankle injury described last year by the Bears as not too severe.

He'll really need to focus on competing for that strongside spot for a reason beyond lack of familiarity with the role and the rust he must clear away resulting from lack of practice. It's because his competition looks much stronger.

Dylan Cole has played there much of camp and has been in all linebacker roles at different stops in his career. Also, rookie fifth-rounder Noah Sewell has shown an ability in coverage that might have been underrated at draft time.

"He's a rookie," linebackers coach Dave Borgonzi said. "There's a lot of information coming at him pretty quickly here during these OTAs, but he's handled it well."

5. C Lucas Patrick

Patrick's versatility probably allows him to retain a roster spot over the players behind him but he has a nice line of people capable of challenging for a role he has either backing up center Cody Whitehair or guards Teven Jenkins and Nate Davis.

Doug Kramer and Dieter Eiselen at center, Ja'Tyre Carter and Eiselen at guard and several undrafted free agent types are waiting in the wings if the former Packers lineman showed the slightest letup. For that matter, it's true for Whitehair, as well, because Lucas can be a starting center if needed.

"It's hard," line coach Chris Morgan said. "Lucas was brought in to play center and broke his thumb. So he had to go over and play guard iwth a cast, a big club. And then that's hard in this league. It's hard enough to play, period."

Patrick then suffered a season-ending foot injury and didn't play.

"He showed us through it all who he is," Morgan said. "We know who he is: tough, smart, again another great teammate willing to do whatever. We're excited about Lucas. He's excited. Any time you're healthy it's a really big deal."

Patrick has the chance to compete and that's all any of them can ask for at this point.

"Right now we're all battling, we're all competing and Lucas can do a lot of things," Morgan said. "So we're glad to have him."

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