Bear Digest

Takeaways from Bears Rookie Camp: Adjusting to the Windy City

Caleb Williams, Tory Taylor and the rest of the Bears rookie class experienced their first exposure to life at Halas Hall and here are top takeaways from the weekend's work.

Gene Chamberlain

Third-round tackle Kiran Amegadjie (72) couldn't participate in practices as he continues rehabbing after quad surgery but learned on the side listening to line coach Chris Morgan.
Third-round tackle Kiran Amegadjie (72) couldn't participate in practices as he continues rehabbing after quad surgery but learned on the side listening to line coach Chris Morgan. / David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

Rookie minicamp is the first real exposure players have to their new practice facility and essentially their new community.

There is plenty of discovery going on, definitely on the part of players but also by the team.

After signing his first contract Saturday, Bears Australian punter Tory Taylor finished his first real exposure to what's ahead with the last day of rookie minicamp. Even after four years at Iowa he was surprised by the experience.

"I think one thing that kind of caught me a little bit by surprise is just how strong the wind is here," Taylor said. "I guess that's why they call it the Windy City. But that's just stuff that I'm going to learn as we go.

"But plenty of things to be happy with and plenty of things to learn from and as long as I'm playing football that's how it will be and that's how I want it to be."

Someone will have to tell him it's the Windy City because of a "blowhard" reputation built by big-mouth city leaders and not the weather, but he'll learn. Then again, it's difficult to tell anyone otherwise if they experienced trying to kick or throw anything at fickle Soldier Field. The old stadium was known best for standout Giants punter Sean Landetta whiffing on a punt in the 1985 playoffs to give the Bears their first postseason touchdown.

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Learning and adjusting have been what Taylor's career has been about to this point, so he'll likely have few problems. 

He recalled picking up an American football for the first time only five years ago after he'd been used to kicking the bigger Aussie rules football and finding it differnet. 

"So Australian rules football is a lot bigger so the sweet spot is a lot bigger," he said. "So it's obviously the American footall is a lot harder to consistently hit.

"I started punting, it would have been about five years ago. Yeah, I joined Prokick Australia in, I think it was July 2019. So yeah, just under five years. So like I said at the start,  a lot has happened since then. Yeah, five years ago when I picked up an American football for first time."

Taylor learned how to punt an American ball from Nathan Chapman and John Smith with Prokick Australia.

"I mean, the fact they've had so many Aussie guys over here playing college football and now a few of us in the NFL, yeah, learning from those guys really helped," he said.

Taylor's hang time on punts was obvious whenever he punted. He aslso has a knack for maneuvering the ball. Special teams coordinator Richard Hightower praised his leg strength and the Bears have noted he also is good as a holder for placement on kicks.

Hightower pointed out something else Taylor can do well.

"So he's always an option on kickoffs and the rest of the league's got to figure it out," Hightower said. "So yeah, he can do some really, really cool things with the ball in his hand from a punt standpoint and from a kickoff standpoint."

The Bears haven't had a fake punt in four years, but that might be the aspect of the game Taylor has yet to discover or learn in his new environment.

"I did throw a pass in 2021 to Sam LaPorta," Taylor recalled about his only attempt to throw the ball. "Yeah, so that's probably why he went in the second round (to Detroit) because of that one pass.

"No, that's it really. Completed the pass but we didn't get the first down."

If he punts as well as the Bears anticipate, it should be sufficient. They have the quarterback now who can do the passing.

Here are other takeaways from the rookie minicamp.

Cross-Training

Expect tackle Kiran Amegadjie to get some reps at guard besides at tackle when he is past recovery from quad surgery, simply because it's what the Bears do with line newcomers.

"I'm learning everything," Amegadjie said. "I want to be as versatile as possible. I want to be able to contribute wherever I can. I'm not set on one thing. I'm a football player. I'll play wherever you need me."

Offensive line coach Chris Morgan always insists it's a case of best five linemen get picked regardless of position, then get their position. It really doesn't work that way but they say it anyway.

"Offensive line is offensive line," Amegadjie said. "Obviously, there are different nuances, but you go out there and you block and you do your job. Thats' it. That's what I do."

If it happens, it will be at a different time than normal. Amegadjie is probably not going to be available to practice at OTAs or minicamp, from the way Eberflus described it.

"Now's a good time to cross-train guys, in OTAs and in the spring, get guys comfortable moving around a little bit and figuring out different combinations and things like that," Morgan said. "There's always a place for that, and right now is the best time."

Re-Training

During the draft, defensive end Austin Booker said he's versed in playing from the stand-up position in an odd-man front and with his hand down in a four-man front like the Bears ask of linemen.

With a little more prodding, it became apparent he's going to need some re-training because it wasn't at Minnesota or Kansas, his two colleges, where he learned how to pass rush from a three-point stance like the Bears do it.

"Back in high school I was a three-point," he said. "I haven't been in a three-point since since then. Here and there a little bit in college but just getting back into that groove of things.

"But at the same time, it's the same thing. You've got to get off the ball, you've got to use your hands, you're going to have to have great pad level."

Centers of Attention

Morgan is apparently satisfied with the center candidates they'll have and there's no need to convert any linemen. Besides Coleman Shelton and Ryan Bates, they still have former Illinois center Doug Kramer.

"We've got some good players, man," Morgan said. "All three of those guys that are in there—Bates, Shelton, Kramer—those guys are all really tough, smart football players. They're all three athletic. We're lucky to have all those guys."

Only one of them has ever snapped the ball more than 203 times in his career and that's Shelton, with 1,771 plays at center.

Early Bird

Much is always made of the quarterback's work ethic. Already there is talk of Williams' work ethic and it's only been a few practices.

"He's always the first one in in the morning," Amegadjie said. "When I get here, he's always in here already. So I think he's going to be a great leader for us on this team."

As Advertised: Lesser Scale

Very little actual offensive vs. defense work went on in the rookie camp but it was evident Pro Football Focus's analysis of Arkansas State cornerback Leon Jones is correct. They dubbed him the player to watch from undrafted players who had Bears tryouts at rookie camp, and he started by intercepting a deflected pass and breaking another pass up in 7-on-7.

Of all the defensive players in the rookie camp, he stood out the most.

It's not easy for linemen to stand out without contact occurring, though.

As Advertised: Grand Scale

The offensive coordinator Shane Waldron found most striking about his new starting quarterback is what you'd hope and what everyone saw in the run up to the draft. That's Williams' arm. 

"His arm talent and his ability to put the ball where it needs to be, that's evident from Day 1," Waldron said. "Now it's about keeping the learning and progressing and keep moving forward with our system. The arm talent with what he's able to do is fun to watch."

A Big Step

One of Williams' big changes will be going under center, because in college he played from the shotgun in the same offense all three years but at two different schools.

He didn't seem to have much trouble with the basics of it in rookie minicamp.

"What Caleb has shown is that he can be in all sorts of backfield alignments," Waldron said. "He did a great job at his pro day, he's played quarterback his whole life. So, I think the biggest thing will be just the footwork and really mastering that first step from under center, something that he's taken pride in already and really gotten a jump on in this rookie minicamp.

"But he's played the position his whole life, just like these other guys have. So I think there's a good, natural transition. It wasn't something where Caleb was starting from total scratch with the drops and his footwork."

First Impression Lasting Impression

The one lasting impression Waldron has from doing his background work on Williams was exactly the opposite of what ESPN's Greg McElroy said was a concern about Williams. He stood up to adversity and it was most apparent in the UCLA loss last year.

"I just think just in general, I think one of the key moments for me is I’mwatching him, because he’s had a great career, and I know the things sometimes they’re great and sometimes you’re looking or learning to play the next play, but I think the way that he finished the UCLA game in a way that he stayed competing no matter what the outcome was going to be," Waldron said. "He made some good throws, throws on the move to finish the game out there.

"To me, you see the competitor, the championship mindset, where he’s going to be at his best, no matter the situation around him and keep playing. Seeing that, because everyone is good in the NFL, every week, you're playing against great people on defense, great schemes. And so that ability, regardless of what’s going on with the external noise or the situation in a game, play every play as its own individual snap, he demonstrated that. Take away all the highlight-highlight reels. That was a good moment."

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.