Bear Digest

The Surprise Punt Returners Bears Lined Up for Day 1 of Camp

A few faces were expected in the punt receiving line the Bears had during their first practice but a few of them were unusual options to say the least.

Gene Chamberlain

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Keenan Allen on First Look for the Offense.mp4 /
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The days when the Bears held out hope Velus Jones Jr. could develop into a punt returner appear to be over.

At least it looked that way in the first practice of training camp.

A punt return session was held during the short, light practice session held Saturday and when they put back return men to take turns a familiar face was No. 1 in line for fielding returns.

It was Dante Pettis, who made an effortless catch. Pettis returned punts in 2022. The son of former Major League Baseball standout Gary Pettis returned punts for the Bears in 2022 and averaged 9.1 yards per return, but suffered a neck injury in preseason and missed the full season while Trent Taylor did it last year.

Pettis set an NCAA record with nine TD returns when he did it for Washington.

The second man up in this punt return line was another wide receiver but not one anyone would expect will return punts this year. DJ Moore was doing it.

The auditions included DeAndre Carter at No. 3 in the line. Carter has averaged 9.8 yards per 132 punt returns in his NFL career. The Bears signed Carter after minicamp and OTAs ended. He also has averaged 22.4 yards on kick returns.

When camp opened, GM Ryan Poles referred to Carter as "...a player that has a lot of speed that can add to the competition in the receiver room and also on special teams as a returner."

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Practice squad receiver/return man Nsimba Webster had a turn and two other entries were head scratchers. Cornerbacks Greg Stroman Jr. and Tyrique Stevenson took their turns. Stevenson had the only muff, was given another chance and handled the second one much better.

No Velus Jones Jr., though, after he had struggled fielding them in 2022 as the main return man for punts and kicks. He was given a few in practice in 2023 but not in games.

One possible player yet to be heard from wasn't at practice and that's first-round pick Rome Odunze. The wide receiver, who missed practice for personal reasons, is expected back today if air traffic controllers are able to get him back to Chicago, as coach Matt Eberflus said.

It seems unlikely Odunze would be risked as a punt returner in games as the No. 9 pick overall, but Odunze said he was willing during quarterback school in mid-June and special teams coordinator Richard Hightower didn't rule it out either.

"You know, I had my fair share of punt returns in college," Odunze said at the end of spring practices. "I practiced it every day. I didn't get a ton of reps in actual games. Would've loved to get more of those, but I think itโ€™s just another opportunity for me to shine and for me to add value to the team. I feel like I do it at a high level, so continue to grow with that, continue to find the technique of it, especially at this level with punters like (Bears rookie) Tory (Taylor)."

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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.