Josh Schrock: Bears WR trio ‘as advertised’ at minicamp

On this episode of Football Night in Chicago, Josh Schrock joins David Haugh to discuss Bears minicamp. They talk about Keenan Allen, DJ Moore and Rome Odunze running routes together, Caleb Williams having an up-and-down day, Montez Sweat participating in individual drills, Nate Davis’s mystery status on the sideline and more.

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that’s Kenan Allen talking about the Bears defense today at mini camp looks like a top five defense acts like a top five defense probably is going to be a top five defense let’s go on the beat brought to you by Chevy Drive chicago.com our Bears Insider Josh shck at halis Hall he was there today for all of the fun for Keenan Allen his arrival he how did he look Josh let’s start there the Bears wide receiving Trio I think that you it’s hard to find more than maybe one or two other trios as dangerous as they’re going to be how did they look on day one of miniamp yeah they looked pretty much as advertised for the Reps that all three were on the field in terms of DJ Moore Keenan Allen and Roman mun and that was really at the start of practice the first few 11on 11 drills uh I think you’re really going to see that when all three of those guys are on the field even a defense as as fast and as connected as this Bears defense is going to have trouble uh finding ways to cover all of them I Keenan’s route running is is well documented and and really the the speed of DJ and the versatility of all three receivers Keenan talked about how they might all have different skill sets but they can all do the same things and they’re going to be moved around and and where they’re at in the offense is just going to be predicated on what they can do with the ball after the catch so I think when all three are on the field and you know it depends on how much Shane Wilder wants to utilize three three wide receiver sets uh they’re going to be very dangerous they’re going to spread defenses out and make it really really hard uh for defense to condense the field all right so if you’re watching football night in Chicago in June you want to know how Caleb Williams looked on the first day of mini camp against that top five defense Keenan Allen was referencing last week we saw during the OTAs it was Improvement how about today mixed results from Caleb Williams yeah I would call it up and down I think you got both sides of the rookie quarterback coin today I think you had moments of Brilliance of armed Talent there was a moment where uh you know he got to the line in 11 on 11 and and recognized the Blitz right away and kind of did a quick sidestep sidearm throw to Roma Den for a blitz beater uh to pick up a big game and then Big G and then you know there were other moments uh that are learning moments you know uh they were they get really dominated in the two-minute drill uh they went three and out both times uh Demarcus Walker called it an you know an ass whooping uh and then in seven on seven Caleb made a bad decision and and threw an interception to Kevin Bard which matl talked about as kind of a key learning moment uh for a rookie quarterback those are the uh experiences that he has to go through you know he has to go through his progressions which he did he was right on his progressions um and then he took a hitch and the ball should have came out and he took two hitches and it was laid over the middle that’s always dangerous uh when you do that but that’s a learning experience in the process that a Young quarterback has to go through you know um you know when can whenever his feet timed up when can you make those throws when can he make those throws that’s just experimentation so we’re just doing a really good job of getting the experience get him the exposure let him experiment with his arm talent and the receivers that he has and then eventually what Player Development happens and an evolution of a quarterback happens Josh is going to have moments like that the arm Talent though pretty obvious based on people who saw him throw today and have seen him throw this month yeah yeah there’s no question the ball comes out of his hand it just looks different it feels different uh I think I’ve been really impressed with his ability to to layer the ball uh to different levels of the field I mean even you know on seven on seven he makes that mistake and he comes right back and throws an absolute seed to romad Dun along the sideline to beat Tyreek Stevenson so uh what he can do with his arm um and really the progression you know how quickly he goes through it is really impressive and he’s going to have moments where he makes mistakes but as long as he makes them in June and July um and a little less in September and October there really shouldn’t be an issue let’s face it he’s doing everything else right he’s singing Green Bay sucks at at Old Crow over the weekend he’s showing up at DJ Moore’s football camp on Sunday and certainly he had a top golf moment apparently with Cole KT the tight end that showed him around Chicago land what uh what did Cole K have to say about that yeah yeah Cole said that a bunch of them went out to Top Golf and uh they were split up into teams and uh you know they were competing his team against calebs and uh Top Golf was getting ready to shut down and Caleb’s team was winning but they weren’t done yet they kind of shut the screens off and Caleb was like no no no we’re not done yet we’re still we’re still so playing so they had to kind of go to the Top Golf people get everything turned back on get the points reset and then and then try to finish out Cole’s team ended up winning and Caleb wanted to kind of play again the the kind of people at Top Golf were like hey you know guys it is one o’clock in the morning we do we do kind of have to go home but I think what that speaks to David is you know we asked mattl about balancing patience with the rookie quarterback against kind of a win now mentality on the rest of the roster loaded with a lot of really talented veterans and he said you know I don’t think that’s going to be a problem because our quarterback is so competitive he’s going to kind of set the pace for us and really speed things up and I think that’s kind of what that that illuminates is this is a guy who is really locked in and bought into everything that he does and he’s hyper competitive and and that’s already showing you know out on the field here at halis and I think that’s going to pay dividends for a team that does you know in both my and your mind have uh have realistic playoff uh opportunities this year the legend grows for Caleb Williams let’s go back to that top five defense Montes sweat the guy most responsible for all of the high expectations was there today obviously it’s a mandatory mini camp he is a team guy the multiplier showed up what did he have to say about why he wasn’t here previously and what did he have to say looking ahead to next season yeah he said he’s kind of developed a routine throughout his uh early NFL career of how he takes care of his body how he trains how he prepares and he likes to do that on his own I said he’s been in constant communication with Matt eberl with defensive coordinator Eric Washington defensive line coach Travis Smith and and all the guys trying to stay connect connected and yeah he he was here today obviously he went through individual drills uh the Bears didn’t let him go through team drills they’re going to ramp him up and hope to get him some team reps tomorrow and I think you know for montz sweat I think the the next step for him you know the Bears acquired him and Ryan pul said you we think there’s another level that we can tap into and I think we kind of saw that you know once he arrived and had the double digit sacks but I think for the Bears now it’s about how can that multiplier impact younger guys we saw it impact Justin Jones and yique and gwii but how can it get the best out of dvon Dexter and and Austin Booker who Montes SWAT said you know has all the talent and potential to be a top tier hedge rusher he said Javon Dexter just needs to kind of take the chains off and go uh but I think it’s going to be really incumbent on Montes sweat to to be a leader you know in the locker room but also kind of help bring those guys along and use his talent to unlock them I don’t think anybody was worried about Montes sweat meanwhile Nate Davis perhaps were a few concerns he was there but did he practice and what do you expect from the veteran who remains a bit of a mystery yeah Nate Davis uh present as he was last week at OTAs uh did not really uh practice that much at all did a couple individual reps uh no team reps again you know last week at OTAs he was really just off to the side doing the exercise bike and and the Versa climber uh which probably speaks to some sort of soft tissue uh issue that the Bears are being you know really kind of uh conservative with Matt prior’s been getting the the Right Guard reps with the first team and you know I think with Nate Davis the question is D like you said he’s kind of a mystery and he does kind of you know we come to Chicago he had a reputation in Tennessee as a guy who maybe you know wasn’t the hard hardest worker maybe he’s he’s not staying late he’s not coming early he’s just kind of doing what’s necessary um so you know the Bears aren’t going to talk about injuries but it is certainly concerning uh you know when when he’s not really he’s not really out there and getting the Reps needed with with a rookie quarterback who was still working on polishing and fine-tuning the Cadence you know the Bears had several free snap penalties today which M flu said you know hey we got to get that cleaned up you know hopefully in two to three days the veterans say that’s going to take at least another month month and a half to really get you used to learning Caleb’s voice and for Caleb to learn his voice so I think it’s important for Nate Davis to get on the field as much as possible uh during this time Josh Rock our Bears Insider I’m glad you showed up so you avoided a fine I’m always here David thank you thanks for being here congrats you finished the video if you want to build on that success download the NBC Sports Chicago app it’s got highlights exclusive insights and push alerts tailored to you 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