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Bears still working to finalize preseason plan for Caleb Williams as training camp begins originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Head coach Matt Eberflus and the Bears’ coaching staff have been working for months to create a preseason plan for rookie quarterback Caleb Williams.
With the first training camp practice set for Saturday and the preseason opener just 13 days away, that plan is starting to crystalize, but there are still details to iron out.
“We’ve looked at it, we’ve discussed it,” Eberflus said Friday as veterans reported to Halas Hall. “Haven’t made any decisions but we certainly want to get him some reps. I know the guys last year got 45 to 55 reps in terms of those guys. We’re looking right in that range. We’ll see, but again, it’s always week to week because you have to see what the health of your line is and where everybody is. But certainly, all those exposures are equally as valuable.”
Eberflus quickly noted that the reps Williams will get in practice against the Bears’ first-string defense will be equally, if not more, valuable than those he will get against vanilla defenses in the preseason.
“We’ll take that week to week,” Eberflus said of the preseason plan for Williams. “But there’s value in all the reps when you think about it because he’s going to be going against the [No.] 1 defense. In preseason games you don’t get all the looks sometimes that you would get during practice. So I think there’s equal value to going against the ones every single day and also getting some of those preseason reps as well.”
During the spring, Eberflus mentioned the Bears staff looked at how many preseason reps rookie quarterbacks got last year to try and determine the appropriate number to prepare Williams for Week 1. However, the Bears also must be careful not to overexpose Williams in games that don’t matter.
“There’s definitely that,” Eberflus said in June. “You look at last year’s reps. [C.J. Stroud], [Bryce…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/bears-still-working-finalize-preseason-190929948.html
Author : NBC Sports Chicago
Publish date : 2024-07-19 19:09:29
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