LAKE FOREST — Kyler Gordon flashed throughout the seventh training camp practice at Halas Hall on Wednesday.
During the first team period, Gordon displayed his full arsenal of talent, reinforcing why coach Matt Eberflus nicknamed the second-year cornerback “Spider-Man.”
His first highlight play was an interception on Justin Fields. Velus Jones Jr. ran an out route towards the right sideline, but Gordon jumped the route, leaped into the air and came down with the interception. Gordon celebrated by jumping in the air, turning around and doing Spider-Man’s signature move — shooting webs from his wrist.
Then a few plays later, Gordon was lined up opposite of DJ Moore. Gordon recognized it was a run play and immediately went up field, avoiding Moore. Gordon got low and put his shoulder directly into Trestan Ebner, knocking him off balance for a loss on the play.
After his tackle for loss, Gordon was sent on a nickel blitz off the right edge. Robert Tonyan was off the line of scrimmage and blocking on the play. Gordon got by Tonyan, using his strength to move the bigger tight end, and would’ve had a sack on Fields.
“He’s confident and he’s not like a lot of guys with with his skill set,” Darnell Mooney said on Gordon. “Like he’s super quick and he’s also super strong. You always have some guys that are super quick and fast. But he’s strong and fast and quick. So he’s a guy that I like to compete against a lot. And this year, he’s way more calm in the slot and he understands where his help is and he’s feeding guys into wherever his help is. So he’s stressing his guys and believing in his guys, but he’s more confident and more calm for sure.”
Gordon wasn’t the only defensive player who made plays throughout the Bears seventh training camp practice. Here are the reps that stood out from Wednesday’s second padded practice.
1 on 1s
- Justin Fields started the period with a completion to DJ Moore on a post route with Tyrique Stevenson in coverage.
- Fields then hit Cole Kmet along the left sideline. Jaquan Brisker had the coverage on the play.
- P.J. Walker missed his intended receiver and Eddie Jackson was in coverage.
- Fields connected with Chase Claypool and beat Terell Smith on the rep.
- Fields hit Darnell Mooney on slant route with Gordon in coverage.
- Walker missed a deep shot to Daurice Fountain. Michael Ojemudia was in coverage on the play.
- Jaylon Johnson got himself an interception on an underthrown ball by Nathan Peterman. Tyler Scott was the intended receiver.
- Aron Cruickshank won his rep against Macon Clark. Tyson Bagent was the quarterback on the rep.
- Fields again connected with Moore while Stevenson was in coverage.
- Fields completed a pass to Cole Kmet. Elijah Hicks was defending Kmet on the rep.
- Smith had good coverage on Claypool and forced an incomplete pass from Fields.
- Fields hit Equanimeous St. Brown for a completion. Greg Stroman Jr. was the defensive back in on the rep.
- Nsimba Webster had a nice diving catch near the sideline.
11 on 11s
- Fields’ first pass in team drills was behind Claypool on a slant route.
- On the next play, Fields hit Claypool in stride on an over route in the middle of the field. Claypool then tried to get additional yardage after the catch.
- Fields had an incompletion while targetting Moore on the left side of the formation. Fields stayed patient in the pocket and then rolled to his left. Johnson had good coverage on Moore and forced the incompletion.
- Khalil Herbert had a nice running lane and cut back to his right to get some yards on the ground.
- Andrew Billings got the best of Cody Whitehair on a snap and was able to draw a clear holding penalty.
- After the Fields interception by Gordon, Fields completed a pass to Velus Jones Jr.
- Travis Bell got his helmet knocked off and still drew a holding penalty.
- Cody Whitehair rolled a snap back to Fields, and the quarterback quickly picked up the ball and ran for a short gain.
- Fields connected with Moore on a slant route in the middle of the field. Gordon was in coverage on the play.
- Bagent found Travis Homer for a touchdown along the left sideline.
- During another round of team drills, Claypool knocked T.J. Edwards to the ground on a clean block. Claypool lined up in the slot and blocked for D’Onta Foreman. Claypool then flexed both of his arms and yelled, “Go to Sleep!” Edwards got in Claypool’s face after the play.
- Fields completed two short passes to Foreman and Khari Blasingame
- Cole Kmet ran a vertical route against Tremaine Edmunds, and the linebacker had good coverage throughout the route. Fields threw the ball near the left sideline, but it wasn’t close to Kmet. However, Edmunds was called for a penalty and immediately Eddie Jackson came over and expressed his displeasure with the call.
- Velus Jones Jr. lined up the backfield as a running back and had a nice run down the left sideline. Hicks tracked him down and pushed Jones out of bounds.
- Rasheem Green had a nice run stop.
- Jones had a nice contested catch on slant route with Ojemudia in coverage.
- Terrell Lewis was credited with a sack on Fields. He got around Darnell Wright — something that has happened a lot this camp.
- Fields had an incomplete pass trying to target Mooney in the middle of the field
- Velus Jones Jr. ran an in-breaking route in the middle of the field and Walker attempted to complete the pass with several defenders in the area. It appeared that Jones let up on the play. Nearly the entire defense let Velus Jones know about it, and Velus Jones pushed and swung in the crowded pile. Some of the offensive players came over to support their offensive teammate. You could also hear Eddie Jackson say, “Ya’ll soft.”
- In the situational portion of practice, the first-team offense had to drive down the field against the second-team defense with 1:50 on the clock in a tied ball game with just one timeout. Fields hit Trestan Ebner and Claypool to start the drive. Ebner then got a rushing attempt. Fields then connected with Claypool and the offense took a timeout with :47 seconds remaining. Fields then completed three straight passes to Kmet to get them inside the 10. Fields attempted a pass to Kmet in the middle of the end zone but A.J. Thomas was in tight coverage and the ball was dropped. On third-and-goal from the 6, Fields had nowhere to go with the ball and threw it away. Cairo Santos came in and made his field goal attempt.
- The second-team offense got their shot against the first-team defense. On the first play, Walker under threw an open Velus Jones Jr., who had a step on Stevenson on a vertical route. Stevenson was able to break up the pass. The next play Walker was sacked. Then on third-and-long, Walker threw a ball out of bounds attempting to hit Scott.
- The second-team offense got another shot against the first-team defense. This time Walker used Tonyan and hit him on three straight passes in the middle of the field. Walker took advantage of the linebackers, Dylan Cole and T.J. Edwards, when they blitzed. Walker missed another deep ball. This time to Daurice Fountain along the left sideline. Walker did complete a pass to Cruickshank, and the veteran quarterback scrambled up the middle on the next play. The final play of the drive was a completion to Ebner, who made a nice move on Gordon and was able to pick up a few more yards to get the team in field-goal range. Andre Szmyt nailed his field-goal attempt.
7 on 7s
- The 7-on-7 portion of practice had two extremely different outcomes. The first go around Fields looked quick and definitive with his throws.
- Fields completed passes to Kmet, Moore, Tonyan and Claypool
- On the second go around, Fields and the offense struggled. Tonyan had a pass go through his hands and the ball was intercepted by Stevenson. On the next play, Fields overshot Claypool in the middle of the field and Brisker came down with an interception. Then Johnson got himself a PBU while covering Moore. Fields then missed Mooney. The session ended with a checkdown to Tonyan.
- Walker threw a ball to Robert Burns on hitch route near the left sideline, but the ball bounced off the fullbacks chest and was intercepted by Jaylon Jones. Burns did push-ups after the play.
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