Bears rookie minicamp takeaways: Coaches offer early impressions of draft picks

New York Times

12-05-2025

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Chicago Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen has been in the NFL for 23 years. He's got six seasons of head coaching — with two different teams — under his belt.
It's probably fair to trust him when he sets the tone about rookie minicamp.
'Look, obviously, rookie minicamp, we're just getting into the introduction phase of what we're doing with these young guys, so we're not going to get into a lot of instant reactions in terms of how everybody's doing,' he said Saturday at Halas Hall. 'These guys are out here excited about working … and we're excited about working with them.'
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We don't want to completely downplay the first opportunity to see the rookies on the field in Bears uniforms, but it's a nice reminder that there's only so much we can glean from the sideline. The coaches know how well the rookies are picking up the playbook and handling their assignments.
One way the 2025 class of rookies aimed to prove themselves after Day 1 of rookie minicamp was meeting up in position groups at the hotel to go over the playbook. That initiative had to impress the coaches.
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'We wanted to have a better practice today as a whole group and not just one person,' fifth-round corner Zah Frazier said. 'That's how we're repping each other, you know, no man left behind.'
Fourth-rounder Ruben Hyppolite II helped get the linebackers together to help show improvement for the weekend practices.
'We got together, went over some of the install and then, for myself, just went over the install on the iPad, writing down, taking notes, doing what I do best and locking in and maintaining,' he said. 'I spent like an hour and some change last night just going through everything again before coming out today. Just want to be prepared and ready to go.'
Rookie minicamp might be a little more of what we heard than what we saw, and over the weekend, we got to meet with Bears coordinators for the first time since the draft.
At the end of the 2024 season, Bears offensive coordinator Declan Doyle was in his office in Denver as the Broncos' tight ends coach when he started watching film of Michigan tight end Colston Loveland.
His first reaction?
'He's competitive,' Doyle said. 'He's super competitive. … I was like, 'Man, I would love to be able to coach this guy.''
What stood out to Doyle, presumably in addition to Loveland's ability to separate and make big-time catches, was that competitiveness, reflected best at how he finishes the play.
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'I think that you see him finishing at a high rate and you'll see him jaw a little bit at whoever he is playing against,' Doyle said. 'That's the biggest thing that stands out is just his ability to finish and his willingness to play through the whistle.'
Doyle was with the Saints when they drafted tight end Adam Trautman in the third round in 2020, who then headed to Denver to reunite with Doyle and coach Sean Payton. Having worked under Payton, Doyle probably has a good sense of how tight ends can be used as a weapon. Payton had a pretty good one in Jimmy Graham.
Loveland is at practice with a helmet, doing a few things, but still isn't full-go.
'He's really inquisitive and he's very involved just right from the tip,' Doyle said.
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Second-round wide receiver Luther Burden III had the highlight of Saturday's practice when he hauled in a deep ball, but he came down hard on the ball and was slow to get up. He returned Sunday and participated in the final practice of rookie minicamp.
As far as Doyle's evaluation of the former Missouri wideout, it mirrors what we heard from head coach Ben Johnson.
'He's an explosive athlete,' he said. 'He's really exciting. His tape was really impressive in college. He's a playmaker and when the ball's in his hands, he was one of the best guys that we evaluated in this process.'
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Veterans are in the middle of their offseason training program. They had three days of practices in April, and otherwise have been limited to strength and conditioning, and classroom work.
That's allowed Doyle to get to know his quarterback, Caleb Williams. Something Williams did last weekend, in the dead time of the NFL calendar, caught Doyle's eye.
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'He is very eager to do work, he's here after hours. He's really trying to get it right. We're giving him scripts. He came in last Saturday and he's in the indoor (facility), trying to walk through it by himself,' Doyle said. 'I think it's really important to him that he gets it right. I think his teammates can feel that. I think his teammates feel a guy that's trying to take the next step. It's been a really positive exposure thus far.'
The Bears' first practice as a full team begins in two weeks with OTAs.
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Allen likes second-round pick Shemar Turner a lot. He talked about the athleticism, the explosion and power, and that Turner's 'got the right temperament for what we're looking for.'
Then the Texas native gave us a metaphor for how they'll bring Turner along.
'I think we'll have to put the saddle on him and break him a little bit but we'd rather have to pull the reins back rather than have to whip him to get him to go,' Allen said. 'We're excited about working with him.'
That career for Turner will begin at defensive tackle. While he played end earlier in his career at Texas A&M — also Allen's alma mater — Turner is best-suited, for now, inside.
'The first thing we got to do is we got to play him in at defensive tackle and let him learn there, let him develop there, both as a three-technique and a nose, and then we'll worry about trying to see that flexibility,' Allen said. 'From a skill set standpoint, yeah, he's got some flexibility. We'll just have to see what he can learn, how quickly he can learn and adapt to what we're doing.'
The best thing going for Frazier is his size — 6-foot-3 with 32 7/8-inch arms. Allen said, who better to learn the position from than secondary coach Al Harris, the former 6-foot-1 corner?
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Frazier said that Harris is working with him on his stance, and there was already a pass break-up on the stat sheet for Frazier.
On a deep ball down the left sideline for first-year receiver John Jackson, Frazier was able to make a play.
'I was press-man. He gave me a good release,' Frazier said. 'I kinda, I stabbed him. I just played my technique and I didn't panic. And once you don't panic, good things happen. So that was a good thing, having a little PBU. I want the ball, though.'
Getting the ball was something Frazier did at a high level last year at UTSA when he had a school-record six interceptions.
'Probably the biggest thing is you got a big, long press corner that can run,' Allen said. 'He made a play out there today along the left sidelines — defensively, as you look at it — and that's kind of what we saw with him. Here's another guy that's a young, developmental corner. He's got a lot of things that he's got to learn, but he's got the tools for us to work with.'
Offensive lineman Luke Newman earned the Bears' interest because of his positional versatility, particularly at center during the East-West Shrine Game. But the Bears narrowed his focus this past weekend at Halas Hall.
'So since I got here, majority focus has been at left guard but obviously that versatility was a huge reason why I was drafted, why I'm here,' Newman said. 'And I look forward to working the other spots, right guard, center as well. I think working the interior three will kind of be my main focus going forward. I have the tackle background but obviously working interior three is going to be a major focus.'
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Newman said he feels natural at guard. He started on the left side at Michigan State last season after being a tackle at Holy Cross. But it's apparent that playing center intrigues him.
'Intellectually, obviously, it's a new playbook here,' he said. 'There's an adjustment period for that as well. But I really think that center, all in all, fits more of my body type. It's kind of more of what my strengths are. Obviously, I have that guard flexibility as well. But I really look forward to learning and adapting to center a lot more.'
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The brash and direct coaching style of running backs coach Eric Bieniemy was on display during rookie minicamp. Running back Kyle Monangai, the Bears' final draft pick this year, is happy to be on the receiving end of it.
'He's a legend, No. 1, to begin with, just knowing his history, the people he's coached, the teams he's been a part of,' Monangai said. 'And he's really insightful, a great coach, gets me ready for practice every day. I'm excited for the future of what he's going to be able to teach me, and being able to work with him.'
Monangai caught only 38 passes over five seasons at Rutgers but he's looking at the Bears' offseason program, which included rookie minicamp, as an opportunity to show Bieniemy and the rest of the coaching staff that he will be a threat out of the backfield.
'I didn't get as many opportunities to do it in college,' he said. 'I wish I could've, but my role on the team wasn't that. So whatever my role is going to be that Coach Johnson wants to put me in, Coach Doyle wants to put me in, if I can showcase that, then I'll showcase that. But it's definitely something that I work on each day.'
(Photo of Luther Burden III (87): David Banks / Imagn Images)