Chicago Bears Training Camp: Here’s how the Bears’ rookie class looks so far

The transition from football at the college level to the NFL is tough, especially in a rookie’s first training camp. They’re forced to learn an entirely new playbook and culture, navigate the media attention, and go up against some of the best football players in the world.

The Chicago Bears’ 2023 rookie class is important, beginning with first-round pick Darnell Wright and extending into several Day-3 players expected to contribute this season.

Now that more than one week and a few padded practices are in the books at Bears training camp, it’s time to review how this year’s rookies are performing.

Let’s take a look.

Darnell Wright

It’s tough to judge the play of linemen in camp, especially when there have only been two padded practices so far.

Wright is having some “welcome to the NFL” moments, but his athleticism is as-advertised, and his grip strength is shocking, according to his teammates.

I’ll be more interested to see how he looks in the preseason games, which will be his first real test. The Bears need Wright more than any other rookie to be successful immediately, as he will be protecting Justin Fields’ right side.

Gervon Dexter

In a dominant practice for the defense on Wednesday, Dexter was causing havoc, even fighting through double teams and earning a sack.

Like Wright, reading the tea leaves well with just two padded practices is hard, but the early returns are promising.

Tyrique Stevenson

Talk about “baptism by fire.” For the first few days of camp, we only heard Stevenson’s name when he was getting burned, mossed, and beaten by DJ Moore.

Since then, he’s had some nice plays in practice and seems to be finding his footing, but in what is a good problem for the Bears while a legitimate problem for Stevenson, a fellow rookie cornerback is making splashes too. The fight for that CB2 role opposite Jaylon Johnson has suddenly become interesting.

Zacch Pickens

I haven’t heard Pickens’ name much in camp, but what little there is sounds good.

Head coach Matt Eberflus praised him in a post-practice presser, and like Dexter, he was in the backfield, causing havoc quite a bit on Wednesday.

Roschon Johnson

RoJo (I’m coining the nickname right now) was one of my favorite picks this year, and he’s been reliable so far in camp.

According to multiple reports, he was the best running back in pass protection drills, which sets him up to become the RB1 sooner than later, as long as he can handle the workload.

Unfortunately, he’s missed the last two practices with an injury.

Tyler Scott

Scott is probably having the best camp out of all the rookies. His speed has been stunning, and Justin Fields and PJ Walker have hit him in stride for huge completions multiple times.

If he keeps this up and can be a consistent home-run hitter in the regular season, Darnell Mooney or Chase Claypool will lose reps to the rookie.

Noah Sewell

We hadn’t heard much from Sewell through the first week of camp until yesterday, when he finally made some impact plays.

Sewell crushed running back Travis Homer with hard, legal hits on back-to-back plays on Wednesday and displayed that high-octane motor coaches raved about in college.

With Jack Sanborn currently out with an injury, Sewell has a chance to swipe an established starter’s job.

Terrell Smith

I did a pretty deep dive on rookies for the 2023 draft, but Terrell Smith was the first Chicago pick I’d known nothing about on draft night, I sure know about him now.

Smith has been making plays every day in camp, giving second-round pick Tyrique Stevenson a run for his money for a starting job.

He still has a lot of growing to do, but the fifth-round rookie has grabbed our attention.

Travis Bell

I didn’t hear Bell’s name called until Wednesday when the defense punched the offense in the mouth for the first time in camp.

According to reports, he had a couple of good pass-rush sets and even drew at least one holding penalty. Kennesaw State’s first-ever NFL Draft pick will have to keep taking advantage of every opportunity he gets if he wants to make the 53-man roster.

The competition on the defensive line is fierce, and several spots are seemingly locked up.

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Kendall Williamson

The one supplemental draft pick Chicago had this year, Williamson, was the second to last pick in the 2023 NFL draft.

Sadly, I haven’t heard his name in camp so far. It doesn’t sound like he’s making much of an impression.