Bears head coach Matt Eberflus announced during a press conference today that all available starters will be playing in this weekend's preseason game against the Bills in Buffalo NY. He was quick to clarify that Caleb Williams will be in this group of starters. Everflus stated that he's been "getting a lot of good reps with our one defense so I think it'll feel similar to him". The time has come, we FINALLY get to see some action from the first overall draft in the 2024 NFL draft.
Beyond seeing how Williams performs I'm focused on three things this saturday.
The QB2 battle is heating up after Rypien's performance. I highly doubt Caleb plays the entire game - and yes, I am bringing back my original over/under of 14.5 snaps taken and I am taking the under - I am really invested in who QB2 is. Will Brett Rypien continue to build on his success or will Bagent pull it together? I think this is a comeback game for Bagent. I'm alos interested in the O-Line performance. I've talked about it a lot, there is a mountain of work to be done with this year's O-Line. Nate Davis has a soft tissue injury so who knows if we'll even see him out on the field. The unofficial depth chart has Ryan Bates as starting center, but, that appears subject to change. The chart lists the center as Ryan Bates "OR" Coleman Shelton just as it lists QB2 as Tyson Bagent "OR" Brett Rypien. The third position group I'm going to be paying close attention are the running backs. Just like the center and QB2 position, the (unofficial) depth chart has RB2 as Khalil Herbert "OR" Roschon Johnson. I hinted at this a couple days ago but as Velus Jones JR gets more reps with the RB's I think there is absolutely a scenario in which he becomes RB3. The current RB4 Travis Homer has one foot out the door and I could see Velus Jones JR being a competitive RB. He's currently listed under kick and punt return (ah, but also with that pesky "OR" designation) but I think ultimately he becomes a running back for this team. Specifically RB3 behind Roschon Johnson. I predict the running back room top to bottom is D'Andre Swift, Roschon Johnson, Velus Jones JR, then Khalil Herbert. We saw Rypien step up to the plate last game, I don't see why Roschon can't.
What do you think? Who will QB2 be? Will we find our center in Coleman Shelton or Ryan Bates? What are you looking forward to seeing in this saturday's game against Buffalo?
Looking for signs of the D being able to consistently apply an pressure. Not a play here and there, at least once every series.