Recapping Day 1 of Chicago Bears training camp

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The Chicago Bears officially kicked off training camp with their first practice on Wednesday morning. While it was a shorter, lighter workout to open the summer, there were still plenty of notable headlines and standouts.

It wasn't an eventful first day of practice as the Bears conducted a light workout that didn't even last 90 minutes, but it's key to ramping up before pads come on next week. There wasn't a lot of notable takeaways, but there were updates amid position battles at nickel cornerback, left tackle, center and punt returner, as well as some early standouts on offense.

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Let's recap Day 1 of Bears training camp:

What we learned

  • Battle at nickel cornerback: With Kyler Gordon sidelined, Chicago rotated several players at nickel during Wednesday's practice, where it was Jaylon Jones working with the starters for most of the workout. Josh Blackwell, rookie Malik Muhammad and veteran newcomer Cam Lewis also mixed in at nickel throughout the morning.
  • Braxton Jones gets starting nod at left tackle: Jones will have to hold off Theo Benedet, former first-round pick Jedrick Wills Jr. and Kiran Amegadjie for the starting left tackle job, but the expectation is that the job is Jones' to lose. That certainly appeared to be the case after Jones was working with the first-team offense to kick off training camp on Wednesday, according to Michal Dwojak. Meanwhile, it was Amegadjie working with the second team and Wills following. Benedet worked at right tackle with the second team.
  • Rome Odunze, Luther Burden and Colston Loveland stood out: There's a lot of hype surrounding Chicago's offense heading into Year 2 under Ben Johnson, and Caleb Williams and his young weapons are a big reason why. Following Wednesday's practice, Clay Harbor came away impressed with Chicago's top three weapons in tight end Colston Loveland and receivers Rome Odunze and Luther Burden III.
  • Garrett Bradbury worked with first-team offense: While the expectation is Bradbury will start at center for Chicago in 2026, Ben Johnson made it clear that rookie Logan Jones will have an opportunity to compete for the starting job. So it wasn't a surprise that Bradbury was working with the first-team offense during Wednesday's practice, per Brad Biggs, as Jones worked with the 2s.
  • An "up-and-down" day for the defense: Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen brought back his tradition of up-downs to kick off the start of training camp, and every defensive player who practiced did them on Wednesday. Safety Coby Bryant joked that he was going to tell Allen and tell him that was "pretty easy" before explaining the importance of the drill. “It’s a mindset thing,” Bryant said. “We’re going to deal with way harder stuff than 40 up-downs.”
  • Zavion Thomas flashed in punt returner competition: Another competition brewing this summer comes at punt returner between Kalif Raymond and rookie Zavion Thomas. While Wednesday's practice was on the lighter side, there was some special teams work, and the punt return game stood out. According to Mark Carman, Thomas "had some swagger catching punts. Flowed to the music. Caught some boomers from Tory. (Taylor), made it look easy."

Standouts

  • CB Jaylon Jones: It's only Day 1, but veteran cornerback Jaylon Jones got the first crack at starting in place of the injured Kyler Gordon. Jones, who returned to the Bears last season after being released from the Arizona Cardinals, didn't see much action at nickel in 2025 but got work in during offseason workouts. He rotated along with Cam Lewis and Josh Blackwell, as Shaw Media's Michal Dwojak observed. It doesn't mean much right now, but it's a good start for Jones, who could play a significant role when the season begins.
  • WR Luther Burden III: The offseason hype for Luther Burden has been sky-high, but the second-year receiver is already showing why it's deserved. Burden is off to a fast start, showing off his speed to those in attendance and getting plenty of targets, according to CHGO's Mark Carman. The best play of the day, however, has to be Burden working on punt returns and catching balls while holding one on his hand. Bears reporter Nicholas Moreano said it was the best thing he saw in practice. We're still in the infancy of camp, but Burden is making a strong impression early.
  • C Garrett Bradbury: Pads won't come on until Monday and there's very little contact happening, but Garrett Bradbury deserves a shoutout for helping the offense run a clean and smooth operation. FOX 32's Chris Kwiecinski notes that the offense as a whole was much more organized than this time last year when Johnson had to stop practice to get them off the field. The whole unit deserves credit, but Bradbury stands out for being the new center and getting everyone in line. Bradbury, who was acquired via trade from the New England Patriots in March, saw snaps with the starters as expected and should remain the starter barring a surprise or a strong push from rookie Logan Jones. -- Brendan Sugrue

Injury updates

There weren't any notable or unexpected injury updates. The players previously announced on the non-football injury and physically unable to perform lists were sidelined: linebacker T.J. Edwards, cornerback Kyler Gordon, offensive tackle Ozzy Trapilo, safety Elijah Hicks, linebackers Keyshaun Elliott and Noah Sewell, defensive end Shemar Turner. Defensive end Montez Sweat was placed on the non-football illness list, and he's expected back soon.

Highlights

Press conferences (Dennis Allen, Caleb Williams, Coby Bryant)

What's next

The Bears return to the practice field on Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. CT for their second of four consecutive practices to open camp. It's another closed practice before fans arrive on Friday morning.

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This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: Recapping Day 1 of Chicago Bears training camp

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