Chicago Bears OTA Observations: Jaquan Brisker ignites defense

"And if it doesn't sound that way, then we're just not going to allow the practice to go south. Fatigue is something that we're going to combat. The longer practice goes, the more fatigue guys get, and the mental toughness has to come through of still doing the little things correctly. So that's a part of it."

Strains and pains

T.J. Edwards, Kyler Gordon and Luther Burden III missed practice with soft tissue injuries. Tight end Colston Loveland remains out rehabbing from his shoulder injury. The Bears were also without cornerback Jaylon Johnson, who was back home at a previously scheduled charitable event. Without Johnson playing, the starters were Tyrique Stevenson and free agent signing Nashon Wright at cornerback. Without Gordon, Josh Blackwell had a ton of work,

While no one likes to hear about injuries, the fact they were freely reported by Johnson was a refreshing change from the Matt Eberflus era, when he insisted he didn't need to report anything until the regular season and would take advantage of this rule, presumably for a "competitive edge," although they didn't have games scheduled for three more months.

Although Sweat was at Halas Hall, he didn't practice on Wednesday. Most of the snaps at first-team defensive end were taken by Dominique Robinson in Sweat's place and he had one of his better practices, beating Darnell Wright a few times during the full-team scrimmage. On the first one at the start of practice, he forced Caleb Williams to throw away the football. Robinson needs to produce as he's in a contract year and simply hasn't had the sacks or pressure he needs.

Tackle shuffle

A week ago, Kiran Amegadjie lined up with the first team at OTAs at left tackle. On Wednesday, it was rookie Ozzy Trapilo getting the assignment with starters and Amegadjie took the backup slot. Both are playing there while starter Braxton Jones gets over a broken bone in his ankle.

“We’re moving guys around," Johnson said. "We want to give everyone an opportunity, so, you know, Darnell, we feel pretty comfortable keeping him at the right side right now. So the left side until we get Braxton back in the mix, it’s going to be a little bit of musical chairs.”

For now, there is no plan of moving Darnell Wright to the left side from the right, although it doesn't mean this couldn't occur in the future.

“To be determined, anything’s on the table," Johnson said. "And we’re going to let the plan play out, which is keep him there for the time being and let these guys battle it out on the left side. And we can decide to change course whenever we need to.”