Tracking the top surprises at Chicago Bears training camp

RB Kyle Monangai

They badly wanted their seventh-round pick to succeed at contributing because of their inability to draft someone earlier. So far, so good. There are occasional glitches, like when he went the wrong way on a play in Sunday's scrimmage at Soldier Field. His ability to help as a receiver has been an obvious surprise because he never did a lot of it in college. However, he got to show some of his toughness as a runner in goal-line work and in full-contact play the past week.

"I am very pleased with where he's at," coach Ben Johnson said. "I think he's a guy that we're going to be able to trust this fall."

Johnson said "think," not that he can be trusted. There's still a way to go before that status is earned.

WR J.P. Richardson

The undrafted TCU receiver caught passes in OTAs and it was easy to notice. When it continued at an even greater rate in training camp, it caught everyone's attention. The unexpected part of Richardson's play has been his versatility. Everyone knew he would be a slot type receiver who would make his run at a roster spot as a possession guy. However, Richardson catches passes all over the field. He doesn't just catch it, he finds ways to be open and then runs after the catch.

Richardson disappointed Johnson with one down practice last week after he had been so impressive. "That happened, but he bounces right back, just like the rest of these guys," Johnson said.

CB Nashon Wright

It seemed a bit too convenient when they had suddenly discovered Nick McCloud could play cornerback after a practice when they decided to put Tyrique Stevenson with backups, continued using Terell Smith with backups and rookie Zah Frazier was still away for personal reasons. It just seemed as if it suited coaching motivational purposes to punish Stevenson for some reason. McCloud has been beaten, though not as often as backup Shaun Wade.

But Wright definitely has been there all along, practicing well and using his long arms and height against starting receivers at Jaylon Johnson's position. Johnson won't return until possibly the regular season.

"You know, not many 6-4, 6-5 corners out there with his capabilities and his suddenness and agilities so it’s been a challenge going against him every "single day," Rome Odunze said.

LB Noah Sewell

The strong side linebacker spot isn't spotlighted much, but Sewell has begun to flash once more physicality was introduced with pads. He had some standout plays in Sunday's practice after being limited almost solely to special teams his first two seasons.

"Physicality wise, he jumps off the tape at all times," linebacker T.J. Edwards said. "Any type of lead, you know, stretch, run to Noah Sewell, you (know) what's getting turned back because that's kind of what he does."

Sewell also got to flash his blitz ability Sunday when he burned D'Andre Swift's attempt to pick him up and forced Caleb Williams to throw it away.

"In terms of his pass rush capabilities and things like that, he's got a good guy to practice with in the off season with his brother (Lions tackl Penei Sewell)," Edwards said.

Sewell had a reputation for being able to rush the passer in college but hadn't shown it yet.

"He’s another guy who has kind of been doing a whole different bunch of roles and things like that, and he’s taking it in, he's performing, man," Edwards added. "He looks really good for sure.”

T Kiran Amegadjie

Now it appears all of his efforts went for naught because his ability to compete with Ozzy Trapilo and Braxton Jones for starting left tackle is halted by injury, but it couldn't hide how much he had improved over 2024. He's going to need to adjust to battling back from injury and then make up for lost ground. Amegadjie shouldn't be counted out just yet because he considers focusing on the situation at hand to be a strength.

"I've always kind of prided myself on that, whatever the situation was, whether it was in college or coming out last year, I tried to do my best to just control what I can control," Amegadjie said. "That's all you can do. When you start to worry about outside factors, that's when you get astray a little bit."