Cubs News: Eberflus gives the latest update on training camp |
LAKE FOREST, I.L. - With training camp officially underway, head coach Matt Eberflus broke down what he saw from both the offense and the defense. This includes the defensive line, where there have been some concerns about the Chicago Bears not getting a high-caliber defensive end in free agency or the NFL Draft.
However, veteran defensive end DeMarcus Walker has shown his versatility thus far. “He’s an effective guy in there and he can go in and go out. So, when you have that versatility, you can match him up on different people,” Eberflus said. “Some guys, you can’t do that. Some guys aren’t very good when they go in there, and you can’t match him up, which is always good if you get a long player in there like (defensive lineman Gervon) Dexter. Against a guard or a center, that’s always a good matchup.” Offensively, things are a bit more interesting. The biggest mystery is who will be starting at center. Chicago made a lot of free agent signings to improve the entire offensive line, including centers Coleman Shelton and Ryan Bates. Eberflus does not currently have a timeline for when the final decision will be made on the starting center, but implies things will become more clear once the pads are on. “I told the guys (Monday July 22) you make the team or you make your position in pads. Those are the things that we evaluate. It’s hard to evaluate guys when we’re out here and not in pads,” Eberflus said. “The pass protection is hard. The pass rush is hard to evaluate if a guy really can bore around the corner or if he really can protect against the bull rush because we put limits on the guys a little bit, what they can and cannot do so we don’t have injury … Once we get pads on, they got to stay on their feet.” Finalizing the offensive line is important to protecting rookie quarterback Caleb Williams. Williams struggled with the verbal cadence during organized team activities (OTAs) and rookie minicamp. This seems to have improved, but is still not quite where Coach Eberflus and the rest of the team want it to be. “It came back way better (in) terms of just the operation of it and it’s improving every day … You’re always going to enhance your cadence and change the cadence. So, we have to go through the process of that,” Eberflus said. “You got to use different cadences and you got to use (it) as a weapon and that takes time and we’re going through the process right now. We’re not even close to being through that process yet.” Despite the cadence not being where it needs to be, Eberflus has seen positive things from Williams. He showed dedication early on, learning the playbook and building chemistry with his teammates. Still, training camp is an important time for Williams to learn the whole offense and challenge himself by going against the entire defensive playbook. Eberflus recognizes there will be ups and downs, but he says Williams will continue to build on everything he learns in training camp and beyond. “As you go through training camp, you put a lot of things in and you’re trying to put the whole offense in and we’re also installing the whole defense. So, he’s going to get the whole gamut of looks. So, there’s going to be an ebb and flow to this … We’re going to give him some looks that are going to be hard for him and then he’s going to learn from those and then he’s going to grow and then go to the next step,” Eberflus said. “So, that’s him learning the game up here, learning the speed, learn how the windows close faster and when he does that, he’s just going to keep growing and learning and that’s not just during training camp. It’s going to be the first game all the way to the last game. He’s got to keep stacking them up.” Chicago’s training camp will be minus one person temporarily. Safety Jonathan Owens is not injured, but will be missing time at training camp to watch his wife, Simone Biles, compete for Team USA in the Olympics in Paris. Coach Eberflus has been a coach dedicated to building a strong culture since he arrived in Chicago and allowing Owens to go to Paris during such a pivotal time for the team. “We respect the Olympics,” Eberflus said. “That is a big deal and he’s just supporting the one he loves the most and I think that’s so cool that he gets to do that and we welcome that and it’s going to be awesome … Go USA.”
