Chicago Bears training camp: Luther Burden III plays catch up as the rookie makes camp debut

Chicago Bears in pads for first time this training camp

As the Bears put on the pads for the first time in training camp, that's when the competition really started in the trenches.

The Chicago Bears have donned the pads, and are now heading into the thick of it.

Live reps with active hitting will help determine who makes the final roster and who makes the starting lineup. The decision-making process begins anew.

What helps is how the Bears will get one of their prized draft picks back on the field this week as they begin making those decisions.

What we know:

The Bears caught plenty off guard when they drafted Luther Burden III with the first of three second-round picks. Burden was supposed to be a first-round pick but slid into the second round, and the Bears gladly added him to Johnson's arsenal.

However, he's missed a lot of time. Burden suffered a soft-tissue injury in rookie minicamp and has been working his way back to the field since. 

This week, he's been playing catch up while getting his first looks in pads.

"We’re going to start ramping him in there," Johnson said Tuesday. "He'll start getting some team reps slowly but surely."

But, Burden can take solace in that he's not the only one who needs time to ramp up.

"We've got a number of guys that kind of started low and now their volume keeps getting bigger every day," Johnson said.

First-round pick Colston Loveland is another one of those players, as is starting left tackle Braxton Jones who will need to win back his starting spot after the Bears drafted Ozzy Trapilo in the second round and Jones has spent most of the offseason rehabbing the ankle he fractured against the Lions.

Missing time will lead to struggles in live reps. It happened on Monday with Burden.

"It shows up already," Johnson said. "We were in the walkthrough yesterday afternoon and the misalignments, we had to re-huddle. We had to start it all over again."

It happened again with Burden on Tuesday. Johnson pulled the rookie from Missouri from a team drill after he had some issues with pre-snap motion and with alignment.

The optimistic part of that is Burden is back to working with the Bears in team drills, where he got looks with the first-team offense in 11-on-11 drills. That will be a baptism by fire for the rookie receiver who has made his first field appearance since rookie minicamp.

"He's a little bit behind right now," Johnson said.

What we don't know:

Whatever Johnson is cooking up in his playbook, he's showing tidbits of what might be to come.

Johnson had wide receiver DJ Moore playing in the backfield on Monday. 

"I think what I've seen on tape and what I've come to learn about DJ is he's a physical, run after catch, just get me the ball type of guy," Johnson said. "Whether that's in the backfield, whether that's screens – I think he had a nice go route the other day – there's a number of things that we're looking to do and explore to how do we get him the ball and get him in space. We're tinkering with that a little bit. Yesterday you saw he's really receptive to it."

The Bears did have a fun day in one of the final days of OTAs where Johnson had the offensive linemen and quarterbacks catching passes, while the skill players were throwing the passes.

It's all a part of the process Johnson has for putting a playbook together that's as deep, and sometimes tricky, as possible.

"We're exploring some things," Johnson said.