The Bears have been tinkering with the idea of moving their fourth-highest-paid player to a new position.
Not that Tremaine Edmunds thinks it would be too big a deal for him to move from middle linebacker, where he played under former head coach Matt Eberflus, to weak-side linebacker.
‘‘I’m gonna do whatever they put me out there [for],’’ he said recently. ‘‘Whatever position is out there, whatever they want me to play, I’m going to do my thing. I’m going to leave it up to the coaches.’’
New defensive coordinator Dennis Allen has been playing Edmunds and fellow linebacker TJ Edwards at both positions during training camp.
‘‘Tremaine and I are both still kind of doing both,’’ Edwards said Sunday. ‘‘Honestly, it really helps us learn the defense and just understand big-picture-wise what we’re doing. I think we’re both comfortable in either role. And as you know, as we start getting closer here, those things will start to get determined and decided in that way.’’
Eberflus preferred using Edmunds in the middle of his Tampa 2 defense. The job of the middle linebacker in that scheme often was to drop deep into coverage downfield, and Edmunds used his height to help disrupt passes down the seam. That same size — he’s 6-5 and 250 pounds — might be even more disruptive in open space at weak-side linebacker under Allen.
Edwards played middle linebacker for the Eagles before the Bears signed him as free agent in 2023. He signed a two-year, $20 million extension in April.
Edmunds has a $17.4 million salary-cap hit in the third year of a four-year, $72 million contract.
Allen has been stressing multiplicity throughout camp, lining up safeties and cornerbacks all over the field in dime coverage with the hope of confusing quarterbacks this offseason.
Communication lacking?
One day after head coach Ben Johnson was frustrated by the Bears’ pre-snap penalties, the team held a walkthrough and tried to talk through some of their delay-of-game and illegal-motion issues.
‘‘The big thing is communication with everyone,’’ right tackle Darnell Wright said. ‘‘We need to do a better job of that, probably. That’s what we need to do as a whole — just communicate, obviously, in the huddle.’’
Quarterback Caleb Williams seems more confident than he did last season, Wright said, even as he works through those issues.
‘‘Obviously, he’s a second-year player,’’ Wright said. ‘‘There are still things, as you’re learning, there’s stuff to go through. But he’s a little bit more confident and poised.’’
Reunion with McDaniel
Special-teams coordinator Richard Hightower will catch up with Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel when the teams share a joint practice Friday.
Hightower shared an offense with McDaniel — as well as future head coaches Matt LaFleur and Robert Saleh — when they were low-level Texans assistants in 2006-08. The two worked together again with Washington (2011-13) and the 49ers (2017-20).
Hightower said he knew McDaniel would be special.
‘‘You kind of see who wants to grind, who wants to work, who has the X’s and O’s down, who has great personality,’’ Hightower said. ‘‘I’ve been fortunate. I know what a good coach looks like because I’ve been around all of them.’’
He predicted Johnson would join that list, though he was careful to say he was not trying to ‘‘kiss his butt.’’
‘‘Real head coaches have an eye for things when they happen, and they’re able to anticipate stuff,’’ Hightower said. ‘‘And I’m just telling you . . . we’ve got a good head coach.’’
