Bears defensive end Montez Sweat’s illness, as it turns out, cost him just 24 hours.
One day after the Bears put their best defensive end on the Non-Football Illness list, they removed him from it Wednesday afternoon. In between, he missed the team’s first training camp practice of the year, a brief occasion on the backfields at Halas Hall. Sweat is expected to participate in Thursday morning’s practice.
Sweat was never expected to miss serious time, but his return is good news nonetheless, particularly after the Bears went all offseason without adding significant edge rushers in free agency, trades or the draft. Sweat is coming off of one of the best seasons of his career, a 10-sack showing. The Bears had little production opposite Sweat short of a late surge by Austin Booker after he returned from injury.
On Tuesday, general manager Ryan Poles said he wanted to “see [Sweat] continue to improve and take what he did last year and add to that.”
