Tremaine Edmunds played Justin Fields when the Buffalo Bills came to Soldier Field to face the Bears last Christmas Eve, so he saw firsthand the type of player Justin Fields is, up close and personal.
“Excellent athlete,” Edmunds said. “He’s a lot bigger than I thought.”
But lining up against someone as an opponent is very different from lining up against a teammate in training. Now Edmunds has the opportunity to get to know Fields better as a person. He sees Fields every day at Halas Hall and understands what he looks like as a teammate. Now Edmunds has a better sense of who Fields is as a worker and a leader.
“You can see he makes the guys around him better. He leads from the front. His work obviously speaks for itself. Just seeing him go out every day and grow, develop, spread the ball, just his thinking. I see it first hand and I’m excited.
Edmunds has barely been a bear for two months, and yet coaches and teammates have already noted how well he’s taken on a leadership role on defense. Edmunds also made the play of the day on Tuesday, the Bears’ second day OTA, intercepting a pass from PJ Walker in midfield and carrying it home. But Edmunds still gave Fields and the guys on the other side of the ball props.
“They did a lot of good things on the offensive side,” Edmunds said. “With his leadership and the way he directs and obviously his playmaking abilities, that’s something to be excited about for sure.”
It’s only day two of the OTAs, and the Bears were the first to admit they have a ways to go to create transparent chemistry on offense. There are several new tracks that need to be assimilated, like DJ Moore, Robert Tonyan, Darnell Wright, Tyler Scott, Nate Davis and a whole host of new running backs. Mistakes have been made and mistakes will continue to be made. But in terms of athleticism alone, Fields is already impressing one of the new defense leaders.
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