Bears

Bears WR Luther Burden III enters the second year of his career after recording 47 receptions for 652 yards and two touchdowns. Chicago QB Caleb Williams highly praised Burden’s ability to make defenders miss, catch every pass, and run great routes. 

“He makes the first guy miss, every time,” Williams said, via BearsWire. “That’s his trait. He catches every thing, easy passes, hard passes, he’s a friendly receiver to the QB. His route running and things like that are super friendly. When you put the ball in his hands, he makes the first player miss quite often.”

Bears GM Ryan Poles pinpointed Burden as a player he is “really excited about” going into the season. 

“If there’s a guy that I’m really excited about, it’s Luther Burden, just because of how much he’s grown from the day he walked in this building,” Poles said, via BearsWire. “I mean, I heard he was just texting and calling these quarterbacks, just looking for an arm to throw to him every day of the week. The guy loves football; he’s passionate about it. He wants to help this team win, and he wants to be the absolute best receiver he can possibly be. You can feel the fire inside of him, and I’m excited to see that show up.”

Lions

The Lions have spent years searching for a consistent running mate across from superstar DE Aidan Hutchinson, and they have high hopes they’ve finally landed on a solution with second-round DE Derrick Moore. Lions DC Kelvin Sheppard was highly complimentary of Moore’s attitude and NFL readiness. 

“Dating back to the spring, ever since we drafted and acquired (him), since the day he showed up, he just has the presence of an older guy,” Sheppard said via Tim Twentyman of the team site. “Just being around him, he doesn’t feel like a rookie. I kind of say that to the staff all the time. He’s very mature. He’s kind of introverted, but once you get to know him, he’s just a man’s man and he just comes to work every day with his head down. ‘Coach, what do you need of me? What are you expecting of me? What is the standard?’ And he goes out and tries to meet that. He’s shown things, absolutely.”

Sheppard added they’ve been pleasantly surprised by Moore’s athleticism and think he has some untapped potential. 

“I think you don’t see it as much on tape because he plays like this hard, no style, speed-to-power rush. But, when you get around him, he has very good, efficient movement. He covers a lot of ground, no wasted steps and things like that,” Sheppard said. “Things are going to transition, we feel like, to this level of play.”

Packers

Packers HC Matt LaFleur shared what drew him to DC Jonathan Gannon, the fourth defensive coordinator he’s employed since joining the team in 2019. With how involved LaFleur is on the offense, the DC hire is a big one for him. 

“When we brought him in here [to interview], he blew me away,” LaFleur said via ESPN’s Ben Solak. “He knows offensive football, he knows situational football. And the thing that impressed me most about him: He’s not stuck in, ‘Oh, this is how we’re going to do it.’ It’s kind of like how we think offensively.”

• Solak saw minimal first-team reps for Packers WR Savion Williams in his short stint at camp, indicating that Green Bay might be tightening up the rotation with the top three of Christian Watson, Jayden Reed and Matthew Golden.