Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Alyssa Barbieri

Bear Necessities: Matt Adams, Joe Thomas battling at SAM linebacker

The Chicago Bears have a battle brewing at linebacker between Matt Adams and Joe Thomas, who are competing for playing time and reps.

Buy Bears Tickets

Defensive coordinator Alan Williams praised the play of both Adams and Thomas, who have been standouts through the first couple of weeks. Adams comes to Chicago with a knowledge of Matt Eberflus’ defense during his time with the Indianapolis Colts. Meanwhile, Thomas has excelled taking the ball away through these first 10 practices.

“I heard Nick [Morrow] mention the other day in his [press] conference he said the reason why Matt’s here is because he understands the defense, because he plays with high tempo, because he’s physical,” Williams said. “And then Thomas, he stands out because he’s leading the group in turnovers. We keep track of how many guys have intercepted the ball, how many balls you’ve knocked out, how many scoop and scores and he’s leading the group. So those two guys are standouts right now.”

Roquan Smith remains on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list since the start of camp, and he remains locked in a contract dispute. While there’s no doubt Smith will be the starter at weak-side linebacker when he returns, there’s been some shake-up in his absence.

Adams has been taking reps at weak-side linebacker with Nicholas Morrow in the middle. Thomas has been on the strong side, but the expectation is Adams will move to the strong-side role once Smith returns.

“Whoever you have, you gotta play with whoever you have and that’s reality in the NFL,” Williams said. “If you spend your entire time thinking about what you don’t have instead of what you do have solving in terms of what you do have, you’ll be behind the eight ball,” Williams said. “And that’s not what we’re gonna do and we’re not gonna make excuses and reasons why we can’t. We’re gonna find reasons why we can.”

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.