{"id":292771,"date":"2026-07-20T15:24:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T19:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=292771"},"modified":"2026-07-20T15:24:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T19:24:10","slug":"3-bears-players-with-most-to-prove-at-training-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2026\/07\/20\/3-bears-players-with-most-to-prove-at-training-camp\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Bears Players with Most to Prove at Training Camp"},"content":{"rendered":"

When it comes to the NFL, no matter where you came from, who drafted you, or where you were selected, the player should always have a chip on their shoulder. The Chicago Bears have several candidates that need a big 2026, but you gotta get through training camp impressing the coaches and your peers. Here are three players who have I the most to lose.<\/span><\/p>\n

Three Bears Players with Most to Prove at Training Camp<\/span><\/h2>\n
Let\u2019s take closer look at Tyrique Stevenson, Dayo Odeyingbo, and Kyler Gordon. Each of these players comes on the side of the ball with the biggest question marks. Still, if they want a shot at getting meaningful snaps for the Bears this season, it all starts at training camp. Each player came to the Bears in different situations, but still they are all prone to the same fate that could spell doom for their Bears\u2019 tenures.<\/span><\/div>\n

Tyrique Stevenson<\/span><\/h3>\n

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Firstly, let\u2019s begin with the fourth-year man out of Miami in Tyrique Stevenson. Stevenson came to a Bears team that, at the time, was coming off a disastrous by design year in 2022 and was loaded up with draft capital that came from the trade that netted the Bears wide receiver DJ Moore<\/a> along with those draft selections. Stevenson was one of those players selected by the Bears to help fill out a secondary that had young talent in it like Jaylon Johnson, Kyler Gordon, and Jaquan Brisker. Stevenson came out as a big enough corner who came to be aggressive and utilize his strength, especially on the bigger receivers, but also wasn’t the fastest either, which has proven to be detrimental, along with some behavior issues.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Stevenson’s first year in the Windy City saw him haul in four interceptions, two forced fumbles, and 86 total tackles. Not a bad showing, especially at a position that tends to be tough on rookies. He started all but one game that season and looked as though Jaylon Johnson had that buddying star in the secondary. However, his past two seasons have left him with <\/span>a question of just what his place is on the Bears.<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
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The Bears drafted Malik Muhammad in the fourth round of this year’s draft. Now, Muhammad might be better suited to be in the slot for the Bears, but he does have the tools to potentially play on the outside. It also is a great reminder that the Bears coaching staff from last year made it clear that they weren’t liking Stevenson’s play at the end of last season, and that was with all those injuries. Stevenson is in for one heck of a battle, and that all starts at training camp.<\/span><\/div>\n

Kyler Gordon<\/span><\/h3>\n
Now that we have talked about one secondary player, might as well talk about the other that is also in need of a big 2026. Gordon has always been a standout player when he is on the field. Without question, the Bears defense is just better with him there battling with the troops. But that’s when it’s massive because he just hasn’t been on the field to contribute nearly enough. It looks even worse after <\/span>he was extended before the season started last summer.<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
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Ryan Poles was obviously gonna be attached with Gordon after all; he was Poles’ first-ever selection as the Bears general manager. But you can’t have personal feelings get in the way of business. Right now, the business decision was offering up less guaranteed money until Gordon proved he could stay on the field relative to that amount of money that he actually got. It has now left Bears fans with a taste of bad medicine in their mouths and Gordon not on the side of good graces underneath Ben Johnson.<\/span><\/div>\n
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“We spoke last year, and neither one of us was really happy with how it went, just from a perspective of being available to get to know each other,” Johnson said. “We know he’s a good player when he’s out there, but trust level is a huge thing for this team, for this coaching staff, for the locker room, and you can only develop that trust by being available.” Johnson, you can tell, seemed a little underwhelmed by Gordon’s availability. The best ability is availability, and for Gordon, he is gonna need to be on the field or risk losing that trust that he has tried to earn.<\/span><\/div>\n

Dayo Odeyingbo<\/span><\/h3>\n
We can’t have a list like this without at least one guy from a unit that was just an overall disappointment. We are gonna target Odeyingbo here, and it really can’t be explained much more than this. He was paid to be a top 20 edge rusher, and instead the Bears got 1.5 sacks from him before an Achilles tear in week 8 vs the Baltimore Ravens<\/a> that caused him to miss the rest of the season. Bears have a capable option with Montez Sweat, but the Bears need much more from his counterparts or risk overhauling the unit at the end of next season.<\/span><\/div>\n
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It makes his signing hurt worse when the Bears could have just tacked on another year for a more proven option like Josh Sweat and the deal with the Arizona Cardinals<\/a>. Odeyingbo will battle third-year pro Austin Booker for that opposite edge spot across from Sweat. Of course, the Bears could opt for him to get reps at defensive tackle cause with the Colts, he did play some there too. <\/span>His name is for sure at the top of everyone’s list for a player that needs to show up.\u00a0<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n

Training Camp Slate<\/span><\/h3>\n
The Bears will open training camp July 31st at Halas Hall. They have 10 practices set to be open to the public. They will also have two joint practices visiting the Cincinnati Bengals<\/a> and Tennessee Titans<\/a>. The tickets for the practices have already been sold out, so it will surely be packed with Bears fans wanting to see the team duke it out with one another. These practices won’t entail exactly the type of plans that the Bears have in store for actual opponents, but it is a teaser of sorts. It all is good and fun, but the most important thing is that football is almost here.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Main Image: Matt Marton-Imagn Images<\/em><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every year the NFL changes and that means fighting for your next opportunity, especially at training camp. Who are the Bears players who need a big 2026?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5854,"featured_media":293060,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"1784390400","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"Who are the 3 players that I am most looking at for the start of training camp.","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"600","footnotes":""},"categories":[36,23,6431],"tags":[7403,8025,9108,9891],"class_list":["post-292771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-news","category-bears","category-nfl-teams","tag-chicago-bears-news","tag-dayo-odeyingbo","tag-kyler-gordon","tag-tyrique-stevenson"],"modified_by":"Mike Roberts","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5854"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292771"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292771\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":293072,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292771\/revisions\/293072"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}