Chicago Bears: Recapping the first day of rookie minicamp

Before OTA practices begin on May 15th, the Chicago Bears have kicked off their three day rookie minicamp. Will any hidden gems be discovered in practice?

The Chicago Bears began their first day of rookie minicamp by announcing that six of their seven drafted rookies signed their contracts. James Daniels, Anthony Miller, Joel Iyiegbuniwe, Bilal Nichols, Kylie Fits and Javon Wims all put pen to paper. That means the only one left to sign is first round pick Roquan Smith is the only contract left to complete. Last season, quarterback Mitchell Trubisky didn’t sign his contract until July 19th, so it will be interesting to see if it gets dragged out or if general manager Ryan Pace and Smith’s agent are able to get it done quickly.

There were 70 players on the field Friday and all of them are looking to catch the eye of head coach Matt Nagy and the rest of the coaching staff. Nagy will be paying especially close attention to these players. Nagy said,

"“It hits a spot with me because I felt like I was one of those guys that just want tall enough, wasn’t fast enough, maybe not quite strong enough. I didn’t go to that big school. I went to a 1AA, I refuse to let somebody slip by because of that. It’s not going to happen with me and I’m going to make sure that our staff understands that. So there’s kids in this building that are going to get extra special attention, because they’re not that guy. I can promise you that.”"

Two of these “guys” to keep an eye on are Kevin Toliver and Kylie Fitts. Tolliver is an undrafted cornerback from LSU who has that unique size at 6’2″, 192 pounds. When asked about Toliver’s performance, Nagy’s eyes lit up .

Fitts is a 6th round pick who played for Utah. He has injury concerns, but the edge rushing talent from the outside linebacker position is there. And it was on display Friday.

When Nagy was asked about Fitts flashing on the first day of rookie minicamp, he said,

"“We obviously hope that he can help this team, but you’ve got to make the team first.”More from Chicago BearsChicago Bears quietly compiling list of head coaching candidatesNext Chicago Bears starting quarterback makes Bowl Game decisionChicago Bears appear in the hunt while on track for the first pickChicago Bears: They are who we thought they wereChicago Bears Rumors: Kevin Warren to oversee football operations"

To me, that’s the type of coach Nagy is and the type of coach the Chicago Bears need. He’s going to give these players every chance in the world to succeed, but these players have to “want” it.

This was shown by his comments on Roquan Smith. While Nagy has plenty of praise for Smith, he also said,

"He just went from a big fish in a small pond to a small fish in a big pond so for him he’s got to know that. You know all these guys that come in here, you’ve got to come in here and show what you can do. Just because you were the number 8 pick doesn’t mean you just walk into this thing. You’ve got to earn it. So, we made that clear to everybody on this team. And [Smith] is going to do that.“"

Next: Chicago Bears: 5 veterans who must step up in 2018

Nothing is a given in the NFL. Nagy talked about how some of these players on this field will never put a helmet on again after this camp. Dreams are on the line. We’ll find out what day two holds on Saturday.