The Bears will open training camp Wednesday morning without their best defensive end.
The team put Montez Sweat on the Active/Non-Football Illness list Tuesday with a short-term illness that is expected to cost him the first few days of camp.
Sweat had perhaps his best season with the Bears last season, totaling 10 regular season sacks and 18 quarterback hits. He combined for one sack and four quarterback hits in the Bears’ two playoff games. He was ranked 91st on the NFL Top 100 this month.
“I’d like to see him continue to improve and take what he did last year and add to that,” Bears general manager Ryan Poles said Tuesday, the day Bears veterans reported to training camp.
Players were subject to physicals upon their return. Safety Elijah Hicks was put on the Physically Unable to Perform list after feeling shin pain. Poles said Hicks’ injury will “take a little bit of time.”
On Saturday, the Bears put linebacker T.J. Edwards on the Non-Football Injury list after he hurt his right calf training off-site. Poles said it was not a major injury.
Rookie linebacker Keyshaun Elliott, who was put on the Physically Unable to Perform list with a back problem, is running and likely to be back soon, the GM said. Poles didn’t have timetables for the return of linebacker Noah Sewell (Achilles tendon) , offensive lineman Ozzy Trapilo (patellar tendon) and defensive lineman Shemar Turner (torn ACL), who are all recovering from surgery.
