We aren’t alone in awaiting Roquan Smith’s arrival at camp.
Danny Trevathan took his first steps toward a productive 2018 season as he participated in his first practice on Monday, but still had his rookie teammate on his mind. Trevathan said he has been in contact with Smith as his holdout drags on and will be ready to help the rookie get up to speed whenever he signs a contract and shows up to training camp.
“We’ll get him up to date,” Trevathan said. “There’s a lot of stuff you can’t get unless you’re out there on that field, that’s working with the guys next to you and communicating with the person that’s going to be in with you. He’s got some catching up to do, but we’ll get him caught up, it’s no problem.”
While it’s great to see an established veteran show a willingness to take a youngster on the rise under his wing, it’s worth noting that Trevathan has his own issues to get straightened out and catching up to do. Trevathan has been sidelined with a lingering hamstring injury that kept him out of practice for most of the early part of training camp. He is also coming off back-to-back seasons in which injuries caused him to miss long stretches of games. Still, it’s reassuring to see Trevathan back in the swing of things – even if it was at a non-padded practice on Monday.
It could turn out to be an ironic twist of fate that Trevathan would be happy to help Smith get going in the right direction, especially since Smith could threaten to take some of Trevathan’s playing time. Even still, you can’t help but feel good about Bears players having each other’s backs and pulling from the same side of the rope. That kind of team spirit could permeate the team and help build something great. At least, when Smith officially reports to camp.