Javon Wims is picking up where he left off at the end of the 2018 regular season.
Adam Jahns of The Athletic makes note that Wims was working with the first-team offense in practices during the Chicago Bears’ offseason training program. Wims, a seventh-round pick in 2018, has stood out in the eyes of Head Coach Matt Nagy, who pointed out Wims as a “great example” of a player who made waves during OTAs and offseason minicamps.
“That’s big, not only for the coaches to see that I’m capable of doing that, (but) for myself, that’s big getting in that timing with the 1’s and everything,” Wims told The Athletic. “(It’s carrying on that tempo. … I’m just earning that trust (Trubisky) being able to throw me the ball is huge.”
Indeed, Mr. Wims. Any time you can build a connection with QB1 is a good thing.
When we last saw Wims on the field, he was making the most of an opportunity that came about because of an injury to a player ahead of him on the depth chart. Wims caught four passes for 32 yards in the Bears’ regular-season finale against the Vikings, but those numbers don’t really do justice for what the then-rookie provided. With Allen Robinson held out and Taylor Gabriel getting an early exit, Wims played 21 snaps and came up with some key first downs that put the Vikings’ season on ice. To see that Wims has carried over that late-season surge into OTAs is an encouraging sign for a player who will need to be at the top of his game if he wants to crack the season-opening roster.
Wims will be joined in battle by former Georgia teammate Riley Ridley, Marvin Hall, Tanner Gentry, Emanuel Hall, and others behind the starting trio of Robinson, Gabriel, and Anthony Miller. If you lump in the Trojan (a.k.a. Cordarrelle Patterson’s new position), the battle for snaps will become that much deeper.
The nature of football as a game lends itself to players who embrace the next-man-up mentality, then run with it when given an opportunity. Wims is no stranger to fight, but it’s evident he has a leg up on the competition if he is already earning first-team reps and gaining the trust of Mitch Trubisky.