Jaylon Johnson and Eddie Jackson Were Among Today’s OTA No-Shows

The Chicago Bears’ Tuesday OTA practice is in the books, but some familiar faces weren’t participating in the festivities. Heck, a handful of notable players didn’t even show up.

ESPN’s Courtney Cronin has details regarding some players who weren’t spotted at Halas Hall:

Before we dive into this newsy nugget, let’s take a step back and remember that this portion of the offseason training program is voluntary. This means that it isn’t a requirement for Bears players to show up to this part of OTAs. And voluntary is not mandatory. In fact, if you were in a 101-level English course, then you might consider using voluntary as an antonym for mandatory. Sure, it would be nice if they were all-in at this point in May. However, I’m not stressing out about it. No harm, no foul. Plus, I got to use the word antonym in a post. Today is a good day.

And yet, I still have concerns. These aren’t major issues, mind you. Not at this point on the calendar. But seeing Eddie Jackson and Jaylon Johnson among the no-shows leaves me with questions. Mostly surrounding each player’s health. Both Jackson and Johnson finished the 2022 season on IR. Johnson suffered ribs and finger injuries during the Bears’ loss to the Eagles in December and was sounding like he’d want to gut it out before the team put him on IR on Dec. 23. As for Jackson, a foot injury during the Bears’ loss to the Jets at MetLife Stadium put him on IR in late November. But at least the injury didn’t require offseason surgery.

It would’ve been welcome to hear either (both?) provide updates regarding their progress. And it sure would’ve been nice for Nate Davis, the team’s starting right guard, to get a leg up on learning the offense while at the practice facility. But, again, I can’t stress this enough. We’re only in May. This isn’t a time for panic. And it isn’t the end of the world. However, I’m taking note of these absences.