The most popular person at Chicago Bears training camp Friday, aside from anyone with an umbrella, had to be unheralded wide receiver Brandon Rideau.
Rideau, a perennial fringe player who has clung to roster spots since his rookie year with Cleveland in 2005, has enjoyed a strong camp and is making a case to beat out a crop of rookies and journeymen for the fifth and final wide receiver spot on the team.
Rideau had another strong performance in Friday’s practice, which was marred a bit by a light but persistent rain.
“I don’t know how many great plays (Rideau) made, but I know he made quite a bit of them,” said coach Lovie Smith. “This is an opportunity for some of the receivers to step up and he’s taking advantage of it.”
Rideau, at 6-foot-3, 200 pounds, is a big target for quarterbacks. Since he began getting repetitions with the first unit several days ago, Rideau has been a favorite of Jay Cutler.
He was mainly used as a practice squad player by the Browns in 2005 and then by the Bears in 2006. He was injured in the 2007 preseason and returned to the Bears practice squad in 2008. He made his first two appearances in NFL games in 2008, recording two special teams tackles in a Week 17 loss to Houston.
Rideau is battling fifth-round draft pick Johnny Knox and seventh-round draft pick Derek Kinder among others for the final receiver spot.
Vasher struggling
One of the nice plays Rideau made was a juggling grab around cornerback Nathan Vasher down the left sideline.
Vasher has been beaten repeatedly at training camp by the likes of Earl Bennett and Rideau, which could be a dire forecast for the Bears’ already thin secondary. If Charles Tillman suffers any sort of setback in his rehab from back surgery or Zack Bowman’s hamstring issue ends up being worse than expected, Vasher’s struggles could become a serious concern.
The Bears seem to have set up a safeguard for that scenario, giving defensive back Corey Graham some reps at Vasher’s left cornerback spot. Graham was originally slated to be a safety this offseason, but Tillman’s injury changed that. Graham was also figuring into the mix at nickelback but now could be battling for Vasher’s spot as well.
For his part, Vasher doesn’t seem concerned about his performance in camp thus far.
“I think we’re doing pretty good,” he said. “We’ve been trying to get better every day, trying to minimize a lot of the mistakes we were making on Day 1 and Day 2.”
Other notes from Day 8
* The rain made the football a little hard to handle. During short-yardage drills, fumbles were commonplace, with the ball being put on the ground four times in a matter of minutes. Dropped passes were common as well and many players lost their footing while making cuts.
* Linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer, now seemingly relegated to backup middle linebacker duties, sat out practice for the second straight day with a minor injury.
* Devin Hester and Tommie Harris were excused from the workout for what’s grown to be dubbed ‘veteran’s day.’ The common sight of fishing hats worn by players taking a vet’s day is apparently defunct, however, with the apparel now delegated to only those who are missing practices for injury.
* Orlando Pace participated in individual drills but was held out of team drills. Pace was notorious while with St. Louis for missing most, if not all, of training camp for various reasons. This year, however, he had been a full participant until Friday.
* With Harris getting a vet’s day, Jarron Gilbert got some work at Harris’ spot with the first unit at two technique. Gilbert looked good, though he did jump offside on one play, something that’s also been a problem for the Bears’ other rookie defensive lineman, end Henry Melton.
* Each year, every team is visited by an NFL officiating crew. The crew explains the various rule changes new to the season and then stays to officiate a practice. The Bears were visited Friday.
Notable rule changes this year include the elimination of the ‘crack-back’ block (an overly vicious block made on a defenseless player) and the elimination of the three-man (or more) wedge on kick-off returns. There can now be only two blockers together in a wedge. Also, only five players from the kicking team can huddle together in pursuit of an onside kick.
