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Chicago Bears practice update. Clark Phillips III excited to fill
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whatever role his new team needs. Written by Michal Dwojak.
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This article is being read by an automated voice brought
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to you by Everlit. Life in the NFL came at
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Clark Phillips III quickly on Sunday morning. Phillips and the
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Atlanta Falcons were a couple of days removed from their
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preseason finale and He thought he had wrapped up his
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third training camp with the Falcons as he prepared for
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a comeback season with them after missing most of last
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season with a triceps injury. Instead, Phillips learned he'll be
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starting from scratch after the Falcons traded him to the
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Chicago Bears. It's definitely a unique thing Phillips said at
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Halas Hall in Lake Forest on Wednesday, but I'll say,
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being the type of guy I am, feel like I'm
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prepared for it. Obviously, body-wise, I feel good about it,
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and like I said, I'm just excited to be here, man. Really,
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I'm just excited to learn this new defense and get
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going with the guys and help the guys win this year.
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The Bears received Phillips in exchange for former second-round pick
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defensive tackle Gervon Dexter. They also got a fifth-round pick
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in the upcoming draft. Phillips, like Dexter, had shown some
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promise as a player taken out of Utah in the
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fourth round in 2023. He started in seven games and
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appeared in 27 during his first two seasons with the
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Falcons before only appearing in one game last season. Over
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three years, Phillips has 63 tackles, 10 passes defended, and
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one interception. Chicago will look to see whether Phillips can
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be an option either on the outside or whether he
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can be an option at slot cornerback while Kyler Gordon
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continues to be out indefinitely with a calf injury. Bears
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defensive coordinator Dennis Allen wasn't entirely sure yet about how
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the Bears will use Phillips when he spoke before practice Wednesday.
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Chicago mostly worked on special teams at Tuesday's practice, while
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Phillips didn't get too much teamwork in Wednesday as he
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continued to learn Allen's system. What I saw on tape
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was a guy that looked to me like he had
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some football savvy and some football intelligence, Allen said. Actually,
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the majority of the tape we saw, he played a
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little bit more outside, and yet I see him fitting
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into that nickel mix a little bit. We'll see. How
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quickly does he pick everything up and then kind of
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go from there? But we're certainly very early in the
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evaluation process there. Phillips has experience at both spots. He
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played a good amount of slot in college and also
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did some in the NFL. A majority of his time
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was spent on the outside with the Falcons, but he
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looks forward to doing whatever his new team wants him
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to do. I feel like I'm excited for whatever I've
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got to do, Phillips said. I just honestly want to
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help this team win. So wherever that is, whether it's outside,
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whether it's inside, I'm ready to go. Phillips has had
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some help with his transition to the Bears by a
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familiar face. He and Bears cornerback Jalon Johnson had kept
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in touch even though Johnson had been gone by the
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time Phillips reached Utah, but the two have kept in
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contact throughout the years with Johnson helping Phillips with his
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transition to the NFL. Phillips looks forward to getting a
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chance to finally play with Johnson. Honestly, helping Phillips Me
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with the defense, Philip said of his conversations with Johnson.
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After practice just today, we were talking about the nuances
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and the fine things in the defense that I need
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to be aware of from the inside perspective and the
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outside perspective and how we fit and all those things.
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Practice notes. The Bears practiced for a little over an
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hour in the heat and mostly focused on situational drills
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throughout the day. There were good moments for both sides
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of the ball. Chicago's starting offense converted
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on one of
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its two opportunities to knock in a field goal just
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before halftime from around midfield. Quarterback Caleb Williams found tight
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end Colston Loveland for a completion and got out of
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bounds with enough time for kicker Cairo Santos to knock
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in a 49 yard field goal. Williams went to Loveland
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again on the next try, but Loveland didn't get out
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of bounds with enough time. Santos knocked in a 43
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yard field goal later on during an end of game drill.
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The starting defense had a good showing during red zone drills.
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The unit forced Williams to throw the ball away on
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the first play, and then defensive end Daniel Hardy batted
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a pass that was intercepted by defensive end Daya Odienbo.
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The Bears' offense came close to scoring on one play,
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but it wasn't entirely clear what the result was. The
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defense had a good end to practice by stopping the
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Bears' offense from driving down the field with two minutes
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left in the game trailing 23-20. Williams picked up a
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first down after a couple of completions to tight end
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Cole Kmet, but Williams threw four straight incompletions, including a
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long overthrow to wide receiver Caliph Raymond on fourth down
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to end practice. Braxton Jones earned most of the snaps
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at left tackle, while Theo Benedet worked in for a series.
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Xavier Woods mostly worked at safety opposite of rookie Dylan Thienman,
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while rookie Malik Mohamed worked at slot cornerback, taking attendance
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The Bears had a mostly full practice field Wednesday with
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few injuries. Johnson and wide receiver Luther Burden III were
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both full participants during practice after dealing with some injuries.
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Jalen Johnson was hurt during Thursday's joint practice with the
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Tennessee Titans and was considered day-to-day. Burden has been working
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his way back from an injury from earlier in training camp.
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Chicago practiced without running back Kyle Monenguy, defensive end Austin Booker,
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and linebacker DeMarco Jackson. Monengai, Knie and Booker, Groin, are
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both considered weak to weak with their injuries, but Swift
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said Monengai was running and in good spirits as he
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works his way back from injury.