Bears tight end Colston Loveland is far enough removed from the surgery he had on his right shoulder in January that he can lift weights. He can run routes and catch passes, too, though he might not want to throw the ball back right-handed.
‘‘I actually became ambidextrous, kinda,’’ he said Tuesday. ‘‘I get to use both hands.’’
This offseason, Loveland has had both hands tied behind his back. The next Bears practice he participates in will be his first. And coach Ben Johnson said Tuesday he wasn’t sure whether that would be on the first day of training camp as Loveland continues to recover from AC joint surgery.
Loveland, whom the Bears drafted 10th overall in April, is optimistic he’ll be ready to go by the time camp starts in late July.
‘‘That’s the plan,’’ he said.
Wide receiver Luther Burden III, however, is expected to be healthy by camp, Johnson said. The first of three Bears second-round draft picks has practiced only a few more times this offseason than Loveland has. He dived for a pass on the second day of rookie minicamp, got up with pain in his midsection and was able to participate in a brief practice the next day. He wasn’t spotted at any of the team’s organized team activities or minicamp practices afterward, including the one Tuesday, because of what Johnson called a soft-tissue injury.
Last week, Johnson said he had ‘‘no worries whatsoever’’ about what would happen if the two had delayed returns from their injuries.
‘‘We’ve got plenty of bullets, plenty of weapons here on offense,’’ he said. ‘‘We’re going to be just fine.’’
But will their top two picks be? At the very least, they’ll have to play catch-up during their first NFL camp. That makes it more unlikely that they’ll be reliable weapons by Week 1. With the Bears’ first two games against NFC North opponents, they need to be up to speed quickly.
It will be a problem until it’s not.
The Bears considered both picks an investment in their future. After all, they have starters at both positions: Cole Kmet at tight end and DJ Moore and Rome Odunze at wide receiver. But that doesn’t make Loveland or Burden immune from having to produce at a high level this season. Loveland was, after all, the top tight end taken in the draft; Burden was the fifth receiver selected.
Both will need to learn their first NFL playbook and try to develop a rapport with quarterback Caleb Williams on the fly. Without being able to practice, Loveland said he has tried to build a camaraderie with Williams, from off-campus activities to small talk around Halas Hall.
There’s no reason to think either will become Kevin White, the wide receiver the Bears drafted No. 7 overall in 2015 who missed the entire first season with a shin injury that first popped up during OTAs. But the Bears saw what happened when an injured draft pick couldn’t get back in time to be of much help last season.
The Bears drafted Yale offensive tackle Kiran Amegadjie in the third round, knowing it would take him months to recover from the quad surgery he had in college. They didn’t activate him off the non-football injury list until a month into camp. He didn’t get his first playing time until Week 8, then hurt his calf. In Week 15, he was called on to start in place of Braxton Jones 24 hours before kickoff and was humiliated by the Vikings on national TV. Of all the tackles who played at least 100 snaps last season, Amegadjie had the sixth-worst pass-blocking grade in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus.
Loveland and Burden don’t have to make the jump from the Ivy League the way Amegadjie did. But they must adjust to life in the NFL — on the field and off it.
‘‘I’ve obviously got to take care of things physically,’’ Loveland said. ‘‘But mentally, it’s a lot. Really diving into that playbook. It’s one thing to know it, but [it’s another] to go out there and do it in real time. It’s the walkthrough reps, the mental reps. Those are huge and crucial.’’
It’s the most he can do now, but it’s not enough. The same goes for Burden, whom Johnson admitted missed a lot by not being on the field.
‘‘If you’re in the training room when the rest of the guys are practicing, you’re losing valuable time,’’ Johnson said. ‘‘Valuable time with your coaches, valuable reps with your teammates, the ability to build the trust that we’re talking about. It’s not just the coaching staff having trust in you doing the right thing over and over, but also your teammates.
‘‘They have to see you do it. They’ve got to know the guys right [and] left of them are going to do the right things and are gonna make the plays when called upon. So, yeah, I think it’s for everybody, and it’s a shame that [Burden] got dinged up and missed all that time. Because for a young player, it’s really where you get the most reps. And you can get better in a hurry that way.’’
