Danieal Manning and Zack Bowman were both on the practice field at the start of practice this afternoon, and that’s a good sign as the secondary continues to slowly round itself back into form. Cornerback Charles Tillman was out playing catch with the quarterbacks before the session got started, but he hasn’t been cleared for drills yet. We’ll see how much work the others get done today when coach Lovie Smith speaks after practice.
Rookie defensive end Henry Melton was spotted with a walking boot on his right foot, and that’s not a good sign with final cuts fast approaching. Melton really didn’t do a whole lot in training camp, but he’s incredibly athletic and the Bears admitted he was a project when they selected him in the fourth round from Texas. No word what the exact nature of his ankle injury is.
Defensive tackle Dusty Dvoracek will undergo surgery on his right knee on Friday to determine if there’s more to his injury than a sprained MCL. The Sun-Times reported he also has a torn ACL, and ESPNChicago.com confirmed that report on its own. The folks at Football Outsiders put together a chart looking at the most injured players of the last decade. Dvoracek, who has been sidelined for 35 of 48 regular-season games over the last three seasons, will rank as the most inured player of the decade if he misses 11 games this season. The way his teammates spoke of him earlier this week, it’s apparent they have been told to expect him to miss the season.
It’s a tough story because Dvoracek has been such a diligent worker and is so well respected by everyone in Halas Hall.
“I think some things just happen for whatever reason,” Smith said. “You can’t understand why. I don’t know the reasons why Dusty has had to deal with injuries. I know each time he has had to deal with an injury he has come back stronger. He was playing his best ball this past weekend when he had the injury. Right now, we’re going to keep our fingers crossed and just hope for the best and go from there.”
