Ben Johnson on linebacker competition, Monangai "stepping up" at running back

Ariana Pensy - Correspondent - 22 hours ago

CHICAGO - Now that minicamp is over, head coach Ben Johnson took a moment to reflect on some of the players who stood out to him on both sides of the ball.

One such player was defensive end Dominique Robinson, who is going into his fourth season with the Bears.

“Even without the pads, he’s done a great job of consistently speed rush up the field or countering back to the inside,” Johnson said. “He’s done a really nice job there and then, of course, he’s got some special teams value that he takes a lot of pride in as well.”

Another player Johnson mentioned was Chicago’s fourth-round selection, linebacker Ruben Hyppolite II. In his five years with Maryland in college, Hyppolite II finished his career with 13 tackles for loss and a total of 236 tackles. He gained a lot of experience, playing in a total of 50 games.

Given his performance in minicamp thus far and if he continues to impress when training camp comes around, Hyppolite II could become a starter right away.

“He’s done a nice job learning. He’s swimming a little bit, but he’s taking it seriously and (linebackers coach) Coach Richard Smith’s done a fantastic job with him over the course of the last few weeks,” Johnson said. “There’s a lot of moving parts there at linebacker play. They’re keying and diagnosing a few different deals, and just with (defensive coordinator Dennis Allen’s) scheme, the match mentality that we like to play a lot of our coverages with, things change quickly. He’s done a great job adjusting to that speed as we’ve gone through and that’s going to have to show up once we do get the pads on. But, I think he’s been improving every single day, and really we’re hoping that course continues.”

Offensively, Johnson was impressed with tight end Joel Wilson and running back Kyle Monangai. Wilson has been in the league for a few years, but has never played in an NFL game. However, he has been around a lot of different people as he was once on the roster for the New Orleans Saints, Buffalo Bills, Green Bay Packers, and New York Giants.

Monangai was Chicago’s seventh-round selection and the only running back they drafted. He had an impressive career at Rutgers with over 1,200 rushing yards in each of his final two seasons.

He also finished his career with 28 total touchdowns and averaged 4.8 yards per carry.

“On offense, I would probably single out Joel Wilson. You saw him today with a big catch. He’s kind of had one or two of those almost every OTA,” Johnson said. “In the running back room, Kyle Monangai has really stepped up. I appreciate the attention to detail and the pride he takes, and how quickly he’s picking things up as well.”

As a seventh-round pick, Monangai could see some significant playing time in the preseason, and if he continues to step up and have attention to detail, he could find himself on the field in a regular-season game as well.

Given D’Andre Swift’s inconsistent performance last season, with five games with 30 or fewer rushing yards and only one game with over 100 rushing yards, the Bears could use a running back like Monangai to step up and provide Chicago with a more stable rushing attack.