BOURBONNAIS, Ill. -- Bears first-round pick Leonard Floyd was carted off the practice field on Thursday because of an illness. “He was sick,” coach John Fox said following the club’s first training camp practice. “He tried to go. He’s a tough kid. He just didn’t make it, though. He’s been sick the last couple of days, but he’ll be fine.” Floyd later clarified that he intends to resume practicing on Friday. “I’m feeling good right now," Floyd said at lunch. "What happened today was I’ve been a little under the weather the past couple of days and the trainers knew that. They told me to go out and give it a shot today and then they shut me down. I really was begging them to let me go back out there. They told me to shut it down and try again tomorrow. I’m basically just trying to get back healthy and get back out there. "[But] I'm definitely a go for tomorrow.” This is an unfortunate minor setback for Floyd, the ninth overall selection of the 2016 NFL draft, who supposedly reported to camp in good physical condition, per general manager Ryan Pace. The Bears asked Floyd to gain weight over the summer by adhering to a specially designed strength and conditioning program that required the rookie outside linebacker to eat every couple of hours. “He's a pro, so... and it's not a bad thing when somebody tells you pretty much, eat whatever you want,” Pace said. "He's done a great job with it. We feel really good [about] where he's at right now. “[Two hundred and forty pounds is] a realistic weight, we thought, for him,” Pace said. “But the key thing the whole time as we're evaluating it is his best traits are explosiveness and speed and athleticism -- we never want that to diminish. So as long as he's playing strong and getting off blocks, he can still do that and maintain his speed and quickness. As time goes on, we'll be able to zero that in even more.” Floyd added: "It’s [the nutritional program] going well. We’re still going hard at it. My main focus right now is really on the playbook because if I don’t know the playbook I won’t play. So that’s the main thing I’m focusing on right now.” In other injury news, tight end Khari Lee (AC shoulder sprain), linebacker Roy Robertson-Harris (illness) and offensive lineman Nick Becton (illness) also failed to finish the workout, a non-padded practice that lasted roughly two hours.
|