BOURBONNAIS, Ill. -- Attrition took a couple more nibbles at the lineup of the Chicago Bears on Wednesday when starting middle linebacker D.J. Williams suffered a right calf strain that required the team to cart him off the field.
The team characterized the injury as minor, saying Williams would be "week to week" in his recovery. A league source told ESPN's Adam Schefter that Williams is expected to be sidelined for at least one week.
Wearing a walking boot on his right foot, Williams, signed as a free agent in the offseason as a potential replacement for retired franchise icon Brian Urlacher, declined comment when asked about the injury.
"These things happen during training camp. He's had a very good first week. He's totally locked in, been all business, excited about being here, and as I said before when these things happen you just have to move on," Bears coach Marc Trestman said. "I anticipate he'll be ready to go when the doctors clear him, and hopefully that will be sooner than later and that's an opportunity again for our young guys to get reps and for (defensive coordinator ) Mel (Tucker) and (linebackers coach) Tim (Tibesar) to move people around and see what people can do."
In other injury news, defensive end Jamaal Anderson (knee) and backup offensive tackle Jonathan Scott (knee) were held out of Wednesday's session. Scott had been filling in for injured starting left tackle Jermon Bushrod (calf), who also sat out of practice, before suffering the knee injury that forced newcomer Eben Britton into the starting lineup.
The Bears also excused cornerback Tim Jennings so he could tend to a family matter.
Rookie second-round pick Jon Bostic took over for Williams at middle linebacker. If the veteran misses enough time, Bostic could potentially sneak in and win the starting job in the middle; a possibility the rookie opted against pondering in the aftermath of Williams' injury.
"I'm really just taking it day by day. I'm not really looking ahead to (the regular-season opener)," Bostic said. "I'm just looking forward to watching film today and trying to get better on the stuff for tomorrow. I've just got to go out every day and do what they ask of me."
The offensive line, meanwhile, faces a slow process of gaining full cohesion with three new starters expected to take the field for the opener, including one in Bushrod, who could miss some time after straining a calf on Monday and rookie first-round pick Kyle Long, who missed virtually all of the team's offseason program. The team said Bushrod was day to day with the injury, with Trestman and offensive coordinator Aaron Kromer seeing the situation as one that allows the staff an opportunity to take a look at other young players.
Kromer said he's not concerned about the injuries along the offensive line as all are "minor."
"We'll get them back as quickly as possible," he said.
Trestman looked at the injury situation along the offensive line as "a real good thing."
"Aaron's mixing them up. We're working through training camp to find the best five, and the way to do that is to move people around and see who can play the best at different positions," Trestman said. "We're going to be very patient with that going into finishing the first, and then the second and third week. Then, after we do our evaluation, (we'll) start gearing guys into the positions we think they'll be working at the start of the season."