Bears News: Hidden Gem: OC Doyle on rookie receiver Jahdae Walker

Ariana Pensy · Correspondent · 8 hours ago

CHICAGO - The preseason is the time to work out the kinks and experiment with personnel. That is precisely what the Chicago Bears have done this preseason by giving the offense a ton of new offensive schemes to learn.

While offensive coordinator Declan Doyle acknowledges a lot has been thrown at these players, he also emphasized that it is no reason for some of the sloppiness the offense displayed in their final preseason game against the Kansas City Chiefs during the first half.

“There is never an excuse for a ball on the ground. That can never happen regardless of what scheme we’re running or what we’re trying to get done. That will remain the same all year long,” Doyle said. “Obviously, we’ve exposed them to a ton of scheme. In the next week as we start to prepare for Minnesota, we’re really narrowing that down into where we feel like we can go out and execute the best and put our players in position to have success.”

Chicago came out with the win against the Chiefs to finish the preseason without losing a game, and some players stood out, including running back D’Andre Swift.

His hurdle was one of the most exciting plays of the first half and given the lack of running back depth currently due to injuries, Chicago will be looking for him to bring that kind of juice during the regular season.

“I’m excited for the different ways that we can use him. I think he (showed) it. He can drop his pads and go get a yard when he needs to. We love what he does in the passing game. I think that he ran hard the other night. It was good to have him back,” Doyle said. “But, the main thing is, we’re going to try to continue to use him to the best of his ability as well as the other guys that we want to touch the ball and try to put them in positions to have success.”

Perhaps a name that was flying under the radar prior to the Chiefs’ game when he had two incredible catches on the final drive, including the game-winning touchdown, was wide receiver Jahdae Walker. Walker started his collegiate journey at Division II Grand Valley State before finishing at Texas A&M.

Between his performance during camp and the preseason, Walker was able to make the roster despite being an undrafted rookie.

“There are certain guys that walk outside for practice and it’s like a kid going to recess. They can’t freaking wait to get rolling and Jahdae is that way,” Doyle said. “Jahdae loves football. He showed up in that last drive and the play that he made on our sideline was one of the better catches that I’ve seen. It was really pretty impressive. But, he’s just a guy that has worked everyday. He embodies the kind of love that you want for football on our team.”

It is not uncommon for head coaches to let other coaches call plays during the preseason, and this is precisely what head coach Ben Johnson allowed Doyle to do during the Buffalo Bills' preseason game in week two.

Particularly as one of the youngest coordinators in the league, this experience was invaluable to him.

“You talk about a guy who’s a teacher at heart. (For) Ben to give me the opportunity to go do that. He put up 370 yards of offense leading up to it and so, we were up 28 nothing … I went to call the plays and we were up so much, that it was like, ‘Okay. Here we go. It’s a little bit different experience.’ But, it was awesome,” Doyle said. “I felt like I’ve prepared for that for a long time, but until you’re really in a live-bullet situation, there are things that come up while you’re doing it that you may not be able to simulate and so, I think that that was the biggest learning experience was just having to do it in real time as the situation changes and having to work through that thought process.”