Eddie Goldman skips mandatory minicamp and more from day 1 at Halas Hall

Eddie Goldman hasn’t played for the Chicago Bears since the 2019 season due to opting out of last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and now he’s elected to skip the first day, and presumably all of, mandatory minicamp.

Goldman was the only no-show for the Bears, and head coach Matt Nagy said they “did have a discussion with him yesterday,” so they were aware Goldman wasn’t going to be at Halas Hall. Nagy confirmed since this was a mandatory camp that it was an unexcused absence. He also said he expects him to return for training camp later in July.

Nagy said they were going to very conservative with any dinged up players during the minicamp, and outside linebacker Robert Quinn (lower back), offensive lineman Germain Ifedi, and wide out Anthony Miller were present but not participating.

Nagy also said that wide out Allen Robinson, who hasn’t been on-field at their voluntary OTAs, showed up in great shape for mandatory camp.

The speed from wide out Marquise Goodwin flashed a few times today on Andy Dalton deep balls.

Tight end Cole Kmet has impressed Nagy this offseason saying he’s becoming who they thought he was when they drafted him in last year.

Veteran tight end Jimmy Graham said he contemplated retirement after the 2020 season ended, and Nagy called him a “valuable” part of the offense, both on field and in the classroom.

Nagy reiterated that Dalton is his QB1 heading into the season, and he clarified that rookie QB Justin Fields is not in a position to win the starting job in camp. But as he has done the last couple months he said that their goal is to “put the best quarterback out there” once games start.

You can check out Matt Nagy’s full media session right here.

Nagy also had a recent interview with Cris Collinsworth where Fields and Dalton came up, and since some of his comments were misconstrued on social media our guy ECD set the record straight here.

Roquan Smith met the media today and his interview is right here.

Jimmy Graham’s Zoom presser is right here.

Eddie Jackson’s press conference from day 1 of minicamp is here.