The Sports Xchange

BOURBONNAIS, Ill. — Asked if he could be called a nickel back now, Tim Jennings said, “No, you can call me a cornerback.”

Jennings, nonetheless, will be in the slot position as the third cornerback this season when the Chicago Bears go to the five-defensive back package.

He originally was slated for this duty last year and played there in the opener before Charles Tillman’s season-ending injury. Then he stayed at left cornerback.

“With the defense we’ll be running now, it fits well to what I’m trying to do, what they’ll want me to do,” Jennings said.

Former Jaguars cornerback Alan Ball figures to move into the left corner spot when Jennings moves to the slot.

Jennings called the experience last year a big help because now he knows what the position entails.

“It’s kind of really playing the whole field,” he said. “I know how to leverage, just kind of being mindful, being a student of the game. With my knowledge and my experience, it should fit well.”

–Quarterback Jay Cutler can’t say he is as familiar with the offense as he was when last year’s camp started, but at least this coaching staff has him feeling good in what could be a make-or-break year for him.

“I’m comfortable with these guys,” he said. “I’ve known some of these coaches throughout my career.

“They’ve had a lot of success in this league and they’re trying to bring it here. I feel good about it, but I think we have a great group of players on the field right now offensively, guys that mesh together.”

Ironically, Cutler and other veterans see a closeness developing two years after Marc Trestman tried to force togetherness on the team by switching around lockers to break up position groups.

“This year, we’re back to learning another offense and a new group of guys and I think the locker room has changed a little bit more than it has in the past,” Cutler said. “So there’s a lot of newness to this group that everyone’s going to have to get used to. We’re going to have to work out some personalities and see how it all meshes together.”

–Pernell McPhee sounded a bit wistful when talking about how well he worked with pass rushers Terrell Suggs and Elvis Dumervil while with the Baltimore Ravens.

“All three of us were, like, three guys who we’re each different so we kind of complemented each other,” McPhee said. “Sometimes Suggs set up the speed rush and I’d go inside. Sometimes I’d set up the speed rush and power and he’d go inside. Dum, we always played off the other. If I’d go inside sometimes he’d come over the top. We all complemented each other in different ways of the game. But I’m here now.

“They’re my boys, man. Plus Haloti (Ngata), (Courtney) Upshaw. Bu right now I’m a Bear. I’ve got new brothers. And that’s what I’m looking forward to.”

–Having successful veteran defensive coordinator Vic Fangio scheming offenses has given Bears players a perceived boost in confidence.

Jennings said it will lead to a strategic advantage.

“I think he puts guys in positions to make plays,” Jennings said. “We’re looking forward to him putting us in the right position. He’s a very smart coach, so the team that we play is going to be different every week.

“And he’s going to be able to stategize. He’s a very smart man as far as putting guys in position to make plays.”

–Jeremiah Ratliff lined up largely at nose tackle early in camp, although he’ll also play at end in the 3-4. The 34-year-old stiff-armed reporters’ questions about how long he wanted to play.

“That’s a later discussion. This is the first day of training camp, man,” he said.

Then he admitted it’s not the first time he has had to do this. His children ask him, too.

“Oh, yeah, they ask me that,” he said. “Before I left out the door, they’re just like, ‘Is this your last year?’ I told them the same thing.”

–By the second day of training camp, the Bears’ top 2015 draft pick on the field was center Hroniss Grasu, a third-round selection from Oregon.

Second-round pick Eddie Goldman left the field in the second practice because of dehydration. The Florida State nose tackle was also dehydrated during his first rookie camp practice and left the field.

Wide receiver Kevin White, the team’s first-round pick from West Virginia, went on preseason PUP while trying to build his cardio after offseason time missed because of an unspecified shin injury. He is expected back on the field at some point in camp.

Cornerback Kyle Fuller left the field and talked to trainers near the end of the second day of practice on Saturday with what coach John Fox described as a “tweaked” ankle. Fox didn’t know the extent of the injury.