PUP list likely for Ha Ha
But TE Burton, WR Miller are healthy after surgeries
DECATUR — Two of the Bears’ most valuable pass catchers are expected to start training camp on the active roster.
The team’s new starting safety sounds like he won’t.
Ha Ha Clinton-Dix is likely to start training camp Thursday on the physically unable-to-perform list, general manager Ryan Pace said Sunday. He sprained his knee toward the end of the offseason program.
Offensive tackle T.J. Clemmings, who is recovering from knee surgery, and defensive lineman Jonathan Harris, who has a hamstring problem, also figure to begin on the PUP list.
“They’re all going to be more short-term, we expect,” Pace said. “So don’t be surprised if we start them on PUP.”
The team figures to get better news from tight end Trey Burton and wide receiver Anthony Miller. The Bears expect both to start training camp healthy, Pace said.
The entire roster reports to Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais on Thursday, though rookies and quarterbacks will begin work Monday.
A second-round draft pick in 2018, Miller played through an injured left shoulder last season. He had surgery in January to fix it but didn’t participate in any offseason practices.
Burton infamously woke up the day before the Bears’ playoff game against his former team, the Eagles, with an injured groin. He didn’t play the next day and later said he didn’t think the injury was the result of anxiety issues he’d coped with earlier in his career. The Bears’ MRI exams confirmed the injury. He opted for sports hernia surgery when it didn’t improve during the offseason.
Wide receiver Emanuel Hall, who had groin surgery after the Bears signed him as an undrafted free agent in late April, also is expected to start camp on the active roster.
All three figure to take it easy at first. “We’ll be smart with those guys and how we ramp them in, like we always are,” Pace said. “But we expect to go into this training camp in a pretty healthy state.”
Burton finished fourth on the Bears with 569 receiving yards last year. The team didn’t add a tight end of significance this offseason, though they moved offensive tackle Bradley Sowell over to serve as a blocker.
Miller, who finished fifth on the team with 423 yards, figures to start alongside Allen Robinson and Taylor Gabriel.
Clinton-Dix is the only new starter in the base defense, having signed a one-year, $3.25 million contract to play alongside former Alabama teammate Eddie Jackson. He has never missed a game in his five-year NFL career.