Bears

Bears OT Braxton Jones suffered an ankle injury in Week 16 of last season against the Lions. Jones said he “immediately” knew something was wrong during the game.

“I knew immediately that something was wrong,” Jones said, via Nicholas Moreano of Marquee Sports Network. “I had never felt something like that before. Immediately, as I went down, I was not necessarily in pain, but I knew something was wrong.”

Jones subsequently underwent surgery, which taught him to be patient with his recovery.

“I learned a lot of patience – a lot of patience,” Jones said. “After getting surgery, I had to be patient with myself and patient with the people around me. Honestly, I stepped on a lot of toes during that process early on. It was hard to realize that I needed to be more patient with people and allow them to help me, allow them to do things for me. But, at the end of the day, I learned that I have to be a little bit more patient and not be so urgent to do everything. When you’re healthy, you’re go, go, go, go. Then, when you’re down like that and injured, you have to be patient and learn that it’s a process and stuff like that.”

Now entering the fourth year of his career, Jones still feels like he’s learning and is focused on rehabbing his ankle.

“For me, I’m trying to focus on myself and be honest and do what I can to help the others as well,” Jones said. “I’m constantly learning. I use this phrase, ‘that when you’re green you grow and when you’re ripe you rot.’ That’s big for me. I’m always constantly trying to learn. … I just have to focus on getting my ankle right before I can focus on anything else, and feeling right. Just in these last couple days, it has been coming along, and I’ve gotten to see that light at the end of the tunnel, that I can still do the things that I want to do.”

Packers

Packers QB Jordan Love said he identified points last season where he could’ve taken off and run for yards, but he was reluctant to do it with an injury. He’s working to understand when to run and when to check down.

“I think every game there was a couple options or instances where I could’ve took off and run,” Love said, via Matt Schneidman of The Athletic. *“I think early on, some of it was with the injury, just not wanting to get out and do as much, but I think even later in the season, there was a lot of opportunities for me. You look back and you’re like, ‘Man I could’ve took off and run.’ A little of it is just understanding what the defense is doing, what coverage we’re getting, how the D-line might be playing some of those games where they start twisting and doing different things, understanding where the holes...