Bears LB Danny Trevathan hopes boxing regimen will keep him fresh ‘round for round’

CHICAGO – A year ago, the Detroit Lions picked on Bears inside linebacker Danny Trevathan in Week 1. Quarterback Matthew Stafford kept finding mismatches against Trevathan.

The Lions nearly won the game when Trevathan fell a step behind Lions running back D’Andre Swift with mere seconds remaining. Swift, however, dropped a sure touchdown pass and the Bears held on for a 27-23 victory.

A week later, Trevathan saw his playing time plummet nearly in half. It rebounded as the year went on, and so too did Trevathan’s play.

But the slow start was a big red flag. To be fair, Trevathan was coming off a brutal elbow injury and hadn’t had a traditional NFL offseason with OTAs and minicamp to work himself into game shape.

A year later, Trevathan’s secret weapon to avoiding a similar slow start in 2021 was a new addition to his workout regimen – boxing.

“Every game is a title fight,” Trevathan said Tuesday after Bears family fest at Soldier Field.

[ Bears place defensive tackle Eddie Goldman on reserve/COVID-19 list ]

The Bears held their first padded practice of training camp Tuesday. They were without several players, including defensive tackle Eddie Goldman, who is expected to be placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list.

The team hosted fans at Soldier Field for the first time since the 2019 season ended.

Trevathan said he had heard of other players using boxing to stay in shape. He boxed in Chicago and in Los Angeles with a former teammate, who he declined to name.

“It was good cardio, and it works everything,” Trevathan said. “So, I tried to get that into my workout, and it worked really well for me. I’m expecting to continue that throughout the season.”

Trevathan started all 16 regular season games for the Bears last season. He finished second on the team with 113 tackles and also added three tackles for loss, one sack, five passes defended and a forced fumble.

He played much better down the stretch and played about every snap when Roquan Smith went down with an injury in Week 17 and the playoffs.

Trevathan hopes that boxing will help keep him in top shape through a long and grueling NFL season.

“Providing strength, core, balance, being able to strike and get off and, overall, fight the fatigue,” Trevathan said. “That’s something you get through boxing. You have to keep going for round for round for round.”

He enters his 10th year in the NFL in 2021, after coming out as a sixth-round draft pick (188th overall) out of Kentucky in 2012. Even 10 years later, Trevathan still remembers that he was the No. 188 pick. Having all those players picked ahead of him continues to motivate him.

Bears head coach Matt Nagy called Trevathan the “glue for the defense.” Nagy said that when the team is struggling, Trevathan is one of the players he goes to in order to understand what the players are feeling. Trevathan has been accepting of passing the inside linebacker torch to the younger Smith, Nagy said.

The Bears need him in top shape from the start in 2021. They know they can’t afford a slow start similar to last season.

“He came [to training camp] in great shape,” Nagy said. “So he’s a guy with a lot of years in this league. Similar to [outside linebacker Robert] Quinn, we’ve got to make sure we’re smart about the reps he gets. Similar to preseason as well. And then when we get to the games, that’s when guys like him mean the most and show up the most, is on game day.”