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Speaker 1: Hosts, Jeff Childe act aka the Mayor of Bearsville and
Speaker 1: is sidekick Tom the Surfmaster Thayer.
Speaker 4: Optimism popping at hallis Hall after what is being framed
Speaker 4: as a positive step forward and towards enhancing the offensive
Speaker 4: and defensive lines with the twenty twenty five season and
Speaker 4: beyond for your Chicago Bears, stealthy strikes on the trade
Speaker 4: market and free agency by general manager Ryan Poles and
Speaker 4: his staff, supplementing a promising roster of skilled position players
Speaker 4: now under the care of head coach Ben Johnson. We
Speaker 4: discussed tonight on Bears Weekly. You're on ESPN one thousand
Speaker 4: of the Chicago Bears Radio Network with Super Bowl winning
Speaker 4: Bears guard Tom Thayer and former Bears quarterback Jim Miller
Speaker 4: from Serious XMNFL Radio. I'm Jeff Jonahyat. Good to have
Speaker 4: you alongside. Coming up on the sit down with a
Speaker 4: new Bear Center Drew Dollman, thanks to our producers Tonight,
Speaker 4: Kendri Smith, Dan Brilly, and Jordan Treadip for the Bears,
Speaker 4: and the executive producer of the Bears Radio Network, Eric Ostrotski.
Speaker 4: Good evening, fellas, Tom, Jim, how we feeling We now
Speaker 4: a new looking ruster.
Speaker 5: For the Bears. You're in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 6: Well, it's about time we're talking about the offensive line
Speaker 6: before any other position for the Chicago Bears, because I
Speaker 6: think if you think of the shortest route to success
Speaker 6: and winning a division, it's the improvement of the offensive line.
Speaker 6: And when you look at the statistical performance of the
Speaker 6: line last year and what these guys bring aboard, they
Speaker 6: bring years of success, they bring a position, changes systems
Speaker 6: that they've thrived in. So I'm super excited where the
Speaker 6: Bears stand before the draft.
Speaker 2: And I'm not going to ignore.
Speaker 6: The defensive line guys that they brought in because that
Speaker 6: brings me a lot of excitement as well. But when
Speaker 6: you think about what Ben Johnson needs out of an
Speaker 6: offensive line, this is a great way to start.
Speaker 7: Yeah, Jeff, I probably should defer this whole show to
Speaker 7: Tom because I'm glad they're attacking the line and Tom
Speaker 7: will have a lot to say about these guys, but
Speaker 7: you get two Pro Bowl guards. Obviously, you signed probably
Speaker 7: one of the best centers in free agency and Drew Dolman,
Speaker 7: and it needed to happen. Again, I think you know,
Speaker 7: just since the inception of football, the game is won
Speaker 7: or lost in the trenches. Yeah, the skill positions got
Speaker 7: to do their jobs and they've got can't turn over
Speaker 7: the football. But it's a lot of it is predicated
Speaker 7: on the old line, in the d line and how
Speaker 7: they really dominate that's really going to tip the scale
Speaker 7: in the course of a sixty minute game. And I
Speaker 7: again I think you just look great at Philadelphia, what
Speaker 7: they did on their old line, what they've done on
Speaker 7: their defensive line, and how they dominated the Kansas City Chiefs,
Speaker 7: who've been somewhat of a dynasty right now.
Speaker 3: So hopefully good things to come for the Bears.
Speaker 7: But Ben Johnson has really attacked at heart, and you
Speaker 7: give Ryan Poles a lot of credit because young Caleb
Speaker 7: Williams in this offense, they got to get going here.
Speaker 7: It's been lackluster for many years. And really I think
Speaker 7: this is really the kind of where the line is
Speaker 7: drawn in the sand a little bit, where the Bears
Speaker 7: start to play some offensive football.
Speaker 4: It's interesting that you bring up Philadelphia again because I
Speaker 4: keep hearing it right from everybody. These are cliches now right,
Speaker 4: copycat league recency bias. The game has always been about
Speaker 4: the line of scrimmage, tom So the fact that Philadelphia
Speaker 4: shored it all up over the years, drafting very well,
Speaker 4: using free agency when necessary, and making moves, trades whatever,
Speaker 4: they're movers and shakers. Their lines of scrimmage have been
Speaker 4: too deep. You give them the credit. They won the
Speaker 4: Super Bowl. That's not the only reason they won the
Speaker 4: Super Bowl, obviously, but it's a major reason. But every
Speaker 4: team's goal, I would think, would be to get the
Speaker 4: line of scrimmage all zipped up both sides of the ball.
Speaker 4: Not always easy to do, Tommy, but it is what
Speaker 4: football and the foundation of football is all about.
Speaker 6: When you talk about the lines being too deep, you
Speaker 6: have an opportunity here to create depth on the offensive
Speaker 6: defensive line of the Bears that maybe we haven't seen
Speaker 6: for quite a while.
Speaker 2: Still waiting for a couple.
Speaker 6: Guys to come into their own Austin Booker and Amagaji.
Speaker 6: But we have some veterans guys that are seasoned enough
Speaker 6: that are being considered veterans, and then we bring in
Speaker 6: some talent here that may have the most alpha presence
Speaker 6: in both rooms, which I think is a key ingredient
Speaker 6: for the change of culture and the continuity when you
Speaker 6: talk about the lines of scrimmage.
Speaker 7: When you look at Philadelphia, yes, guys that they've drafted,
Speaker 7: but think a lot. Think about Jordan Malatta, their left tackle.
Speaker 7: He was developed into a left tackle. You know, this
Speaker 7: guy's a former rugby player. That needs to happen with Amagaji,
Speaker 7: Who's got all the traits that you're looking for. He's
Speaker 7: got the arm length. You know, he's going to get stronger.
Speaker 7: But I mean that is a mammoth left tackle and
Speaker 7: who can move, in my opinion, much like Malatta. You know,
Speaker 7: Malatta was developed into a left tackle. Yeah, they drafted
Speaker 7: Lane Johnson, other guys that were the Cam Jurgens who
Speaker 7: took over for Kelsey. Has developed into a pretty darn
Speaker 7: good center. But am Agaji could be a key now
Speaker 7: whether the Bears draft a young left tackle, but all
Speaker 7: those guys were developed. Now, you invest a lot of
Speaker 7: money in the center and the two guard positions where
Speaker 7: you can really pound it up the middle and secure
Speaker 7: the pocket for young Caleb Williams. You got a strong
Speaker 7: right tackle and Darnell Wright, who I think what everybody
Speaker 7: feels very good about. Now let's see what the left
Speaker 7: tackle position holds, you know, and then all five potentially
Speaker 7: could be solidified. But I think you've seen other teams
Speaker 7: develop guys and that's why to me, Amagaji becomes a
Speaker 7: very interesting guy to see what he can do from
Speaker 7: year one where he didn't do a lot because he
Speaker 7: was hurt, and now what he can develop into maybe
Speaker 7: for years to come because Malata did not start right away.
Speaker 7: It took some time for him. But look what he's
Speaker 7: doing now as a left tackle for the Philadelphia.
Speaker 4: Eagles, dipping back into what Joe Toney and is at
Speaker 4: the news conferences and the break interviews at Hallis Hall
Speaker 4: this week and Jonah Jackson tone he called it a
Speaker 4: great fit. I heard Andy Reid on our radio show
Speaker 4: saying that, yeah, we dealt him. It's hard to do,
Speaker 4: but he wanted to be in Chicago, so it was
Speaker 4: a special place in his opinion. Jonah Jackson, his first
Speaker 4: start in the NFL came it right carried against the
Speaker 4: Bears in Detroity feels that it was the best time
Speaker 4: of his career under Ben Johnson, who says he calls
Speaker 4: the game to the strength of your players.
Speaker 5: So this is where the exs and o's come in.
Speaker 5: I'm going to start with Tom. Go to Jim.
Speaker 4: What's the exes and o's impact and perspective from your
Speaker 4: opinion with those three interior offensive linemen and whatever else
Speaker 4: they're going to do. But let's just focus on the
Speaker 4: offensive line right now. What's that done for Ben and
Speaker 4: how he likes to call a game and the Bears
Speaker 4: offense overall running the football and protecting the quarterback.
Speaker 6: Listen, the top nine teams that had past win rates
Speaker 6: associated to the performance other offensive line all were in
Speaker 6: the playoffs. And so you got to think one thing
Speaker 6: for any offense in the NFL, whether it's a Ben
Speaker 6: Johnson offense or Andy Reid offfense, you need to have
Speaker 6: pass protection success. And I think that opens a lot
Speaker 6: of opportunities for you because you got to say, Okay,
Speaker 6: we're still going to have point of emphasis on running
Speaker 6: the ball. Then if you're successful on first down running
Speaker 6: the ball, then it gives you a wide variety of
Speaker 6: things you can do. In the passing game, and to me,
Speaker 6: because Ben Johnson has always used the play action passing
Speaker 6: game as one of the success elements of an offense.
Speaker 6: To me, as an offensive lineman, listen, play action pass
Speaker 6: as much as you want a game that gives me
Speaker 6: a chance to be super aggressive and deceptive at the
Speaker 6: same time. And if you get a player peeking in
Speaker 6: the backfield on the defense or off balance, you're talking
Speaker 6: about a big play. And then listen the downfield passing
Speaker 6: game incorporating Cole kmet so you open opportunities for DJ
Speaker 6: Moore and Roma Doonza. So I think everything goes hand
Speaker 6: in hand. First of all running game, then you got
Speaker 6: the play action passing game, and then you have the
Speaker 6: threat of a downfield passing a passing game itself.
Speaker 7: I think when at least for me, When I interviewed
Speaker 7: at Eliford, the defensive tackle of the Buffalo Bills, he
Speaker 7: said the best interior three was in Kansas City. You
Speaker 7: got Creig Humphrey as the center. You had Tray Smith,
Speaker 7: who's been given the franchise tag at the right guard
Speaker 7: for the Kansas City Chiefs, and Joe Tooney was their
Speaker 7: left guard. He said that was the toughest interior three
Speaker 7: that he's faced in his NFL career, and that's saying
Speaker 7: a lot and Kansas City obviously went in there and
Speaker 7: beat Buffalo again. Part of it is on the quarterback
Speaker 7: getting rid of the football, but part of it is
Speaker 7: these guys give the quarterback rooms. So even if you
Speaker 7: say you call the quick game, say the quick passing attack,
Speaker 7: that's going to be a three step dropped by the
Speaker 7: quarterback and Patrick Mahomes is getting the ball out of
Speaker 7: his hand in like two point four seconds. But those
Speaker 7: front three give you room. They give you space where
Speaker 7: you don't feel that that pocket is encroaching on you.
Speaker 7: Where that should be one hundred percent completion in my opinion,
Speaker 7: if the quarterback's doing his job and the receivers doing
Speaker 7: their job, but he'll have the protection in the space
Speaker 7: to get rid of the quick passing game. Tom brought
Speaker 7: up the run game that goes hand in hand and
Speaker 7: what it can do with the play action. But their
Speaker 7: interior runs should be a lot better, and we'll see
Speaker 7: how it all comes together at tackle, because you want
Speaker 7: to attack every single hole from sideline to the sideline,
Speaker 7: so that eight hole all the way to the right
Speaker 7: and the ninth hole all the way to the left
Speaker 7: for the outside. Make the defense run in space. But
Speaker 7: it's all got to be covered, and you gotta have
Speaker 7: tackles that can move. And we'll see if the Bears
Speaker 7: will be able to do that with their tackles on
Speaker 7: the outside.
Speaker 4: Love hearing Ben Johnson at the podium on Wednesday talk
Speaker 4: about what he got at the offensive line. Tough, gritty, dirty,
Speaker 4: I mean, that is exactly what I'm talking about here,
Speaker 4: and smart on the interior. Also that Hey, if we
Speaker 4: got a block that we're particularly good at, we're gonna
Speaker 4: keep going to it and we're gonna keep going to
Speaker 4: it till you can stop it. That's what I like
Speaker 4: to hear. We got to take a break. When we
Speaker 4: come back, we sit down with a Bears new starting center,
Speaker 4: the free agent from the Atlanta Falcons, Drew Dollman. It's
Speaker 4: all coming up next here on Bears Weekly on ESPN
Speaker 4: one thousand and the Chicago Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 1: Well, welcome back to Bears Weekly on the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 1: Here's your host, the voice of the Bears, Jeff Show.
Speaker 6: Year.
Speaker 4: This segment of Bears Weekly is brought to you by
Speaker 4: CDWs people to get it with Tom Thayer and Jim
Speaker 4: Metal Rhyme, Jeff Jonahak Drew Dalmond, the Bear's new starting center.
Speaker 5: Great background from Stanford. We're in twenty twenty.
Speaker 4: He was part of an offensive line that did not
Speaker 4: allow a single sack. Believe it or not, he also
Speaker 4: didn't allow any pressures for that year. A mechanical engineering
Speaker 4: major and the son of a former NFL player, Chris Dalman,
Speaker 4: a San Francisco forty nine or an eight year player,
Speaker 4: also became his offensive line coach in high school, and
Speaker 4: his dad won a Super Bowl with the forty nine
Speaker 4: ers in nineteen ninety five. Our sit down with the
Speaker 4: starting Bears center from hallis Hall.
Speaker 8: It's awesome something I'm really looking forward to understanding. Fully,
Speaker 8: I think you always hear about it someone on the
Speaker 8: West Coast. You hear about the Bears fans and all that.
Speaker 8: So the other experience at first sand it's going to
Speaker 8: be great.
Speaker 4: What have your emotions been like since this signing and
Speaker 4: the free agent period for you?
Speaker 8: Yeah, it's exciting. I feel like it's a it's a
Speaker 8: big challenge to undertake in a lot of new transitions
Speaker 8: and all that, and so there's there's work and some
Speaker 8: planning that needs to go into the works. But the
Speaker 8: underlying thing with all this is I'm happy to do it.
Speaker 8: I can't wait to get ahead and get here and
Speaker 8: get to work and all that. So a ton of
Speaker 8: motivation to get this thing going and to improve myself
Speaker 8: and and also just add value to this team.
Speaker 4: It is an exciting moment for a player because sometimes
Speaker 4: you know you're going to reach free agency and it's
Speaker 4: your first bite at the apple, so to speak, in
Speaker 4: that regard, but it's the next stage of your life
Speaker 4: and it requires leaving something you're used to and all that,
Speaker 4: but you know it is important. How did you go
Speaker 4: into this mentally in this free agent period?
Speaker 8: Yeah, great points. I've definitely been a person that kind
Speaker 8: of just wants to bury their head in the sand
Speaker 8: and just focus on football and the daily tasks and
Speaker 8: that kind of thing. So this was a time when
Speaker 8: I had to step back and evaluate more of those
Speaker 8: things and kind of just figure out, you know, what
Speaker 8: was going to be important for the next phase and
Speaker 8: all that. And this is the place that was super
Speaker 8: exciting to me, in a place that I think is
Speaker 8: a great fit, and I'm happy to work towards and
Speaker 8: work to improve, and so I'm really grateful for that.
Speaker 4: Your name, and however, stuff gets out, your name was
Speaker 4: linked to the Bears for quite a while right free
Speaker 4: agency open, and there were reports that you maybe turned
Speaker 4: down maybe a more lucrative offer to be with the Bears.
Speaker 4: You can tell me that if you want, yes or no,
Speaker 4: but it clearly means that this is a place you
Speaker 4: really want to be. What was that all true?
Speaker 8: I'd probably prefer not to talk about any of that stuff,
Speaker 8: just because my main focus now is just what I'm
Speaker 8: going to do here, help and improve, helping to add
Speaker 8: to the room and help learn to be a part
Speaker 8: of this O line room and kind of do all that.
Speaker 8: So that's my main focus and anything else is kind
Speaker 8: of in the past for me at this point.
Speaker 4: So Ben Jon and I say the name, everybody's face
Speaker 4: lights up all of a sudden, you know, lighten up scoreboards.
Speaker 5: What's your impression of his offense?
Speaker 8: Yeah, I haven't watched Detroit super closely, just because like divisionally,
Speaker 8: it didn't didn't play him a time, But yeah, you
Speaker 8: hear all the stuff, and then in my few interactions
Speaker 8: with him, he's awesome, seems like a great guy. Seems
Speaker 8: like very tons of tension to detail, tons of energy
Speaker 8: and motivation for this. So that's all really exciting and
Speaker 8: things that you want to hear about. And I've heard
Speaker 8: nothing but good things from the people that I know
Speaker 8: well that have crossed over with him, and so it's
Speaker 8: it's really excited to play for The first.
Speaker 5: Thing I feel is passion. He's dialed in and ready
Speaker 5: to go.
Speaker 4: And I think every player appreciates a coach and a
Speaker 4: staff that carries that emotion into the locker room, onto
Speaker 4: the field during practice and so forth.
Speaker 5: Don't you agree?
Speaker 8: Yeah, No, definitely, and it trickles through the building.
Speaker 4: Describe the type of player you are. Everyone else can
Speaker 4: describe what you are from the outset, and what would
Speaker 4: you say the type of player you are?
Speaker 8: Yeah, I feel like the things that that I kind
Speaker 8: of identify with and focus on the most are the
Speaker 8: front end stuff. So my my preparation, I want to
Speaker 8: be the most prepared and that that's physically, mentally all
Speaker 8: those things. So stacking the deck in my favor by
Speaker 8: by doing everything I can control on my own, so
Speaker 8: when the game comes, I've I've checked a few boxes.
Speaker 8: So someone's prepared, someone who's gonna play hard every play,
Speaker 8: someone who's gonna give their best effort to improve and
Speaker 8: learn and try to not make the same mistake twice.
Speaker 8: Somebod who's good communicator and it's going to work to
Speaker 8: facilitate what's going on with the old line and communicate
Speaker 8: it with anybody who needs to know. And then someone
Speaker 8: who's just gonna play every down like it like it'
Speaker 8: said the last, and give their best effort.
Speaker 4: So the interior has been redefined here in Chicago. When
Speaker 4: you've heard about Joe Toney on one side, Jana Jackson
Speaker 4: on the other, how excited does that make you to
Speaker 4: be a front wall for this up and coming quarterback
Speaker 4: by the name of Caleb Leaves.
Speaker 8: Yeah, it's very exciting. And I've been four enough to
Speaker 8: play some great players in the past and learn a
Speaker 8: ton from them, So I feel really grateful that I
Speaker 8: kind of have a new batch of guys that I
Speaker 8: can learn even more from, learn different things from, and
Speaker 8: build those relationships with them. So I think it's a
Speaker 8: great challenge and something I'm really looking forward to, and
Speaker 8: I think it's fun.
Speaker 4: We got a bunch of Hall of famers here in
Speaker 4: this town right most in the NFL. But there's a
Speaker 4: bunch of centers even back to the nineteen twenties and
Speaker 4: nineteen forties. Clyde build log Turner in the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 4: Jay Hilgenberg was a seven time consecutive Pro Bowl as
Speaker 4: an undrafted free agent out of BIOA and Olan Cruits
Speaker 4: outstanding six time Pro bowler as well. So the center
Speaker 4: position in Bear's history carries out some pretty good significance.
Speaker 4: How cool is that to play for a franchise with
Speaker 4: that kind of history, even at that position.
Speaker 8: Yeah, No, it's great, and I feel like I do
Speaker 8: really well, and I'm very motivated by by having things
Speaker 8: to aspire to and people to chase and all that.
Speaker 8: So you hear those names and they're absolutely incredible players,
Speaker 8: and I'd love to be able to take little bits
Speaker 8: of knowledge from them and kind of add its my
Speaker 8: own game. So yeah, it's awesome to have a legacy
Speaker 8: like that to chase.
Speaker 4: And do you like the concept of working with a
Speaker 4: veteran offensive line coach like Dan Rochark he's for a
Speaker 4: long time.
Speaker 8: Yeah, yeah, same, same theme that's kind of running through
Speaker 8: this whole thing is like there's just so many people
Speaker 8: to learn from and so many people. It's great expertise,
Speaker 8: and I feel like he's another one that's added to
Speaker 8: that that's going to make this better.
Speaker 4: What other pieces are you excited to work with here?
Speaker 5: I'm assuming everybody.
Speaker 8: Yeah, yeah, I mean I today has been my first day,
Speaker 8: so I can't even begin to say I know who's
Speaker 8: in the building or who's on the roster or anything
Speaker 8: like that. So I got to learn a lot of
Speaker 8: new faces.
Speaker 2: To me.
Speaker 4: You come into the league with a bit of an
Speaker 4: advantage as a player, being the son.
Speaker 2: Of a player.
Speaker 4: Your dad played for the San Francisco forty nine ers
Speaker 4: and has been a coach and high school and the
Speaker 4: NFL level with the Falcons. Did that do a lot
Speaker 4: for you to make that transition and just following its footstepisode.
Speaker 8: Be yeah, yeah, No. He's always done an excellent job
Speaker 8: of separating the dad and the coach aspects, but having
Speaker 8: someone with shared perspective that understands these things that I'm
Speaker 8: going through that for me, they feel like the first
Speaker 8: time and they feel like a huge deal or a
Speaker 8: huge issue, and I can go to him and he's like, yeah,
Speaker 8: I remember doing that. I remember experiencing the same things.
Speaker 8: So having someone who can relate to like that has
Speaker 8: been really invaluable for me. And then also just a
Speaker 8: fun to have a fan that truly understands what's going on.
Speaker 8: So you can talk shout.
Speaker 4: With Chris domand the football player, Chrisdalmond, the dad. What's
Speaker 4: the best advice in each scenario has he given you
Speaker 4: in your life?
Speaker 3: It might be.
Speaker 8: Kind of one piece, but I feel like he's always
Speaker 8: emphasized how important just like the daily traits and how
Speaker 8: you're doing things. And so whether it's school, you know,
Speaker 8: being a partner or a friend or a football player,
Speaker 8: whatever it is, you really are only what you're exhibiting daily.
Speaker 8: And I feel like he did that by example, and
Speaker 8: like what hard work looks like on a daily basis,
Speaker 8: what being a good father looks like on a daily basis,
Speaker 8: and all those things. So just taking that with me
Speaker 8: and knowing that I have to show what I'm about
Speaker 8: every day to be able to be who I want
Speaker 8: to be.
Speaker 4: And lastly, let you go, best thing you want to
Speaker 4: tell Bears fans right now, we'll give him a little
Speaker 4: message from from Drew Dolmon, a new starting center for
Speaker 4: the Chicago Gras.
Speaker 8: Yeah, just that we're going to do absolutely everything we
Speaker 8: can to stack the deck in our favor and work
Speaker 8: hard and prepare and kind of do all the little
Speaker 8: things right so that when the game comes, it's about
Speaker 8: performance and execution and aggression and speed and not worrying
Speaker 8: and thinking too much and all that. So we're going
Speaker 8: to do everything we can to lay the foundation well
Speaker 8: right now.
Speaker 4: Appreciate the time, Thank you so much. Yeah, because of
Speaker 4: time constraints, could not ask him questions about Grady Jarrett,
Speaker 4: but what he said at the podium with Bears reporters,
Speaker 4: Jared's the guy who exhibits what a pro is every day,
Speaker 4: takes care of his body, studies hard, and you get
Speaker 4: a feel for how important it is in the locker room.
Speaker 4: Credible player, incredible guy, and they'll be practicing against each
Speaker 4: other again. Drew Dolman says he made him look silly
Speaker 4: dozens of times, but an invaluable resource letting them know
Speaker 4: also about their tells and tendencies on the offensive line,
Speaker 4: So a savvy player and on the defensive side of
Speaker 4: the ball that can be a resource for offensive lineman
Speaker 4: for the Bears. Here in twenty twenty five and beyond,
Speaker 4: time to take a break here on Bears Weekly on
Speaker 4: the ESPN one thousand of the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 1: This is ESPN Chicago, WNVP WTBC HD two Chicago, a
Speaker 1: Good Karma Brands radio station. Well, welcome back to Bears
Speaker 1: Weekly on the Bears Ingio Network. Here's your host, the
Speaker 1: Voice of the Bears, Jeff Joey.
Speaker 4: This segment of Bears Weekly is brought to you by
Speaker 4: IGS Energy with Tom Thayer, Jeff Joniak, and Jim Miller
Speaker 4: from Serious XMNFL right to the former Bears quarterback.
Speaker 5: Okay, so listening to Drew Dohman.
Speaker 4: Enjoyed speaking with him up in allasall earlier today getting
Speaker 4: here because, as he was described by Grady Jackson yesterday, smart, big,
Speaker 4: strong and quick with hat speed to reach the nose
Speaker 4: tackle the three technique hat speed.
Speaker 5: What's he referring to there?
Speaker 2: You know the center.
Speaker 6: Nowadays they have a variety of assignments inside the offense itself.
Speaker 6: So if you're facing a guy directly over the head
Speaker 6: of you, you got to show that you have the
Speaker 6: ability to snap with power, get your hands inside, win
Speaker 6: the point of attack and create that separation for a
Speaker 6: running back to read or to secure your past blocking assignment,
Speaker 6: say you have an even man line where the center's uncovered.
Speaker 6: Now you're looking at two defensive tackles and say you
Speaker 6: have one that's on the head up to the outside
Speaker 6: shoulder of the right guard, and you know you're having
Speaker 6: a zone blocking play that way, and you still have
Speaker 6: to have the ability to have speed to snap and
Speaker 6: reach athleticism to get to the outside. And that's one
Speaker 6: thing when you look at Dolman, you look at all
Speaker 6: the requirements of a center in the modern day offense
Speaker 6: to have the power to play a guy over the
Speaker 6: head of you, to make sure that you can reach
Speaker 6: of the difficulty of the running game when you're playing
Speaker 6: an even man line, or then your responsibilities with a
Speaker 6: wide variety in the passing game, because if you're uncovered,
Speaker 6: you're moving to the right or the left and you're helping,
Speaker 6: or you're going to a linebacker. If you're covered, you
Speaker 6: got to make sure that you can hold up against
Speaker 6: any type of bull rush and any type of attack
Speaker 6: on the center.
Speaker 2: That they're going to try to have.
Speaker 6: So that's the most interesting thing about Dolman is he's
Speaker 6: got that variety arsenal arsenal that that he can use
Speaker 6: against everything that's asked of him and Jim.
Speaker 4: He's physical and done mine a little trash talk, according
Speaker 4: to a guy who would know, and that would be
Speaker 4: Grady Jareded.
Speaker 7: Yeah, Grady Jareded is a great player. But Tom's right,
Speaker 7: that's probably one of the most difficult blocks to make
Speaker 7: is that reach block. You know, especially you know when
Speaker 7: you're snapping the ball with your right hand and you've
Speaker 7: got to make that reach block to your right. And
Speaker 7: I also think you know, he's got the nimble feet.
Speaker 7: You know, say a lot of teams run those mug
Speaker 7: looks where maybe the center at the snap of the
Speaker 7: ball he's working to his right, but then maybe there'll
Speaker 7: be a snatch blitz, a blitz by the backside backer
Speaker 7: and he's got to get come off and maybe help
Speaker 7: out in those situations. I remember when Olin Kreutz he
Speaker 7: used to pop out and even you know, pick up
Speaker 7: a nickel blitz. So I think Drew Dollman has the
Speaker 7: ability because he's got nimble feet, and we know the
Speaker 7: style of offense that they run, and they ran the
Speaker 7: football really well where he comes from, and I think
Speaker 7: that type of mentality is going to help out. But
Speaker 7: he's very very quick on his feet, it can make
Speaker 7: all those blocks that are required, and that's why he
Speaker 7: was rated the highest center in free agency. He really
Speaker 7: has worked himself into a really good player. You know too,
Speaker 7: Jim and Jeff.
Speaker 6: A certainty of protection when you have a center that's
Speaker 6: been around the league and he's seen every type of
Speaker 6: blitz or all the pressures that can be offered to you,
Speaker 6: and he has the ability after he hears in the
Speaker 6: huddle to go to the line of scrimmage and take
Speaker 6: that thinking away from Caleb. Now Drew identifies the responsibility,
Speaker 6: everybody knows where they're going, and then Caleb is immediately
Speaker 6: alerted to where the vulnerability of the protection is. So
Speaker 6: I think that's super beneficial and it takes seconds away
Speaker 6: from the quarterback having to think it and identify and
Speaker 6: gives us center the opportunity to get all all blockers,
Speaker 6: all offensive lineman, tight end and running backs all on
Speaker 6: the same page immediately.
Speaker 4: Here's our friend Matt Bowen who analyzes all this in
Speaker 4: free agency for ESPN dot Com. Technician athletic Easy Moover
Speaker 4: wins with assignmon and leverage good fit for the zone
Speaker 4: run game under Ben Johnson registered a past Black win
Speaker 4: rate of ninety five point one percent in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 4: That's excellent. They're down in Atlanta for Drew Dolman. All right,
Speaker 4: let's now flip it to the defensive line, so we
Speaker 4: talk about some of this now. Also talk to Dio
Speaker 4: Odengbo earlier today. The defensive editions of great Jared at
Speaker 4: the three technique, the veteran presence, the fire he plays with,
Speaker 4: and then this twenty five year old really everything's in
Speaker 4: front of him.
Speaker 5: He's got the body that you would.
Speaker 4: Love as an outside edge rusher who can also kick
Speaker 4: inside and did so with the Colts and still you know,
Speaker 4: working on reaching his potential. But I believe he had
Speaker 4: thirty seven combined sacks and pressures the last two years.
Speaker 4: That's a pretty good number pressure in the quarterback. Jim
Speaker 4: will start with you on the impact of both of
Speaker 4: these gentlemen in the rotation of what already is a
Speaker 4: defensive line that has guys like Montese Sweat and Jabon
Speaker 4: Dexter Senior.
Speaker 5: Obviously.
Speaker 7: Yeah, Well, first I'm going to talk about Grady jareded
Speaker 7: I remember interviewing Doabo Sweeney where he played it in
Speaker 7: college for Clemson. Doabo gives him high praise. He said,
Speaker 7: if he were to ever start a football team, the
Speaker 7: first player he would draft is Grady Jarrett because, like
Speaker 7: you said, Jeff, this guy gets down and dirty. He's
Speaker 7: a good leader, and he doesn't have to talk a lot.
Speaker 7: This guy just goes to work every single day. And
Speaker 7: he's obviously overcomes significant injury with the ACL But this
Speaker 7: is a guy that you want to build your football
Speaker 7: team around. Guys like Grady Jarrett and what he stands for.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 7: As for Dale, like you said, I think he's an
Speaker 7: ascending player. So if you can get twenty sacks from
Speaker 7: your two outside guys, you're cooking with gas. You're cooking
Speaker 7: with gas. And again, if you go look like Tom said,
Speaker 7: the teams that make it to the Super Bowl, or
Speaker 7: the teams that make it all the way to the
Speaker 7: championship game, they're normally going to lead the league in sacks.
Speaker 7: I mean, there is a read that sack total means
Speaker 7: something in the NFL, and everybody says, oh, yeah, it's
Speaker 7: just about pressure in the quarterback. But when you sack
Speaker 7: a quarterback, it sends a message. One is demoralizing to
Speaker 7: the opponent, and bad things happen. You got sack, strip fumbles,
Speaker 7: things like that happen, and that's why those teams that
Speaker 7: really are high in the sack totals are typically the
Speaker 7: teams that are in the postseason and normally playing in
Speaker 7: the championship game.
Speaker 6: You know, talk about the game itself, because when you
Speaker 6: talk about the offensive line, you talk about necessary reps,
Speaker 6: and so you're expected to go in there and play
Speaker 6: every snap of every game throughout the regular season. When
Speaker 6: you're talking about the defensive lineman, you got to get
Speaker 6: into a healthy rotation and whatever the predetermined amount of snaps,
Speaker 6: and sometimes it can't be predetermined. Every one of those
Speaker 6: snaps have to be full speed and you have to
Speaker 6: be able to do what's expected of you. Is it
Speaker 6: a pass rushing down, then get to the quarterback. Is
Speaker 6: it a first down run? Stopping down to stop the
Speaker 6: running back. If there are seventy snaps per game, then
Speaker 6: these defensive linemen, they got to give me thirty good quality, hard.
Speaker 4: Fought, physical snaps sixty seven percent of the snaps in
Speaker 4: Atlanta last season for Grady Jared as an example, the
Speaker 4: Eagles as a reference point, only had one defensive lineman
Speaker 4: do that. That speaks to their depth and the rotation.
Speaker 4: It happened to be the big fellow Jalen Carter. They
Speaker 4: only want to do that. But the fact that he
Speaker 4: overcame that acl and came back right ready for training camp.
Speaker 4: He missed eight games in the prior season twenty three. Again,
Speaker 4: he talked about it. He just loves this, he loves
Speaker 4: playing this game, he loves being here.
Speaker 5: It's different. He's in Atlanta, and.
Speaker 4: I don't know if that's the proper way to say it,
Speaker 4: but he's a Georgian and he played his whole career
Speaker 4: in Atlanta. So this is a big change, a big
Speaker 4: change for the former two times Pro bowler. But I
Speaker 4: think what he's going to bring in and I texted
Speaker 4: somebody I know in Atlanta has said he instantly makes
Speaker 4: the locker room not only a fun place, but a
Speaker 4: better place for a football player. The mindset that he
Speaker 4: will bring every day to the meeting room, to the
Speaker 4: practice field, and on Sundays, he's going to spread like wildfire.
Speaker 6: Look, so when you look at a team Jim with
Speaker 6: no captains on the offense and defensive line, and then
Speaker 6: you bring in the offensive lineman that you have, and
Speaker 6: then you bring in a guy that has the attitude
Speaker 6: that Grady Jarrett has, as it was.
Speaker 2: Evident in his podium visit yesterday.
Speaker 6: Those are two guys, like Jeff says, their role inside
Speaker 6: the locker room is going to be so important from
Speaker 6: the minute they get there. And so I'm excited Ryan
Speaker 6: Poles kind of has reached out to couple couple alpha
Speaker 6: males that are going to be immediate contributors in that
Speaker 6: locker room.
Speaker 7: Grady Jared will earn it just with what he does.
Speaker 7: And like you said, Jeff, I don't think that guy
Speaker 7: needs an alarm clock to show up for work. That
Speaker 7: guy is ready to go every single day, and the
Speaker 7: player see it. It's how he practices, how he prepares.
Speaker 7: When he comes in the locker room, it's for a purpose,
Speaker 7: and that's to get ready for the day of what
Speaker 7: he's going to do on Sunday. And it's every single
Speaker 7: day he's punching his card and there's you know that
Speaker 7: he knows the work that goes into it, and that
Speaker 7: example does spread like wildfire. You want to be like
Speaker 7: Grady Jarrett. Other guys, hey man, the coach just got
Speaker 7: to do this. Just follow Grady, Just do what he's doing.
Speaker 7: If you do what he's doing.
Speaker 3: You're going to be just.
Speaker 7: Fine because that message will be sent every single day
Speaker 7: and every player in that locker room, everybody in that
Speaker 7: organization will see it and witness the work that that
Speaker 7: guy puts in.
Speaker 4: One hundred and fifty two games, thirty six and a
Speaker 4: half sacks from that interior spot, seventy seven tackles for loss.
Speaker 4: He also as the all time record has he pointed
Speaker 4: out yesterday for pressures with the Atlanta Falcons. The funny thing, Jim,
Speaker 4: I know you at every Super Bowl. So you had
Speaker 4: that three sack super Bowl against Tom Brady, and it
Speaker 4: reminds me of the conversation we had last week with
Speaker 4: Great CoA Salt from the Combine when he said that
Speaker 4: Brady told him that ninety three to ninety five percent
Speaker 4: of all sacks is the quarterback's fault. Here, Brady got
Speaker 4: sacked three times by Gary. I'm not taking a thing
Speaker 4: away from Grady. He earned those three sacks of Tom
Speaker 4: Brady and the Super Bowl.
Speaker 3: He earns it every day. Man.
Speaker 7: He's a pack of lunch, bring a flashlight type of guy,
Speaker 7: and he just doesn't stop. He's one of those all
Speaker 7: day suckers that you know, there's just no denying him.
Speaker 7: He's gonna work his way into earning everything that he gets,
Speaker 7: and he should be proud of that number. I mean,
Speaker 7: when you know you got great players. I remember when
Speaker 7: I played in Atlanta, guys like Jesse Tuggle and Biscuit
Speaker 7: and those guys, Grady Jared is up there with them.
Speaker 7: I mean Tommy Nobis, who should probably be in the
Speaker 7: Hall of Fame as a linebacker. Grady is the guy
Speaker 7: that frees everybody up on the back end. But it
Speaker 7: all starts to stop with stops with him. He's the
Speaker 7: spark plug that gets everybody going funny.
Speaker 4: You bring up Jesse Toggle that is Grady Jared's dad. Yeah,
Speaker 4: and he refers to your hero far from a tree.
Speaker 4: He refers to Ray Lewis as his uncle, even though
Speaker 4: they're not related.
Speaker 5: He loves ray Lewis.
Speaker 7: He's been around great news every day. He knows what
Speaker 7: it looks like.
Speaker 4: We take a break here on hees been one thousand
Speaker 4: of the Bears Radio Networks is.
Speaker 1: Bears Weekly with the Voice of the Bears.
Speaker 2: For twenty four years Chef Joney Chef.
Speaker 1: On the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 4: This segment of Bears Weekly has brought to you by
Speaker 4: Athletical Physical Therapy. Visit Athletico dot com the requested in
Speaker 4: clinic or virtual deployment and start feeling better tomorrow with
Speaker 4: Tom Fair and Jim Miller, two former Chicago Bears.
Speaker 5: I'm Jeff Joniyak.
Speaker 1: You're on.
Speaker 4: He has been one thousand of the Bears radio network.
Speaker 4: We touched on it in the last segment. Tom, you
Speaker 4: brought up Joe his impact in the locker room, Jim
Speaker 4: the impact of Grady Jarrett. And I'm sure there will
Speaker 4: be others, including others that have been here that maybe
Speaker 4: now with a little more seasoning, can emerge as leaders.
Speaker 4: But just the addition of those two gentlemen alone, what
Speaker 4: will that.
Speaker 5: Do for the locker room?
Speaker 6: For the locker room, It's going to see how professionals
Speaker 6: prepare on a daily basis from OTAs all the way
Speaker 6: through the regular season, and how they prepare mentally in
Speaker 6: the meeting rooms, and how they take it out physically to.
Speaker 2: The practice field.
Speaker 6: And then if you have a player that's on the
Speaker 6: verge of kind of needing his learning curve sped up
Speaker 6: a little bit. You're talking about conversations of experience. You
Speaker 6: have a guy that played left tackle, but he's an
Speaker 6: All Pro left guard, so he can talk about every
Speaker 6: single position out there, from tight end to center.
Speaker 2: And when you have veterans.
Speaker 6: In here that of all this, the leadership qualities that
Speaker 6: they brought in the last couple of days, it expedites
Speaker 6: the learning curve of every young guy coming in here
Speaker 6: to compete. But it makes the offensive line immediately better
Speaker 6: and you get an understanding of what this offense can offer.
Speaker 6: And then you're gonna have some important conversations between offensive
Speaker 6: linemen and quarterback.
Speaker 2: And I think that does a lot to help.
Speaker 6: A quarterback's confidence and an understanding of what he's saying
Speaker 6: and in the huddle and how it pertains to everybody
Speaker 6: in front of him.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I love.
Speaker 7: What Tom just said there. Allen Kreutz used to challenge
Speaker 7: me all the time. We would see who would get
Speaker 7: the blitzes right, who would get the calls right, who
Speaker 7: would get the blitzes wrong? And Olin be like, hey man,
Speaker 7: I got you there. You're slacking a little bit, Miller.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 7: He challenged me. He challenged me, and I challenged him,
Speaker 7: you know, and that's going to be important for Drew Dolman,
Speaker 7: for you know, Joe Toney who knows has been around greatness,
Speaker 7: and Patrick Mahomes and Joe Toney can say, hey, Caleb,
Speaker 7: maybe this will help you. This is what Patrick does
Speaker 7: in this situation.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 7: But I think Drew Dollman has really got to be
Speaker 7: a key because he's really got to help Caleb with
Speaker 7: his protections. Caleb has to know them inside and out,
Speaker 7: and he has to know how Drew Dolman is going
Speaker 7: to call certain calls because they've got to be married up.
Speaker 7: They have to think the same way. Caleb should be
Speaker 7: going to line of scrimmage. I don't care if he's
Speaker 7: in shotguns saying hey, here's the defensive front, here's the backers.
Speaker 7: I already know we're doing this. They're showing nickel Blitz. Hey, guys,
Speaker 7: we're making a ringo call. We're making a ringo call.
Speaker 7: And Drew Dolman and they should all be calling it
Speaker 7: out so that they're in unison, so that they're thinking
Speaker 7: the same where everybody's on the same page. It sounds
Speaker 7: simple because it is. If you get a hat on
Speaker 7: the hat, you have a chance. You have a chance.
Speaker 7: And I think if Drew Dolman really challenges Caleb to
Speaker 7: really know his protections inside and out and every day
Speaker 7: when they're in blitz period. Hey, man, I see it
Speaker 7: this way. This is why we should call it this way.
Speaker 7: Here's the best scenario of how it will work out.
Speaker 7: Maybe you got to recall all the mic and they
Speaker 7: got to get on the same page.
Speaker 3: There.
Speaker 7: Hey, guys, we're gonna make a Louie call. Here, We're
Speaker 7: gonna go left. This guy's say number fifty five's a mic.
Speaker 7: We're making him the mic. Now, hey, we got a
Speaker 7: five down, five down, five down. Everybody should be calling
Speaker 7: it out, and Caleb has to see it where eventually
Speaker 7: he's calling it out and he's leading the offense because
Speaker 7: that way he's thinking faster.
Speaker 4: So let me let me break down some of that language,
Speaker 4: the QB language. So we are we talking about lefty Louis,
Speaker 4: righty tdy?
Speaker 5: Is this what you're telling me? Yeah?
Speaker 3: So if I'm making a ringo calls.
Speaker 2: What's ringo?
Speaker 5: What's ringo? What's a ringo call?
Speaker 7: Yeah, ringo, I'm gonna slide the line right, Ok, Louis,
Speaker 7: You're gonna slide the line left or I just you know,
Speaker 7: like when I say a five down, say if they
Speaker 7: throw a five down look, meaning another defensive lineman comes
Speaker 7: in over the center, five down, five down. That means
Speaker 7: the five offensive lineman have the five down lineman. You know,
Speaker 7: we could be in a you could be facing a
Speaker 7: three to four defense. Well, guess what we're facing A
Speaker 7: three four where typically your your your guards are gonna
Speaker 7: fan they're gonna fan out, and Tom can get into that.
Speaker 7: But maybe you make a down guy there. Maybe you've
Speaker 7: got your four to three rules where hey, man, I'm
Speaker 7: gonna make this backer down. Fifty six is down. I
Speaker 7: now have made it a four to three front. Okay,
Speaker 7: even though we're in a three there were facing a
Speaker 7: three to four I have made it a four to
Speaker 7: three front by making fifty six down. And now we've
Speaker 7: got our four to three rules.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 7: So if we're in sixty two protection and it's four
Speaker 7: to three rules, and I know my right guard is uncovered.
Speaker 3: If they bring too Strong, I'm hot. I'm hot.
Speaker 7: If they bring Mike Sam, I'm hot, and he has
Speaker 7: to know all these things. They have to make all
Speaker 7: these calls. And that way you're speeding up, you're speeding
Speaker 7: up your play. That means you identified the front, you've
Speaker 7: corrected any problem areas. Let's roll, boys, It's time to
Speaker 7: play some football. All the all the maintenances out of
Speaker 7: the way. Now, let's go get it done with what
Speaker 7: we need to do to execute because I've ident to
Speaker 7: fight everything and how we need to block up this
Speaker 7: front in order to have success.
Speaker 5: Tommy, you're ready to block for Jim millerk as I am.
Speaker 6: Yeah, if you listen, you know, it's kind of it's
Speaker 6: funny how the language is a little bit different on
Speaker 6: every offensive line, but everything means the same thing. You
Speaker 6: can go Ringo and you can go Louis. We went
Speaker 6: east and west. East was to the right and west
Speaker 6: was to the left. We had a variety of where
Speaker 6: we could go up. If someone forgot the snap count
Speaker 6: on the line of scrimmage, we could get some secret
Speaker 6: call words to tell where you know, borts, you could
Speaker 6: say what's the count?
Speaker 2: What's the count?
Speaker 6: And you know, you could you know blue, so you know,
Speaker 6: you could have red, white and blue as one two three.
Speaker 2: So that's that's kind of the neat thing.
Speaker 6: Inside an offensive line, especially an offensive line that has
Speaker 6: years of experience together every year they kind of have
Speaker 6: these conversations how to expand the language that they're going
Speaker 6: to have on the line of scrimmage because a lot
Speaker 6: of times you go up there and you make these
Speaker 6: fake calls in the in the defensive line, thinking, oh man,
Speaker 6: I'm reading this.
Speaker 2: I know exactly what they're saying. You really don't.
Speaker 6: So it's about the experiences that these guys have together
Speaker 6: that yeah, Joe Toney can maybe introduce something that they
Speaker 6: get in Kansas City or the Rams or the Falcons,
Speaker 6: you know. So there's gonna be a lot of that
Speaker 6: kind of a neat you know, subway conversation that the
Speaker 6: offensive line will have on the practice field and in
Speaker 6: the meeting room.
Speaker 4: Asking more question in this vein, how long does it take?
Speaker 4: Because I keep hearing this over the years. You want
Speaker 4: your quarterback to see the defense through the eyes of
Speaker 4: the play caller, in this case Ben Johnson, and that
Speaker 4: also goes to the center as well. So how long
Speaker 4: does that take for a center quarterback play caller to
Speaker 4: see the I'll see the same thing down in and
Speaker 4: down out.
Speaker 6: I think months into a season that they can get it.
Speaker 6: But you know, the luxury is being in front of
Speaker 6: the same terminology for a couple of years because if
Speaker 6: you can there and Ben Johnson can say two words
Speaker 6: and then Caleb can finish the sentence. In the play
Speaker 6: call or the offensive line, here's the formation call from
Speaker 6: the quarterback's voice, and they know exactly if he's calling
Speaker 6: the right formation or the wrong formation.
Speaker 2: I think it's beneficial.
Speaker 6: The more reps that you get together, the more time
Speaker 6: under terminology, the better it makes every position.
Speaker 7: Ben Johnson is going to install this offense here this
Speaker 7: spring during the OTAs, and it's just the base stuff.
Speaker 7: It's the base, you know, to get to the second
Speaker 7: level of where you want to be. Look at his
Speaker 7: time in Detroit. You know that offense. Look at it
Speaker 7: this year. It was really humming, right, it was really
Speaker 7: humming because they've had a couple of years experience with
Speaker 7: Ben Johnson as a play caller nowhere near Remember when
Speaker 7: Dan Campbell took over calling plays, it was a struggle.
Speaker 7: I mean, the head coach took it over and he
Speaker 7: obviously then said, hey, at the end of the year,
Speaker 7: I'm going to defer this to Ben Johnson. So they
Speaker 7: had a little bit, they had their base under their belt,
Speaker 7: and then Ben Johnson started to take it to the
Speaker 7: next level. And so you're you're creating like I said
Speaker 7: that Encyclopedia Britannica, where then by year two. Hey man,
Speaker 7: that's a bridge you've already crossed. Hey Man, we've already
Speaker 7: crossed this bridge before. This is nothing. Let's move on
Speaker 7: to something more difficult and wait till we see those
Speaker 7: looks and they'll they'll keep on add in to that
Speaker 7: roll of decks as they see that as they roll along.
Speaker 4: A couple of other nuggets before we move on to
Speaker 4: a commercial break here.
Speaker 5: Jonah Jackson.
Speaker 4: I love what Sean McVay said about him just with
Speaker 4: his one year in LA called him a stud, human stud, physically,
Speaker 4: mentally tough, blue collar guy, great in the locker room,
Speaker 4: an all time great dude. That's from other people in Detroit.
Speaker 4: So there's a lot to love about Jonah Jackson and
Speaker 4: Joe Tooney. You know, Tom brought up that stat about
Speaker 4: the Matthews family, the great football playing Matthews family, seventy
Speaker 4: seven years of experienced one Super Bowl win. This guy's
Speaker 4: got four super Bowl wins and six Super Bowl trips
Speaker 4: in his nine years. Jim this up on Our Bears
Speaker 4: et Cetera podcast with Tom this week. His career record
Speaker 4: has won twenty five and forty two that includes playoffs,
Speaker 4: a seventy five percent win percentage, Magna cum laude in
Speaker 4: college Campbell Trophy finalist, that's like the academic Heisman. He
Speaker 4: was the president of his senior high school class at
Speaker 4: NBA from Indiana. We got a smart football player here
Speaker 4: and a guy who's durable and tenacious.
Speaker 5: So I love the package.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I bring it up all the time. They signed
Speaker 7: him as a guard for tackle money for a reason.
Speaker 7: You know, this guy is a really good player, and
Speaker 7: you know, believe it or not, former Chicago Bear Andy Heck,
Speaker 7: he coaches the old line down there in Kansas City.
Speaker 7: And so I've talked to Andy just how you know
Speaker 7: his football IQ, just how smart Joe Tuney is. And
Speaker 7: you know, I think he showed his versatility kicking out
Speaker 7: the tackle and it didn't put him in the best position.
Speaker 7: But he's gonna do what's good for the best for
Speaker 7: his football team. And so I do. I think he's
Speaker 7: gonna he's gonna help Caleb Williams a lot with maybe
Speaker 7: to teach him some things that maybe how Kansas City
Speaker 7: did it, how Patrick Mahomes specifically handled certain situations, and
Speaker 7: that's gonna help the growth of Caleb Williams. And it
Speaker 7: doesn't hurt Jeff when you wake up out of bed
Speaker 7: every morning. You just roll out of bed and say, hey,
Speaker 7: seventy five percent wins. Yeah, I think I'm gonna win
Speaker 7: again today. You know, I plan on winning again today.
Speaker 7: And he's you know, he's got that attitude about him
Speaker 7: that he just wakes up a winner.
Speaker 4: You got, And that's a belief that the locker room
Speaker 4: here absolutely need a belief that you're gonna go out there,
Speaker 4: we're gonna win.
Speaker 5: We're gonna win today. We got to take a break
Speaker 5: so we can win.
Speaker 4: That's Tom there, Jim Miller, Jeff Joniyak, and he has
Speaker 4: been one thousand the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 1: Well, welcome back to Bears Weekly on the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 1: Here's your host, the Voice of the Bears, Jeff Joey.
Speaker 4: This segment of Bears Weekly is brought to you by
Speaker 4: Igs Energy, Jeff and Tom and Jim Miller. As we
Speaker 4: wrap things up on our our show, we'll look into
Speaker 4: the division here a little bit. But I've loved the
Speaker 4: conversation of the passion by which you guys are grabbing
Speaker 4: the baton here. Really from Ryan Post to Ben Johnson
Speaker 4: to the new additions.
Speaker 5: Everybody.
Speaker 4: This is what the building feels like. There's a lot
Speaker 4: of fire going on. So let's let's look at the
Speaker 4: division champion. The Detroit Lions re signed Derek Barnes. Marcus
Speaker 4: Davenport re signed as well. Those are the big ones.
Speaker 4: They invested three years, forty eight million in Dj Reed,
Speaker 4: the veteran cornerback, and other than that, Quiet re signed
Speaker 4: Dan Skipper as well. Let's talk Lions football. You know,
Speaker 4: very few holes on that football team, but they lost
Speaker 4: two key coordinators.
Speaker 5: That is going to be the impact right there.
Speaker 6: You're right, Jeff, You know, I understand the personnel that
Speaker 6: they brought aboard. It's the coaches they lost and how
Speaker 6: replaceable are they in such immediacy. They're fortunate they have
Speaker 6: the quarterback that stayed there and he understands the system
Speaker 6: that he just ran, But I don't know if it's
Speaker 6: going to be the next system he runs.
Speaker 2: And it's the same thing on the defensive side of
Speaker 2: the ball.
Speaker 6: And I think when you look at Detroit, as much
Speaker 6: conversation there was about Hutchinson, he's almost like a free
Speaker 6: agent because he was injured all of last year. Even
Speaker 6: though he's had the success that he's had, but you
Speaker 6: can't ignore the fact that he's coming back.
Speaker 7: Yeah, they lost a lot of continuity. It wasn't just
Speaker 7: the coordinators. I think, you know, the Bears got their
Speaker 7: share of coaches, and then Aaron Glenn took anything left
Speaker 7: over that left in the cupboard over to the New
Speaker 7: York Jets.
Speaker 3: So with you know, JT.
Speaker 7: Barrett and Antoine randall Ell arriving in Chicago, their coaching
Speaker 7: staff was rated significantly. With Hutchinson coming back from a
Speaker 7: very significant injury, sounds like he's ahead of schedule, but
Speaker 7: will he be the same player and they still have
Speaker 7: to find guys opposite him, and Marcus Davenport really hasn't
Speaker 7: lived up to the billing at this point. So Detroit
Speaker 7: has a lot more work to do.
Speaker 4: Minnesota's done a lot and there's all sorts of rumors
Speaker 4: floating out there about Aaron Rodgers, Aaron Jones back, Jonathan
Speaker 4: Allen though coming aboard at defensive tackle three year sixty million,
Speaker 4: also Javon Hargrave and then Will Fries at offensive guard
Speaker 4: their five years eighty eight million. Ryan Kelly will be
Speaker 4: their new center. Those are some big ones right there.
Speaker 4: Byron Murphy re signed at corner, three year, sixty six million.
Speaker 4: They did a lot, and then there's the JJ McCarthy angle.
Speaker 6: Now, you know, I'm kind of a little suspicious about
Speaker 6: JJ McCarthy injury because we don't know a lot about it.
Speaker 6: And why is his recovery taking so long? And are
Speaker 6: they just kind of blowing a smoke screen evaluating his
Speaker 6: recovery or is he ready to go Day one of
Speaker 6: OTA's and he's going to take over that position. And
Speaker 6: that's not necessarily going to be the case if you
Speaker 6: do bring Aaron Rodgers a board, because Aaron Rodgers isn't
Speaker 6: going to come here to play back up to JJ McCarthy,
Speaker 6: especially when you have a super talented tight end Aaron
Speaker 6: Jones re signing, and then two of the best wide
Speaker 6: receivers in the division. And that's what the coaching staff
Speaker 6: there is going to want to take advantage of. And
Speaker 6: you're bringing a new guard and a new center to
Speaker 6: help solidify a pretty decent offensive line. Al I think
Speaker 6: he's a really good defensive tackle. Hargrave I don't know
Speaker 6: about because he signed an enormous free agent deal when
Speaker 6: he left I think Philadelphia to go to San Francisco.
Speaker 2: Is Harrison Smith coming back.
Speaker 6: You know, he's another guy that's a super intelligent player,
Speaker 6: but you know now what you're talking about a thirty
Speaker 6: six or thirty seven year old safety.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 7: I think for Minnesota those are good signings in the
Speaker 7: trenches because if you look at them down the stretches
Speaker 7: where Sam Darnold has had his worst games, their Owen
Speaker 7: d line kind of got their fannies handed to him
Speaker 7: and that led to some of those turnovers. So they
Speaker 7: want to get better in the trenches Minnesota. A lot
Speaker 7: of Minnesota fans, at least when they call into serious XM,
Speaker 7: they they cannot stand Garrett Bradbury, their center, who I
Speaker 7: think is a good center, but he was only scheduled
Speaker 7: to make three and a half million dollars a year.
Speaker 7: They wanted the upgrade with Ryan Kelly, give him a
Speaker 7: bump and pay. He gets a two year, eighteen million
Speaker 7: dollar deal, and they pay the guard Will Fries because
Speaker 7: they're losing one of their guards and free agency. The
Speaker 7: d tackles speak for themselves. But I think that's really
Speaker 7: what it came down to to Minnesota. Their playoff games,
Speaker 7: or at least their last two games of the year
Speaker 7: Week eighteen, and in the playoffs they're trenches. They kind
Speaker 7: of got their fannies handed to them, and that's where
Speaker 7: they want to invest their money.
Speaker 5: Green Bay quiet so far.
Speaker 4: Isaiah McDuffie resign their kicker, Brandon McManus. Aaron Banks comes
Speaker 4: aboard though four year, seventy seven million dollars deal from
Speaker 4: the forty nine ers, and Nate Hobbs four year, forty
Speaker 4: eight million at corner. So they're a draft driven team
Speaker 4: and so they're they're pretty solid with their youth and
Speaker 4: they're going to continue to bang the drum for the draft.
Speaker 4: So that's the Green Bay Packers. And he thought on
Speaker 4: that real quick before we take off.
Speaker 6: Well, you know, I was kind of surprised they lost
Speaker 6: AJ Dillon. He went signed with Philadelphia. So their running
Speaker 6: back position gets a little bit thinner, and they have
Speaker 6: that battering ram type of guy hitcking block and carrying
Speaker 6: shortyard situations. Josh Jacobs, the guy they brought in last year.
Speaker 6: He's got to, you know, still continue to carry the
Speaker 6: load with some other teammates he has there. You know,
Speaker 6: Green Bay, I don't know if we ever expect him
Speaker 6: to make a splash signing just because they never do
Speaker 6: and they're content with the guys they brought in.
Speaker 2: Aaron Banks.
Speaker 5: I don't know he's I don't know if he's kind of.
Speaker 6: A reach because he struggled through his rookie year and
Speaker 6: he's gotten better since, you know, give that kind of
Speaker 6: money to an interior offensive lineman in Green Bay. I
Speaker 6: don't know if they overreached or you know, that was
Speaker 6: the best option he was offered in San Francisco with
Speaker 6: you know, was willing to let him go.
Speaker 7: Yeah, they're gonna lose Jayira Alexander so Nate Hobbs to
Speaker 7: me is a is a really good signing. What I'm
Speaker 7: waiting for them to do. They need to land an
Speaker 7: X receiver. You know, the young man who they drafted
Speaker 7: out of North Dakota State I believe is Christian Watson.
Speaker 7: He's been a slow role man. There was rumors that
Speaker 7: they were going to trade for DK Metcalf, But they
Speaker 7: need to add an X receiver. I'd like Jalen or
Speaker 7: Jayden Reid their kid out of Michigan State who they drafted.
Speaker 7: Dobbs and the other players have really come on, but
Speaker 7: Watson their form her first round pick.
Speaker 3: He has been a dud right now.
Speaker 7: So I expect them to add a surefire solid X
Speaker 7: receiver or they have to draft a surefire solid X
Speaker 7: receiver somebody who's a true coverage dictator, because that's where
Speaker 7: really Jordan Love has had issues and why he's maybe
Speaker 7: had a couple interceptions, and I think a surefire X
Speaker 7: would clean up a lot of the reads for Jordan Love.
Speaker 4: Before the draft even happens. The NFC North is still powerful,
Speaker 4: That's all I got to say. And it's going to
Speaker 4: be very interesting as the season rolls on here in
Speaker 4: twenty twenty five. To address all these matchups, you got
Speaker 4: to win your division, all right. That's gonna do it
Speaker 4: for us, fellas. Nice job. Thanks to everyone for listening.
Speaker 4: The executive producer of the Bears Radio Network is Eric Ostrowski.
Speaker 4: Thanks to our producers Kendrick Smith, Danbridy, and Jordan Treadup,
Speaker 4: and our guest Drew Dolman for Tom Theayre and Jim Miller.
Speaker 5: I'm Jeff Joniyak.
Speaker 4: This has been Bears Weekly on the radio home of
Speaker 4: the Chicago Bears, ESPN Chicago.
Speaker 5: Please enjoy the ACC basketball.
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Speaker 5: Good night, everybody, Thank you.
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