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Speaker 1: day and now welcome to Bears All Access, your all
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Speaker 1: CDW and four From Chicago Bears Training Camp headquarters at
Speaker 1: out of A, Nazarene University and bourbon A, Illinois. Welcome
Speaker 1: into another edition of Bears All Access, brought to you
Speaker 1: by IGS Energy. I'm Jeff Jonniak along my broadcast partner
Speaker 1: from news Radio seven eighty one to five point nine
Speaker 1: f WBBM. Mister Tom Thair, the edgy Tom fare right now.
Speaker 1: It's that part of camp at these dog days for
Speaker 1: a time there. But I will say that yesterday my
Speaker 1: mom was looking at the new year book of the
Speaker 1: Chicago Bears and she goes, Cody, I like that name.
Speaker 1: Is he a nice boy? My mom's eighty six years old.
Speaker 1: Is he a nice boy? As we editor say, fellow
Speaker 1: offensive lineman, one of Time Thayer's favorite guys, the now
Speaker 1: veteran center Cody white hair stepping in and stepping up
Speaker 1: today for our Bears All Access show. How are you
Speaker 1: doing good? How are you guys? Does it feel dog
Speaker 1: daish already? No? Were the rest of the league just
Speaker 1: started right? You know, we're coming off an off day.
Speaker 1: We had a good practice today and I'm really excited
Speaker 1: for Thursday. You know, moving around within this new terminology
Speaker 1: of this new offense. You know, it seems like you
Speaker 1: play a little bit faster every day with a little
Speaker 1: bit more knowledge, with a little bit better understanding. Is
Speaker 1: that the tempo it seemed to you in full pads
Speaker 1: since you've been here. Yeah, I think you know, as
Speaker 1: you learn the offense, it's just it helps you play
Speaker 1: a little bit faster. And you know, as we continue
Speaker 1: to run these plays, you kind of see the same
Speaker 1: thing and kind of know what to expect. So, I mean,
Speaker 1: you're just gonna play a little bit faster with nature,
Speaker 1: that's for sure. You're a multiple position player. When you're
Speaker 1: understanding and digesting the center position, is there enough carry
Speaker 1: over to guards? So Cody left guard? This play? Is that? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I think you know a lot of the stuff carries
Speaker 1: over as long as you you know, kind of know
Speaker 1: the basics of everything. You can sure slide over there
Speaker 1: and get the job done, for sure. I know it's
Speaker 1: it's something, it's part of your makeup. You're you know,
Speaker 1: whatever you need, coach, I'm in. I'll do whatever, And
Speaker 1: same with you. I don't know early in your career,
Speaker 1: if you had to, you know, do all that too.
Speaker 1: You know you want to do it because that's what
Speaker 1: your job is. But at the same time, man, I'm
Speaker 1: just starting to really get the rhythm right here and
Speaker 1: I'd love to stay here. Yeah, did that enter your mind? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, of course it does at times. You know,
Speaker 1: you just get more comfortable if you stay in one spot, obviously,
Speaker 1: But I've always been a team guy and I'm always
Speaker 1: going to do what they ask me to do, and
Speaker 1: that's how that goes well. Any thing about your talent
Speaker 1: is they go and they draft a guy like James Daniels. Okay,
Speaker 1: Cody can play anywhere? Where does James play as best?
Speaker 1: And it's kind of neat to figure out that puzzle
Speaker 1: each year because uniquely enough, you have the talents to
Speaker 1: play anywhere. Sometimes that's a curse as much as it
Speaker 1: is a good thing, because if you are a twelve
Speaker 1: year center. That's what your life is focused on here.
Speaker 1: It's it's multiple position player, but you could possibly have
Speaker 1: a stake in how James Daniels develops. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: And I'm just here to help James whatever he needs,
Speaker 1: you know, whether it be guard or center. Um, you
Speaker 1: know I've played both positions, and you know I can
Speaker 1: try and help him as much as I can. He's
Speaker 1: played tackle, two folks, so you know, you never know
Speaker 1: when the day might now. Have you taken a rep
Speaker 1: at tackle in your professional career, either in one on
Speaker 1: ones or team or anything. I haven't not at this
Speaker 1: because he's grinning me because this is not something that
Speaker 1: you need right Well, No, you know, it's interesting because
Speaker 1: I watched traits and linemen that I've played multiple positions.
Speaker 1: I do the same thing with Jordan Morgan, a young
Speaker 1: kid they drafted last year, played tackle in college. Now
Speaker 1: he's sunk down into guard, and when I watch him
Speaker 1: do different things technically, I say, Okay, can this carry
Speaker 1: out one more space? And I look at the same
Speaker 1: value with you that I would Jordan or James Daniels
Speaker 1: in terms of center or guard. Yeah, And I mean
Speaker 1: it just helps you. On Game day two, with only
Speaker 1: having seven guys being able to play even though multiple positions,
Speaker 1: and you know, hopefully not missing a beat with that
Speaker 1: next guy coming in. Heck, you know you've seen it all.
Speaker 1: I mean you've seen a lot happen in your short time.
Speaker 1: What happens on Sundays, I mean, it's it's pretty crazy.
Speaker 1: What can go south on you in a hurry? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it does. You know I experienced that last year firsthand,
Speaker 1: you know, playing three different positions in one game. You know,
Speaker 1: But like I said, I'm a team guy and I'll
Speaker 1: help the team whatever we need. You know, what's crazy
Speaker 1: is what people don't talk a lot about. You've had
Speaker 1: three different offensive line coaches, three different personalities, three different styles,
Speaker 1: three different stress points. I really like what I'm seeing
Speaker 1: on different tempers, right, And that's the thing about it
Speaker 1: is everybody wants to talk about going through different offenses.
Speaker 1: But how about you know, you got a guy like
Speaker 1: Cody who's learning multiple positions, got a different offensive line
Speaker 1: coach each year, and now you know you're on your
Speaker 1: third system and third coach. Yeah, I can for sure
Speaker 1: make it a little bit tough. Obviously as an offensive lineman,
Speaker 1: there's you know things that carry over as well. Um,
Speaker 1: there's certain little details and little technique you know, a
Speaker 1: different offensive line coach will bring in. But for the
Speaker 1: most part, um, you know, the transition has been easy
Speaker 1: and smooth. But uh, you know, I gotta give it
Speaker 1: to my teammates and other coaches for really, you know,
Speaker 1: helping me through. Did you have the same offensive line
Speaker 1: coach in college for four years? I did? You did? See?
Speaker 1: At least you get consistency about the technique they want
Speaker 1: you to perform at that level. In things, subtleties can
Speaker 1: change because you know, us watching this offense developed, we're
Speaker 1: so used to seeing three five step drops. No more.
Speaker 1: Now it's our po you know, and it's different the
Speaker 1: way that defensive players have to look at the challenges
Speaker 1: they face and trying to decide that is shotgun. I
Speaker 1: think last year fifty percent of the time that's it shotgun, right,
Speaker 1: That's that's not a lot that's comparatively to the league.
Speaker 1: Definitely a change, um, you know, but we're really excited
Speaker 1: with the offense they coach Naggies brought in and coach
Speaker 1: Helfrich and you know, all the hard work they've done.
Speaker 1: It's gonna it's gonna carry over and be really good
Speaker 1: for us this year. Tom and I were talking this
Speaker 1: morning or last night, one of the two. It doesn't
Speaker 1: relate to the Bears, but it relates to the mindset
Speaker 1: of an offense lines. So Tony Sperrano passes away suddenly
Speaker 1: last week and the Vikings now are in scramble mode
Speaker 1: as camp gets under way and they promote from within
Speaker 1: and they shuffle things around. Uh. To me, and I
Speaker 1: said this to Tom this morning, that's one position coach
Speaker 1: that you just can't just plug in and go. I mean,
Speaker 1: this is all that's a whole dear. You can move
Speaker 1: guys around, and defensive coaches become offensive coaches. You know. Uh,
Speaker 1: we had Jerry Fontino coaching tight ends, running backs. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know former guys up. Andy Reid was a former
Speaker 1: left tackle for BYU and now he's the head coach.
Speaker 1: And he's talking about an offensive minded coach that's one
Speaker 1: of the best in the league, but offensive line coach
Speaker 1: that's a different breed. How hard would that be for
Speaker 1: any team going through that? Yeah, that would be really hard. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, especially you know as guys come in, you know,
Speaker 1: newer guys or guys in free agency and you know,
Speaker 1: they come in and they really study throughout that five
Speaker 1: weeks of OTAs and stuff of learning that technique, and
Speaker 1: then you know, right before training camp that happens, and
Speaker 1: what a sad deal it was. Um, you know Tom Compton,
Speaker 1: he was here last year, is with the Minnesota Vikings
Speaker 1: this year. You know, so we kind of talked to
Speaker 1: him about it and he said it was, you know,
Speaker 1: a really sad moment. And you know that they're really
Speaker 1: going to miss him up there, right he's excellent coach
Speaker 1: number one. And then you know, you don't wish any
Speaker 1: ill will and any team it's competitive obviously, so it'll
Speaker 1: be it'll be interesting to see how that all transpires
Speaker 1: over the course of the season because you know this
Speaker 1: guy right here to my right, Tom there, he talks
Speaker 1: about his offensive line coach, Dicksta but almost every single
Speaker 1: day to this day. I mean, he's had that much
Speaker 1: of an imprint on him. And I see him with
Speaker 1: you if you guys said you can't get out of
Speaker 1: your head of what do I think the bond that
Speaker 1: offensive lineman have and it takes all five of us
Speaker 1: to make you know, one play go up front. I
Speaker 1: mean that's where it all starts. You know, it all
Speaker 1: starts up there, and you know you got to have
Speaker 1: all five and you know, turning over to all eleven
Speaker 1: guys to make a play work. So you know, it's
Speaker 1: just it's great to have, you know, that continuity on
Speaker 1: the line and in the closeness for sure. You know,
Speaker 1: the coming the personalities they brought Allen Robinson and Taylor
Speaker 1: Gabriel and Trey Burton, what are those guys like? Well,
Speaker 1: you know when you get you know, Trey Burton's coming
Speaker 1: from success, Taylor Gabriel's coming from success and he wants more.
Speaker 1: Alan Robinson recover from an injury. That is a successful player, Like,
Speaker 1: how do you you're not they're not an offensive lineman.
Speaker 1: But how do you get to know those guys? How
Speaker 1: do you get to see their personality? You definitely shit
Speaker 1: in the locker room, m you know, getting ready for
Speaker 1: practice and you know, games and stuff. But they've been
Speaker 1: really great, you know, and they've really brought very positive
Speaker 1: energy from those teams that they've been on that they've
Speaker 1: had so much success with and just the attitude they
Speaker 1: bring every day is great to see. Has Matt change
Speaker 1: the locker room at all? Are you guys still in
Speaker 1: the same position you were at the conclusion the last season. Um,
Speaker 1: he switched it up a little bit. Um as far
Speaker 1: as guys get, you know, in different spots in the
Speaker 1: locker room and stuff like that, which you know is
Speaker 1: good to get and no different position groups. Who's going
Speaker 1: to be your new locker mate? I don't know. In
Speaker 1: the off season it was a keym so you know,
Speaker 1: I got to got to spend some time with the
Speaker 1: keying for sure. Yeah. Well, you guys spent a lot
Speaker 1: of time staring at each other across the line of
Speaker 1: scrimmage and Eddy Goldman for that matter. We'll pick up
Speaker 1: that conversation after a break. You're listening to Bears All Access.
Speaker 1: Cody Whitehair our special guest for tonight's show with Tom There.
Speaker 1: I'm Jeff Joniac on Chicago's Ports Radio six seventy The Score.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Bears All Access, brought to you by
Speaker 1: IGS Energy, a proud partner of the Chicago Bears, providing electricity,
Speaker 1: natural gas, and home warranty products to over one million
Speaker 1: customers across the country. Learn more about IGS Energy at
Speaker 1: igs dot com. Cody Whitehair, our guest, Jeff Joniac and
Speaker 1: Tom There here on Bears All Access before the break
Speaker 1: we started talking. You're a locker mate at least you
Speaker 1: were in the off season with a Keem Hicks. You're
Speaker 1: facing him and a snarling defensive lineman along with Eddie Goldman,
Speaker 1: who's a hard guy to root out of there. Have
Speaker 1: you noticed any change at all in demeanor of the
Speaker 1: defense given its continu vic back three years, two years
Speaker 1: in some cases four years together with Vic, certain guys
Speaker 1: on that defense, Is there a swagger brewing? Do you
Speaker 1: sense because I do? Just eyes on it. You're in it,
Speaker 1: you tell us I do sense it. Um. They're playing
Speaker 1: really well together right now. Very awesome to see. You know,
Speaker 1: they were top ten defense last year, and I think
Speaker 1: you know with that momentum coming into this season and
Speaker 1: you know, pretty much a majority of the guys stayed
Speaker 1: the same. Like you were talking, the continuity level, it's
Speaker 1: just it increases there and helps him play better on
Speaker 1: the field, for sure. A lot more chatter from the
Speaker 1: defense now, a lot more chatter. But you guys, you
Speaker 1: guys have some guys on offense now they're speaking up too,
Speaker 1: not the least of which is a guy that entertains me,
Speaker 1: regardless of what he's doing. We haven't gotten to know
Speaker 1: him that well yet. You think I'm gonna say tere Com,
Speaker 1: but I'm gonna tell Anthony Miller, Yeah, he's great about
Speaker 1: this guy, He's great, um, really good player, you know,
Speaker 1: really excited to have him and we're really excited to
Speaker 1: see what he can do this year. Well, it's gonna
Speaker 1: be interesting because I think all Bears fans are interested
Speaker 1: to see what your total offense can do. Because you
Speaker 1: have the privilege of access to the entire playbook, we
Speaker 1: kind of get fed snippets of what it's gonna be like.
Speaker 1: Is it more exciting and practice than you perceive will
Speaker 1: take place in the games, because it seems like teams
Speaker 1: do things in practice specifically, but you really don't see
Speaker 1: them unveiled until there are opponents in their regular season.
Speaker 1: Is there a lot in storage than what we're going
Speaker 1: to see in the games. I'm not. I assume, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, And I think it'll be different week to
Speaker 1: week for sure too. Is there anything that's caught you differently, like,
Speaker 1: I mean, do you have any different assignments according to
Speaker 1: the offensive line? Do you have to hold protections longer?
Speaker 1: Do you have to hold them wide or do you
Speaker 1: have a quickness in what you have the way you
Speaker 1: have to respond to a play or is it the
Speaker 1: same tempo that we're used to. I'm sure it'll be
Speaker 1: a little bit more up tempo, you know, but a
Speaker 1: lot of it's the same. Yeah, Cody White here, I
Speaker 1: guess here on Bears All Access on Chicago Sports Radio
Speaker 1: six seventy to score, pausing or engineering. Greg Miller is
Speaker 1: helping us out pinch hit and uh, you know he's
Speaker 1: the big man in the department, but you know he's
Speaker 1: filling in the blanks. Playoff Beard. He's got the playoff
Speaker 1: Beard going and we're ready to go here, so does
Speaker 1: Cody By you know. Yeah, you're gonna keep that all year.
Speaker 1: I'll keep it, yeah, doing right. I don't remember. Do
Speaker 1: you have it? Last year? I had it? It wasn't
Speaker 1: as full. I kind of kept it down. Take it
Speaker 1: makes your chin strap feel more comfortable, it does. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna keep it going as long as I can.
Speaker 1: Here for sure. We got a Hall of Fame game
Speaker 1: coming up on Thursday, and can't Ohio, First, let's talk
Speaker 1: about that as a rookie. All rookies they go and
Speaker 1: to check it out right, So you've already been there
Speaker 1: or were you? No? No, so all rookies don't go there.
Speaker 1: I thought they take him there. So for the symposium
Speaker 1: deal you're talking. Yeah, Yeah, we didn't end up going
Speaker 1: this year. We did it interesting at House Hall. We
Speaker 1: did a kind of our rookie transition program there. Um,
Speaker 1: I think we were one of the first groups of
Speaker 1: rookies they didn't go to the Hall of Fame. But yeah,
Speaker 1: we just did it at home. So I'm really looking
Speaker 1: forward to seeing that for sure. So yeah, so you've
Speaker 1: never been there, what do you want to see? You
Speaker 1: like that? I mean, what's gonna as a football fan now,
Speaker 1: because you got to take that part of it now
Speaker 1: you're you're paid professional. But now the kidding you walks
Speaker 1: into a Hall of Fame, right, I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: growing up watching football, you know, you see all the
Speaker 1: great players and she you know how awesome it is,
Speaker 1: and that ultimate goal you're working for, um, you know,
Speaker 1: is to win a Super Bowl and be in the
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame as an individual of course, you know,
Speaker 1: so anytime you can go through there and see, you know,
Speaker 1: the names of everybody that's been in there is pretty cool.
Speaker 1: It's My experience is there is like you walk through
Speaker 1: and you get to see the busts of all the
Speaker 1: greats that have been in trine into the Hall of Fame,
Speaker 1: and you see him in the course of the time,
Speaker 1: and you know, always up on stage with him. Then
Speaker 1: you get to see him in person and comparison of
Speaker 1: looks that they really looked like the person not. But
Speaker 1: I I was telling Jeff that as you go through
Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame and the concludes where that has um,
Speaker 1: every one of the Super Bowl rings that I've ever
Speaker 1: been handed out are all displayed together. And that's the
Speaker 1: one that where body stop and they send they look
Speaker 1: at him over the years, they look at the size
Speaker 1: and comparison of some of them. But that's the one
Speaker 1: exhibit that stops everybody in their tracks. Yeah I didn't
Speaker 1: know about that. Yeah, that'll be you'll laugh because everyone
Speaker 1: if you stand there and listen to the conversation from
Speaker 1: visitors and what, oh my god, look how small they
Speaker 1: used to be. You know, it looks like your wedding ring.
Speaker 1: And then you know, then the newest ones get bigger
Speaker 1: and bigger and gaudier and gaudier, and Tom, I believe
Speaker 1: I've seen it once, but he he doesn't bring it out.
Speaker 1: I don't even know. Do you know where it is?
Speaker 1: And don't you better value I see that thing? Man,
Speaker 1: Come on, I know where it can't be very you know,
Speaker 1: that's a long time ago. I don't have big I
Speaker 1: haven't taken it out since the Super Bowl the Bears
Speaker 1: went to against Indianapolis. That's the last time that I've
Speaker 1: seen it. Did you take it to Indie huh? Or
Speaker 1: you take it to my Okay? So we must. I
Speaker 1: wanted to wear it the day of the game. Um,
Speaker 1: and I don't know if I did, because it's different.
Speaker 1: You know, now, Cody your three hundred and forty pounds
Speaker 1: your fingers, but what you can whack him one. You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying is Cody's a big guy right now.
Speaker 1: So they win a Super Bowl. They measure your finger
Speaker 1: when you shrink and you get smaller, your finger shrink.
Speaker 1: Now it spins on my finger like it doesn't even
Speaker 1: belong to me. But I would have to have yarn
Speaker 1: and stuff in the bottom just to wear It's the
Speaker 1: whole thing is about the ring. It's symbolism. Obviously, what
Speaker 1: goes into it is what really matters. Hardly. You know,
Speaker 1: what goes into the ring is the memories that you
Speaker 1: got to get the ring, because I can go through
Speaker 1: a thousand stories right now that led up to earning
Speaker 1: a super Bowl ring and their stories of relevance to
Speaker 1: Cody with ex offensive lineman or the teammates that you
Speaker 1: became friends with for life. You know, won't that be
Speaker 1: something when it happens. Yeah, it's it's our ultimate goal
Speaker 1: and you know, just I think we have the talent
Speaker 1: to do it this year and it's it's it's real
Speaker 1: exciting year. Force. Have you ever won a championship at
Speaker 1: any level of your athletic life and any sport? Think
Speaker 1: it through now. So I won a Big twelve championship
Speaker 1: when I was at Case State and that was pretty cool,
Speaker 1: you know, but we didn't make it to the national championship.
Speaker 1: But other than that, I mean, I can't remember another
Speaker 1: championship other than that one. You know, some of these
Speaker 1: kids on this team, you know, they went fourth straight,
Speaker 1: They unbeaten high school career, like this guy right about
Speaker 1: after being a hasban and an ex bear. I would
Speaker 1: want to be here to be a part of the
Speaker 1: parade because I think when we went on a parade
Speaker 1: and eighty five. We are all in experienced at what
Speaker 1: the parade was going to be an eighty five and
Speaker 1: the temperature and everything. It would be unbelievable experience to
Speaker 1: be an observer of a Super Bowl season and then
Speaker 1: be in a parade and then be more of an observer,
Speaker 1: for sure, absolutely, especially in this town, no question about it.
Speaker 1: So the reason the Bears are playing the Ravens obviously,
Speaker 1: two of the best middle linebackers in NFL history are
Speaker 1: going in ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens and Brian
Speaker 1: Earlick or two different players, two very different personalities, two
Speaker 1: different emotional type players, two different sizes, both extremely successful
Speaker 1: in both piling up the statistics that get you there.
Speaker 1: But for me and you've I'm assuming you've met Brian.
Speaker 1: He hasn't been around that much around the building, but
Speaker 1: if you did, you'd see a genuine guy, and you know,
Speaker 1: the intangibles of him being a great leader and a
Speaker 1: great teammate. Didn't have to be outspoken. It's just how
Speaker 1: he carried himself and how he cared about his teammates.
Speaker 1: You have a lot of that in you. You're that
Speaker 1: type of person. Everybody talks about you in that way.
Speaker 1: Don't mean to embarrass you, but that's that's the truth
Speaker 1: of the matter. And those kind of guys in a
Speaker 1: locker room are extremely valuable. They're more than just glue guys.
Speaker 1: But there is an element of that. Do you feel
Speaker 1: you're that type of guy as well? Yeah, I definitely
Speaker 1: want to, you know, put myself in that category for sure. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, like I've always said, I've always been a
Speaker 1: team first guy. What's best for the team, and you know,
Speaker 1: always here to help my teammates win. That's that's my
Speaker 1: main goal is you know, what can I do to
Speaker 1: help this team win? Um? Like you said, no matter
Speaker 1: what position I play at. Um, But if I can
Speaker 1: bring some of that off the field too, you know,
Speaker 1: guys can count on me to come talk to about
Speaker 1: stuff that they need or you know, picking guys up
Speaker 1: when they're down and stuff like that. You know, I
Speaker 1: think all that correlates into them having a lot of
Speaker 1: trust on trust in you both on and off the
Speaker 1: field as well. Sounds good to me. That's what spells leader.
Speaker 1: Cody Whitehair, our guest here on Bears All Access. We're
Speaker 1: gonna take a break more conversation with the Bear starting
Speaker 1: center after this on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy The Score.
Speaker 1: Sign your child up for a fun, non contact Chicago
Speaker 1: Bears Youth football camp brought to you by Gatorade and
Speaker 1: Athletico Physical Therapy. Visit www Dot bearscamps dot com to
Speaker 1: save fifty dollars today. Jeff Joni Act, Tom Fair, Cody
Speaker 1: Whitehair our guest counting you down really to a preseason opener,
Speaker 1: one of five games on the schedule for the Bears
Speaker 1: in twenty eighteen. In the preseason, they'll take on the
Speaker 1: Ravens of Baltimore in Kenton, Ohio, coming up on Thursday.
Speaker 1: You can hear the game on news radio seven eighty
Speaker 1: and one h five point nine f WBBM as. We'll
Speaker 1: bring it to you Tom and I and the gang,
Speaker 1: and we'll have pregame coverage as well with the fellas.
Speaker 1: So it'll be exciting. Good to get back it. Added again,
Speaker 1: have you talked about reps at all? No, we have, Okay, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I just assume you're gonna play and whatever happens there.
Speaker 1: That's the best way to do it. Tom told me
Speaker 1: a story about his preseason his first year with the Bears,
Speaker 1: in eighty five one, don't you retell the story. It
Speaker 1: was different back then because if you were a starter,
Speaker 1: you played the whole game. So I never got into
Speaker 1: a game until the second half of the last preseason
Speaker 1: game my first year here with the Bears, and I
Speaker 1: was just assuming I was going to get cut. It's
Speaker 1: because I hadn't played at all. But but they were
Speaker 1: playing the whole game, so it wasn't like, you know,
Speaker 1: you just kind of sat there waiting in the wings
Speaker 1: for your opportunity. It's different these days, and you know,
Speaker 1: nowadays they have to get some reps, important reps to
Speaker 1: guys to help make a roster decision. You Kyle, Bobby Massey,
Speaker 1: Charles aren't going to get a ton of work time,
Speaker 1: but the other guys should. Yeah, it's it's always fun
Speaker 1: to you know, prepare for those games as well, you know,
Speaker 1: getting back into the swing of things after having six
Speaker 1: months off, you know, getting getting against a different opponent
Speaker 1: instead of practicing against ourselves. So we're really excited. And
Speaker 1: like I said, I haven't heard anything about Rip yet,
Speaker 1: but we're you know, preparing to play for sure. You know,
Speaker 1: it's fun. One of the new personalities brought here is
Speaker 1: Earl Watford, and so I had a hard time learning
Speaker 1: his name at the beginning, and he came up to
Speaker 1: the other day he says, no one has ever butchered
Speaker 1: my name worse than you ever, and so that we
Speaker 1: got things straightened out. But it was confused. But he's
Speaker 1: been a nice inclusion to the interior. If you offensive line,
Speaker 1: he's versatile right in the left guard. He's got some experience,
Speaker 1: so he's going to be an interesting candidate down the
Speaker 1: road to be out here fighting for a position. For sure.
Speaker 1: He's great. He's a great addition for our offense. Um.
Speaker 1: Like you said, he can play both right and left
Speaker 1: and he's even played a little bit of tackle too,
Speaker 1: So you know, given that you know where you only
Speaker 1: shoot up seven guys, it's always nice to have a
Speaker 1: guy that can kind of sounds like a Cody Whitehair
Speaker 1: right and left center, and he can play tackle if
Speaker 1: he has to. I don't know about tackle right now,
Speaker 1: but you know, I'm sure I could do it if
Speaker 1: they needed me to. And then you get to Eric Cush.
Speaker 1: Eric is also another versat old player. Hey, the more
Speaker 1: you can do thinking, But you know, in the offseason,
Speaker 1: you guys had that bond of being there together. But
Speaker 1: when you're including these new guys, has it been an
Speaker 1: easy transition to bring all these new guys, the young
Speaker 1: guys coming up as everybody's in a different stage of
Speaker 1: their life. Some are married, some have kids, some don't.
Speaker 1: Some guys are you know, just just coming into the
Speaker 1: league and and and just looking for friendship and uh
Speaker 1: and camaraderie off the field as well. Yeah, it's been great. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, the guys that we've kept are great too, Um,
Speaker 1: you know, but the additions we've had this year, you know,
Speaker 1: with you know the rookies and earl Um you know,
Speaker 1: and getting cushed back healthy and you know Heronous Grosser
Speaker 1: two being in that mix. Um, you know, we've just
Speaker 1: really formed together pretty tight the last you know, five
Speaker 1: weeks of OTAs and you know, you just it's crazy
Speaker 1: how you know, everyone kind of you know goes away
Speaker 1: for the five weeks before camp, but it feels like,
Speaker 1: you know, our group text message is always going off
Speaker 1: and we're always you know, keeping in touch and making
Speaker 1: sure you know, guys are doing the right thing and
Speaker 1: keeping up with their workouts and everything. So I think
Speaker 1: we have a pretty tight group and it's gonna be
Speaker 1: a lot of fun this year. Hey, can you talk
Speaker 1: about the importance that I was fortunate to spend a
Speaker 1: couple of days in the weight room this offseason and
Speaker 1: it changed a lot. That atmosphere in there is competitive,
Speaker 1: it's encouraging, and it's a it's a room that you
Speaker 1: guys are gaining enormous amounts of strength. And I think
Speaker 1: it's important because strength is confidence. Talk a little bit
Speaker 1: about that, because I did see you know, maybe her
Speaker 1: own'st miss a weight and then you guys all encourage
Speaker 1: him and he comes and he does even a better attempt.
Speaker 1: Next I saw Charles Lintel Jr. Do the same thing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it's it's definitely been a lot more powerful,
Speaker 1: you know, Olympic style lifting this this uh, you know,
Speaker 1: off season, it's been great. Um, you know, it's it's
Speaker 1: it's you know, like you said, it's different than we
Speaker 1: were last year. Um, you know, and it's great to
Speaker 1: have you know, Jason in there with us as well. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, And that's what we do. That's that's what
Speaker 1: offensive lineman do. If somebody you know needs a little
Speaker 1: pick me up, you're always there to pick him up
Speaker 1: and that's you know, it gives him a little bit
Speaker 1: more energy to get that extra rip. But it's nice
Speaker 1: that it's spilled over the defensive side of the ball.
Speaker 1: Going in there and seeing these guys kind of encourage
Speaker 1: each other, and hey man, the stronger you are as
Speaker 1: a team, the better effort you're gonna get in, the
Speaker 1: healthier it's probably gonna keep you during the season. Yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure. And they've done a great job over there,
Speaker 1: the wage staff, you know, with doing that. But like
Speaker 1: you said, I think offensive defensive lineman had need to
Speaker 1: be you know, tough and grind those you know, heavy
Speaker 1: weightlifting now to carry over on the field. What was
Speaker 1: it like a Kansas State similar? It was very similar.
Speaker 1: You know, UM coach Sneider kind of had the old
Speaker 1: school mind of you know, olympical lifting, and well when
Speaker 1: you're eighty some years old, you got you just got
Speaker 1: your mind. It's not right, you know, it's just how
Speaker 1: he was. He believed in heavy lifting, and you know
Speaker 1: that's what we did. And uh, you know, our our
Speaker 1: coach there, coach Dawson, did a great job with us.
Speaker 1: But you know, a lot of that's kind of came
Speaker 1: back this year and you know, I've I've kind of
Speaker 1: had a little bit of background with that Olympic lifting.
Speaker 1: So is that, like Tom says, strength is confidence for you?
Speaker 1: Do you agree with that? Is that important? You mean
Speaker 1: you made fifty one college starts, so you didn't get
Speaker 1: you if you were banged up, you were still playing.
Speaker 1: You've start, You've played off thirty two of your games
Speaker 1: with the Bears. Knock on wood, keep going. I mean
Speaker 1: does that matter to you? Does that? Is that helped you? Absolutely?
Speaker 1: I think you know, anytime you can, you can use
Speaker 1: your extra time, your extra free time, the time you have,
Speaker 1: you know, to really take care of your body for
Speaker 1: one and for two, you know, use that strength and
Speaker 1: power that we use constantly in the trenches to you know,
Speaker 1: help your game, enhance your game. Um. You know, so
Speaker 1: any chance we can get um, you know in the
Speaker 1: weight room and get stronger, it is only going to
Speaker 1: help our confidence out there. And you know we won't
Speaker 1: have to worry about guys outpowering us or you know,
Speaker 1: certain injuries due to you know, lack of training. Well,
Speaker 1: that's what it is, you know. I the competitive sense
Speaker 1: of strength is something you always try to get out
Speaker 1: of yourself to go out there and compete. But there's
Speaker 1: a couple of times in the in the slippery fields,
Speaker 1: the first three days of practice when the rain was relentless,
Speaker 1: or even when it was trying to dry up, and
Speaker 1: I saw you power or block and then kind of
Speaker 1: slide a little bit. And the reason that you can
Speaker 1: recover from that is because of the effort you put
Speaker 1: in the weight room. That's what a lot of people
Speaker 1: only they only concentrate weight room with strength, But weight
Speaker 1: room is durability in the structure of your body to
Speaker 1: withstand some of the punishment that you go through. And
Speaker 1: that's why you talk about the number of games that
Speaker 1: Cody has started. It's a direct effect of weight room
Speaker 1: relatable to the sport you play. It makes be a
Speaker 1: silly question because because I haven't done any Olympic weightlifting,
Speaker 1: I'm sure you could take one look at me and
Speaker 1: see that's not a shock. Does it affect when you're
Speaker 1: adding muscle over the course of an offseason and I
Speaker 1: don't know how much you added in this off season.
Speaker 1: Maybe you're willing to tell us, maybe you're not. But
Speaker 1: does it affect things like balance? Does it affect your
Speaker 1: core strength in a way that you feel like you
Speaker 1: can drop your anchor a little bit and deal with
Speaker 1: a bullrush down the middle of your chest. I mean,
Speaker 1: is that tangible evidence showing on your day to day practice,
Speaker 1: I believe. So give me some examples, you know. I
Speaker 1: think with the power clean you know that we do
Speaker 1: a lot. It's it's basically a full body workout. I
Speaker 1: mean you you know, if you if you're gonna squat
Speaker 1: that weight, you know, once you clean it. I mean
Speaker 1: it's a lot of core too, um, you know, and
Speaker 1: it and it correlates over to you know, taking a bullrush,
Speaker 1: you know, taking a few steps, you know, locking in,
Speaker 1: sitting your butt down and locking your core in. Um,
Speaker 1: you know. So I think it definitely carries over and
Speaker 1: you know, our squats and all this that we do. Um.
Speaker 1: You know. Obviously up front, your legs have to be
Speaker 1: powerful because you're constantly using them to move you know,
Speaker 1: large massive men up there. Um you know. So any
Speaker 1: chance you can get to to improve your strength is
Speaker 1: always always a benefit for offensive defensive lineing. One of
Speaker 1: the most educated weightlifters in the world is here in
Speaker 1: Clyde Emeric and that's no exaggeration, but he has these
Speaker 1: sayings that kind of compute to what you're trying to do.
Speaker 1: He'll say something, you can't shoot a cannon from a canoe,
Speaker 1: and that means you have to have the lower body
Speaker 1: strength and structure to support what you're trying to do
Speaker 1: up top. In those little sayings, they do mean a lot,
Speaker 1: and when you think about them, the effort that you
Speaker 1: have to put in in order to maintain top and
Speaker 1: bottom equally. It's a lot of hard work. And I always,
Speaker 1: you know, say that if you're not dedicated to the offseason,
Speaker 1: you cannot play professional sports. And that's one of the
Speaker 1: things that impresses me about a guy like Lebron James.
Speaker 1: Everybody wants to think he's great, but if you don't
Speaker 1: sit there and spend you know, fifty forty hours a
Speaker 1: week in different types of body management, you're not gonna
Speaker 1: And we don't even know what he's really putting on.
Speaker 1: But I mean, if you put on armor in the
Speaker 1: three years here, you have Yeah, for sure, I definitely have. UM.
Speaker 1: You know, I've gotten a lot stronger. UM. So if
Speaker 1: you were ripping to twenty five of the combine to day,
Speaker 1: what would it be like? I could definitely I'd say
Speaker 1: probably mid mid to upp twenties for sure, um, you know.
Speaker 1: And and the other thing is is like, you know
Speaker 1: guys that come in that are rookies from college, you know,
Speaker 1: and they don't know what to expect, you know, They're
Speaker 1: they're constantly having you know, organized workouts. Well, you come
Speaker 1: here and you get very little time to work out,
Speaker 1: so they have to take that initiative to really work
Speaker 1: you know, on theirselves for the off season and get
Speaker 1: ready to come back for you know, the most physical
Speaker 1: part of you know, our careers in training camp and
Speaker 1: getting ready for the season, right. You know, it's weird
Speaker 1: too as you get older. When I remember got into
Speaker 1: my thirties and I was still playing, then you kind
Speaker 1: of think, do you know I need to reinvent myself
Speaker 1: or keep doing the same thing that got me to
Speaker 1: this point. At one point I did. I said, Oh,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna lose some weight. I'm gonna try to get faster.
Speaker 1: And one of the coaches came up to me within
Speaker 1: the first day, the first couple days of practice, the
Speaker 1: defensive coach. He says, Tom, I suggest you put that
Speaker 1: weight back on that you lost in the off season,
Speaker 1: and I did. I went right back to eating and
Speaker 1: gaining weight because it was a bad experience that I
Speaker 1: thought I knew enough to go through and it was
Speaker 1: not the right thing. It was the consistency of living
Speaker 1: by the rules of Clyde Emeric that was gonna help
Speaker 1: us in our generation. That's Tom There, Kitty white Hair
Speaker 1: with us as well. This is be all access from
Speaker 1: Bear's training camp. We'll continue after this break on Sports
Speaker 1: Radio six seventy. The Score. Yeah. The latest Bears news,
Speaker 1: photos and videos delivered straight to your mobile device. Download
Speaker 1: the Chicago Bears Official mobile app, presented by Verizon. Jeff Joning, act,
Speaker 1: Tom There, and Cody Whitehair, a third year center out
Speaker 1: of Kansas State. Our guest pause a wry Or engineer
Speaker 1: Greg Miller, our producer today. Hope you're enjoying the show.
Speaker 1: We're getting ready for the regular season to come, and
Speaker 1: it can't come soon enough. Once the first preseason game comes, Man,
Speaker 1: the schedule is all weird. You're playing a couple of
Speaker 1: days later, like you know, so this game is on
Speaker 1: a Saturday, and you got a Thursday, then you got
Speaker 1: an afternoon game against the Chiefs and you're going to Denver.
Speaker 1: Do you like the idea and the concept? Not that
Speaker 1: you have a saying it by any means, but as
Speaker 1: you experience with the Patriots a couple of years ago,
Speaker 1: practicing against the Broncos before you play them in Saturday
Speaker 1: in Mile High Stadium. Yeah, I think it's fun to
Speaker 1: you know, get out there and practice against a different opponent,
Speaker 1: for sure. You know, anytime you can get some extra
Speaker 1: work against, you know, a different opponent's always fun as well.
Speaker 1: But you know, we're really looking forward to the start
Speaker 1: a preseason and once you know, you start getting into
Speaker 1: the preseason games, that season openers right there too, so
Speaker 1: you know, we're really excited for that. Back in the day,
Speaker 1: in training cap we would have an inner squad scrimmage
Speaker 1: that was live, full go. And I never liked playing
Speaker 1: against Steve McMichael because I practice against them every day.
Speaker 1: So now you're gonna go in Denver, You're gonna practice
Speaker 1: against these guys for four days. He did it in
Speaker 1: New England. Does that give you an advantage of disadvantage?
Speaker 1: Do you like it or you don't like it? Practicing
Speaker 1: it against the guy and then playing against them, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it definitely makes it a little bit tough
Speaker 1: because they kind of see what you have and they
Speaker 1: can kind of you know, plan for that and plan
Speaker 1: for they they get into the rhythm of the quarterbacks
Speaker 1: voice as well. Hold something back a little bit, you know,
Speaker 1: give him a give him a curveball. And on the Saturday. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and like you said, Tom, um, you know, they get
Speaker 1: to hear you know, our cadences and stuff and they
Speaker 1: can use that to their advantage. Well, but you know,
Speaker 1: it is great competition. It's great to you know, go
Speaker 1: against a different team too, and um, you know it
Speaker 1: works both ways. We get to see their stuff, they
Speaker 1: get to see our stuff. So um, you know, should
Speaker 1: be an even match at the end of the day.
Speaker 1: Not to mention you're practicing in the mountains, Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: gonna be interesting. That'll be you know, a lot different
Speaker 1: with you know, the altitude and everything. I think he'll
Speaker 1: be better by game time than if you flew out
Speaker 1: there and played the game. I've had that experience plenty
Speaker 1: of times. But being out there, Yeah, talking to guys
Speaker 1: that have played in the altitude, you know, they they're like, yeah,
Speaker 1: it'll definitely affect you. Um, you know, so I think
Speaker 1: the few days we're out there before and we can
Speaker 1: we can kind of um, you know, get used to
Speaker 1: that altitude and don't don't do it. I don't do
Speaker 1: whatever you do. He's gonna he's gonna be embellishing, and
Speaker 1: he's prone to hyperbole. This is not accurate. So the
Speaker 1: Bears are flying out to Denver to plays play Denver
Speaker 1: and there's a card within in the seat pocket in
Speaker 1: front of you, and it tells you about air sickness,
Speaker 1: our altitude sickness. So he read it and he immediately
Speaker 1: go stop, don't interrupt me. So he reads it right,
Speaker 1: and he looks at me, goes, I'm getting sick. No, no, no, no.
Speaker 1: I went to the hotel, got violently sick. I dragged
Speaker 1: a coat across the lobby of the hotel that they
Speaker 1: gave him a brand new winter coat, dragging it like
Speaker 1: one of the Peanuts characters. Listen. And we had to
Speaker 1: do a TV show the first thing in the morning,
Speaker 1: and it's like thirty below zero, and I got the
Speaker 1: window down the stadium. So it's sad to say I
Speaker 1: had to go on IVY before the TV show. So
Speaker 1: you know, if Olin Kreutz was around seeing that, he'd say,
Speaker 1: you know, now I know why everybody says we're soft.
Speaker 1: He's an IV before a game, and no, honestly, I
Speaker 1: have difficulty, and I've been there on vacation, so that's
Speaker 1: why I know. But the one thing you're not supposed
Speaker 1: to do code not supposed when you get there. You're
Speaker 1: not supposed to have a huge meal or several alcoholic beverages,
Speaker 1: which on that particular we had friends that Tom invited
Speaker 1: us to dinner and I had both, and so that
Speaker 1: was a bad combination for me. But anyway, it was
Speaker 1: not It was not a mental thing. It was a
Speaker 1: real thing. And he's shaking his head and now you're
Speaker 1: looking at me. Money that means, I mean, what the heck?
Speaker 1: That What that means that the one point two million
Speaker 1: people that fly to Denver each day and have a
Speaker 1: meal that they would get. Anyway, let's move on to football,
Speaker 1: and let's talk about your quarterback, Mitch Trubisky. Um talking
Speaker 1: to you other day, we did an interview, and you
Speaker 1: guys are tight, and that is really the essence of
Speaker 1: center quarterback play. It would be wonderful, It would be
Speaker 1: a great story. And this year, third third season as
Speaker 1: the Bear starting center to have a ten year career
Speaker 1: with Mitch Trubisky and the two of you go walking
Speaker 1: down the road together into into history with the Bears.
Speaker 1: It would be great. Um, Mitch and I you know,
Speaker 1: like you said, are really close. We've really you know,
Speaker 1: formed a great bond over this this past um, you know,
Speaker 1: since he's been here. Um, you know, we really trusted
Speaker 1: each other. We you know, see see the field and
Speaker 1: under one set of eyes. We've you know, we study
Speaker 1: film together. I think, you know, that's what's that's what's
Speaker 1: helped us, you know, and our success up to this point. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, we're really excited to work with him for
Speaker 1: the season. And like I said, he's great. He's one
Speaker 1: of my best friends on the team, and you know,
Speaker 1: we're really excited to work with him. What about him
Speaker 1: and what about you? You think has made that such
Speaker 1: a because you never know, I mean, this is a
Speaker 1: business filled with egos and where you came from, depending
Speaker 1: what kind of attention you got in your life as
Speaker 1: a star player or not. I mean, he seems just
Speaker 1: like a genuine blue collar He's great Cleveland. He's the
Speaker 1: most genuine guy I've ever met. And I think the
Speaker 1: two things that we both have in common that will
Speaker 1: help this team and the reason we get along so well,
Speaker 1: is it's not about us. It's never about me, it's
Speaker 1: never about him. It's always about the team. And I
Speaker 1: think if you have a locker room filled guy filled
Speaker 1: full of guys, with guys that are like that, the
Speaker 1: team first and all they're about to do is win
Speaker 1: a championship. Guy's a limit for this, you know, this team,
Speaker 1: and I think, you know, we have so many more
Speaker 1: players that are like that this year and we're really excited.
Speaker 1: You know, there's always relationships within the team that are unique.
Speaker 1: Center quarterback is a unique relationship because there's little oddities
Speaker 1: to their relationship that are always you know, just kind
Speaker 1: of game consuming and stuff, and it's it's like the
Speaker 1: different friendships you developed. But you know, center quarterback there
Speaker 1: they rely on each other. You know, the quarterback is
Speaker 1: not going to have a successful play without a proper
Speaker 1: transition between he and the ball, shotgun under center or anything.
Speaker 1: So it is it is unique. And center quarterbacks they
Speaker 1: have different conversations than I would with an offensive tackle
Speaker 1: or I would with a center. Have has you given
Speaker 1: you the book The Captain's Class? Have you read this?
Speaker 1: I have read it. Ye, I read it last year.
Speaker 1: So this is what I read about this and Bleacher Report.
Speaker 1: I've talked about it already. We had Mitchell last week
Speaker 1: talking about it, and it's just some really key aspects
Speaker 1: of a gentleman who wrote the book, who studied leadership,
Speaker 1: and he did it around all the best sports teams
Speaker 1: you know, on the planet, all over the world, not
Speaker 1: just United States. Sam Walker's his name. What'd you get
Speaker 1: out of the book? I just got, you know, every
Speaker 1: every little piece of you know, information from so many
Speaker 1: successful you know players and teams and coaches. Um. You
Speaker 1: know that that it's all about putting the team first. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, and that's kind of what I've embodied. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, It's it's like I said, it's never about me.
Speaker 1: It's always you know, every story in there, it's like
Speaker 1: I put myself out there for my team. And that's
Speaker 1: you know why we were so successful is because what
Speaker 1: I did rubbed off on other guys. It was so contagious.
Speaker 1: Um you know, and that's what I took away from that,
Speaker 1: and you know, I think that's where our teams at now.
Speaker 1: I really resonated with you. Yeah, are you a reader
Speaker 1: or did you read the book because Mitche introduced you
Speaker 1: to it, and if you are a reader? What kind
Speaker 1: of book would you? Yeah, some people aren't. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, I recently read a book because someone introduced
Speaker 1: me to it. That's why I read it, and it
Speaker 1: was interesting and I captured my attention. So I'm nearly
Speaker 1: not a reader. But when when a book like that
Speaker 1: has so much, you know, key information that I can
Speaker 1: take away that would help me be a better leader,
Speaker 1: be a better professional, be a better you know man, right,
Speaker 1: you know, why not do it? And you know Mitch,
Speaker 1: you know, brought it to me, and you know I
Speaker 1: had to do it. During the regular season, you're occupying
Speaker 1: so much time with your tablet that you don't really
Speaker 1: have the luxury of sitting down and reading a two hundred,
Speaker 1: three hundred page book because you probably get eighty pages
Speaker 1: of information a day when you're game planning, putting a
Speaker 1: new information, reinstalling and the kind of stuff you're going through. Yeah. Absolutely, um,
Speaker 1: you know, And if I guess if our playbook was
Speaker 1: a book, I'd be reading that thing every day, you know.
Speaker 1: But yeah, we're definitely you know, did you ever have
Speaker 1: a playbook? I did, okay, because in our era, that's
Speaker 1: all we had. We had a three hundred page four
Speaker 1: hundred page playbook we carried around to every meeting. What
Speaker 1: a pain in the butt. Now you guys have tablet. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think with the new technology and everything, the tablet
Speaker 1: is the way to go. You know, it's so much
Speaker 1: easier for coaches just to push something out to you
Speaker 1: instead of you know, burning the tape and you know,
Speaker 1: having to meet up for about the instance, on the
Speaker 1: practice field, you can run a play, you can have
Speaker 1: a blitz and you can look at it thirty seconds.
Speaker 1: That's so great, you know. I mean it just helps you,
Speaker 1: you know, get to that mistake right away, ability to
Speaker 1: improve it as an instant away, because you're gonna see
Speaker 1: that same blitz eventually, you know, in that same practice.
Speaker 1: So if you can see where you made a mistake
Speaker 1: and then fix that mistake and not make the same mistake, Um,
Speaker 1: you know, it only helps you out. Cody white Hair,
Speaker 1: I guess we're gonna take a break big time the
Speaker 1: other side. Yes, you do. You get the lead off
Speaker 1: the next time big time with Tom I'm Jeff and
Speaker 1: Cody white Hair. I guest on Bears All Access on
Speaker 1: Chicago Sports Radio six seventy to score this segment of
Speaker 1: Bears all Access is orchestrated by CDW. CDW people who
Speaker 1: get it. Jeff and Tim with Cody white Hair here
Speaker 1: on Bears all Access Ravens Bears coming up on Thursday
Speaker 1: and getting ready for that Bears practice tomorrow, little walk
Speaker 1: through Wednesday and then truck out to Cleveland and then
Speaker 1: drive over to Kenton and check out the Hall of
Speaker 1: Fame and then enjoy a battle with the Ravens and
Speaker 1: as the honor the great Bryan or Lacker in a
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame career. All right, time, I promised you
Speaker 1: the first question of this segment. Let her rip. I
Speaker 1: want the unnoticed in practice. You know, you guys are
Speaker 1: installing a new new offense. There's a lot of information
Speaker 1: that's transferred all over the place. Vic Fangio has been
Speaker 1: pretty relentless against you guys. He hasn't taken it easy.
Speaker 1: I see a lot of sophisticated blitzes out there. Good
Speaker 1: for you? Does it catch you off guard? Or does
Speaker 1: it make meetings longer when you really have to transfer
Speaker 1: all the information? Get it right? It definitely helps us out,
Speaker 1: you know, anytime we can see a variety of stuff,
Speaker 1: you know, it only helps us, you know, learn the
Speaker 1: offense a little bit better and a little bit quicker,
Speaker 1: you know, and like like you said, Vis, you know
Speaker 1: been pretty relentless with us. And you know, like I said,
Speaker 1: I think it helps us, you know, learn the offense
Speaker 1: and move a little bit faster. So you have Vic
Speaker 1: Fangio's defense thirty four based defense. It's really multiple front defense.
Speaker 1: I think it's hard to just pinpoint one term on
Speaker 1: any defense. But now you practice against a guy directly
Speaker 1: over your head in Vic's based defense, are you now
Speaker 1: that you practice against it every day? Is it becoming
Speaker 1: different than when you practice against a four three defense
Speaker 1: throughout your your past career when you're undercovered or uncovered
Speaker 1: as a center. Yeah, it's definitely different. Um, anytime you
Speaker 1: have a guy head up on you, it's you know,
Speaker 1: obviously you have to get the snap to the quarterback
Speaker 1: first and foremost, but you know he's on you very fast. Um.
Speaker 1: So it's really you know, helped me over the last
Speaker 1: you know time, being against Vick's defense. You know, really
Speaker 1: work on my hands, um, you know, because with that
Speaker 1: guy being head up over you, you have to have
Speaker 1: quick hands to keep them off you and pass off
Speaker 1: twists and games and all that um, you know, so
Speaker 1: it's definitely helped us out. And you know it playing
Speaker 1: against a you know, a four to three is a
Speaker 1: lot easier for the center, I feel like, so if
Speaker 1: you're practicing against that, you know, head up nose every day,
Speaker 1: it's it's great for us. So we talked about at
Speaker 1: great length about the physical improvements you've made over the
Speaker 1: course of your stay here and over the course of
Speaker 1: your career. Uh, there's the mental part of it, and
Speaker 1: then how about the ice. Training your eyes to see
Speaker 1: what you need to see and see it properly. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think coming on, I think that's a big thing,
Speaker 1: and especially for the center to see, you know, different rotations.
Speaker 1: And like I said, you know, with with Mitchbeck there
Speaker 1: and trying to help him out, and you know, that's
Speaker 1: one thing we've really worked on is is you know,
Speaker 1: that relationship on the field with you know, seeing under
Speaker 1: one set of eyes so that we're both on the
Speaker 1: same page without having to have a board meeting up
Speaker 1: at the lonely scrimmage. You know. But that's I feel
Speaker 1: like your eyes are just as important as the strength
Speaker 1: or your hands or the physical part of the game
Speaker 1: as well. Well. You know, you've you've played with I
Speaker 1: think four different sets of offensive guards just in training camp,
Speaker 1: with the different people moving in and out of line
Speaker 1: up in some hiccups with injuries and stuff. When you
Speaker 1: how do you get everybody to talk about that that
Speaker 1: eyes thing where everybody is makes make sure everybody's on
Speaker 1: the same page. I think it all comes back to technique. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, as long as you know you're gonna be
Speaker 1: in the same place and when you guys go, when
Speaker 1: guys get in there and you're work an individual, as
Speaker 1: long as you're consistently in the same place, I think
Speaker 1: you know that's an easy transition. Two offensive starters have
Speaker 1: played all sixteen games last two years? Can you name him?
Speaker 1: Charles and Cody? Correct? It's not a hard one to ask,
Speaker 1: really because you guys have been super durable and I
Speaker 1: have been there the whole time, and you guys are
Speaker 1: both growing together too. I mean, Charles to me is
Speaker 1: really a great story. He's a seventh round draft pick
Speaker 1: who started a right tackle and it didn't go well
Speaker 1: right away, you know, at training camp, and it forced
Speaker 1: him to look at himself a little bit differently and
Speaker 1: have the desire and the guts to go and go
Speaker 1: after it and move over to left tackle and bam,
Speaker 1: he's not missed a snap in years, and you enjoying
Speaker 1: him and seeing him develop at a position where if
Speaker 1: you talk to scouts and you talk to pro personnel
Speaker 1: directors and I've talked to plenty, you know, they put
Speaker 1: first round necessities on certain positions. Quarterback, corner, pass rusher,
Speaker 1: left tackle. Yeah, maybe doesn't need to be the case
Speaker 1: when you got a guy like Cody Charles Lenno Jr.
Speaker 1: Working his tail off to be a professional in this game. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's done a great job. The guy studies film a lot. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, he's using everything he can to help him
Speaker 1: be a better player. Um. You know, he really has
Speaker 1: taken that you know, weight room and that strength, um,
Speaker 1: you know to help him on the field as well. Um,
Speaker 1: he's done a great job. He's he's a good leader
Speaker 1: for our offensive line, um, you know, and he's helped
Speaker 1: me ever since I came into the league. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: he was a starter when I came into the league
Speaker 1: two years ago, three years ago, whatever it was, um,
Speaker 1: you know, and really kind of took me under his wing.
Speaker 1: And you know, on down days when I was down,
Speaker 1: he was there to pick me up. And you know
Speaker 1: on days where he's down, I'm there to pick him up. So, UM,
Speaker 1: you know, we have a great relationship and he's a
Speaker 1: great leader for a room. Are you generale, sorry, Tom,
Speaker 1: are you generally a positive guy? Because you say down
Speaker 1: days offensive line? I mean you can have that. You
Speaker 1: could have some really nightmare scenarios. Um, even in practice.
Speaker 1: How do you handle that? What's your personality to deal with? Um?
Speaker 1: When I make them that type of situation, right when
Speaker 1: I make a mistake, it kills me. It really does.
Speaker 1: I try not to let it show. Um, but you
Speaker 1: know that's hard. You take it, take it. I take
Speaker 1: it to heart. And you know, I never want to
Speaker 1: be that guy to let the team down. And anytime
Speaker 1: I feel like I make a mistake, I let somebody down.
Speaker 1: I let my teammates down, and you know, I let
Speaker 1: my quarterback down, I let my coach down. UM. You
Speaker 1: know all that. So I try to stay as positive
Speaker 1: as I can. And and I think the thing that
Speaker 1: I've really, you know, tried to do that this last
Speaker 1: year is really have that mentality of move on to
Speaker 1: the next play. Um, you know, don't let one bad
Speaker 1: play carry over to two, three, four or five and
Speaker 1: so on? Did it? You know? And I've really tried
Speaker 1: to work on it and it's definitely helped. But did
Speaker 1: it did it? Sometimes? Yeah? It carried over. It did
Speaker 1: when I was younger. Yeah, how about you when you play? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I tell you, what if you go through
Speaker 1: a week where you have a lack of confidence in
Speaker 1: your one on ones, or you get beat quickly in
Speaker 1: a game and a one on one that you don't
Speaker 1: know if you can even recover, and it's hard to
Speaker 1: get that that mental confidence back. But what your offensive linement? Okay,
Speaker 1: with this multiple personnel grouping offense, is there a definition
Speaker 1: to the offensive line? Is this a power offensive line?
Speaker 1: Is this a physical, finesse offensive line? You know you're
Speaker 1: our pos when you you know run have a run
Speaker 1: pass option, you got to fake it as much as
Speaker 1: if you're running the ball. I think our thing is
Speaker 1: we're physical, you know, tough team. I think that's what
Speaker 1: you know people would say about our offensive line. We're
Speaker 1: tough for physical you know when you're gonna get our
Speaker 1: best shot every time, and you knows, as long as
Speaker 1: we're playing under one set of eyes, we're gonna be fast.
Speaker 1: We're gonna be physical and we're gonna be powerful. So
Speaker 1: I think that's, you know, our motto for this year.
Speaker 1: And per Matt Naggie obsessed, obsessed to what you do.
Speaker 1: That's right. And you know, Coach Naggi has been great.
Speaker 1: He's been a great addition to this team. Very you know,
Speaker 1: positive guy with a great attitude, you know, and we're
Speaker 1: very lucky to have him and what he brings to
Speaker 1: our team. And you know, we're really excited. This week
Speaker 1: on Inside the Bears, the rookies visit Soldier Field the
Speaker 1: first time. In former Bear Israel de Donage talks about
Speaker 1: creating a comic partnership with the Bears. Inside the Bears Saturday,
Speaker 1: six pm on CW fifty Chicago, Sunday's at ten thirty
Speaker 1: five on Fox thirty two Chicago. You can also watch
Speaker 1: show segments online at Chicago Bears dot com around the
Speaker 1: Chicago Bears Official app anytime. Cody, we can't thank you enough.
Speaker 1: It was enjoyable. We could talk to you for another
Speaker 1: couple of hours, but you've got things to do and
Speaker 1: so does Tom. Right, I'm out of here as well.
Speaker 1: Thanks to Paul Zurang, Greg Miller and all of you
Speaker 1: for listening. We'll talk you next time on Bears All
Speaker 1: Access on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy to score. Goodnight, everybody,
Speaker 1: thanks for listening to this Chicago Bears Network presentation of
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