Speaker 1: The following is a presentation of the Chicago Bears Network
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Speaker 1: day and now welcome to Bears All Access. You're All
Speaker 1: Access passing to Chicago Bears football. Bears All Access is
Speaker 1: brought to you by IGS Energy and sponsored by Athletical
Speaker 1: Physical Therapy and CDW. Show ahead tonight here on Bears
Speaker 1: All Access. Good to be with you once again, as
Speaker 1: we are each and every week here on Chicago Sports
Speaker 1: Radio six seventy The Score brought to you by IGS Energy.
Speaker 1: My name is Jeff Joniac, my broadcast partner, the Super
Speaker 1: Bowl Bear, mister Tom Fair wearing the light clothing over
Speaker 1: there in Maui. I understand you a little bit on edge, though,
Speaker 1: because the news side of me quickly got on the
Speaker 1: phone because there was an earthquake off the coast in
Speaker 1: New Zealand, and every time that happens in your neck
Speaker 1: of the world, you start worrying about tsunami. And sure enough,
Speaker 1: there were tsunami watches, so we good were gonna be
Speaker 1: able to make it through the show. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: we will. But it's a real and and it's an
Speaker 1: obstant I mean, an honest kind of a way of
Speaker 1: life out here, because I've been out here now for
Speaker 1: a couple of tsunami warnings. And when you have a
Speaker 1: chance that it really does affect the island you're on,
Speaker 1: you can see the rise and fall of the ocean
Speaker 1: right before your eyes. So um, it's it is scary.
Speaker 1: People do start getting prepared for it, but because of
Speaker 1: the warning system within the South Pacific, they have a
Speaker 1: good ability to judge what could possibly happen or what
Speaker 1: won't happen. And so I hopefully they're standing down by
Speaker 1: now right. Well, yeah, I'd imagine the chatter with all
Speaker 1: you and your friends, and I know you got you
Speaker 1: guys like getting out on the water and surfing. It
Speaker 1: becomes a big conversation though it does, but you know,
Speaker 1: it's I don't know, you know, it's just something that's nice.
Speaker 1: Like we have in the Midwest. The warning system of
Speaker 1: the storms that are coming through in preparation is the
Speaker 1: key to it. So again, I think everything's gonna be
Speaker 1: safe out here, but it is. It is a reality,
Speaker 1: you know, all right, big time coming up on our show,
Speaker 1: We've got our old friend Israel Dednage joining the program
Speaker 1: coming up at six zero eight, and at the bottom
Speaker 1: of the hour, we'll spend a few minutes with Bear
Speaker 1: Gender manager Ryan Pace Tommy. Obviously we heard both Ryan
Speaker 1: and Matt Naggie earlier this week a couple of days ago.
Speaker 1: Going through the off season. You know, it's it's it's
Speaker 1: the way it is. It's it's the combine without the
Speaker 1: combine interviews with the coaches and general managers. So they're
Speaker 1: not going to talk a lot about any individual players
Speaker 1: or schemer. It's never gonna happen in rare cast cases
Speaker 1: do they do so a lot of time for all
Speaker 1: those decisions to be made where they keep it close
Speaker 1: to the best. But was there anything from the two
Speaker 1: of them that stood out to you about what the
Speaker 1: plan might be here in the off season. Well, I
Speaker 1: still think there's a lot of uncertainty about the plan.
Speaker 1: I think the certainty is though, they got the coaching
Speaker 1: staff in place, and I think that's one of the
Speaker 1: first things they needed to do because of all the
Speaker 1: coaching staff movements around the league that they had to
Speaker 1: get things settled and they have a plan in place,
Speaker 1: and I think that's the good thing for a majority
Speaker 1: of the players that have been here and that will
Speaker 1: be here. And I think when you start formulating a
Speaker 1: plan amongst the coaches up in the offense and defensive
Speaker 1: coaching rooms, you got to become familiar with each other
Speaker 1: before you're going to really have the ability to teach
Speaker 1: whatever you're teaching to the new guys, whatever the new
Speaker 1: coaches are teaching to the guy. So that's where they're
Speaker 1: at right now. But you know, to me, it was
Speaker 1: more of a reminder that reality's coming a little bit
Speaker 1: closer each day because when we are doing All Access
Speaker 1: after the season, it was almost talking fantasy football. It
Speaker 1: was so far out there, all these forms and all
Speaker 1: these rumors were starting. But then each week you start
Speaker 1: chipping away a little bit of that big block of
Speaker 1: ice to see what's really gonna happen. What's going to
Speaker 1: happen with free agency, what's going to happen with the
Speaker 1: salary cap ramifications, what's gonna happen with some veterans that
Speaker 1: have experience, and you would like to investigate their talent
Speaker 1: where they're gonna want to go because nowadays, which I
Speaker 1: appreciate by the players is they do have an opinion
Speaker 1: of where they want to go, what type of system
Speaker 1: they want to be a part of, what type of
Speaker 1: scheme they want to be, you know, to be exposed to.
Speaker 1: So there's a lot of things that the information comes
Speaker 1: weekend and week day in and day out, and this
Speaker 1: and this season clicks a little closer weekend and week out.
Speaker 1: That's why fans love it. It's it's definitely it's it's
Speaker 1: not fantasy football, but you try to wander a little
Speaker 1: bit about what you'd like to see on your own team.
Speaker 1: You mentioned the coaches. This was Mattneggie. No, there's not.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, the one with vic is you know, uncontrollable.
Speaker 1: He goes ahead and you know, gets that that head
Speaker 1: job in Denver, and so that's that, and then you
Speaker 1: have another one where it's retirement, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So that's just that part. Uh, And then I do
Speaker 1: think offensively for us heading into this second year together, man,
Speaker 1: I can't even begin to tell you how much easier
Speaker 1: it is going into watching the film right now in
Speaker 1: the morning together and just everybody knowing it and not
Speaker 1: have to having to have to reteach things, you know.
Speaker 1: So now for Sean it's been very important and I
Speaker 1: love this. It's been very important that really all of
Speaker 1: us are in the building together, all by the rules
Speaker 1: and all all by the protocol, but being there. As
Speaker 1: much as we love doing these zoom interviews and these
Speaker 1: zoom talks, they're they're they're good, but it's just different
Speaker 1: when you're in the building. It's different when you're together.
Speaker 1: And that's kind of the direction that we're going right now.
Speaker 1: And I think for Sean now getting back to what
Speaker 1: he wants and some of these because that is you know,
Speaker 1: a lot of new guys on that side, they're able
Speaker 1: to kind of really feel who each other is, their personalities,
Speaker 1: have ideas, and not have to click the new button
Speaker 1: every time they want to talk. So that part's been good.
Speaker 1: And the offensively, I feel like we're step ahead just
Speaker 1: because we have Bill Laser and now Flip has had
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks and our other coaches. They're heading another fourth year,
Speaker 1: so I really feel good. But where we're at now,
Speaker 1: we got to put it all together. We just got
Speaker 1: to see where the off season goes. And they have
Speaker 1: scheme evaluations going on or right now. That's part of
Speaker 1: the big part of the off season as they get
Speaker 1: that going and then the other side of it is
Speaker 1: player personnel. Hey time, we're gonna go to Israel to
Speaker 1: donage a bit early here, so we'll bring in our
Speaker 1: old friend, the former Bears defensive lineman and such a
Speaker 1: major part of the city of Chicago. What he's working on, philanthropically, professionally,
Speaker 1: you name it, he's got it going on. Is he?
Speaker 1: How you doing? My brother Joe about it? Good to
Speaker 1: talk to you. Thanks for joining us tonight. You're with
Speaker 1: Tom and I here on Bears All Access brought to
Speaker 1: you by IGS Energy. You know, first thing I want
Speaker 1: to talk about is because I've had a chance the
Speaker 1: last couple of days to visit with a couple of
Speaker 1: your old teammates, Rashid Davis and Jason McKee. And every
Speaker 1: now and then, when you get into conversations about that
Speaker 1: oh six team and you really start to think about
Speaker 1: the quality of players on that team, up and down
Speaker 1: that roster, that was one heck of a team. They
Speaker 1: were almost all those guys could play. It. Isn't that
Speaker 1: just guys just hanging out of the bottom of the roster.
Speaker 1: Do you ever sit back and think about just how
Speaker 1: good that team really was? Yeah, I mean, especially when
Speaker 1: we get together, right, we while you're in it, you
Speaker 1: never you don't quite understand or you don't quite know
Speaker 1: how special what you have, you know, how unique it
Speaker 1: really is. Right And now that we're you know, a
Speaker 1: number of years removed for that season, it was to
Speaker 1: look back, it was pretty incredible. It was pretty special.
Speaker 1: The talent we had, the bonds that we had, the
Speaker 1: way that we played together, it was it was unique, right,
Speaker 1: And I actually didn't even realize that. So when I
Speaker 1: had left Chicago, I went to Detroit for one year
Speaker 1: and actually went to New York. It's just different, right,
Speaker 1: It's just what we had was on the whole the level.
Speaker 1: And it's hard to replicate. Every club, every coaching, you know,
Speaker 1: group of coaches, every team, you know, managers, everybody's trying
Speaker 1: to find a way to bring that culture, that chemistry,
Speaker 1: that energy to the club. And we were fortunate to
Speaker 1: have it well. And you know what, you could have
Speaker 1: been a Buffalo bill that here and missed the whole
Speaker 1: boat because they did send you do an offer sheet
Speaker 1: and the Bears matched it. Do you remember that whole process?
Speaker 1: And yeah, what was it a real thing that maybe
Speaker 1: you would have you know, gone to Buffalo absolutely I
Speaker 1: flew down to Buffalo. I had a spent way more
Speaker 1: time there than the anticipated and then they called me
Speaker 1: into the office and they made me an offer right
Speaker 1: there on the spot to become a bill and have
Speaker 1: an opportunity, you know, to to really contribute and be
Speaker 1: a part of what they were building there defensively. And
Speaker 1: you know, I had a tremendous amount of love for
Speaker 1: for Jerry Angelo. So I stepped outside, I called, actually
Speaker 1: called Jerry and you know, I just wanted to chatted
Speaker 1: with him on what was going on. And he said, hey,
Speaker 1: is he if if if you want to go to
Speaker 1: Buffalo and start and have an opportunity to start, and
Speaker 1: you know by all means you know, we won't match
Speaker 1: the offer, but if you want to become a Chicago
Speaker 1: if you want to stay in Chicago, bear, if you
Speaker 1: you know, think that you know we are fit for you,
Speaker 1: you know, as you know, we love you, we have
Speaker 1: a plan for you. You know, I'll might match that offer.
Speaker 1: And now he had seven days to match. I told him,
Speaker 1: you know, I'll know, yeah, stay in Chicago. And you
Speaker 1: know it worked out just incredibly for for the next
Speaker 1: few years, I mean, and the ending up being here
Speaker 1: you know, ten years plus, it was it was pretty special.
Speaker 1: Is when you look back at it all and all
Speaker 1: the success you've had in sports because you change your
Speaker 1: body style, you change your career, you moved around positions,
Speaker 1: You did things that has not really expected of a
Speaker 1: guy your size, like your kickoff, coverage ability and stuff.
Speaker 1: What's the most common trait between sports and business sas
Speaker 1: what's the one thing that you need in both? But
Speaker 1: I would say the number one I guess, yeah, trade
Speaker 1: or just skill set that really correlates between both sports
Speaker 1: and businesses. Just perseverance. Right, It's just you've you've got
Speaker 1: to be able to continue to work and grind and
Speaker 1: just you know, continuing to to to pay that price
Speaker 1: to do what's necessary and knowing that eventually the outcome
Speaker 1: is going to happen, right, especially when you're talking about
Speaker 1: startups as an entrepreneurs though, to that work ethic and
Speaker 1: that perseverance are are two, you know, two skills that
Speaker 1: you must have, especially at to play elite at an
Speaker 1: elite level of football. At the NFL, you know, every
Speaker 1: year I was there, they brought in a new starter,
Speaker 1: They brought in you guys, they were trying to replace me.
Speaker 1: Every year, especially towards the end there you know they're
Speaker 1: bringing in really young talent to guys, and you had
Speaker 1: to just continue to work grind, especially in the offseason.
Speaker 1: The easy part is on Sunday, right. The real work
Speaker 1: is preparing the body, preparing the mind, and then continuing
Speaker 1: to work when there were setbacks. Right when hey, Corey
Speaker 1: woutin's going to start this week? Right, I'm like, man, Corey,
Speaker 1: would's gonna start right, Except it doesn't matter. You show up,
Speaker 1: You keep working and you support the guys around you.
Speaker 1: That's the same and the life as an entrepreneur. You
Speaker 1: just keep working and grinding. You got to be able
Speaker 1: to pivot change. You know, is he wants you to
Speaker 1: play three technique. The next year you're back to to
Speaker 1: you know end and then you're playing nose. We want
Speaker 1: you to you know play just kick kickoff or or
Speaker 1: kickoff return. You know. It's just it's trying to consistently
Speaker 1: find value about it too. He is. The part of
Speaker 1: the success you've had is um you physically. You could
Speaker 1: always go the next day and you could prove yourself
Speaker 1: every day on the practice field, every day in the
Speaker 1: game field. How do you what advice would you give
Speaker 1: to me or anybody else who played football a physical
Speaker 1: sport their whole life, but now they have to go
Speaker 1: and prove their self meant on a regular basis. How
Speaker 1: do you make that transition? Well, there's just there's no
Speaker 1: I'm just a really strong believer that there's no magic right,
Speaker 1: there's no magic button or no wand to wave right.
Speaker 1: It's just about the commitment right. No, not about emotions,
Speaker 1: not about how you feel. It's about making that commitment
Speaker 1: to yourself that you're going to do what's necessary right.
Speaker 1: And at the beginning of that journey, it's hard, right
Speaker 1: to get up, to just continue to grind, to work,
Speaker 1: to learn, to just be intentional about learning, educating yourself,
Speaker 1: win or lose. Right, you make a mistake, you get
Speaker 1: up and you do it again, You do it again,
Speaker 1: and with that commitment and that repetition of continuing to
Speaker 1: do it, eventually that becomes your habit, right, that becomes
Speaker 1: your mindset. It's just ingrained in you. But it's it's
Speaker 1: a process. Right at first, it's like work. It's hard,
Speaker 1: it's challenging, you don't know if you can continue. Right,
Speaker 1: it's you know you're you're doing things that aren't are
Speaker 1: aren't comfortable right getting out of that. You got to
Speaker 1: get out of that comfort zone. And that repetition due
Speaker 1: to that commitment makes that mindset, It locks it in place.
Speaker 1: It makes that that thing that you've been doing over
Speaker 1: it turns it into just like your your reaction, right,
Speaker 1: you're not thinking about it. It's just how you wake
Speaker 1: up and how you function. And and it starts with
Speaker 1: just that commitment, regardless of external circumstance, that you're gonna
Speaker 1: show up, you're gonna do what's necessary, you're going to
Speaker 1: put into work. Israel dona Ja our guest. You're on
Speaker 1: Bears All Access here on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy
Speaker 1: the Score. I got knocked off the air, so I
Speaker 1: don't know exactly what question you asked in Big Time,
Speaker 1: but let's dive into what you got going on in
Speaker 1: the South Loop right now. Restore Jim the rstr And.
Speaker 1: I heard you. Uh, you're like what a third of
Speaker 1: the man you used to be? You know, I've lost
Speaker 1: was seventy eighty pounds. You know, we opened up a yeah,
Speaker 1: a boutique fitness studio here in the South Loop, and
Speaker 1: you know, ultimately just to help people transform their bodies right,
Speaker 1: and and you know, as you know, transform warming the body,
Speaker 1: it really starts with the transformation of the mind. How
Speaker 1: you're saying, how you prepare, how you work. So I
Speaker 1: interrupt you. Why did you say, as I know, what
Speaker 1: do I know about transforming a body? I've been the
Speaker 1: same short, stubby guy for as long as I've been
Speaker 1: a lot up. Listen, the last time I saw you,
Speaker 1: you were looking leaning in me. You're looking good, I
Speaker 1: interrupted you, So keep going. I'm sorry, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: so so um, you know, to be able to lead
Speaker 1: others in that journey, you know, you got to be
Speaker 1: right yourself. So I just I just you know, at
Speaker 1: the beginning of the pandemic, I made just commitment to
Speaker 1: continue or just to start to like sharpen my weapon
Speaker 1: and get my body back in fighting shape. And so
Speaker 1: I could just be a better leader in the process
Speaker 1: of leading our members UH to achieve their vision for
Speaker 1: what they wanted to look like physically. And these are
Speaker 1: half hour workouts, thirty minute workouts. Yeah, and that's when
Speaker 1: we began. When we first opened, I just really felt
Speaker 1: that the future of fitness was was going to be
Speaker 1: these thirty minute workouts. And that you good transform your
Speaker 1: body with just a commitment to thirty minute workouts, you know,
Speaker 1: four days, five days a week really specified on on
Speaker 1: building muscle on the body, legs, back, chest, arms, right,
Speaker 1: and then with some nutrition added to that, you can
Speaker 1: really move the needle and start to see your body change.
Speaker 1: You know, Israel, are we spend our whole life trying
Speaker 1: to be stronger the next day than they were then
Speaker 1: we were the day before. When you talk about the
Speaker 1: stages of the bodies that we go through after our
Speaker 1: career is over. This is this a low impact type
Speaker 1: of workout or is it a workout that you are
Speaker 1: going to raise your heart rate to the extreme and
Speaker 1: you know, push yourself to the type of exhaustion that
Speaker 1: you faced on the football field, whether a hot training camp,
Speaker 1: practice or even a conditioning session. Yeah, it's it is
Speaker 1: low impact but high intensity, right, so you are going
Speaker 1: to get your heart rate up. We have an a
Speaker 1: fault bike like and you know everybody, you're gonna ride
Speaker 1: the assault bike. You're gonna drive for thirty seconds, sixty
Speaker 1: seconds and then go straight into mountain climb bearers or
Speaker 1: other movements. So your heart rate is gonna We're gonna
Speaker 1: drive it hard, You're gonna have short work windows. But
Speaker 1: the beauty of it is like it, we want to
Speaker 1: meet you where you are, right, So you push hard
Speaker 1: as hard as you can, and you know, if you
Speaker 1: need to slow down, slow down right Whenever you're ready
Speaker 1: to get back into it, get back into it. But
Speaker 1: what you find is just gradually continue to push your limit.
Speaker 1: You go a little bit longer than next week, you
Speaker 1: go a little bit longer than next week, and before
Speaker 1: you know it, you know you can ride the full
Speaker 1: sixty seconds, so you can do the full workout. But
Speaker 1: you know, we wanted to build something that was low impact.
Speaker 1: You know, I had a serious right knee injury throughout
Speaker 1: my career, and you know I didn't want to do
Speaker 1: a workout that every time I finished a class my
Speaker 1: right knee was just torn up and you know, inflamed
Speaker 1: and soul, and so you know, that was like the
Speaker 1: base of where we started. Anybody we have, remember that's
Speaker 1: seventy four years old, right, she does the same workout
Speaker 1: everybody else does, but at her level, and we wanted
Speaker 1: to make sure it was something that could meet everybody
Speaker 1: where they were at, whether a lead athlete or someone
Speaker 1: just getting started, you know, Israel Dnaje, when you get
Speaker 1: to meet a lot of your people, you're always so
Speaker 1: well dressed. You present yourself in a suit. So I'm
Speaker 1: just saying the way you look, your appearance. And then
Speaker 1: sometimes you know, are people more interested in the Israel
Speaker 1: Donaje of all the professional athlete, Israel Adnaje, or Israel
Speaker 1: Adnaje the businessman and the impact you're having, you know,
Speaker 1: all over the business world right now, Well, I mean
Speaker 1: it all depends, you know, on kind of where we are,
Speaker 1: where I am or the circle. I will say, it's
Speaker 1: even all these years being removed from the game, you know,
Speaker 1: I retired officially twenty four team or twenty fifteen officially,
Speaker 1: and just a love that I'm fortunate to still get
Speaker 1: in the city and when I travel, it's it's pretty special.
Speaker 1: And I'm just thankful to have been a part of
Speaker 1: the club for so many years, you know, ten seasons
Speaker 1: in in Chicago, and and so when any time I get,
Speaker 1: you know, love for from that chapter of my life,
Speaker 1: it's it's just special. I really just appreciate it. I'm
Speaker 1: thankful to our fans because if not for them, you know,
Speaker 1: we don't have the fortune to do what we do
Speaker 1: day in and day out. Um. And then for the
Speaker 1: work we do in the community, whether it's you know,
Speaker 1: with the with the schools, or with you know, the officers,
Speaker 1: or or any of the initiatives that we run, you know, Um,
Speaker 1: the support that I get there as well is incredible.
Speaker 1: But I always have to press the point that when
Speaker 1: it comes to like impact work and the work we're
Speaker 1: doing in Chicago, I'm I'm a very small part of
Speaker 1: that team. I'm fortunate to be just again on a
Speaker 1: team where everybody's bringing their best to like solve some
Speaker 1: major issues in our city. And you know, I'm fortunate
Speaker 1: that I had this platform called the NFL and you know,
Speaker 1: this platform of being a Chicago Bear, and that I
Speaker 1: can bring that to the table and hopefully create some
Speaker 1: value so we can drive awareness to these initiative initiatives
Speaker 1: that we're trying to basically end or solve for the
Speaker 1: city of Chicago. All Right, we're gonna let you go,
Speaker 1: but before we do, I understand you now are a
Speaker 1: franchise co owner as well. Congratulations, one of the owners
Speaker 1: of the Chicago Red Stars. You know, Yeah, touch on
Speaker 1: that quickly and How exciting is that. No, it's it's
Speaker 1: really special. You know, as you know, Chicago is a
Speaker 1: sports city, you know, from the top to bottom, and
Speaker 1: you know to you know, while I played, actually I
Speaker 1: didn't know much about you know, the Red Stars, right,
Speaker 1: And to have this incredible group of athletes right here
Speaker 1: in our city that are just legendary in this league
Speaker 1: that we're in, um the NWSO. And now to be
Speaker 1: able to be a part of an ownership group that's
Speaker 1: working to take this team and really the league to
Speaker 1: the next level, it's pretty special, right. We have some
Speaker 1: great players, we have some incredible talent, and and the
Speaker 1: awareness of our club and what we've done, the history
Speaker 1: of the club and what we're about to do. That's
Speaker 1: what I'm really excited about sharing with the Chicago fans,
Speaker 1: with the community, and just getting people out when we can,
Speaker 1: obviously when the world gets back to some normalcy, get
Speaker 1: more people out to those games. All right, Israel, appreciate
Speaker 1: you coming on. Everything you touch turns to gold. So
Speaker 1: and get double A and that Jimmy yours will you.
Speaker 1: Hey he's been working hard, man, he's been working hard
Speaker 1: on that and that heavy bag. So yeah, he's doing
Speaker 1: I mean he's offt the town of late too. He's
Speaker 1: doing a great job. Yes, yes, all right, come on
Speaker 1: again talk to us. Will you appreciate it? All right, fellows,
Speaker 1: appreciate you. Take care Israel Dona Jay six six, two
Speaker 1: seventy five when he started and who knows what wits
Speaker 1: he played that over the course of his career, but
Speaker 1: a long career and a very good one as well,
Speaker 1: twenty nine career. SAX, Gonna take a break, our first
Speaker 1: one to night here and Bears All Access on Chicago
Speaker 1: Sports Radio six seventy to score everybody. Jeff in time
Speaker 1: back with you on Bears All the Access brought to
Speaker 1: you by IGS Energy. Choose clean energy for your home
Speaker 1: at igs dot com because every good choice adds up
Speaker 1: to a better world. You know, we just finished talking
Speaker 1: abot Israel. Donagy coming up at bottom of the hour,
Speaker 1: Bears you other manager Ryan pace for about ten minutes
Speaker 1: to join us as well. You know that I keep
Speaker 1: talking about this. It's gonna be fifteen year anniversary of
Speaker 1: that twenty oh six team. Unfortunately they did not win
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. But you know, you think about the
Speaker 1: stars on that team, and you think about what it
Speaker 1: takes to get to a Super Bowl. It also takes
Speaker 1: the collective group of role players. And if you really
Speaker 1: think about a lot of those guys were tremendous football players,
Speaker 1: some of whom went on to win Super Bowls with
Speaker 1: other franchises. And the guys that come to mind are
Speaker 1: like Brendan iam Meade, Joe and Corey Graham, Adrian Peterson
Speaker 1: probably an underrated aspect you think about. I was just
Speaker 1: talking with Olden Cruz, the Alfonso Boone. I mean, all
Speaker 1: these guys that were considered, you know, nice players, but
Speaker 1: in the collective you after towards fifteen years, look, boy,
Speaker 1: almost every player on that defense was a name player.
Speaker 1: Offensively that offensive line, name players. When I see some
Speaker 1: of those guys because we go out where we watch
Speaker 1: him every single day, We watch him from the beginning
Speaker 1: of training camp to the end of the season. And
Speaker 1: sometimes they achieve higher expectations that iv I or we
Speaker 1: have set up for them, and some of them don't
Speaker 1: achieve what we hope they would because we see glimpses
Speaker 1: of greatness, whether it's in a game or in a practice.
Speaker 1: And that's one of the things about a guy like
Speaker 1: Izzya Donaje is he was a great athlete. He didn't
Speaker 1: have a lot of notoriety coming in. He was willing
Speaker 1: to do every single thing that was asked of him,
Speaker 1: from losing extreme amounts away to gaining extreme amounts of weights,
Speaker 1: to playing a more physical version of his position than
Speaker 1: play of the outside covering kickoffs. The destructive force he
Speaker 1: was on that And you know, you see some of
Speaker 1: these guys and what they're able to mold and build
Speaker 1: themselves into, you kind of get an indication why they're
Speaker 1: so successful when they leave the sport in Israel. Donaje
Speaker 1: is a great example of that. They have a lot
Speaker 1: of other guys, a great guys on that team, great personalities.
Speaker 1: I think it's worth celebrating that this journey that they
Speaker 1: all took and what they've done after their careers. You know,
Speaker 1: you talk about Israel, but you can also talk about
Speaker 1: a number of players they stayed in the Chicago area.
Speaker 1: They like being here, like being a part still of
Speaker 1: the Bears organization. You got you know, Jason and Rashid
Speaker 1: coaching over at Carmel High squad in Mound the Line
Speaker 1: now giving back a little bit to these kids about
Speaker 1: what it takes to be a professional and how go
Speaker 1: about the process of being a good football player and
Speaker 1: a good student, and on and on and on. We
Speaker 1: could go on and on and on, but there's a
Speaker 1: lot of great stories yet to be told because I
Speaker 1: every day, you know, in Dan Pompey has been writing
Speaker 1: stories about some of your old teammates and things I've
Speaker 1: never heard of before, which obviously you've heard all of
Speaker 1: them because you lived it. But there's always something that
Speaker 1: you never knew before. And that's what I love about
Speaker 1: learning about this stuff, right and you know, the more
Speaker 1: modern day, modern day guys that we get to know
Speaker 1: because you know the eighty five Bears, you know, they're
Speaker 1: a team of so long ago. The accomplishments of some
Speaker 1: of the young guys that you're talking about, because there's
Speaker 1: other ex members of Bears that are coaching college programs
Speaker 1: in high school programs around the country, and everything that
Speaker 1: they've invested in theirselves, they're able to pay it forward
Speaker 1: to the young guys and the young girls that they're
Speaker 1: coaching in their sports of choice. And I think it's
Speaker 1: cool for Israel Adonoge to get involved in the soccer
Speaker 1: team in Chicago because I'm telling you, it has an
Speaker 1: impact in the area, and the success of that team
Speaker 1: impacts the surrounding communities of the stadium and wherever people
Speaker 1: come from to watch it. So I think it's a
Speaker 1: pretty cool, a pretty cool endeavor that Israel's taken on.
Speaker 1: All Hey, we're gonna take a break up. By the way,
Speaker 1: Jimmy Graham tweeting today that he wanted to get ahead
Speaker 1: of it a little bit, but he's okay. He was
Speaker 1: in an accident this morning down in Miami, trying to
Speaker 1: avoid a disabled vehicle in the center lane. His car
Speaker 1: rolled over, but walked away unscathed. He said one word, simple,
Speaker 1: Tom blessings and yes he is fortunate and lucky. So yeah,
Speaker 1: no doubt about it. I'm amen before him. All right,
Speaker 1: coming up, Ryan Paced, Bears General manager, to join us
Speaker 1: here at the bottom of the hour. This is Bears
Speaker 1: All Access on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy to score.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Bears All Access, brought to you by
Speaker 1: IGS Energy. With Tom there, I'm Jeff, Joni Act. Good
Speaker 1: to have you alongside along with Adam Stazinsky, our producer
Speaker 1: and time now to welcome in Bears General manager Ryan Pays.
Speaker 1: Taking time out of what is a extraordinarily busy time
Speaker 1: of year. Joined the Zoom crowd earlier this week along
Speaker 1: with Bear's head coach Matt Nage, to get us up
Speaker 1: to date on some things going on in the off season. Ryan,
Speaker 1: think for joining us. Good evening. How are you doing?
Speaker 1: I'm good, guys. How you guys doing doing? Okay? You
Speaker 1: know some are better than others. Because Tom's in Maui,
Speaker 1: so you know he's enjoying the sunshine, so maybe we
Speaker 1: should rattle his cage a little bit. Ryan. You know,
Speaker 1: we're we're over here grinding and he's on vacation. Get
Speaker 1: any surfing in Tom as much as I can, Ryan,
Speaker 1: That's that's the reason I'm here, is just to take
Speaker 1: advantage of the surf out here and some of the
Speaker 1: nice weather. I do feel guilty when I see the
Speaker 1: daily weather reports throughout the month of February and see
Speaker 1: what everybody, including my family, is struggling through. But I
Speaker 1: think the surfing has taken an important role in my
Speaker 1: life and it keeps it going. Yeah, one day I'll
Speaker 1: invite us out there, Ryan, for sure. Anyway, so this
Speaker 1: time of year is is a challenging one for general
Speaker 1: managers and head coaches. This would be ordinarily be the
Speaker 1: you know, right around the combine time or after the combine,
Speaker 1: but all the teams get in front of the media
Speaker 1: and they ask a lot of questions about things that
Speaker 1: you're not going to answer, and that's about personnel decisions
Speaker 1: that you plan on making and free agency, trades, draft whatever.
Speaker 1: So it's it's very interesting to try and piece together
Speaker 1: then what the plan might be. And so it's something
Speaker 1: you acknowledge. But is it hard to answer questions this
Speaker 1: time of year? Yea, death it is, because you know,
Speaker 1: you want to answer the questions and you want to
Speaker 1: be forthright, but it's it's hard because it's competitive, you know,
Speaker 1: and everybody's listening to what everybody's saying right now and
Speaker 1: trying to read between the line. So you just got
Speaker 1: to be careful with it. But but I understand it,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, it's part. It's part of this
Speaker 1: time of year. But you know, we had a lot
Speaker 1: of big decisions coming up and we're all in the
Speaker 1: office now. It's good to be in here. You know,
Speaker 1: this time last year we were all kind of you know,
Speaker 1: getting kicked out of the office. So it's all it's
Speaker 1: good to be in here with the coaches, and it's
Speaker 1: going through all our preparation. I want to take you
Speaker 1: back to the Super Bowl actually, because with Tom Brady
Speaker 1: winning the MVP for Tampa Bay winning a Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: but the defense easily as a unit could have won
Speaker 1: the MVP of that Super Bowl because of what they
Speaker 1: did to an outstanding offense in Kansas City. Do you
Speaker 1: look at that at all when you go about, now, okay,
Speaker 1: where does this franchise have to get to in terms
Speaker 1: of style and so forth? Because it is a sum
Speaker 1: of the parts, it's not necessarily Yes, the quarterback position
Speaker 1: is ultra important. Everyone gets fixated on it. You do
Speaker 1: as well as a general manager. But is leveraging the
Speaker 1: importance of what's happening around the quarterback equally important and
Speaker 1: maybe overlooked in many respects because this week and the
Speaker 1: next week, everybody's going to still be talking about the quarterback,
Speaker 1: But it's what's going to happen around these other franchises
Speaker 1: and what's put around the quarterback offensively or defensively. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I think there's something to that, Jeff. And
Speaker 1: when you watch that at defense, you know, with Todd balls,
Speaker 1: as they got rolling, they got better and better as
Speaker 1: the year progressed the Tampa defense and you know there's
Speaker 1: a lot of there's a lot of good draft picks
Speaker 1: on there. Jason like did a good job and you
Speaker 1: kind of saw it all come to head in the
Speaker 1: playoffs and in the super Bowl, and you know, I
Speaker 1: think you look at our defense and a lot of
Speaker 1: the young talent with you know, you can go on
Speaker 1: with with blow and Eddie Goldman coming back and Roquan
Speaker 1: and Jayleen Johnson and let men go on in Eddie Jackson.
Speaker 1: But it's you know, it's it's accumulation of that talent developing. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know in your own system drafting well, and you
Speaker 1: definitely saw it for that defense. But I think I
Speaker 1: think we have a lot of that too. Hey, Ryan, Um,
Speaker 1: just a little bit about the coaching staff, because you
Speaker 1: don't know what guys are coming or going, and it's
Speaker 1: hard to anticipate that when a coach like Patton comes
Speaker 1: on the market. Do you have to react fast or
Speaker 1: is this a process that you can linger on and
Speaker 1: think about what direction you want to go in. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I think it's a balanced Tom. I think
Speaker 1: you do got to react fast. It's almost like I
Speaker 1: look at you know, that that phase when we hire
Speaker 1: coaches almost like free agency, and sometimes even more so
Speaker 1: because they can be multipliers and it's like it's like
Speaker 1: a quiring a player within your division. You know a
Speaker 1: lot about him, you know, playing them twice a year,
Speaker 1: So we know a lot about Mike Betton and have
Speaker 1: a ton of respect for him, and and and you
Speaker 1: know Matt has a ton of respect for him. So
Speaker 1: when he became available, we you know, we were able
Speaker 1: to act pretty quick, you know. But I think there's
Speaker 1: a balance too, because you've got to make sure no
Speaker 1: different than the culture in your locker room. You know,
Speaker 1: we have a culture you know upstairs with our staff,
Speaker 1: and you got to make sure it's a good fit.
Speaker 1: And you know, Sean Desai was very involved. And I
Speaker 1: think when you get all those pieces together and everybody
Speaker 1: balances each other out and we all drop our egos
Speaker 1: and what's best for the team, I'm we're excited to
Speaker 1: have him. So he's a really good addition. You can
Speaker 1: already feel it within the building. He's putting in a
Speaker 1: ton of reports right now in free agency. I was
Speaker 1: just just reading a couple before we get on the phone,
Speaker 1: and you know, just his experience and his perspective on
Speaker 1: things is very valuable for us. You know, when you
Speaker 1: Jeff talked a little bit about where you guys would
Speaker 1: be if it was a normal NFL year, and you know,
Speaker 1: you got some talent has come in the league. That's
Speaker 1: a redshirt sophomore that's only played a couple of college games.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if this is a silly question
Speaker 1: a reality a real question. When you go back and
Speaker 1: you try to look at as much information about these players,
Speaker 1: would you ever have to trace the steps all the
Speaker 1: way back to their senior year in high school because
Speaker 1: maybe they don't have enough of a guy playing a
Speaker 1: position at the college level but he's eligible for the draft.
Speaker 1: I don't think that's silly at all. We do that,
Speaker 1: we go, we go all the way back, and we
Speaker 1: do that in normal years, you know, just especially a
Speaker 1: lot of times for the character too. But you know
Speaker 1: it's hard. I mean, let's if a guy opted out
Speaker 1: in the twenty twenty season, and you know, you're going
Speaker 1: all the way back to twenty nineteen. We talked about
Speaker 1: a guy the other day that was opted out, was
Speaker 1: injured in nineteen, so you're looking at eighteen tape. So uh,
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's it's a difficult evaluation. Our area
Speaker 1: scouts are so valuable in this process because you know,
Speaker 1: there are boots on the ground, they're the ones in
Speaker 1: the school. But information is harder to obtain this year.
Speaker 1: It's precedent at times, so we got to lean on
Speaker 1: our scouts. We got to lean on different avenues to
Speaker 1: collect that information, and that's what we'll do. You know,
Speaker 1: you talk about the coaching staff bringing in the guy
Speaker 1: like Tom Herman this week. He has so much intel
Speaker 1: on these guys in college right now, and it goes
Speaker 1: all the way back to recruiting them, you know, being
Speaker 1: in their homes recently. So it's there's a lot of
Speaker 1: different ways we can use different avenues to our advantage,
Speaker 1: and this is a year to maximize that. Ryan Pace,
Speaker 1: our guest Bears General Manager for a few more moments
Speaker 1: here on Bears All Access brought to you by IGS Energy.
Speaker 1: Building on that your own experience and Ryan's experience, there's
Speaker 1: reasons why there's faith in both of you because of
Speaker 1: the types of people you are, what you've learned along
Speaker 1: the way as younger hires, when you got your first
Speaker 1: big jobs here now in your seventh, you're Matt entering
Speaker 1: his fourth. Is there a way also, I'm using that
Speaker 1: word leverage to leverage all of that experience and how
Speaker 1: valuable is that and where does that collective experience benefit
Speaker 1: every process? Do you go about in building what is
Speaker 1: going to be your twenty twenty one team? Yeah, I think,
Speaker 1: you know. I think we both operate with a lot
Speaker 1: of humility, and you learn from mistakes, you learn from experience,
Speaker 1: and you just learn as we go through this together,
Speaker 1: and I think we balance each other well, and we
Speaker 1: lean on our staffs and the continuity depth that we
Speaker 1: have in the building with the scouts and the coaches.
Speaker 1: I think it's really valuable and it's really come together.
Speaker 1: I felt it last in last year's draft, and I
Speaker 1: think the success of last year's draft when you looked
Speaker 1: at all those picks, is a byproduct from that. So
Speaker 1: I feel really good about it. You know, all the
Speaker 1: experiences we've gone through, I feel like we're stronger than
Speaker 1: ever right now, and it just gives you a ton
Speaker 1: of confidence going into free agency this year. That's going
Speaker 1: to be another unprecedented event with tons of players becoming available.
Speaker 1: A lot of guys are going to get cut, But
Speaker 1: I feel like we're ready for any direction it can
Speaker 1: go because of our experiences in our time on task together. Hey, Ryan,
Speaker 1: what you were able to experience from the interior of
Speaker 1: the offensive line last year when you got Sam Mustifer.
Speaker 1: James is going to come back. Cody had his strongest year.
Speaker 1: I think, ever, you still have Alex, you got Arlington Hambright.
Speaker 1: Does that blood of talent give you a little bit
Speaker 1: of freedom on the interior the offensive line, maybe to
Speaker 1: concentrate on the outside because of the development of these
Speaker 1: guys that you really didn't know what expectations to put
Speaker 1: on him when you brought him here a couple of years,
Speaker 1: both as draft choices or free agents. Yeah, Tom, I
Speaker 1: love that question because we feel really good about the
Speaker 1: interior of our offensive line. And you know, both white
Speaker 1: Hair and James Daniels were second round picks for a reason,
Speaker 1: and they've really grown into their roles. And you know,
Speaker 1: I thought when we put Cody there at left guard,
Speaker 1: I thought he really settled in and played his best
Speaker 1: year of NFL football. And getting James back is going
Speaker 1: to be huge. You know how much upside he has
Speaker 1: and he's been working his tailoff and then you can't
Speaker 1: say enough about Sam Mustifer. We're so lucky to have
Speaker 1: him and his leadership, his intelligence, his ability to calm
Speaker 1: everybody down. It's infectious. You know, he's the guy spreading
Speaker 1: twenty yards down field, picking up the ball carrier, you know,
Speaker 1: just just leading the whole group, and it's so natural
Speaker 1: for him. And you go back and you look at
Speaker 1: his character and Notre Dame, and you know, he was
Speaker 1: the leader that that off the line room at Notre Dame,
Speaker 1: and there was a lot of good players in that group,
Speaker 1: and he was a leader. And I think it's just
Speaker 1: that's very natural for him, and he settled into that
Speaker 1: role very well, and I think it was infectious to
Speaker 1: the entire offense. Ryan, you alluded to the fact that
Speaker 1: we'll let you go here in a moment. You alluded
Speaker 1: to the fact that the next couple of weeks and
Speaker 1: maybe even the next month could be crazy. I'm paraphrasing
Speaker 1: what you're saying. Can you kind of put into context
Speaker 1: what you think it will be like out there with
Speaker 1: teams cutting salaries or not salaries, but cutting some of
Speaker 1: their assets because of the salary cap and whatever else,
Speaker 1: and maybe it's going to be an unprecedented glut of
Speaker 1: people out there that will create opportunities for some really
Speaker 1: smart decisions. I think so, Jeff, you know, talking to
Speaker 1: agents around the league, and I think that everyone's expecting
Speaker 1: that and we're prepared for that. You know, you had
Speaker 1: the guys that you know are going to be unrestricted
Speaker 1: free agents, and we had those guys graded, and we're ready.
Speaker 1: But there's a lot of you're predicting who's going to
Speaker 1: get cut and who's going to be available, and we're
Speaker 1: grading those players and we just mix them in, you know,
Speaker 1: on the board, and you know, especially at the positions
Speaker 1: of need that we're focused on and what's realistic for us,
Speaker 1: and it's just working through that. But I think there's
Speaker 1: going to be some surprise cuts too. And you know,
Speaker 1: we grade a ton of players. You know, everybody's graded
Speaker 1: every every year in the league. And we got multiple
Speaker 1: reports and I think having that many reports in the
Speaker 1: system and all hands on deck with our scouting department,
Speaker 1: our coaches is really going to allow us to maneuver
Speaker 1: and tivot as it happens this offseason, because there's going
Speaker 1: to be a lot of that as these guys are
Speaker 1: getting released, and I think We've got to be ready
Speaker 1: to react quickly, and we will be. Ryan, we really
Speaker 1: appreciate it. Before I let you go, I know um
Speaker 1: Field Yates from ESPN listed all the adjusted salary cap
Speaker 1: numbers for all the teams. He says, we're released by
Speaker 1: the league. Did it create more room for you for
Speaker 1: the Bears. Yeah, you know, we we've kind of been
Speaker 1: operating under a couple of different scenarios and you know,
Speaker 1: we're we have a number of mine where we think
Speaker 1: it'll be, and you know, we have a plan in
Speaker 1: place to make sure that we can do what we
Speaker 1: need to do with that number in mind. And you know,
Speaker 1: I'm always very complimentary Joey Lane, and there's a reason
Speaker 1: for that. We've been together for a long time and
Speaker 1: he's really created with how we do these things. And
Speaker 1: I have a lot of confidence going in free agency
Speaker 1: with him by my side and how we handle that.
Speaker 1: All right, Ryan, appreciate it so much for coming on.
Speaker 1: I hope to talk to you soon. You guys too.
Speaker 1: Thank you. That's Bears gentlemanager, Ryan Pace. We're gonna step
Speaker 1: away for a break. This is Bears All Access. We
Speaker 1: brought to you by IGS Energy, and this segment of
Speaker 1: Bears All Access, also brought to you by Athletical Physical Therapy.
Speaker 1: Visit Athletical dot com to request and a point in
Speaker 1: clinic or virtually start feeling better Tomorrow. Back with Tom
Speaker 1: after this on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy The Score,
Speaker 1: The Chicago Bears Network presents Inside of the Bears, brought
Speaker 1: to you by Verizon. Anthony Adams and Lauren Screeden cover
Speaker 1: the world of Bears football on and off the field
Speaker 1: every Sunday night at ten thirty five pm on Fox
Speaker 1: thirty two Chicago, or watch anytime at Chicago Bears dot
Speaker 1: Com around the Bears official app. With Tom There, I'm
Speaker 1: Jeff jonah Yak. Welcome into the program, our producers, Jordan
Speaker 1: trut Up, Dan Billy and in our Score studios Adam
Speaker 1: Stadzinski helping us out along the way. Heard from Israel,
Speaker 1: Dona Je and Ryan Pace Tonight, Tom some other news
Speaker 1: of the day today is the process that we kind
Speaker 1: of alluded to with Ryan is there's going to be
Speaker 1: a bunch of names out there and some are starting
Speaker 1: to already get released. I'd hate to be a veteran
Speaker 1: this year, but Ben Roethlisberger is, and now we'll be
Speaker 1: back for an eighteenth year with the Pittsburgh Steelers. So
Speaker 1: another chip in that quarterback bingoor, where ever you want
Speaker 1: to call it. He's gonna be in there for twenty
Speaker 1: twenty one, given up some salary, gonna make fourteen million,
Speaker 1: which is a bargain for a starting quarterback, and he's
Speaker 1: made a lot in his career, But in his he's
Speaker 1: positioning it as Okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna give up
Speaker 1: a little so we can clear some space to bring
Speaker 1: in some guys that can help us win a championship. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't feel sorry for Ben Roethlisberger for
Speaker 1: only getting paid fourteen million dollars. He's made a lot
Speaker 1: of money, but is he worth fourteen million dollars? To me,
Speaker 1: I'm a little suspicious of Ben Roethlisberger's help. If I'm
Speaker 1: out there negotiating as as part of a negotiator for
Speaker 1: professional football team, my first intentions is finding a guy
Speaker 1: for whatever I'm gonna pay him that's gonna make up
Speaker 1: through sixteen games. Ben Roethlisberger, excuse me, Ben Roethlisberger. The
Speaker 1: last couple of years is turned into a day to
Speaker 1: day operation, and it's it's unfortunate, and I know that,
Speaker 1: you know, he's put up on this um Steelers pedestal
Speaker 1: or the pedestal of NFL quarterbacks. But you know, Jeff,
Speaker 1: just because he's telling me, I'm willing to reduce my
Speaker 1: salary to that amount, it wouldn't be a foregone conclusion
Speaker 1: that he would be my quarterback. Yeah, but he did
Speaker 1: though thirty three touchdowns and just ten interceptions last year
Speaker 1: and won twelve and three and fifteen games. So he did.
Speaker 1: He did do a nice job job, right, he did.
Speaker 1: But you know he's he's just recovered from elbow surgery.
Speaker 1: They didn't know how long how much he was gonna
Speaker 1: be able to play, so he has that same amount
Speaker 1: of uncertainty coming into the season as he did. And listen,
Speaker 1: I'm you know, hey, take a pay cut, congratulations, but
Speaker 1: I need to field a winning football team. So you
Speaker 1: mentioned to me today and we talked about the potential
Speaker 1: that seventeen to eighteen teams might might be having a
Speaker 1: different quarterback. It won't ultimately be that, but there are
Speaker 1: there are situations and scenarios that could happen. We already
Speaker 1: know Indio have a new quarterback. Jacksonville was gonna have
Speaker 1: a new quarterback, Washington have a new quarterback Detroit the Rams,
Speaker 1: for sure. Everything else now is potential depending on who
Speaker 1: goes where and why. And you wanted me to throw
Speaker 1: that at you. What's your angle today on this whole
Speaker 1: quarterback carousel? I just think it's not going to be
Speaker 1: a great year for quarterback play when you have that
Speaker 1: many teams in the league that are changing quarterbacks. What's
Speaker 1: the first thing every team says when they change quarterbacks says, Hey,
Speaker 1: we need a process of getting this guy up to speed.
Speaker 1: Not everybody's going to be a Tom Brady because Tom
Speaker 1: Brady was a lot was allowed to include a lot
Speaker 1: of Tom Brady into Bruce Arians in that offense. You know,
Speaker 1: Philip Rivers did a nice job for Indianapolis. Ultimately they
Speaker 1: fell show short of their goal. And every goal of
Speaker 1: every team is to win the Super Bowl. But when
Speaker 1: you have that much turnover and then you have a
Speaker 1: new coach in Detroit with a new quarterback, you have
Speaker 1: a new you know, coach in Jacksonville, You're gonna have
Speaker 1: a new quarterback. How is Joe Burrows going to recover
Speaker 1: from a knee surgery after he has been such a
Speaker 1: good rookie season, and are they going to fortify the
Speaker 1: offensive line so he can be protected, because he's not
Speaker 1: going to be able to have a long sustaining career
Speaker 1: with the abuse that he took during the career last year.
Speaker 1: So I question the quarterback position going into this season
Speaker 1: because there is so much turnover and that's not even
Speaker 1: counting the other pieces that are going to be missing
Speaker 1: from teams that are good with high salary guys. So
Speaker 1: I just this year, does that concern you, even from
Speaker 1: a Bears perspective, then yeah, be just because listen, since
Speaker 1: I've been around the NFL, but since I've been paying
Speaker 1: attention to the NFL as a young kid, every time
Speaker 1: a new quarterback has come aboard, they've always have a
Speaker 1: built in waiting game. The only guy in the history
Speaker 1: is with no waiting game so far has been Brady
Speaker 1: this year, that's not there. I'm Jeff jonah Yak and
Speaker 1: it's more segment to go. As we sit away here,
Speaker 1: this is Bears All Access on Chicago Sports Radio six
Speaker 1: seventy square. Everybody back with you. At the top of
Speaker 1: the hour, we're gonna turn it over to Arld pal
Speaker 1: hub Archists. She'll entertain you tonight talking football and all
Speaker 1: things sports, maybe even a little black Hawk talk. Black
Speaker 1: Hawks playing some good hockey, big time. They take on
Speaker 1: the Tampa Bay Lightning three out of the next four nights.
Speaker 1: You got the Bulls hitting the All Star break with
Speaker 1: wins in six out of ten games. You got Cubs
Speaker 1: and Socks baseball cranking it up, but Bears football still
Speaker 1: dominates the headlines. Man, it's the beauty about the National
Speaker 1: Football League, and that's what we're here to talk about.
Speaker 1: A couple of things up one, you know, Matt Nagy
Speaker 1: this week talked about how challenging it is going to
Speaker 1: be this offseason. We all know that even from our
Speaker 1: perspectives to scout and analyzed college talent in twenty twenty one,
Speaker 1: a big time challenge in so many ways. It's it's
Speaker 1: it's definitely unprecedented. H it's real. So now that that
Speaker 1: just puts more of the onus on our personnel, It
Speaker 1: puts more of the ononis on our our coaches, and
Speaker 1: different phone calls that we got to make just to
Speaker 1: make sure, hey, what do you know about this? What
Speaker 1: do you know about that? And then you know, just
Speaker 1: making sure that what you see on tape is real.
Speaker 1: And then you've got some guys that don't have a
Speaker 1: lot of tape because the world went down, So without
Speaker 1: a doubt, this is unprecedented. Do you trust everything from
Speaker 1: tape tim and go from there because you still have
Speaker 1: to know what makes a guy tick, and unfortunately, in
Speaker 1: this situation, you're not going to know until he's in
Speaker 1: your building, on your field iPads and ready to go right.
Speaker 1: You know, I would like to give meet a guy
Speaker 1: face to face. I would like to talk to him
Speaker 1: eyeball to eyeball again. If I was making a decision
Speaker 1: about someone that I was going to bring in as
Speaker 1: a high draft choice, I would love to go into
Speaker 1: a gym with him and either work out with them
Speaker 1: or watch them work out. That would tell me everything
Speaker 1: I knew, because if you had to take a top
Speaker 1: talent guy and introduce him to fifty pound dumbbells, then
Speaker 1: you're telling me all I need to know about a guy.
Speaker 1: But if this guy walks me, if this guy walks
Speaker 1: me through a workout, and I'm gonna use JJ Watt
Speaker 1: as an example, because there's video of him working out
Speaker 1: all the time, and that type of interest in the
Speaker 1: physical element that it takes in order to be a
Speaker 1: successful NFL player. If I had a guy that was
Speaker 1: teaching me new things in the weight room, that would
Speaker 1: that would put him up at the top of the ladder.
Speaker 1: And then from your perspective, because you know, as an
Speaker 1: offensive lineman, this is extremely valuable. Is the intelligence of
Speaker 1: the game and understanding leverage and angles and what defenses
Speaker 1: are trying to do to you as an offensive lineman.
Speaker 1: How are you evaluating guys coming into the league in
Speaker 1: that regard? Just from one Well, that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: That's all I need is do to watch tape because
Speaker 1: then you're going to be able to look at adjusted balance.
Speaker 1: Are they are they coordinated footwork? Do they understand the
Speaker 1: cadence that they're playing with and getting off the ball
Speaker 1: in a reality time where you're not laid off the
Speaker 1: ball and given the defensive lineman an advantage depending upon
Speaker 1: whatever position you're scouting. I think if you have a
Speaker 1: series of a few games on tape, you can tell
Speaker 1: the story of the athleticism, the player's awareness, and the
Speaker 1: player's commitment to the detail. So are you finishing a
Speaker 1: block or are you avoiding a block? Are you getting
Speaker 1: in the way of an offensive player and finishing the
Speaker 1: tackle or are you trying to bounce off of him
Speaker 1: and strip the ball instead of tackling. Are you looking
Speaker 1: for work? Tom? Are you looking for work? Exactly? You
Speaker 1: brought that up a lot last year and it is
Speaker 1: something that I pay attention to with that that phrase
Speaker 1: in my mind, that's what I'm excited about. That's excited.
Speaker 1: Scared to cut you off, but that's what I'm excited
Speaker 1: about with James Daniels, A healthy James Daniels. He was
Speaker 1: looking for work last year, and that kind of mentality
Speaker 1: and nastiness is exactly what is needed on that offensive line,
Speaker 1: for any offensive line, not not the Bears offensive line,
Speaker 1: And not that I'm saying it was missing. I'm just
Speaker 1: saying I want those types of guys. But that's what
Speaker 1: I add. That's why I asked Ryan Pace there. You
Speaker 1: got a lot of talent in the interior line, and
Speaker 1: it may give you a little bit of freedom to
Speaker 1: move guys around, maybe to offer guys out there that
Speaker 1: have starting ability already you know it, So you're not
Speaker 1: moving Cody Whitehair out of left guards as well as
Speaker 1: he played last year in the strength that he displayed,
Speaker 1: and just how well he played and Alex did a
Speaker 1: really nice job at right guard. So the competitiveness of
Speaker 1: that interior position, because to me, I'm sticking with Sam Mustafer.
Speaker 1: Are you are you hoping the Bears draft and offensive
Speaker 1: lineman if they drafted. Listen, you know there's a There's
Speaker 1: something I had written down and um it was about
Speaker 1: because I see all these reports and they're predicting offensive linemen.
Speaker 1: Um I want I don't. I don't want versatility. I
Speaker 1: want reliable. So don't give me a guard tackle tweener
Speaker 1: that their position is undecided. I want to tackle. I
Speaker 1: want an offensive tackle, a guy that's bred to play
Speaker 1: that position. He's got the size, he's got the measurables,
Speaker 1: he's got the understanding. Don't say I'm hiring this offensive
Speaker 1: tackle and if he fails, I can move him to guard.
Speaker 1: I have enough of those guys. I need a guy
Speaker 1: that is a dominant offensive tackle by trade and training
Speaker 1: minus scrimmage is where it's all at. Big time. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much, appreciate it. We'll talk to you next
Speaker 1: week and enjoy the sun there and Maui stays safe.
Speaker 1: Thanks to everybody out there, including Jordan Tredup, Dan Brilli, Adams,
Speaker 1: Dedinski along with Israel Dedana Jay and Bear's gentle manager
Speaker 1: Ryan Pace. We're out of time. Hubbarc Is next. Thanks
Speaker 1: for lisitening everybody. This is Bears on Access, brought to
Speaker 1: you by IGS Energy on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy
Speaker 1: the Score. Good night,