Speaker 1: Welcome in Tumble Bears Weekly, Chicago Bears Network production Tellmoved
Speaker 1: the Chicago Bears Official brought to you by Verizon to
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Speaker 1: and Miller Life. Now it's time for Bears Weekly with
Speaker 1: the Voice of the Bears Jeff Showy on the New
Speaker 1: Bears waiting on network.
Speaker 2: So much to discuss, so much to digest as well
Speaker 2: your Bears for the time being, I keep saying that
Speaker 2: two weeks a row with the number nine picking round
Speaker 2: one and options glory to ponder.
Speaker 3: Welcome in, everybody.
Speaker 4: I'm Jeff Joniak, along with my broadcast partner Tom Fair,
Speaker 4: Jim Miller from Sirius ex M NFL Radio, Moving the Chains,
Speaker 4: Tuck Dawayne his hotel room in Kansas City. What's going
Speaker 4: on in that place right now?
Speaker 5: Hey, there's a buzz here in the city. There's no
Speaker 5: doubt about that. They got the hang it up and
Speaker 5: so everybody's fired up. They saved over three hundred thousand
Speaker 5: people are going to be here, and already it's starting
Speaker 5: to really load up.
Speaker 4: I don't know I'm a traditionalist, right, I got used
Speaker 4: to New York every year. But I tell you it
Speaker 4: was the best thing the NFL did, Tommy to send
Speaker 4: it up. Remember Chicago did it. I think that was
Speaker 4: what twenty fourteen ish. That was amazing. The turnout was great, Tommy.
Speaker 4: I know how you feel about keeping things in the
Speaker 4: States and everything that this has been a great thing
Speaker 4: to have the draft move around a little bit.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it has, But I think Chicago set the standard
Speaker 6: of what's expected of them if they are going to
Speaker 6: move the draft around to different cities, they kind of
Speaker 6: set a standard of the unknown after all those years
Speaker 6: in New York. So Chicago did a great job of
Speaker 6: representing themselves. Had the perfect location, and so everybody has
Speaker 6: live up to the standard of Chicago more than New York.
Speaker 4: I rolled out the red carver for Jim Miller out there.
Speaker 4: You do this every single year. You probably talk to
Speaker 4: a bunch of guys already today as they were warming
Speaker 4: up by the guys invited to the draft. What did
Speaker 4: you learn today, Jim from these guys and what rumors
Speaker 4: are you hearing?
Speaker 7: Well?
Speaker 5: I do think you know it's always going to be active,
Speaker 5: because when you look at the at least the gms.
Speaker 5: You know, here Ryan Poles is a first year at GM,
Speaker 5: but he's already made moves. You know, these guys, these
Speaker 5: young general managers, they're not afraid to move up and
Speaker 5: down and get the guys they want. So here at three,
Speaker 5: you've got Monte Austin for it, right, He's a young
Speaker 5: GM that'll be selecting. And of course you got other
Speaker 5: guys like Dave Ziegler there for the Raiders where they're
Speaker 5: picking at seven. So you just I think there's going
Speaker 5: to be movement. We've seen records setting, record setting trades
Speaker 5: over the past couple of years now that the compensatory
Speaker 5: picks are tradable, so I think you're going to see
Speaker 5: a lot of movement. I really do. They've been really
Speaker 5: aggressive the last few years.
Speaker 4: Tom, Do you want of the Bears to stay at
Speaker 4: nine or you do you care if they move down
Speaker 4: a little bit? Do you care if they're in a
Speaker 4: range if they're going to get an extra maybe higher
Speaker 4: second round pick or even the later pick in the
Speaker 4: middle rounds.
Speaker 6: You know, I'm looking for a great player, not necessarily
Speaker 6: more picks. So if they're going to go down and
Speaker 6: if they have a chance to get a five star
Speaker 6: draft choice, but they're going you know, you know this guy,
Speaker 6: you know, he's a three star draft choice, but he's coachable. No,
Speaker 6: I want to go for the guy that is dependable.
Speaker 6: He's got a reputation that he has high expectations for
Speaker 6: himself and the team has equally high expectations. He's a
Speaker 6: guy that can come in here and kind of be
Speaker 6: that plug and play player that you can have be
Speaker 6: a contributor immediately at some of the weakest spots you have.
Speaker 6: But my, you know, with this draft, the more I
Speaker 6: read about the players, you.
Speaker 7: Know, you think of cornerbacks.
Speaker 6: There's a lot of cornerbacks in this draft that sometimes
Speaker 6: you don't see that position come up as much with
Speaker 6: you know, these types of guys with size and speed,
Speaker 6: coverage ability and stuff, and I know it kind of
Speaker 6: gets off, you know, the path a little bit. But
Speaker 6: if the Bears have a guy there that can come
Speaker 6: in here and you know, be a starter, if they
Speaker 6: feel that he can be a starter immediately, obviously he
Speaker 6: still has to prove himself. But you know, and then
Speaker 6: if the guy's out there that you want and you
Speaker 6: have to make that trade.
Speaker 7: Go ahead. But if there's a five star guy there,
Speaker 7: go and get them.
Speaker 4: Jim, how many five star guys in your opinion are there?
Speaker 4: And Tom use that as a guide. But in terms
Speaker 4: of great players, guys that you can close your eyes
Speaker 4: and think, hey, this guy is a Hall of Fame
Speaker 4: potential or at a minimum, he's going to be a
Speaker 4: perennial pro bowler in the top ten, what are we
Speaker 4: talking about on this draft?
Speaker 3: Because I'm hearing different vibes.
Speaker 4: I hear from some scouts say, you know what, this
Speaker 4: is not a great star draft. There's players in every draft,
Speaker 4: no question about it, and whatever the fit is for
Speaker 4: a player is most important anyway.
Speaker 3: And then secondarily you hear from a lot of these
Speaker 3: gems saying, yeah, it's a great draft.
Speaker 7: We got there's you.
Speaker 4: Know, it's based maybe on the that they have where
Speaker 4: they see a particular what's your opinion after being a
Speaker 4: veteran of watching all of these over the years.
Speaker 5: I mean, even Gil Brandt will will tell you the
Speaker 5: great Gil Brandt just going and you know you're normally
Speaker 5: only going to have like eighteen to twenty maybe twenty
Speaker 5: five blue chip players. You know, blue chip players are
Speaker 5: the guys that you think have the ability to go
Speaker 5: to the Hall of Fame and wear a gold jacket.
Speaker 5: In this draft, they say there is only about fifteen,
Speaker 5: you know, like the of the say the b Jon
Speaker 5: Robinson's or the Paris Johnson Juniors, or say like a
Speaker 5: Will Landerson. So really in this draft is probably the
Speaker 5: top fifteen. And then the meat of the draft is
Speaker 5: going to be really the second and third round guys
Speaker 5: that start to get pushed down and you know, are
Speaker 5: going to be counted on to be but they wouldn't
Speaker 5: project as first round picks. I think gonna be able
Speaker 5: to tell. I mean, even look at the Ohio state
Speaker 5: wide receiver Jackson Smith and Jigbe. I mean that guy
Speaker 5: didn't even play last He didn't play, he had a hamstring,
Speaker 5: and everybody's just in love with this guy. And that's
Speaker 5: why I think guys like Zay Flowers are gaining a
Speaker 5: lot of steam from Boston College. You know, there's to
Speaker 5: me a couple of receivers that you know, I personally
Speaker 5: like more than Jackson Smith and Jigbo, who was his
Speaker 5: great year, was really with the two other receivers that
Speaker 5: were around him, one of Harrison Junior this year. And
Speaker 5: then of course you know when he got Garrett Wilson
Speaker 5: last year, he got a lot of looks and a
Speaker 5: lot lot of receptions just because of who he was
Speaker 5: surrounded by.
Speaker 4: All right, we've got help of course on this show
Speaker 4: as always a lot of help and matter of fact,
Speaker 4: with producer Charlie Bevins, Nick Maczala, as well as our
Speaker 4: Bears Radio Network producer Eric Ostrowski, Dan Brilly Jordan Treadup
Speaker 4: helping us out as well.
Speaker 3: We appreciate you listening.
Speaker 4: Coming up in our next segment, we'll be joined by
Speaker 4: Assistant general manager Ian Cunningham of the Bears. Had a
Speaker 4: conversation with him yesterday. You'll hear that it was a
Speaker 4: taped interview earlier this week. As we look at the Bears,
Speaker 4: the number nine pick and then not until round two,
Speaker 4: number fifty three for the time being, so forty three
Speaker 4: players will be selected in between. Aaron Rodgers rolled out today,
Speaker 4: fellas clean shaven in the whole bit now and he's
Speaker 4: out of our hair. Tom, in fact, you have none
Speaker 4: left and you got a nice look to you right now.
Speaker 4: You looked did you just get a clean shave up
Speaker 4: on the noggin?
Speaker 7: I do all hair care myself.
Speaker 3: That thing.
Speaker 7: I have zero hair budget.
Speaker 4: In my life, and I did, and Aaron Rodgers made
Speaker 4: you pull the rest of it out on his own
Speaker 4: in the twenty nine games against the Bears.
Speaker 6: You know, I don't know what to think about that
Speaker 6: whole deal, because, you know, you go to really a
Speaker 6: nice NBA or an NFL city in Green Bay, you
Speaker 6: have all the conveniencies handed to you, you know, and
Speaker 6: everything in terms of traffic, location, stadium support, money that
Speaker 6: you're being handed, the time that you spend in that organization,
Speaker 6: and then you wish yourself out of there, and now
Speaker 6: you go to a really complicated scenario in terms of
Speaker 6: where their practice facility is, where their games are, the
Speaker 6: whole unknown of you know, going in and seeing this.
Speaker 7: Locker room, you know.
Speaker 6: And then the reason they go and sign that ex
Speaker 6: Green Bay quarterback is because they don't need Aaron Rodgers
Speaker 6: to do anything in the offseason. They can have this
Speaker 6: quarterback there who's been with Hackett in Green Bay and
Speaker 6: teach the rest of the players this system.
Speaker 7: So you know, I'll wait and see what happens.
Speaker 4: You can hear the you can hear the anger bubbling
Speaker 4: up in the former Chicago Bear. Too many, too many
Speaker 4: confrontations with the Green and Yellow up there.
Speaker 5: Hey, he already mentioned, you know, I don't know if
Speaker 5: you saw the press conference time. He's going to be
Speaker 5: at work tomorrow. He's going to work for the New
Speaker 5: York Jets. So I thought he handled it as about
Speaker 5: as perfect as you could handle it. And even when
Speaker 5: he was asked the question about Zach Wilson, who said
Speaker 5: he was going to give a veteran quarterback hill coming
Speaker 5: in there and said, Aaron said, well, I'll make his
Speaker 5: life heaven off the field and maybe I can build
Speaker 5: his confidence back up, because you know, just I thought
Speaker 5: Aaron was on point, did exactly what he needed to
Speaker 5: do as a veteran quarterback, what Jets fans can expect,
Speaker 5: and you know, obviously giving kudos to Joe Namath in
Speaker 5: the jersey, he wasn't going to go down that path.
Speaker 5: He had a nice touch, and I thought, you know,
Speaker 5: he's going to be reinvigorated. I think Aaron Rodgers is
Speaker 5: going to go on a revenge tour, quite frankly, and
Speaker 5: he's going to play his best foot.
Speaker 6: They better get a couple offensive tackles, because as much
Speaker 6: as he can help the offensive line, they still need
Speaker 6: some guys to stand in front of them, and you.
Speaker 7: Know, see what happens.
Speaker 4: Now, you know we're looking. We're looking at what the
Speaker 4: Packers have, and now they got our attention again. They
Speaker 4: got up to the thirteenth pick. They're going to have
Speaker 4: three picks before we the Bears make their next second
Speaker 4: round pick. If they stay first second round pick, if
Speaker 4: they stay in at number nine and don't move down
Speaker 4: at all. So it'll be interesting what they're going to do,
Speaker 4: what their plan is.
Speaker 3: We'll talk about that. The division will look at the
Speaker 3: pack we'll look at the Vikings, we'll look at the
Speaker 3: Lions as well.
Speaker 4: First we're going to take a break. Coming up, Ian
Speaker 4: Cunning you got a thought I.
Speaker 6: Have a question for I'll have it later in the
Speaker 6: show because I have a question for Jim that has
Speaker 6: really been bugging me. I need I need to get
Speaker 6: to the bottom of it. Ask him right now. A Hi, Jim,
Speaker 6: the stetson the quarterback from Georgia. So I'm reading all
Speaker 6: these unfavorable opinions of him and his high opinion of
Speaker 6: himself in the fact that if you do go and
Speaker 6: draft him in day two or day three, he could
Speaker 6: be a distraction good team he's been the ultimate of success.
Speaker 7: He's been to the top. Is he a guy that could.
Speaker 6: Come to the Bears and fit in that this type
Speaker 6: of program and be that backup to Justin because he
Speaker 6: is creative, he is clever, he's he's accomplished on his feet,
Speaker 6: and he's played in a big program. Yeah.
Speaker 7: I think he's a good quarterback.
Speaker 5: I know the incident off the field is probably more
Speaker 5: embarrassing form than anything. You know what happened after their
Speaker 5: their bowl game and he got arrested for the public drunkenness,
Speaker 5: and so he's got a answer to that. But you know,
Speaker 5: the only difference between him and Bryce Young everybody's talking
Speaker 5: about the size of quarterbacks, Go look at his credentials.
Speaker 5: I mean, this guy is a two time national champ.
Speaker 5: He's been MVP of both of those games. He's got
Speaker 5: all kinds of production. He's the son of a coach.
Speaker 5: A lot of guys that I talk to think he's
Speaker 5: like a Drew Brees type of player, And go look
Speaker 5: at the tape because it backs it up with how
Speaker 5: he's played and he's had to work hard to earn
Speaker 5: everything he's got. So I think he's going to be
Speaker 5: a solid pick. It's just how well he's handed himself
Speaker 5: and you know, answered those off the field questions. But
Speaker 5: he will get drafted by somebody because his production is
Speaker 5: hard to deny. God, if you have an opportunity down
Speaker 5: the line to bring him into your team, Yeah, I
Speaker 5: just really I like what he can.
Speaker 7: Offer in a backup role. Initially, I agree with you.
Speaker 5: I think he's going to be a solid guy. I
Speaker 5: really do.
Speaker 4: Under Tod Monkin's play action offense. Maybe he lands in
Speaker 4: Baltimore with a new offensive coordinator of the from and
Speaker 4: fields ahead of him when he came to Georgia. But
Speaker 4: that red flag there for reasons other maybe than just
Speaker 4: that one episode off the field as well from different reports.
Speaker 4: All Right, we're gonna get to Ian Cunningham coming up
Speaker 4: out of the break. This is Bears Weekly with.
Speaker 3: My guys Tom there and Jim Miller here on Chicago's
Speaker 3: ESPN one thousand.
Speaker 1: You were listening This is Bears Weekly with a force
Speaker 1: of the Bears for twenty three years Jeff j on
Speaker 1: the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 4: Entering his sixteenth NFL season and second overall with the
Speaker 4: Chicago Bears, Assistant general manager Ian Cunningham back with US
Speaker 4: here on Bears Weekly on ESPN one thousand and the
Speaker 4: Chicago Bears Radio Network, getting ready for an important.
Speaker 3: Draft with a staff that has been grinding for months.
Speaker 4: Thank you so much for taking the time, because every
Speaker 4: second is valuable. See, we have this image that you
Speaker 4: guys are living in that draft room with that living
Speaker 4: breathing board that you just analyze and analyze and analyze
Speaker 4: and trying to figure out what's going to happen, and
Speaker 4: there's no spare moment to even take a breath. I
Speaker 4: know I'm way off on that, but probably not that
Speaker 4: far off.
Speaker 8: I really, I just want to say thank you for
Speaker 8: getting this out of the draft. We're able to do this,
Speaker 8: so thank you. Yeah, you mentioned sixteen years.
Speaker 4: That's crazy, right, Hey, if it's more than a decade,
Speaker 4: it's a career, buddy. So but you've had some great
Speaker 4: experiences though. Look at where you've been, I mean, my goodness,
Speaker 4: learning from the very best. Always impressed what Baltimore did
Speaker 4: with Asie Knewsom, Eric DeCosta and how that draft for
Speaker 4: how they let the draft just come to them and
Speaker 4: be aggressive but be smart. And then Philadelphia with Howie
Speaker 4: Ali Roseman the general manager there and that staff I mean,
Speaker 4: what what have you learned and taken into this now
Speaker 4: in your second draft here with the Bears.
Speaker 8: Well, I guess what I've learned from at least coming
Speaker 8: from Baltimore really is just evaluation and the consistency in
Speaker 8: terms of you know, what Ozzie showed. And you know,
Speaker 8: the cool thing about being in Baltimore is you had
Speaker 8: I was young, and I was like a lot of
Speaker 8: these personal assistants upstairs in terms of just doing a
Speaker 8: lot of the grunt work and running around. But I
Speaker 8: got a chance to see Hall of famers every single day,
Speaker 8: you know, And I got to see ed Reed, ray Lewis,
Speaker 8: trell Suggs, Marshall, Yonda and learn what a pro looks like,
Speaker 8: and what a Hall of Famer looks like, and how
Speaker 8: they carry themselves and what kind of teammate they are.
Speaker 8: So really that was just an invaluable experience for me
Speaker 8: learning from them, and then being able to go to
Speaker 8: Philly and learn from Howie and his ability to you know,
Speaker 8: think outside the box and be innovative with player development
Speaker 8: and analytics and and salary cap He has this unique
Speaker 8: way in this feel of knowing how to euro step
Speaker 8: when when the rest of the league is kind of
Speaker 8: grasping at trends, you know, and he's just he's really
Speaker 8: good at that. So couldn't be more appreciative of both
Speaker 8: of those experiences. That's what really got me here and
Speaker 8: just trying to, you know, make this place better than
Speaker 8: where I found it.
Speaker 4: You know, I've had these conversations with Ryan Poles, the
Speaker 4: Bears general manager, and you're a good friend and you
Speaker 4: guys working side by side here, but you know, you
Speaker 4: mentioned all that, and I can close my eyes and
Speaker 4: we probably have talked about this, so you can close
Speaker 4: your eyes and see what the Baltimore Raven looks like.
Speaker 4: You can see what the Philadelphia Eagle looks like. Are
Speaker 4: we gonna get close here soon? Just closing your eyes
Speaker 4: and seeing what a Chicago Bear looks like, not just
Speaker 4: for the immediate future, but for the long term.
Speaker 8: That's the plan. Yeah. And the cool thing is when
Speaker 8: you have Ryan and Flews, two guys with you know,
Speaker 8: similar visions and what they want in terms of a
Speaker 8: football team and football player, and it just trickles down
Speaker 8: to us and the coaching staff.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 8: So, I think one of the biggest things in this sport,
Speaker 8: and I may have said this before, But is when
Speaker 8: you can go out on the road as a scout
Speaker 8: and your fellow scouts tell you, hey, I know what
Speaker 8: it looks like. That's what you want, right and that
Speaker 8: means that you're building something the right way. That means
Speaker 8: there's a consistency. That means you have a type and
Speaker 8: you have a vision.
Speaker 4: So have you already heard this back from some of
Speaker 4: those scouts.
Speaker 8: I need to get back on the road. Yeah, that's
Speaker 8: the thing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Yeah, to.
Speaker 8: Get back on the road. One trip this year, hopefully
Speaker 8: next year I'll take a couple more trips. So that's
Speaker 8: what I look forward to it.
Speaker 4: So what does Bear a twenty twenty three version look
Speaker 4: like in your mind's eye?
Speaker 8: Yeah, a guy that fits the Hits principles. What talks
Speaker 8: about all the time, all of our coaches talk about
Speaker 8: all the time, to somebody that's passionate, who loves the game,
Speaker 8: who plays the game hard, who's a really good teammate,
Speaker 8: selfless teammate. Yeah, we just need as many good impactful
Speaker 8: players on this roster res we can get.
Speaker 4: Given more time with the coaches and what Flus wants
Speaker 4: as well overall, the overriding thought process of what they
Speaker 4: want to what they want to put on the field.
Speaker 4: Can you guys get a better feel position group by
Speaker 4: position group, body type, skills, set traits that it's kind
Speaker 4: of squeezing the grapes a little bit more and refining.
Speaker 8: It to get that juice, no doubt, no doubt, And
Speaker 8: I think, you know, Flus and Ryan had a really
Speaker 8: good idea when we first got here. We made sure
Speaker 8: to have our coaches and coordinators present to our scouts
Speaker 8: in terms of what they were looking for for each
Speaker 8: position group. You know, they put up measurables, they put
Speaker 8: up players that they like that fit certain roles and
Speaker 8: certain positions, and we had, you know, it felt like
Speaker 8: a couple hour conversation with some of our coaches, and
Speaker 8: then our scouts were able to get a feel for
Speaker 8: what the vision was for our team and our organization,
Speaker 8: what we wanted to look like. And then now having
Speaker 8: a year with those coaches, now you know how they
Speaker 8: coach and their style and what they like and what
Speaker 8: they don't like. And really, you know, our position on
Speaker 8: personnel is really a servant position, So we're trying to
Speaker 8: give these guys the players in which they like and
Speaker 8: fit their scheme. So when you have conversations with the coaches,
Speaker 8: you feel better and better about all right, I know
Speaker 8: what this coach likes, or I know what this coach likes,
Speaker 8: and really it's just going out there and getting those
Speaker 8: players that can help, you know, fit our scheme and
Speaker 8: help be a bear.
Speaker 4: Is there a number of mine about how many bears
Speaker 4: are on that board? Actually, you're not getting them all.
Speaker 4: You're gonna get a ton of them barring any trades,
Speaker 4: but undrafted free agents included down the road.
Speaker 3: But how many?
Speaker 8: Yeah, I would say, you know, right now, we try
Speaker 8: to keep it around one fifty, but that's just you
Speaker 8: also have to take into account there's guys that we
Speaker 8: still have Draftball grades on that don't match that one
Speaker 8: fifty either. So there's several players there that we kind
Speaker 8: of have to wait till day three. I think we
Speaker 8: have six picks on day three and see how that
Speaker 8: shapes out. But yeah, there's quite a few players on
Speaker 8: the board right now.
Speaker 3: This is a big draft. We all know there was
Speaker 3: going to be a big draft.
Speaker 4: After you've had time now to digest it and see
Speaker 4: how this board could work.
Speaker 3: Are you hoping to get more than what you have?
Speaker 7: Will you be?
Speaker 4: Because Ryan was and you guys were very mobile last year.
Speaker 4: You made three draft trades I think the third day,
Speaker 4: and there's a lot of young gms now in the
Speaker 4: league that you don't really know exactly how they're going
Speaker 4: to operate.
Speaker 3: Could that could that number go up?
Speaker 8: It could, Ye, there's a possibility. I think that's what
Speaker 8: you got to remain flexible. You know, us being college
Speaker 8: guys at heart, you always want more picks, more picks.
Speaker 8: And also what we learned last year is it seems
Speaker 8: like you touched on it in Day three in terms
Speaker 8: of the trades in which we made and the picks
Speaker 8: in which we were able to get. But it felt like,
Speaker 8: you know, that didn't really open up until we made
Speaker 8: that first trade. Then it's like team's ear marking and say, oh,
Speaker 8: they're willing to do a deal. So we'll see what
Speaker 8: happens this draft. We're excited for it, and we'll see
Speaker 8: what happens.
Speaker 4: Ryan hasn't been shy about you know, line of scrimmage
Speaker 4: is something that's clearly in everybody's mind's eye. Hear about
Speaker 4: this draft moving forward? Do you feel good about what's
Speaker 4: out there?
Speaker 8: We do. We feel good about the offense and defensive line, respectfully.
Speaker 8: But you know, I'll say this, Jef, like, we feel
Speaker 8: good about the other positions too. We're just trying to
Speaker 8: get as any impactful players, regardless of positions to come
Speaker 8: in here to help us win now and then into
Speaker 8: the future.
Speaker 3: Night.
Speaker 4: So that's music to my ears because I think a
Speaker 4: lot of fans think, oh, they're only going one way, right,
Speaker 4: But man, you can never have enough rejectable great players
Speaker 4: regardless of positions. So I know a lot of people
Speaker 4: have become desensitized to that. Say they're just drafting. Everybody's
Speaker 4: drafting for need. But if you look around the league
Speaker 4: over time, the best organizations in general manage they don't
Speaker 4: pass on a great player. Did do you subscribe to
Speaker 4: that same thing?
Speaker 8: Definitely, definitely subscribe to that. And you know we said
Speaker 8: we talked about this earlier too. I think the need
Speaker 8: piece kind of gets ironed out throughout the process, but
Speaker 8: ultimately you try to stack the board. You look at
Speaker 8: the board horizontally with offense and defense, but then there's
Speaker 8: a piece where you try to stack it vertically as well,
Speaker 8: and you never want to pass on a great player.
Speaker 3: Like you said, I.
Speaker 4: Thought it was interesting your news conference, uh pre draft
Speaker 4: here with the media. Somebody mentioned you know how many
Speaker 4: first round ray Gion got, But you don't grade by round,
Speaker 4: you grade by value by value, and can you go
Speaker 4: a little deeper into that, because Ryan, that's how you
Speaker 4: guys approach free agency, and thank goodness, because you could
Speaker 4: really blow out the budget if you didn't do it
Speaker 4: that way.
Speaker 8: No question. I think when you look at it, it's
Speaker 8: really what the role, the fit and the vision is
Speaker 8: for the player in which we have here, and then
Speaker 8: you kind of put them in to certain buckets at
Speaker 8: certain grade levels, right, But that role fision VT, it's
Speaker 8: still you had still had that role fission fit at
Speaker 8: lower grade levels as well. You're just trying to grade
Speaker 8: for the talent level and then oftentimes it matches the round.
Speaker 8: But in terms of we're just trying to get as
Speaker 8: many good players at good, you know, grade levels as
Speaker 8: we can.
Speaker 3: What is this group you have?
Speaker 4: And you have an unbelievable staff and we got to
Speaker 4: give some shout outs to some of these guys, certainly
Speaker 4: Trey Cozio and Jeff King, your COPE player personnel guys.
Speaker 3: Breck Ackley love them.
Speaker 4: Assistant Director of College Scouting, you got the area of Scouts,
Speaker 4: the Senior National Scouts, Francis Saint Paul, Sam Summerville, you
Speaker 4: got Jeff Shiver, the Old Vett, the executive of Scout,
Speaker 4: Tom Bradway in the Northeast, Ryan Kavanaugh Midwest, Reseix West Coast,
Speaker 4: Brandon rehor in the southeast, and Drew rossenaz and how
Speaker 4: you say his name combine, and then the scouting assistants
Speaker 4: Keith Earl Junior, Jake Panavar, and Ryan Weis Ashton Washington,
Speaker 4: who is amazing. So there's a lot here and a
Speaker 4: lot more. Is this group a group that passionately stands
Speaker 4: on table for their guy?
Speaker 3: How does it work here?
Speaker 8: You know, there's I feel like these guys there's different
Speaker 8: styles to that I feel like coming in. You know,
Speaker 8: you just touched on it. Being in the league sixteen years.
Speaker 8: When I first got in the league, I felt there
Speaker 8: was a lot more of standing on the table and
Speaker 8: pounding the table for certain players. I think, you know,
Speaker 8: at least with our staff, there's a little bit more
Speaker 8: finessa a little bit more of a respectful way of
Speaker 8: showing it. But you get that sense of conviction and
Speaker 8: you hear that, you know, we asked those guys to
Speaker 8: be convicted in the draft room. And our guys do that.
Speaker 8: I think they're they're great. You touched on on Trey
Speaker 8: and Breck. I feel like, you know, this is their
Speaker 8: first year and their roles, and I thought they you know,
Speaker 8: knocked out of the park just in terms of their
Speaker 8: work with one another and how they flow together and
Speaker 8: our scouts. We asked a lot of them. We changed
Speaker 8: our grading scale that here. You know, we kind of
Speaker 8: used the grading scale last year, but Ryan and I
Speaker 8: tweaked it a little bit during the process, but we
Speaker 8: changed the grading scale this year. We asked them to
Speaker 8: kind of stretch. We asked them to be a little
Speaker 8: bit uncomfortable, find that comfort and being uncomfortable. And I
Speaker 8: thought they did a really good job this year and
Speaker 8: ask you know, answering some of the questions in which
Speaker 8: we had and doing the certain things in which we
Speaker 8: asked them to do. But you know, those guys are
Speaker 8: kind of think those guys enough. There's a lot of conviction,
Speaker 8: just done in a little bit different ways, a little
Speaker 8: bit new age and their approach.
Speaker 4: Is there a sweet spot on this draft board?
Speaker 8: I think so. I think you know, the value I'd
Speaker 8: say value is going to be really cool to see
Speaker 8: day two what that looks like. Personally, I think there's
Speaker 8: you know, really good value on day two, and then
Speaker 8: I'm anxious to see what it looks like on day three.
Speaker 8: I think that's going to be really fun. Ryan and
Speaker 8: I've already talked about, uh, you know, potentially sleeping over
Speaker 8: that night and just like looking at the looking at
Speaker 8: the draft board and kind of coming up with some ideas.
Speaker 4: See, now that's the true scouting you because see, folks,
Speaker 4: you're sitting across me right now with a ear to
Speaker 4: ear grin because that's where the scout really lives.
Speaker 8: There's no doubt about it. Our scouts do a great
Speaker 8: job with that. And we'll have you know, those guys
Speaker 8: are going to have their chance to be convicted about
Speaker 8: those players that once we see where the chips fall,
Speaker 8: you know, day three, come in here and we'll talk
Speaker 8: to our scouts and see who's convicted about the players
Speaker 8: that are left on the board. Ryan and I will
Speaker 8: you know, listen and earmark some of those guys and
Speaker 8: just like what we did last year, and that's how
Speaker 8: we got some of the guys that you know, Braxton
Speaker 8: and Dom. You know, there's guys that stood on the
Speaker 8: table per se for those guys last year.
Speaker 4: All right, so everybody looks at now the numbers combine, right,
Speaker 4: workouts pro days, and they're really driven by that. Fans
Speaker 4: are fans get you know. But in the end, you
Speaker 4: got to trust your eyes and will your eyes tell
Speaker 4: you what the tape tells you?
Speaker 3: What you see firsthand? Does that rule the day for
Speaker 3: this organization or.
Speaker 4: Are there parameters for those measurables that have to be
Speaker 4: met for you guys to draft a player with help
Speaker 4: from now analytics also proving over time with the database
Speaker 4: of information that you know that player X may not
Speaker 4: have all these but he can still work here or
Speaker 4: he can't.
Speaker 8: Yeah, this is a really good question. I think we
Speaker 8: do a really good job of marrying the two. Ultimately,
Speaker 8: it starts with the evaluation and then you blend in analytics. Really,
Speaker 8: lytics for us helps us confirm with our i s
Speaker 8: or helps us ask maybe the questions that we didn't see,
Speaker 8: you know, the height, weight speed from the combine. I
Speaker 8: feel like some of it's good just to have that number,
Speaker 8: But nowadays we get information in real time. We get
Speaker 8: GPS data, so we can actually see how fast a
Speaker 8: player is in the game with pads on that you know, personally,
Speaker 8: I think is a little bit more valuable then you
Speaker 8: know how fast he runs with shorts and shirts, you know.
Speaker 8: And Christy does a really good job of, you know,
Speaker 8: setting the table for us and providing context for us
Speaker 8: in certain areas to help us make some informed decisions
Speaker 8: with analytics and with scout.
Speaker 4: How many times you've fallen in love during this draft
Speaker 4: process and you still fall in love even this late
Speaker 4: in the week.
Speaker 8: I love the process. I try not to fall in
Speaker 8: love with players because it's impossible though exactly you really
Speaker 8: like players, But at the same time you've got to
Speaker 8: that's the tough hard about this. Like, there's players that
Speaker 8: you really really like. There's players that you know. We
Speaker 8: have this thing called a gut box that Ryan and
Speaker 8: I will put a guy on. I guess that's what
Speaker 8: you would call love. But those are the guys that
Speaker 8: you just have a feeling on, Like, all right, I've
Speaker 8: got a really good feeling based off of everything that
Speaker 8: I know about this player, I'm going to put a
Speaker 8: gut box.
Speaker 3: All right. So we got a pretty full gut box.
Speaker 8: I feel like we do. And it's spread out throughout
Speaker 8: the draft.
Speaker 4: All right, your time is valuable. We appreciate it very much.
Speaker 4: Thank you so much, Jeff, Thank you. Man Ian Cunningham
Speaker 4: part of the Bears brass getting ready for the all
Speaker 4: important twenty twenty three draft starting on Thursday night.
Speaker 3: We'll take a break.
Speaker 4: We'll be rejoining Top there and Jim Midler here on
Speaker 4: Bears Weekly on ESPN Chicago and the Chicago Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 1: This is Bears Weekly with a voice of the Bears
Speaker 1: for twenty three years, Jeff Jonyak on the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 4: Fulling back everybody, Jeff Joni Ack down there, Jim Miller
Speaker 4: as we break down of upcoming draft tomorrow night one.
Speaker 4: Just heard from me and Cunningham along and every kind
Speaker 4: enough to spend that kind of time with us. Take
Speaker 4: away spell as to start with you, Timmy A head
Speaker 4: over to Jimmy, what'd you take away?
Speaker 7: You know?
Speaker 6: I like when he said I don't fall in love
Speaker 6: with a player, I'm into the process. And I think
Speaker 6: that says a lot about making sure that you have
Speaker 6: perfeal vision when you're looking at all these guys. You
Speaker 6: can't become so enamored with a highlight tape that you
Speaker 6: imagine this guy being a pancake blocker every single play
Speaker 6: or making one handed catches every opportunity that you have
Speaker 6: to follow the n easier team and the process of
Speaker 6: the types of players that are being offered to you
Speaker 6: and then try to come up with the best grading
Speaker 6: system there.
Speaker 7: So I like a lot of.
Speaker 6: What he was able to let the fans know about
Speaker 6: their evaluation process when you are putting your war room together.
Speaker 5: I like Kellie talked about the players that they've identified, right,
Speaker 5: sixty eight players. So now that he is moving up
Speaker 5: up and down in each round with where you have
Speaker 5: the players valued, you know, to order to get your
Speaker 5: quote unquote guys. So they you know, sixty eight players
Speaker 5: as what seven rounds essentially? Right?
Speaker 4: No, no, no, He said he had one hundred and
Speaker 4: fifty players six the day before the news conference, six
Speaker 4: to eight guys that they could take with that that
Speaker 4: first round pick.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and typically, so let's say, cause I've heard teams
Speaker 5: set do it that way too if they've got one
Speaker 5: hundred and fifty players. But now he said about fitting
Speaker 5: the team and fit the scheme. So imagine a team
Speaker 5: like the Colts where Matt everflush just came from they
Speaker 5: run the same style of defense, they're going to target
Speaker 5: those same type of guys. So now it's about moving
Speaker 5: up ahead that you know, to position yourself to take
Speaker 5: the player that you know you want to say, beat
Speaker 5: the Colts to the punch. And so I think that's
Speaker 5: the key, and that's the beauty of the draft, And
Speaker 5: of course you want it to fall to you, but
Speaker 5: you got to be really selective about where you need
Speaker 5: to position yourself and your values to get the guy
Speaker 5: he wanted. I'd say it's ten guys per round that
Speaker 5: you're identifying where you're moving up or down to get
Speaker 5: really one of those ten guys that you think are
Speaker 5: really going to be crucial players in your team.
Speaker 4: We're certainly fixated on round one, but draft wide, I'm
Speaker 4: very encouraged by what they're going They proved that already
Speaker 4: yet last year when they just had to hit the
Speaker 4: ground running install a tweaked draft system that they carried
Speaker 4: over with the same scouts and everything now added different personnel,
Speaker 4: and so I'm excited what they're going to see. But
Speaker 4: most of the conversation with Ian at the podium on
Speaker 4: Wednesday or Tuesday, I guess it was Tuesday up at
Speaker 4: haddlesall was the talk about Jalen Carter, and he moved
Speaker 4: definitely around that topic, gave his opinions. But to me,
Speaker 4: it's unfair to ask direct questions about players with these
Speaker 4: guys during this process. It's a challenging These are challenging questions.
Speaker 4: So as you look at this gym and what you've heard,
Speaker 4: and do you know at all in your gut and
Speaker 4: your heart of heart if teams have completely taken him
Speaker 4: out of the mix in the top ten, or is
Speaker 4: this guy gonna be a top five pick and it's
Speaker 4: out of the conversation.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think teams, if you looked over the past week,
Speaker 5: Jalen Carter was probably the most visited player, and the
Speaker 5: Bears were one of them. Right because they're going back,
Speaker 5: everybody's circling back and saying, all right, let's get the
Speaker 5: answers that we need from this young man that maybe
Speaker 5: we haven't gotten the answers previously. And I do know,
Speaker 5: like Brad Holmes, they've the Lions visited Jalen Carter, and
Speaker 5: I think, genuinely, I think they feel a lot better.
Speaker 5: They've soften their stance on a great player. Let's face it,
Speaker 5: he's a blue chip player, you know, and you know,
Speaker 5: so they're coming back around again now with Drew Rosenhaus
Speaker 5: stepping in there. Drew has guarantees that he's not fallen
Speaker 5: out of the top ten. Obviously, that says Philadelphia has
Speaker 5: insured it. If he falls to us, we're taking them.
Speaker 5: And so I think when he said that, everybody then
Speaker 5: did their due diligence circled back. I mentioned last week
Speaker 5: about I know top ten team that after that Pro
Speaker 5: day they didn't want to see his face again, But
Speaker 5: even that team went back and revisited with Jalen Carter
Speaker 5: to get the answers that they want. So, yeah, I
Speaker 5: think he's I think we can all guarantee he's going
Speaker 5: in the top ten, but he's probably going in the top.
Speaker 4: Five tom outside of O line or D line, which
Speaker 4: we know the Bears do want to look at. They've
Speaker 4: not been shy about that. Obviously. It's a neat area
Speaker 4: as well. Outside of those positions. What else intrigues you
Speaker 4: in the top ten if they stay at nine at
Speaker 4: a position or a player that you really say, okay, hey,
Speaker 4: if they go this route, I'm okay with it. I'm
Speaker 4: not gonna let's go, let's go with him.
Speaker 6: You know, I'm interested in the cornerback position. I think
Speaker 6: there's a couple players that can come into the Bears
Speaker 6: system in upgrade that position significantly. And then it kind of,
Speaker 6: you know, it puts you in a different position with
Speaker 6: Jalen Johnson because there's a lot to talk with Jalen
Speaker 6: Johnson that comes out of his mouth talking about the
Speaker 6: negotiating and.
Speaker 7: His next contract and all that.
Speaker 6: I think if you could, you know, have the kid
Speaker 6: from Illinois, Witherspoon is at his name, and then you
Speaker 6: got Gonzalez who's got size uh in terms of what
Speaker 6: he can offer a team. Cornerback to me is probably
Speaker 6: one of the more difficult positions to go out there
Speaker 6: and find that whatever grading system, I'm just using five
Speaker 6: star athletes more of a college reference than I am
Speaker 6: a pro reference. But if you can get that cornerback
Speaker 6: to come in and be an immediate contributor on this team,
Speaker 6: and that difficult position within this division with the you know,
Speaker 6: the transition of quarterback up in Green Bay and the
Speaker 6: different receivers that you know, justin Jefferson and stuff with
Speaker 6: they just picked up their fifth year option, and the
Speaker 6: young kid that just got suspended in Detroit.
Speaker 7: I just think cornerback.
Speaker 6: Cornerback is a really position and I always have a
Speaker 6: lot of interest in Jimmy.
Speaker 3: He talked about it. Ian did the Bears look at it? Hey,
Speaker 3: great players are great players, and you don't want to
Speaker 3: pass great players. So again the conversation about potential of
Speaker 3: a guy like Jean Robinson falling down, and yeah, I
Speaker 3: think arm Or would you take him?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think he's a tough player to pass up on.
Speaker 5: You know, here's another guy, I mean, he's he is,
Speaker 5: He's a lot like Saquon Barkley Ben. He think he's
Speaker 5: the best running back in this draft. He's got all
Speaker 5: kind of you know, he's going to play all three downs.
Speaker 5: He does not have to come off the field. And again,
Speaker 5: if you're a team that now you look at the Bears,
Speaker 5: they've got a young quarterback still in justin fields who's
Speaker 5: learning his way. You're going to have a good support
Speaker 5: system with the running game. That's what the Bears they're
Speaker 5: playing was last year. So I definitely think he's a
Speaker 5: consideration at nine. We look at Bijon, he's too good
Speaker 5: of a player. He's a blue chipper.
Speaker 4: Yeah, be sure, is difference maker. We're going to take
Speaker 4: another break here on Bears Weekly with Jim Miller, Tom Thayer,
Speaker 4: Jeff Joni Yack here on ESPN want that, Hey, I'm
Speaker 4: the Chicago Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 1: You were too? Is Bear's weekly with a voice of
Speaker 1: the Bears for twenty three years, Jeff ju on the
Speaker 1: Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 4: You're at a couple of former NFL draft picks, Tom
Speaker 4: Bear and Jim Meta with a knight before the NFL
Speaker 4: Draft and what emotions must be like.
Speaker 3: Welcome back to Bears Weekly.
Speaker 4: You're out of ESPN Radio Chicago and the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 3: Jim, do you remember about the night before year draft?
Speaker 5: I knew I wasn't going to be picked the first day, Jeff,
Speaker 5: So I did. I got a good night's sleep. I
Speaker 5: knew I was going to be more of a you know,
Speaker 5: a second day, and I did get some calls, you know,
Speaker 5: starting in the in the third and fourth round. And
Speaker 5: you know, even that's interesting in how teams do their
Speaker 5: war rooms because I remember we talked to Jed Fish today.
Speaker 5: Jedfish obviously it's a University of Arizona's head coach, and
Speaker 5: he spent time with Baltimore and Johns up there from
Speaker 5: the Seattle, so he's been in and out of those rooms.
Speaker 5: And it's funny because when teams called me, they always
Speaker 5: had another player that they were choosing from, so they
Speaker 5: had two players on the line. Unfortunately for me, the
Speaker 5: team always took the other player. And normally that comes
Speaker 5: down to your position coaches, because Jed Fish said, Jim,
Speaker 5: that's exactly how it worked. I'd get called in and
Speaker 5: they'd said, hey, you know, we want to hear what
Speaker 5: you have to say about this player. And for me,
Speaker 5: like Atlanta called me in the fourth round, they ended
Speaker 5: up taking quarterback Perry Klein from CW Post who played
Speaker 5: two years in the league. You know, I thought, and
Speaker 5: I had a great workout with June Jones. I was like,
Speaker 5: oh man, I'm gonna be a Falcon. And sure enough
Speaker 5: they call me and then they take Perry Klein. And
Speaker 5: then the Steelers called me the next round and it
Speaker 5: was between me in a safety Myron Bell. Myron Bell
Speaker 5: was a teammate of mine with the Steelers, and so
Speaker 5: they called the coaches in and hey, you know what's
Speaker 5: gonna be and they said, Jim, unfortunately, we're gonna go
Speaker 5: with you. Your teammate Myron Bell, and I was like, cartbroke,
Speaker 5: and he's like, but if you're there next und, we'll
Speaker 5: pick you next round. I'm like, jeez, I can't win
Speaker 5: for losing here. But it's something is that that those
Speaker 5: conversations are going on with the GM, with the coach,
Speaker 5: what are our needs? They had two players on the line,
Speaker 5: and it's just, you know, it's just those type of
Speaker 5: split decisions where they get the last bits of information
Speaker 5: where they ultimately make their decision, and that really can
Speaker 5: change fortunes for a lot of players. Luckily, around later
Speaker 5: I ended up with the Steelers and they didn't have
Speaker 5: another player on the line then, so I knew I
Speaker 5: was going to get picked by the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 3: Doom night before the draft. What do you recall, Jeff.
Speaker 6: I remember flying back from Washington, DC, where I signed
Speaker 6: a contract in the USFL, went to South Bend, Indiana,
Speaker 6: cleaned out my dorm room, drove all my stuff to
Speaker 6: Joliet so I can make it to practice. Our draft
Speaker 6: was on a Tuesday, and once the draft started, they
Speaker 6: drafted until the end of the draft. There was no
Speaker 6: TV coverage and so George Allen and said, do me
Speaker 6: a favor. Don't say anything about signing the USFL. We
Speaker 6: would like to make a little bit of uproar in
Speaker 6: the NFL draft. And so as I was signing with
Speaker 6: the Chicago Blitz on my way to practice, they were
Speaker 6: I was got drafted in the fourth.
Speaker 7: Round by the Bears.
Speaker 6: That uh, just you know, created just a bunch of
Speaker 6: you know, it actually worked out perfectly for me, but
Speaker 6: you know, I was kind of young and naive, and
Speaker 6: I was being influenced by George Allen and Bruce Allen
Speaker 6: because they were running the Chicago Blitz and uh, you know,
Speaker 6: I was cleaning out my dorm room when I should
Speaker 6: have been getting ready.
Speaker 7: For the draft.
Speaker 4: You're a rule breaker, opportunity taker. Yeah, I like that.
Speaker 4: Opportunity knocks tomorrow for thirty one NFL players with the
Speaker 4: first round. Let's look at the division here quickly, fellas
Speaker 4: Jim Packers, Now, what do you how do you what
Speaker 4: do you?
Speaker 3: What do you call this? Because they do have a lot.
Speaker 4: Of talent left behind, They're going to try their hand
Speaker 4: at Jordan Love. We're not going to assume that Jordan
Speaker 4: Love can't play. He's been there for three years. We'll
Speaker 4: find out a lot about Matt Lafleur and that coaching
Speaker 4: staff and what they've done behind the scenes with him.
Speaker 3: But they have the thirteenth pick.
Speaker 4: They're going to draft three times before the Bears even
Speaker 4: picked again in the second round. As it stands right
Speaker 4: now where it is, they'd like to trade down and
Speaker 4: do what the Bears are trying to do and accumulate
Speaker 4: draft assets now and in the future. How do you
Speaker 4: describe right now if you had one word to describe
Speaker 4: where the Packers are right now, what would it be?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think that you know, let's be honest. They're
Speaker 5: not going to say it's a rebuild, but it's a rebuild.
Speaker 5: Let's be honest. So I personally, you know, they can
Speaker 5: say that they're going to trade down. They just picked
Speaker 5: up a whole bunch of stuff to trade up. Okay,
Speaker 5: So let's say if the if the run on tackles
Speaker 5: everybody you know now Paris Johnson who was out there today,
Speaker 5: that he could be taking as high as three to
Speaker 5: the Arizona Cardinals. Let's say he does. And I don't
Speaker 5: see the Cardinals doing that. Their rosters worse than Green Bays.
Speaker 5: Arizona should actually want to trade. But if the run
Speaker 5: on tackle starts at nine, what's to say that the
Speaker 5: Packers may want to trade ahead of the Chicago Bears
Speaker 5: and get an opportunity there to maybe get their best
Speaker 5: tackle because they need they have offensive line issues and
Speaker 5: they have certainly they need a tight end as well.
Speaker 5: That's too high to take a tight end. So personally,
Speaker 5: I think they're going to be in the tackle business
Speaker 5: and no line business as well.
Speaker 7: Early for Green.
Speaker 4: Bay, tom as you look at Detroit dangerous team at
Speaker 4: the moment they're building, they got momentum, and they got
Speaker 4: two prime picks. They could wind up with two very
Speaker 4: very good players right out of the gate. I would
Speaker 4: imagine they're looking to continue the theme. You can make
Speaker 4: fun of the bite their kneecaps thing, but there's there's
Speaker 4: players in there, including Jalen Carter and even Witherspoon, who's
Speaker 4: a tone setting corner with an angry attitude and a
Speaker 4: great feistiness to them that could easily be Detroit Lions.
Speaker 6: Yeah, you know, I mean, they do have multiple picks,
Speaker 6: they got assets coming. Do they have any concern for
Speaker 6: their quarterback position of the future, That's what I you know,
Speaker 6: kind of think, what are they what are they doing?
Speaker 6: Are they are they? Do they feel with Jared Goff
Speaker 6: that they're set for the future. I don't think they are.
Speaker 6: He's the type of guy that you know, is kind
Speaker 6: of at the fragile state of his career. However, Uh yeah,
Speaker 6: defense is probably the side of the ball that they
Speaker 6: want to focus on. Their offensive line seems pretty solid.
Speaker 7: Uh you know, they have you know.
Speaker 6: I don't know if this interruption with the guys that
Speaker 6: are lost to the gambling deal, if that changes the
Speaker 6: position they need to look at.
Speaker 7: Do they need receiver help immediately? So?
Speaker 6: You know, I just think Detroit, if they get Jalen Carter,
Speaker 6: I think that's where they would want to go.
Speaker 7: Crowd noise at home yucks.
Speaker 4: Mm with already some really good players from a year ago.
Speaker 4: All Right, we've got to take another break here on
Speaker 4: Bears Weekly.
Speaker 3: Coming on back. I'm gonna put these guys on the spot.
Speaker 3: What do you want?
Speaker 7: What do you need?
Speaker 3: What'd you'd like to have? Okay, fellas, when we back
Speaker 3: there we go.
Speaker 4: This is Bears Weekly at ESPN one thousand and the
Speaker 4: Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 1: You were listening to Bears. This is Bears Weekly with
Speaker 1: a voice of the Bears for twenty three years. Jeff
Speaker 1: Jonyak on the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 3: Let's just make it a holiday, how about it. It's
Speaker 3: the NFL Draft Round one.
Speaker 4: We will be at Soldier Field on the Wattle and
Speaker 4: Sylvie Show, and that'll be from two to six, myself
Speaker 4: and Tom Tayor joining the two legends, and we will
Speaker 4: we'll get our first true experience of a four hour
Speaker 4: talk show with these guys.
Speaker 3: Tommy, are you ready for that?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 7: I can't wait. Wait, it'll be fighting, it'll be fun.
Speaker 4: And then Tom will host and I will host the
Speaker 4: Bears Draft party from six to ten.
Speaker 3: It's sold out at Soldier Field.
Speaker 4: I believe it's the first time ever, so fans are
Speaker 4: genuinely jacked up. A lot of activities at Soldier Field
Speaker 4: tomorrow and then the rest of the weekend.
Speaker 3: You know, we'll filling in the blanks as well.
Speaker 4: Will be on Fox on Sunday night time at ten
Speaker 4: o'clock with Luke and Ellis on the.
Speaker 3: Post Draft Show.
Speaker 4: And then, Jim, you are situated in Kansas City where
Speaker 4: you are right now, and you'll be talking with all
Speaker 4: of these guys.
Speaker 3: You're going to learn more about everybody than we will.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it really is a fun time and just to
Speaker 5: see the excitement. You know, Let's been a goal, a
Speaker 5: dream for a lot of these players, much like it
Speaker 5: was for Time and myself to achieve that goal to
Speaker 5: play in the NFL. And it's the best of the best,
Speaker 5: and so it's an accomplishment. But it's just the start,
Speaker 5: you know. It starts all over, much like how you
Speaker 5: had to, you know, work your way through through college.
Speaker 5: It starts all over again. There's nothing given to you,
Speaker 5: and these players are going to go to work and
Speaker 5: hopefully they'll be able to achieve all the goals that
Speaker 5: they want to achieve in the NFL.
Speaker 4: All right, we touched ont of the division with the
Speaker 4: Packers and the Lions. I did not have time to
Speaker 4: talk about the Vikings. I don't know what to think
Speaker 4: of the Vikings. They played so many close games last year,
Speaker 4: A winning team go to the playoffs. Kirk Cousins never
Speaker 4: gets the love your former Michigan State are there, Jimmy Uh.
Speaker 4: They have rumors of possibility of trading Dalvin Cook.
Speaker 8: Uh.
Speaker 4: I'm not quite sure what to think of the Vikings
Speaker 4: right now in a wide open division. Where do you
Speaker 4: think they're going in this draft, they're yeah, a little
Speaker 4: bit in round one.
Speaker 5: Yeah, well certainly, you know they they're gonna need a receiver.
Speaker 5: They lost thelan I gotta believe their defense was terrible
Speaker 5: last year, so they're going into a different direction there
Speaker 5: with Brian Flores and what they're gonna do, uh defensively,
Speaker 5: you know, and they got to find a quarterback, you know. Mensa,
Speaker 5: their their general manager, really made no bones about it.
Speaker 5: I mean, Kirk Cousins went to them to restructures deal
Speaker 5: to get another year, and they're like, no.
Speaker 7: We're good, We're good.
Speaker 5: So they're getting the They're getting the quarterback at some point,
Speaker 5: whether it's Hendon Hooker or whether they make the trade
Speaker 5: with the forty nine ers to get Trey Lance, or
Speaker 5: even if it's a later quarterback in the draft, say
Speaker 5: Clayton Tune. I like Clayton Tune. I think he's he's
Speaker 5: got really good numbers, and boy, I didn't like him
Speaker 5: in Mobile, But boy, when I turned on the tape,
Speaker 5: that quarterback can play.
Speaker 4: All right, tom, here we go. We got three minutes,
Speaker 4: two minutes in the show. So, uh, what you need,
Speaker 4: what you want, what you gotta have. It doesn't have
Speaker 4: to be a specific player, but whatever you want to
Speaker 4: throw on the table for my need.
Speaker 6: I want a writer left tackle, but I want a dominator.
Speaker 6: I want a day one starter. What do I want
Speaker 6: Jalen Carter to the defensive lineman and what would I need?
Speaker 6: I would not need a safety like Antonio Johnson out
Speaker 6: of Texas A and M six hundred pounds that can
Speaker 6: maybe you know, catch fire with ya Kwan Brisker Jim.
Speaker 5: I agree with Tom. I want to tackle who's a
Speaker 5: Day one starter in plays for a long time. I
Speaker 5: want a penetrator defensive tackle, whether that's Jalen Carter Carter,
Speaker 5: whether that's Elijah Cansei, whether that's Double A at the
Speaker 5: Timmy Wow out of Northwestern. I want a penetrator there.
Speaker 5: And I want an edge rusher, an edge rusher, and
Speaker 5: then later in the draft, I think you can get
Speaker 5: a quality corner.
Speaker 7: I'm with Tom.
Speaker 5: They need a corner. They can kick Kyler Gordon then
Speaker 5: into full back and have a two you know, pillars
Speaker 5: on the outside of what they need. I think if
Speaker 5: they come out with those things, they'll be they'll be
Speaker 5: sitting pretty at the end of the day, and then
Speaker 5: they're all gonna play and they're all gonna develop and
Speaker 5: they're gonna get better, just like last year.
Speaker 7: All Right, I need that.
Speaker 3: I need speed.
Speaker 7: I need speed. I need need need.
Speaker 4: Functional speed, not just track speed, threatening speed that makes
Speaker 4: teams get on their heels a little bit. I want
Speaker 4: attitude and tone setters. Whether that term alpha wants to
Speaker 4: sneak into the conversation, I don't know. I want guys
Speaker 4: that are gonna shoulder the load, set the tone with
Speaker 4: the mix they added last year, and move forward to
Speaker 4: the future.
Speaker 3: And I gotta have a pocket wrecker and a tackle.
Speaker 3: So those are the two.
Speaker 7: Things, hyperble.
Speaker 3: I gotta have a pocket rerecord.
Speaker 7: Facts and figure. We're at a time.
Speaker 3: We'll talk about it tomorrow. And Wato and Sylvia Soldier Field.
Speaker 3: Thank you as always to everybody for listening tonight. Jim
Speaker 3: have fun and Casey Buddy.
Speaker 5: All right, sounds good for Tom Fair, Jim.
Speaker 3: Miller, I'm Jeff Jonieck.
Speaker 4: Thanks to Charlie Bevans, Nick Maczaba, we got Jordan Tredup
Speaker 4: and Dan Burrillian. Of course Bears Radio Network producer Eric Ostrotski,
Speaker 4: Tyler Acky coming up next. This has been Bears Weekly
Speaker 4: on esp in Chicago and one thousand and and the
Speaker 4: Chicago Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 3: Good night, everybody you were tuned into Lee with Me,