Speaker 1: Welcome in to Bears Weekly, powered by IGS Energy, a
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Speaker 1: Here are your hosts, Jeff Chiliac, aka the Mayor of
Speaker 1: Bearsville and is sidekick Tom the Surfmaster Thayer.
Speaker 3: Well, there is about to be some moving it shaken
Speaker 3: in the NFL. Next week, Free agency opens, Pro days underway,
Speaker 3: Top thirty visits commencing, and within the next sixty days,
Speaker 3: the Bears roster is going to look a whole lot different.
Speaker 3: We tackle all of it tonight on Bears Weekly here
Speaker 3: on ESPN one thousand and the Chicago Bears Radio Network
Speaker 3: with Super Bowl winning Bears guard Tom Thayer and former
Speaker 3: Bears quarterback Jim Miller from Serious XM NFL Radio. I'm
Speaker 3: Jeff Joniac coming up on the program. We visit with
Speaker 3: an outstanding draft analyst who's also does the job that
Speaker 3: Tom Thayer does for the Houston Texans, John Harris from
Speaker 3: Footballtakeover dot Com.
Speaker 4: Jimmy, you know him. He's a crazy draft right.
Speaker 5: There's a lot of guys out there at this time
Speaker 5: of the year that our true gems are around the league.
Speaker 5: And you know, you guys talked to Brugler last week
Speaker 5: and you know the stuff that he does. But you know,
Speaker 5: there's all these cottage industries that have just branched out
Speaker 5: and done so well because the draft people are nuts
Speaker 5: for the draft, and it's just think about it. It's
Speaker 5: just the calling of a name. Yeah, and it's broadcasting
Speaker 5: on TV.
Speaker 3: It's crazy, right, Yeah, And you're right, it is a
Speaker 3: cottage industry.
Speaker 4: And that's how I framed his role in this.
Speaker 3: But he'll break down the draft coming up in a
Speaker 3: couple of segments from now. Our producer Tonight, Dan Brilly,
Speaker 3: and Jordan Trenipan the ESPN studio Justin Pottinger. Executive producer
Speaker 3: of the Bears Radio network is Eric Ostrotski. All Right,
Speaker 3: so nothing is official into the new league year starts
Speaker 3: on Wednesday, So we have to talk about this as reported. Okay,
Speaker 3: everything's reported, but what we're hearing the Bears have done
Speaker 3: some really big things on the offensive line. Tom we
Speaker 3: talked about it. They didn't shy away from talking about it.
Speaker 3: At the combine. Ryan Pools also the new head coach
Speaker 3: Ben Johnson, so some big moves on the offensive line,
Speaker 3: reportedly bringing the.
Speaker 4: Bears what looks to be two starting guards.
Speaker 6: Well, the first thing that comes to mind is when
Speaker 6: you're hired as a new head coach and you come
Speaker 6: into a building for the first time, the first thing
Speaker 6: that you want to do is change the culture of
Speaker 6: the building. And that means the in building work ethic.
Speaker 6: That means the on the practice field work ethic, and
Speaker 6: that's the off season preparations, how you go about your business.
Speaker 6: And these two names, you know, they've dominated the headlines
Speaker 6: and the landscape of the NFL in the last couple
Speaker 6: of days, and I think they do a lot for
Speaker 6: the building. And then secondly, just what through my thinking
Speaker 6: is last year when you look at the leadership council
Speaker 6: and you have no offense and defensive linemen on the
Speaker 6: leadership council, the first thing that I'm going to do
Speaker 6: with this new leadership council, it's these two guys are
Speaker 6: going to have a role in it.
Speaker 7: They're going to have a hand in it.
Speaker 6: And then what they can do professionally, how they can
Speaker 6: expedite the development of a young football player, a draft
Speaker 6: choice or even a person in a new position. So
Speaker 6: I'm excited going forward and I think what it's going
Speaker 6: to bring to this team, organization and building two names.
Speaker 5: That they're very familiar with. Obviously Ben Johnson knows one
Speaker 5: of the guards, and certainly Ryan Poles very familiar with
Speaker 5: the Kansas City product as well. So it's got to
Speaker 5: be first things first. This offense has to get corrected.
Speaker 5: It's it's been pretty anemic for quite some time.
Speaker 3: Let's let's begin the discussion about Joe Toney because I
Speaker 3: think Tom hit upon it.
Speaker 4: Everything you hear about him is leader, leader, leader, somebody
Speaker 4: to go.
Speaker 3: I mean, he's been to six Super Bowls in his
Speaker 3: nine years. That's that's crazy. He's been with two Hall
Speaker 3: of Fame quarterbacks, Tom Brady and eventually Patrick Mahomes is
Speaker 3: going to be in that same conversation. So you know,
Speaker 3: how important is that for the entire offense, in the
Speaker 3: entire team that Joe Tooney is a Chicago Bear.
Speaker 5: Start with you, Jimmy, Yeah, I think you know he's
Speaker 5: kind of he's been there, he's done that, He's achieved
Speaker 5: a lot of success. He'll probably bring that mentality of
Speaker 5: how the Kansas City Chiefs were you know they're fighting.
Speaker 5: This guy's a versatile guy. We know he's putting some
Speaker 5: bad spots. He's been kicked out to left tackle more
Speaker 5: than numerous occasions for the Kansas City Chiefs and has
Speaker 5: come through for his team. At that time, when he
Speaker 5: signed with Kansas City, he signed for tackle money even
Speaker 5: though he was a guard. That's how highly regarded he
Speaker 5: was there by Kansas City. And I think, is you know,
Speaker 5: really his numbers stack up. They prove it, and we'll
Speaker 5: see where it goes. But Caleb needs a lot of help,
Speaker 5: and it's got to start with his offensive line because
Speaker 5: the sacks have got to stop. The sacks have got
Speaker 5: to stop. If the Bears keep shooting themselves in the
Speaker 5: foot that way, it's hard to play on schedule when
Speaker 5: you're all he's second and ten second and twenty second
Speaker 5: and fifteen third and seventeen. Those situations are never good
Speaker 5: for anybody. It's got to get rectified.
Speaker 7: Well.
Speaker 6: I think at any position that you need consistency the
Speaker 6: most is the offensive line, and it's the work that
Speaker 6: you put in from OTA's all the way to the
Speaker 6: first regular season game to the last regular season game.
Speaker 6: When you talk about an alpha male like two in
Speaker 6: a who's I think he's only missed two games in
Speaker 6: his career. It's a valuability. It's the guy that's at practice.
Speaker 6: He's in the meeting rooms every day. He's able to
Speaker 6: have conversations with whomever the left tackle is going to
Speaker 6: be or whoever the center is going to be. And
Speaker 6: like I said, if they're young guys, he has a
Speaker 6: chance to expedite the learning curve because he has experience
Speaker 6: at the left tackle position. He plays offensive guard and
Speaker 6: I'm sure if you asked him to go there and
Speaker 6: play center in in a desperation moment, he could do
Speaker 6: that equally as well.
Speaker 3: All Right, Jonah Jackson reportedly going to be a Bear
Speaker 3: after the Bear's making a deal with the LA Rams
Speaker 3: injured last year him. But he's only twenty eighth, And
Speaker 3: this is a hedge on what free agency may or
Speaker 3: may not reveal here in the coming days about the
Speaker 3: lack of availability of some really good talent.
Speaker 4: So they jumped the gun.
Speaker 3: They reportedly make these trades, And what are we getting
Speaker 3: potentially here in Jonah Jackson.
Speaker 5: Well, he was a one time pro bowler there in Detroit,
Speaker 5: so he knows the offense. Obviously, Ben Johnson knows his
Speaker 5: skill set. I do like that power side with him
Speaker 5: and Darnell Wright, and we'll see what unfolds. But like
Speaker 5: you said, he signs a three year I think it
Speaker 5: was a fifty one million dollar deal for the Rams,
Speaker 5: doesn't even make it through his first year. He only
Speaker 5: played four games, got hurt and probably wants to go
Speaker 5: back and be in an offense that's his comfort zone
Speaker 5: where he performed very well. So I do think they
Speaker 5: significantly with Tooney. Would Jonah Jackson have gotten better at
Speaker 5: the guard spot?
Speaker 6: You know, one thing about him too is he was
Speaker 6: at the beginning of change in Detroit and he understands
Speaker 6: what that's all about. And I think when you brought
Speaker 6: in to be the same type of culture changer on
Speaker 6: the right hand side of the offensive line, I think
Speaker 6: he has the ability to do it. And like you know,
Speaker 6: helping the center and helping a young guy like Darnell Wright,
Speaker 6: and now you're talking about a guy that has experience
Speaker 6: in Jackson and the guy that is the more experience
Speaker 6: he gets, the better he's going to become.
Speaker 7: So I think.
Speaker 6: You know, however, four fifths of the offensive line, three
Speaker 6: fifths of the offensive line are probably in place ready.
Speaker 6: Now you have to see where they go in the
Speaker 6: center and left tackle position.
Speaker 4: So, Tommy, how excited are you about this?
Speaker 3: Because it's one thing to say you're going to go
Speaker 3: and get X, Y and Z to build this offensive lion.
Speaker 4: It's another to pull it off.
Speaker 3: And they've already reportedly done it through trades before even
Speaker 3: tapping into free agency or the draft. And as you said,
Speaker 3: Darnell right, he's in place. Everything else is up for discussion.
Speaker 3: But they're going to continue to build this thing. And
Speaker 3: we had this discussion a couple of weeks ago, Tommy.
Speaker 3: We've talked about it every day through texts. How are
Speaker 3: you gonna do it? Why are you gonna do it
Speaker 3: this way? And you know you can't draft five rookies
Speaker 3: to start a season, so you got to dig in
Speaker 3: and get some experience in addition. So are you intrigued
Speaker 3: here at a minimum and excited at a maximum? And
Speaker 3: how this is coming together so quickly?
Speaker 6: You know the thing about tune Ay and Jackson for
Speaker 6: that matter, you're still not uncertain about the way they
Speaker 6: go about their business. You know how they go about
Speaker 6: their business, and you know the successes that they've had
Speaker 6: and you talk about a couple of guys that the
Speaker 6: way the offensive line finished the season last year and
Speaker 6: where they're at already before the season gets underway, tune A.
Speaker 6: He's gonna walk in that room and he's going to
Speaker 6: be one of the most important characters on this football team.
Speaker 6: I don't care what position you play. And I've seen
Speaker 6: that before and I've seen that role of importance.
Speaker 7: And so when you talk about a guy.
Speaker 6: That's going to lead by example, there's no better guy
Speaker 6: that you want to have on your football team. Is
Speaker 6: a guy that stands up front in front of this
Speaker 6: young quarterback who's in the developmental stages and is you know,
Speaker 6: working with a young head coach that has to have
Speaker 6: those pieces in place. And I'm glad that Ryan Poles
Speaker 6: went out and did his research and work and brought
Speaker 6: in a couple of.
Speaker 7: Guys that are day one starters.
Speaker 6: They're going to be in a three point stance opening
Speaker 6: day of the regular season.
Speaker 3: Jim, there is nothing more important than building a high
Speaker 3: caliber offensive line for an NFL football team. Yes, it's
Speaker 3: the quarterback, but the quarterback can struggle behind a bad
Speaker 3: offensive line. This is this has gotta happen this year. Like,
Speaker 3: this is so important for the.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I Agoury with Tom Tooney was brought in to
Speaker 5: really further the development of Patrick Mahomes. I think they
Speaker 5: knew how talented he was, but once that was settled,
Speaker 5: you know, he really started to take off as a quarterback.
Speaker 5: I'd say this thing for Philadelphia. If you look at
Speaker 5: the Philadelphi Eagles, their money is in their offensive line
Speaker 5: because Jalen Hurts at that time was under his rookie deal.
Speaker 5: Right now he's got the big time contract, but you know,
Speaker 5: they had paid Malatta, they had paid Lane Johnson. Kelsey
Speaker 5: was getting paid Jason Kelsey the center at the at
Speaker 5: the time, and so and then you see the fruits
Speaker 5: of the labor of what the Philadelphia Philadelphi Eagles were
Speaker 5: able to do. You know, at some point you have
Speaker 5: to invest in your offensive line, and specifically when it's
Speaker 5: a young quarterback who's trying to develop. And for Caleb,
Speaker 5: this is a crucial year. Last year was a waste.
Speaker 5: It really was a waste for me.
Speaker 7: And so it.
Speaker 5: Starts over put some competent, legitimate players around him and
Speaker 5: we'll see where it goes with the quarterback. And I
Speaker 5: like how Ben Johnson has addressed the quarterback that he's
Speaker 5: got to strip him down and start from ground zero.
Speaker 3: That's Jim Miller. Tomp there, Jeff Joniack will take a break.
Speaker 3: More coming up here on Bears Weekly and Esbon Chicago
Speaker 3: and the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 4: This segment of Bears Weekly.
Speaker 3: Brought to you by IGS Energy with Tom Dayren Jimmeler,
Speaker 3: Jeff Joniak. I mean, the off seasons the past several
Speaker 3: years have been dominated by the Chicago Bears. Tommy the
Speaker 3: line of scrimmage, we're talking about it at length, but
Speaker 3: there's other things the Bears need. And they also reportedly
Speaker 3: are going to be able to sign Durham smythe another
Speaker 3: domer at the tight end position from the Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 3: Tommy reportedly a one year contract to join cole Comet.
Speaker 6: Tight And you you heard it here first, second and third, Well,
Speaker 6: you know so I don't want you to You almost
Speaker 6: changed my mind there a little bit because after coming
Speaker 6: out of the break, I wanted to say, even though
Speaker 6: they brought into an A and Jonah Jackson, they have
Speaker 6: Darnell right, I don't want them to shy away from,
Speaker 6: you know, targeting good offensive.
Speaker 7: Linemen in the draft.
Speaker 6: Well, yeah, whether they play offensive guard, tackle, or center,
Speaker 6: because you talk about what with a new offensive line coach,
Speaker 6: a new offensive line room, with a cup of an
Speaker 6: experienced veterans, what they can do to some offensive linemen
Speaker 6: that they could draft, either to play immediately or play
Speaker 6: down the road. And you still have to have a
Speaker 6: bunch of talent because you know, you shared some messages
Speaker 6: with me over the last couple of days about where
Speaker 6: the offensive line was at in the last couple of
Speaker 6: years and how many different starting lineups, how many different
Speaker 6: players they used in the variations of position changes. So
Speaker 6: just because you got a couple of good, experienced veterans
Speaker 6: doesn't mean you ignore other guys that are valuable to
Speaker 6: you in the draft.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Bears, I'll go over the number again. They were
Speaker 5: twenty fifth in the NFL in running the football, and
Speaker 5: I think this is a sign that they are going
Speaker 5: to run the football more because Durham smythe is more
Speaker 5: of a blocker. Yeah, he'll get you like fifteen receptions
Speaker 5: a year, but he's a blocker at the end of
Speaker 5: the day, and so that allow Cole Komet to still
Speaker 5: do his receiving you know, capabilities. You know in terms
Speaker 5: of the reception at the end of the day. But
Speaker 5: make no mistake about it, this is a sign. You know,
Speaker 5: look at Detroit last year, how when they went heavy
Speaker 5: personnel they would bring an extra offensive lineman. I think
Speaker 5: now when you just look at the sign of Durham,
Speaker 5: the signing of Durham Smythe, he's going to be the
Speaker 5: big guy out there in running situations or if they
Speaker 5: go twelve personnel where they can really pound you a
Speaker 5: little bit running the football. So block you get the rock, right,
Speaker 5: So I think Smythe's more of a blocker, so maybe
Speaker 5: he will get the rock more than seventeen receptions and
Speaker 5: he had last year for the Minnesota or for the
Speaker 5: Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 4: Hey, let's not forget it. Put that big man skipper
Speaker 4: out there for the dam Skipper.
Speaker 3: This excites me so much because we all three of
Speaker 3: us love running the football.
Speaker 4: I will never shy away from it.
Speaker 3: I think it's absolutely necessary to win in the National
Speaker 3: Football League, whether it be the tough yards when you
Speaker 3: need him.
Speaker 5: Look at Philadelphia. Look at Philadelphia. I mean sign sa
Speaker 5: Kwon Barkley. But that line is no joke. You know
Speaker 5: that line is no joke. In the trenches and we say,
Speaker 5: you win and lose football games. There was probably no
Speaker 5: better team than Philadelphia on both sides of the ball
Speaker 5: in the trenches, and so I think it's out there
Speaker 5: for everybody to see.
Speaker 3: And Tommy the short yardage stuff, I mean, how many
Speaker 3: times have we pulled our hair out about short yardage?
Speaker 7: Yeah?
Speaker 6: You know, that's the thing about Ben Johnson. I like
Speaker 6: the fact that he's so clever and he can really
Speaker 6: keep you off balance and he.
Speaker 7: Can keep you thinking. You know, they can put in.
Speaker 6: Seven offensive lineman, six offensive lineman and you can say, okay,
Speaker 6: they have this big strong side here with three offensive
Speaker 6: linemen next to each other, with the tight end next
Speaker 6: to him, that's the obvious point of attack.
Speaker 7: And then what do they do. They run a jet sweep, they.
Speaker 6: Run some type of cleverly designed play. So going forward,
Speaker 6: just because the personnel's on the field doesn't make them predictable.
Speaker 6: It makes them a little bit more unpredictable. Because what
Speaker 6: we've seen over the last couple of years with Ben
Speaker 6: running the Detroit offense in how you know, he you know,
Speaker 6: pulled the rabbit out.
Speaker 7: Of the hat.
Speaker 4: Yeah, sure, did you know? I don't know if I
Speaker 4: told you, Jim.
Speaker 3: The first time I sat down with coach Johnson before
Speaker 3: his introductory news conference, he goes, how'd you call Stumblebum?
Speaker 3: And I'm like, I didn't call it very well because
Speaker 3: I didn't know when to after the game.
Speaker 4: It was a prop so to speak.
Speaker 3: So he's clever and he is unpredictable, as Tom said,
Speaker 3: So it's going to be fun when this is all
Speaker 3: put together. He's got a lot of different influences in
Speaker 3: that room. Offensively speaking, yes, he's got all the guys.
Speaker 4: From Detroit Antoine Randewell and j. T.
Speaker 3: Barrett and all that, but there's other influences offensively from
Speaker 3: the Sean Payton tree. We've gone through the tree. So
Speaker 3: I'm really excited to see what else he wants in
Speaker 3: terms of personnel, what he'd like to have and how
Speaker 3: they pull this off and when they put it together.
Speaker 5: Yeah, he's gonna you know, once he gets the guys
Speaker 5: on the field, like through free agency in the draft,
Speaker 5: and they have a vision of what they think it'll
Speaker 5: look like, and then you take the players out on
Speaker 5: the field and you really diagnose what they can and
Speaker 5: cannot do, you know, and uh, you know, for a
Speaker 5: lot of players even like Caleb, when they start diving
Speaker 5: into the playbook, Ben is going to realize, all right,
Speaker 5: he's capable of doing this. Right now, he's not quite
Speaker 5: there on doing these things that we believe he can do.
Speaker 5: But he's got to show us. He's got to he's got.
Speaker 7: To prove it to us.
Speaker 5: So I'm a big believer in the you can't call
Speaker 5: plays on what a player hasn't mastered. You know you're
Speaker 5: gonna call plays. You hang your hat on the things
Speaker 5: you do.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 5: That means you know that these players say on these
Speaker 5: go plays that they can execute them. Everybody's got the
Speaker 5: assignment and everybody's doing what they're asked to do. And
Speaker 5: then through the OTA's they're going to experiment and they're
Speaker 5: going to see, all right, this guy can do this.
Speaker 5: This guy all right, he's shown us he can do that.
Speaker 5: And now the playbook starts to expand on what your
Speaker 5: players can do. That's why you know, I was kind
Speaker 5: of animate that everybody just things the Detroit Lions Playbook
Speaker 5: is coming to Chicago. No, that'll sort itself out. He's
Speaker 5: got to see the players first. Like I said, they
Speaker 5: have a vision, but now sort it out what they
Speaker 5: can and cannot do, and maybe players will grow into
Speaker 5: doing more and then you know, you can start to
Speaker 5: expand the playbook. From that standpoint, the only.
Speaker 6: Thing that's guaranteed per game is the script. Everything as
Speaker 6: soon as that script is over. If you have early
Speaker 6: first quarter success and you run through this script within
Speaker 6: the first drive or two, then it's you know, every
Speaker 6: one of those guys, it's their accountability making sure they
Speaker 6: understand their assignments from every single play that can be
Speaker 6: called by coach Johnson against whatever defense they're playing against
Speaker 6: that week. And I think that's when you really grow
Speaker 6: to appreciate well organized, well coached football team is when
Speaker 6: they have that versatility of unpredictability that can factor in
Speaker 6: for a play caller.
Speaker 3: The beauty of the script is in its deceit, so
Speaker 3: you know, you just don't call the first fifteen. You
Speaker 3: set somebody up for something in the third or fourth quarter.
Speaker 3: Those are the best play college gym, right And in
Speaker 3: your career, were you always scripted in the first fifteen?
Speaker 5: Yeah, pretty much. It's very rarely that you go off
Speaker 5: script unless you have maybe a big play that ends
Speaker 5: up in the red zone and you're already in the
Speaker 5: red zone and calling those plays. But yeah, the script
Speaker 5: normally is going to go to plan to see how
Speaker 5: a defense is going to play those certain personnel groupings
Speaker 5: and what they've had trouble stopping in the past. But yeah,
Speaker 5: you're right, you're as a game goes along, and if
Speaker 5: you're in tune with your play caller, you can almost say, oh,
Speaker 5: he's setting up this, Yeah he's setting up that. All right, yep,
Speaker 5: it's the time for this play. And you know you're
Speaker 5: thinking a couple of plays ahead of what's going to unfold,
Speaker 5: you know, as the game rolls along.
Speaker 3: You know, for football fans, I think the script is
Speaker 3: a nuance that has been discussed in recent vintage. So Tom,
Speaker 3: I go back to you, the man who's played the
Speaker 3: longest and been a part of the football world the
Speaker 3: longest of the three of us.
Speaker 4: Did you guys script plays?
Speaker 7: Yes? And it started.
Speaker 6: It started in the first team meeting when we installed
Speaker 6: the Running Game on Wednesday, because Coach Dikab would get
Speaker 6: up there and he would start explaining the susceptibilities of
Speaker 6: the defense we're getting ready to play, and so this
Speaker 6: is what he's going to be thinking in the Running Game,
Speaker 6: and this is how we're going to attack the opponent,
Speaker 6: and then when we go Thursday install the passing game.
Speaker 6: He says, Hey, this is the way we're going to
Speaker 6: play off the running game, and this is how we're
Speaker 6: going to attack downfield, and the play action the downfield
Speaker 6: passing game. I just I think it's something that's always
Speaker 6: been a part of the process of football. The thing
Speaker 6: that's changed the most to me really is the involvement
Speaker 6: of analytics on the defensive side of the ball. Because
Speaker 6: defensive coaches can't script their first fifteen. They're kind of
Speaker 6: calling defense according to personnel down in distance and what
Speaker 6: they feel their strength can be against the opponent personnel
Speaker 6: they're seeing.
Speaker 3: I got a question for his go to break, Tom,
Speaker 3: did you ever have a script that called for fifteen
Speaker 3: straight running place?
Speaker 6: One game, we were playing the Indianapolis Colts in Chicago
Speaker 6: in the it was really windy. I think Steve Fuller
Speaker 6: was starting at quarterback and Dika came up to us
Speaker 6: before kickoff and he said, Hey, you guys, I'm not
Speaker 6: going to throw the ball at all today.
Speaker 7: And I think we ran.
Speaker 6: The ball like the first twenty two plays of the
Speaker 6: game and we but only threw it a couple times
Speaker 6: in the course of the game.
Speaker 7: But that's kind of conditions alert.
Speaker 6: Yeah, that's not something that you plan for on Wednesday
Speaker 6: and then you get there Sunday. So it's about you know,
Speaker 6: probably similar to that San Francisco game of a couple
Speaker 6: of years ago that we called that had forty mile
Speaker 6: an hour wins off the lake.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that was the Nathan Vasher one. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the missfield goal returned Jim, did you ever have
Speaker 3: a script that called for a heavy amount of runs?
Speaker 5: No, no script, but I'll tell you what a lot
Speaker 5: of for men ended with a lot of runs.
Speaker 4: That's of course. Yes. I like the four minute the
Speaker 4: four minute offense.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 5: In Pittsford with Drome Bette, he could he could close
Speaker 5: games out.
Speaker 4: He when he hears about the final four.
Speaker 7: I think it's a reward.
Speaker 6: I think you you earned that final that four minute
Speaker 6: drive because now you're in control of the game and
Speaker 6: you're saying I think Michigan this year had a game
Speaker 6: where they ran at the final twenty plays of the game,
Speaker 6: maybe against Penn State or something.
Speaker 7: So it's it's a reward. It's something that's earned.
Speaker 6: You know, hard to say, oh, okay, if you listen
Speaker 6: if you had success in four minute offense running at
Speaker 6: the start of the game, just like you would at
Speaker 6: the end of the game.
Speaker 3: Right exactly, all right, we'll go to break. When we
Speaker 3: come back, we'll hear from John Harris my conversation at
Speaker 3: the Scouting Combine last week with the man who created
Speaker 3: Football Takeover dot Com. That's coming up next year on
Speaker 3: Beers Weekly and ESPN one thousand of the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 4: This segment of Bears.
Speaker 3: Reachally brought to you by Eppetical Physical Therapy, visit atical
Speaker 3: dot Com in clinic or virtual Deployment that start feeling
Speaker 3: better tomorrow.
Speaker 4: We got a special guest now.
Speaker 3: He is the veteran radio broadcaster for the Houston Texans
Speaker 3: on a great crew. But this guy knows the NFL
Speaker 3: Draft like nobody's business. His name is John Harris. Footballtakeover
Speaker 3: dot Com. That's a side gig in this in this
Speaker 3: cottage industry of covering the NFL. Right, when did that start?
Speaker 7: And what is it?
Speaker 8: What is it all about? So Football Takeover dot Com
Speaker 8: started a couple of years ago, But Jeff, I've been
Speaker 8: covering the draft since oh Man, since I came out
Speaker 8: of college. I just I just I love drafts. My
Speaker 8: buddy Lancerline, who works for NFL dot Com, we grew
Speaker 8: up together. We used to I remember the baseball game Stratumatic.
Speaker 8: You remember that, of course, the dice game. So we
Speaker 8: would sit there at night on a Saturday night and
Speaker 8: we would draft our team, his brother, three of us.
Speaker 8: We would draft our teams. We love the draft. And
Speaker 8: then Lance's dad end up in the NFL and we
Speaker 8: just have had such a jones in for the NFL well,
Speaker 8: and we're talking about draft forever. And then Mark brought
Speaker 8: me over in twenty fourteen and one of the first
Speaker 8: things we did was the draft and we go for
Speaker 8: sixteen hours live radio on the draft. And so the
Speaker 8: Saturday of Day three, he took me off the air
Speaker 8: for four hours. Thought I needed it, and I'm like
Speaker 8: I told him after, I said, no, I'll take me off.
Speaker 3: And Mark, by the way, it would be the veteran
Speaker 3: voice of the Houston Texans, Mark Vandermer, Yeah, that's.
Speaker 8: Right, And I said, don't take me off. I said,
Speaker 8: let me go pillar to post. I studied these guys.
Speaker 8: I love it. I love everything about it. And Football
Speaker 8: Takeover dot Com kind of allows me to step out
Speaker 8: of my Texan shell. And really, you know, former coach
Speaker 8: love watching tape or video or whatever he calls it now,
Speaker 8: and I just I just get into I love college football.
Speaker 8: I love how it kind of merges with the draft
Speaker 8: and then come to combine Senior Bowl with EFTs like that,
Speaker 8: try it to miss and it's just, you know, we
Speaker 8: all have a passion and football has been mine. My
Speaker 8: dad coach football, and I just gravitated towards it, and
Speaker 8: that's really that's it. I don't golf, I don't fish,
Speaker 8: I don't hunt. I'll go in my dark room and
Speaker 8: I will You'll watch a prospect from North Dakota State
Speaker 8: at times, so it's a possibly. Yeah, Gray's Abel's a
Speaker 8: hell of a football player and he's won Yo. Cam
Speaker 8: Miller maybe the quarterback, not for us, but maybe maybe
Speaker 8: for another team down the road. On day three, their
Speaker 8: quarterback let him a national championship. So yeah, people ask me,
Speaker 8: they know in Houston, they don't have to ask anymore.
Speaker 8: It's it's a sickness. My wife is okay with it,
Speaker 8: found no cure. She's like to start a web so
Speaker 8: I was like, okay, So we did that a couple
Speaker 8: years ago. You know.
Speaker 3: The thing is knowledge is power, as we know, and
Speaker 3: if you if you talk it without any notes, which
Speaker 3: is what you do right, you know the draft. So
Speaker 3: let's let's dig in a little bit because from a
Speaker 3: Bear's perspective, it marries up with the needs theoretically the
Speaker 3: Bears in the trenches should they decide to add another
Speaker 3: running back. That's a strong part of the draft. But
Speaker 3: I want to focus on the line of scrimmage. So
Speaker 3: you are at the senior ball I called the senior ball.
Speaker 3: There's a plethora of defensive interior specialists. There's edge rushers,
Speaker 3: There's a certain group of tackles, and then maybe a
Speaker 3: bunch of guards as it could be tackles or tackles
Speaker 3: that could be guards. What's your impression of those positions
Speaker 3: in particular, and at the line of scrimma start on
Speaker 3: the offensive side of the moment.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I think Garden Center not great. I think what
Speaker 8: you're getting from Garden Center are gonna be guys that
Speaker 8: transition from tackle to guard center. You mentioned Gray z Well,
Speaker 8: you played left tackle at North Dakota State, but didn't
Speaker 8: I think he maybe took two reps that I can
Speaker 8: remember at the senior Bowl, it was guard center the
Speaker 8: entire time. Hell of a player. I think, you know,
Speaker 8: back end of Day one, I think he's in the
Speaker 8: mix because I don't know that there's that level of
Speaker 8: tackle in this draft. They're just offensive linemen in general.
Speaker 8: In this draft. I'm a big fan of Tyler Booker
Speaker 8: from Alabama. Talk to some people from Alabama at the
Speaker 8: Senior Bowl, and one things I want to know is,
Speaker 8: like I can look at the film and go, Okay,
Speaker 8: that's a dude. What's he like off the field? I
Speaker 8: want to know that. And they're like alpha team player,
Speaker 8: captain like everything, with high character yep, high character football
Speaker 8: character guy. And I know that's something that will resonate
Speaker 8: with Ryan Poles being an offensive lineman himself. So but
Speaker 8: after that guard, Okay, we can transition maybe Kelvin Banks
Speaker 8: from Texas. I know there's been some talk about that.
Speaker 8: There's a little bit of worry about the length and
Speaker 8: how long his arms are, but I've seen so many
Speaker 8: times and we're in Indianapolis. Braden Smith got drafted from
Speaker 8: Auburn and all the talk about the way he's going
Speaker 8: to guard, he's going to guard, Well, he's eight years
Speaker 8: into his career, nine years maybe now. I haven't seen
Speaker 8: him play guard one time against US, so there's a
Speaker 8: lot of talk about tackles that go into guard. But
Speaker 8: I do think there will be some action because there's
Speaker 8: just not much after Tyler Booker, you know, Delman Fairchild
Speaker 8: from Georgia. You know a couple centers that might be
Speaker 8: able to play guard, but there's just not much tackle
Speaker 8: position to me. You know, I had Kelvin Banks going
Speaker 8: in at Kelvin's a Houstonian and watched him a lot
Speaker 8: when he was a freshman. I was like, Okay, that
Speaker 8: guy's that guy's headed for an NFL future. Well, one
Speaker 8: of the things I like to do, and SOBVI is,
Speaker 8: but it's I want to see guys against the best.
Speaker 8: I want to see Texas against Georgia and you go,
Speaker 8: oh boy, Kelvin struggle. He struggled to speed the guys
Speaker 8: that were bounding off the edge. So there's a talk
Speaker 8: about him maybe going into guard. I think Kelvin's gonna
Speaker 8: end up at tackle, even though I know there were
Speaker 8: some scouts that wrote him up at guard. Will Campbell,
Speaker 8: I think is probably the best tackle in his draft.
Speaker 8: I don't think he's as good as some of the
Speaker 8: tackles we've seen in previous years. But I also probably
Speaker 8: am a little slag cause I see Larry tunsl every day.
Speaker 8: And I mean when you say to me, what does
Speaker 8: an offensive tackle look.
Speaker 7: Like, I'm like that that's.
Speaker 8: What it looks like. But I think Will Campbell is
Speaker 8: the type of mentality and I think that's as important
Speaker 8: as anything else. You've got to have that mentality. I
Speaker 8: think I think Will Campbell has it. I think Kelvin
Speaker 8: has it. You could tell the Texas off its line
Speaker 8: didn't adapt as much when Kelvin was out. That also
Speaker 8: tells you something. So I think those are the top
Speaker 8: two tackles. And then where Gray fits is going to
Speaker 8: be pretty interesting. The guy that I actually, I'll say this,
Speaker 8: I stumbled upon him at twenty twenty three. And one
Speaker 8: thing with college football, as you know, Jeff and I
Speaker 8: am on a portal, there are guys that end up
Speaker 8: one place and then they end up another and you're like, wait,
Speaker 8: So I'm watching Ohio State in twenty twenty three and
Speaker 8: I'm like, Dad, left tackle looks pretty good. Who is that?
Speaker 8: It's Josh Simmons and I'm like, what's his background? I'm
Speaker 8: like I don't remember him playing with CJ the year before.
Speaker 8: Well they transferred from San Diego stage jumping into the offense.
Speaker 8: I'm like, well, I like him. Mob behold the beginning
Speaker 8: of twenty twenty four. What do I hear? Hey, Josh
Speaker 8: Simmons rising up boards really athletic guy. I mean, now
Speaker 8: he's coming off an injury, but movement skills, A guy
Speaker 8: you can keep at left tackle. And I know there's
Speaker 8: you know, where does Braxton go? What happens with Braxton?
Speaker 8: Is there an upgrade there not? Can you use Braxton
Speaker 8: together with another tackle? I just think that I've always
Speaker 8: been a big believer draft really good offensive linement and
Speaker 8: then figure it the hell out. So the coat did
Speaker 8: with the best five, that's right, get the best five
Speaker 8: out there. However they can fit together, you know, have
Speaker 8: a plan for it, and then coach him up and
Speaker 8: get the most out of him. And if you've got
Speaker 8: the right guy, that guy will learn how to do it.
Speaker 8: He will learn like, hey, I give me all the
Speaker 8: give me all the athletes in the world, but you
Speaker 8: give me a guy that's like athletic, coachable. I could
Speaker 8: turn him into a player. And Dwayne Brown was really
Speaker 8: kind of the guy. That really taught me that he
Speaker 8: came to the Texans. I just I was not a
Speaker 8: fan of the draft pick. I was very vocal about that.
Speaker 8: But Dwayne was committed to being great. That's the one
Speaker 8: thing we'll never know, but if these guys are committed
Speaker 8: to being great on top of the athlete. And that's
Speaker 8: why I was really good to hear that about Tyler
Speaker 8: Booker from Alabama for the people from Alabama, like, he's
Speaker 8: committed to being great. It's not about the bag, it's
Speaker 8: not about the money. It's about how good can he
Speaker 8: be as a player to help the team where he's
Speaker 8: drafted a note on him.
Speaker 3: I just love how he just sits in there too.
Speaker 3: That that rear end just anchors in right.
Speaker 8: It's so funny. I get made I get made fun
Speaker 8: of all the time. My buddy Lance Aerline is sitting
Speaker 8: over there, and we always talk about that man. His
Speaker 8: butt is so big, you know, his thighs, look at
Speaker 8: his diything. And I always get made fun of in
Speaker 8: Houston for that. But but I'm okay with it. I
Speaker 8: understand it because those are the things. You know, Scott's
Speaker 8: you're looking at that, you know, look at his man.
Speaker 8: Look his calves, My god, and he's just he's so stout.
Speaker 8: And that was something we just weren't able to do
Speaker 8: this year. We were not able to hold up in
Speaker 8: the middle. We didn't get a great year out of
Speaker 8: Shack Mason, but we weren't alone. Oh, you to watch
Speaker 8: other teams and you watch the interior struggle, you know,
Speaker 8: the Chief's interior struggle in the Super Bowls.
Speaker 3: Which it leads me to this because you know, Ryan
Speaker 3: Poles was asked about defensive line and the need for
Speaker 3: another edge rusher to complement Montese sweat. However, you want
Speaker 3: right to the interior. Andrew Billning's outstanding defense really struggled
Speaker 3: Oude of the run when he went out he signed
Speaker 3: Paul's loves him. Javon Dexter just got nothing but talent.
Speaker 3: He's still young. Big takeoff. You're here, but you can't
Speaker 3: have enough. And you got to get that interior pressure
Speaker 3: on these quarterbacks and the mobile ones or the pocket passes,
Speaker 3: it doesn't matter.
Speaker 4: You gotta cloud their vision.
Speaker 3: You gotta put pressure those twists, those stunts, the ability
Speaker 3: to kick out side off, you need to all that.
Speaker 3: With that being said, we keep hearing the defensive tackle
Speaker 3: position double the kind of prospects from a year ago,
Speaker 3: would you agree?
Speaker 8: Absolutely? And I think it's gonna be interesting how teams
Speaker 8: go about it too, because you think about and Nicko
Speaker 8: Sario Jam of the Texans, we always got to talk
Speaker 8: about spply demand economics, and the supply is absolutely massive
Speaker 8: in that group this year, and the demand is definitely high.
Speaker 8: But we just talked about a couple of groups, the
Speaker 8: interior offensive line, the supply is low, very low. So
Speaker 8: if you're a team that has both needs and and
Speaker 8: I don't you know, you mentioned two guys that can
Speaker 8: have you think about those guys inside you you gotta
Speaker 8: have dudes inside that you can roll in. And the
Speaker 8: way that Demiico plays his defense, it's and I'm sure
Speaker 8: Dennis says the same thing. You can't just have one
Speaker 8: Like I look at the Tights. They got Jeffrey Simmons
Speaker 8: and he's a study. He's got to come out of
Speaker 8: the game at some pointer. And that was one of
Speaker 8: the things that we did well last year, kind of
Speaker 8: rotating those guys. But at the point being, do you
Speaker 8: draft an interior offensive lineman because you know those aren't
Speaker 8: going to be available on day two and then say, hey,
Speaker 8: we're gonna take a guy in day two that should
Speaker 8: have been around one guy, but because there's so many
Speaker 8: defensive tackles in tiory, a lineman so versatile, so adaptable,
Speaker 8: let's get that guy on day two. Now it's a
Speaker 8: little bit of a game of guts poker, but I
Speaker 8: think if you want to maximize that, and I always
Speaker 8: look at this, would you rather have offensive lineman X
Speaker 8: and defensive lineman why? Or wuld you rather have offensive
Speaker 8: lineman X defensive lineman why? So? Meaning do I want
Speaker 8: this offensive lineman with a really good defense tackle but
Speaker 8: a lesser offensive lineman and a very similar tackle. And
Speaker 8: I think that's the thing you can find in this draft.
Speaker 8: So teams are going to go through that. I think
Speaker 8: teams Jeff are going to have an issue in a sense,
Speaker 8: like we really want some of these DEFENSEI tackles, but
Speaker 8: we got to get one of these interior offensive line guys.
Speaker 8: We don't get them, we'll take that guy. We'll take
Speaker 8: the top offensive lineman in the fifth defensive tackle because
Speaker 8: in normal years that fifth defensive tackle would have been
Speaker 8: one or two. But it's just that good a group
Speaker 8: this year appreciate your time. You got a brother, Thank
Speaker 8: you well.
Speaker 3: I have more here and he asked Ben one thousand
Speaker 3: of the Bears Radio network.
Speaker 4: After this time out, they've.
Speaker 3: Been a Bears Weekly is brought me by CDW people
Speaker 3: who get it. With Tom Bayer and Jim Utter, Jeff Jony,
Speaker 3: I'm breaking things down with the Bears. A lot of
Speaker 3: great news pointing in the rank direction with the news
Speaker 3: this week or some deals reportedly everything becomes official next week.
Speaker 4: What else is on your minds? Collectively?
Speaker 3: We'll start with Tommy about next week in free agency.
Speaker 4: There's still a lot of camp room.
Speaker 3: My eyes are still very laser focused on the drafts.
Speaker 3: I want to get those young guys in here, obviously.
Speaker 4: What is your purview of this situation?
Speaker 6: You know, I wish I knew a little bit more
Speaker 6: about the status of Jakwan Brisker because I think he's
Speaker 6: a brilliant player. I think he's one of the best
Speaker 6: safeties when he's healthy in the National Football League. But
Speaker 6: if you look at Kevin Byers and you look at
Speaker 6: Jakwan Brisker, I think you need to solidify that position
Speaker 6: for Dennis Allen as much as any other position on
Speaker 6: the defensive side of the ball. Yeah, they're still looking
Speaker 6: for interior, defensive alignment and pass rushers, and I think
Speaker 6: that investigative work will be done until, you know, into
Speaker 6: the regular seat. I said, why, we need a little
Speaker 6: bit more on the offensive line. And I'd be interested
Speaker 6: to see if there's a running back out there that
Speaker 6: peaks their interest and peaks the interest mostly of a
Speaker 6: guy like Ben Johnson that feels like this guy can
Speaker 6: really come and be an immediate contributor to the running
Speaker 6: back room. And those are a couple positions of concern.
Speaker 6: But not knowing a lot about Jakwan Brisker and we
Speaker 6: haven't seen him since early last season, I do have
Speaker 6: curiosity about him.
Speaker 4: How about you, Jan?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think you know. I'm with Tom on the
Speaker 5: defensive line. In past rushers, you know, old line is
Speaker 5: going to be interesting because you know, sentators have been
Speaker 5: a really good pick. You know the guys I always
Speaker 5: bring up trads, Frederick Nick Mangold. There are undrafted free
Speaker 5: agents that have started, say David Andrews of the New
Speaker 5: England Patriots, you know the opening day of the rookie years.
Speaker 5: This is a very strong center class where the Bears
Speaker 5: are picking at ten if they did want select a
Speaker 5: left tackle, and they could take the top left tackle
Speaker 5: if they needed to, if that's the direction they want
Speaker 5: to go in, and then still come back later in
Speaker 5: the draft, say John Mannheim from a USC is available.
Speaker 5: I would think Gray's Abel has already gone from North
Speaker 5: Dakota State that many project as a as a center
Speaker 5: and to be a first round pick. He's got versatility,
Speaker 5: but there are still really good centers later in the draft.
Speaker 5: If they wanted to address tackle at the raft.
Speaker 3: Lance Zerline had the Bear in his latest mock draft.
Speaker 3: He had the Bears picking I think Will Campbell at ten, Yeah,
Speaker 3: and then trading back with Philadelphia into the first round
Speaker 3: at thirty two to get Gray's Abel.
Speaker 5: Beautiful. That would be beautiful. I mean that would be
Speaker 5: if they could do that. That hey, and to double
Speaker 5: up at a position, meaning the offensive line, it's not
Speaker 5: unheard of. It's not unheard of. I think it's it's
Speaker 5: got to be addressed, and we'll see how aggressive the Bears,
Speaker 5: but those if they were able to do that, that
Speaker 5: would be a win. I know a lot of people
Speaker 5: are talking about Will Campbell's arm length, but they're thirty
Speaker 5: three and seven eights. Okay, let's just call him thirty four. Okay,
Speaker 5: it's okay, He'll be all right, because that's pretty good.
Speaker 2: Matt.
Speaker 5: I played with Matt Light he only had thirty two
Speaker 5: in jarms and the guy was awesome. So just watch
Speaker 5: him play football.
Speaker 7: Right, just listen.
Speaker 6: Offensive play by tackles is debt is because of their feet,
Speaker 6: not because of their arm length.
Speaker 7: So that's what thing.
Speaker 6: And one thing about the center position too, is when
Speaker 6: the Kansas City Chiefs they drafted Creed Humphrey, Tuney was
Speaker 6: there at the guard position.
Speaker 7: So maybe he could.
Speaker 6: Get you know, you know, be a little bit of
Speaker 6: an influence of what to look at within the talents
Speaker 6: of a center in order to kind of look at
Speaker 6: him and say, okay, this guy, I think that he
Speaker 6: could be a day one, a day one starter.
Speaker 3: As we look at free agency, we always look at ages.
Speaker 3: So with free agency coming before the draft and started
Speaker 3: next week, you know, we're really intrigued by it all.
Speaker 3: But there's a bunch of defenders that are in still
Speaker 3: that sweet spot of twenty five to twenty eight. I
Speaker 3: call that the sweet spot. I don't know where you
Speaker 3: guys look at it? Do you care about that type
Speaker 3: of thing. If I'm going to invest in a free
Speaker 3: agent more often than not, if I'm when I'm talking
Speaker 3: about investment, I'm not talking about a one year deal,
Speaker 3: which has certainly become almost an epidemic in the NFL
Speaker 3: right now and a necessity. The older guys that have
Speaker 3: been around a bit are getting one year deals. Look
Speaker 3: what Zach Bond turned into though, right, one year deal
Speaker 3: and now he's a rich man there in Philadelphia.
Speaker 8: But on the.
Speaker 4: Defensive line, guys like.
Speaker 3: People probably haven't heard about this guy defensive tackle to
Speaker 3: shn Wharton from Kansas City. That guy at very productive,
Speaker 3: minimal snaps. He's just twenty seven. Levi on Zeriki he's
Speaker 3: just twenty seven, but when he was right, he was
Speaker 3: effective dent in the pocket. Milton Williams from Philadelphia, defensive tackle.
Speaker 3: He's gonna make a lot of money. Then you got
Speaker 3: Aziz Azulari did not work out for the New York
Speaker 3: Giants out of Georgia high draft pick.
Speaker 4: He's just twenty five years old. This shocked me.
Speaker 3: Am I right on this, Chase Young is only twenty six. Yep,
Speaker 3: what feels like he's been in the league forever. Do
Speaker 3: you take some swings at some of these reasonable deals.
Speaker 7: How many snaps do you want to play per game?
Speaker 6: Because one thing, when you're looking at a defensive lineman,
Speaker 6: you're talking about a guy that you can get thirty
Speaker 6: dominant snaps a game out of him, Then you're gonna
Speaker 6: win the position and you're gonna help the overall rotation
Speaker 6: of the defensive line offensive line. You gotta be looking
Speaker 6: at about seventy plays per game. And then you start
Speaker 6: taking age into consideration. And the reason I'm not concerned
Speaker 6: about a guy like tune A because the modern day
Speaker 6: NFL is a lot different than the old NFL.
Speaker 7: You can stay younger and fresher a lot, a lot longer.
Speaker 6: That's why some of these guys that are in their
Speaker 6: mid twenties, as you called the sweet spot, is that
Speaker 6: what you said, I think their life is yet to
Speaker 6: begun in the NFL in some of those respects. So
Speaker 6: if you have identifiable traits on film that those guys
Speaker 6: are are coachable and they can be contributors, Listen, I'm
Speaker 6: going to kick the tires on every one of them.
Speaker 5: Yeah. I just think for the Bears to be draft
Speaker 5: and develop on defense, I want the offense you know
Speaker 5: filled with veterans around the young quarterback. So granted we're
Speaker 5: saying they should draft a young center. But again, if
Speaker 5: you look at other teams, they'll invest in free agency
Speaker 5: on one side of the ball and then trip typically
Speaker 5: draft and develop on the other side. And there's all
Speaker 5: those pass rushers, there's nothing guess, but Chase Young, it's
Speaker 5: kind of come and gone for him. You know, I
Speaker 5: know he's a young player, but he really hasn't been
Speaker 5: the same after he's come back from that Aco injury.
Speaker 5: We even did an interview once a week with Ron Rivera,
Speaker 5: who was then the head coach of the Commanders, and
Speaker 5: they they just really he was he was scared to
Speaker 5: get back out on the field. He just didn't have
Speaker 5: confidence in his knee. Then he gets traded to San Francisco.
Speaker 5: He lost snaps towards the end of the year in
Speaker 5: postseason because his play was lackluster, and then New Orleans
Speaker 5: Saints signed him and he really hasn't done anything there.
Speaker 5: So I would think they'd target a young draft draft
Speaker 5: pick because you know, guys like DeMarcus Lawrence and other
Speaker 5: free agents will probably be too much money.
Speaker 4: He's gonna make some money Sweat's gonna make a ton.
Speaker 3: Indianapolis defensive endo Adenebo twenty five. He's got thirty four
Speaker 3: sacks and hits combined the last two years. He's been
Speaker 3: doing a nice job there for the cold. That's the
Speaker 3: name that just popped up.
Speaker 5: And that's a good fit because Dennis Allen is typically
Speaker 5: a four man front guy and that's what Indianapolis has
Speaker 5: been as well. So yeah, I don't think that's out
Speaker 5: of the realm of possibility at all. I think that's
Speaker 5: a good name to throw out there, Jeff and here.
Speaker 3: At the safety position. Time we saw him in the
Speaker 3: opener at Soldier Field. I think in the rain game
Speaker 3: that Justin Fields did the great slide in the end
Speaker 3: zone and Talanoah Hufonga.
Speaker 4: That's a bad man at safety. He's just twenty six.
Speaker 4: He's a free agent.
Speaker 6: Yeah, you know again, I would have to do it
Speaker 6: a little investigative work on his health status. Is he
Speaker 6: available and ready to go for the long haul? And
Speaker 6: if you're playing a physical position of impact, is there
Speaker 6: something that's affecting you that maybe could factor in the
Speaker 6: long term performance if there is something, So yeah, I
Speaker 6: mean listen, if you I and Jim were sitting here
Speaker 6: and we are playing fantasy football and you're just taking
Speaker 6: the name of the day or guys that you really
Speaker 6: like coming out of college. It'd be easy, but you
Speaker 6: can't be naive in your approach to say, Look, you
Speaker 6: really got to be thinking of some of the details.
Speaker 7: About some of these players.
Speaker 3: No question about it. We don't know their health situation either.
Speaker 3: That's the scary thing about free agency. You're not bringing
Speaker 3: them in for a look. You're not putting them on
Speaker 3: the field, right, You're just signing them. You're trusting the agents.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's style of play too that I think Tom's
Speaker 5: referred to because I agree with Tom. I like to
Speaker 5: Kwon Brisker. I think we know he's a physical safety
Speaker 5: that really will throw his body in and that's what
Speaker 5: Halfunga is too. But they're different sizes and so you
Speaker 5: have to wonder are they too reckless with how they
Speaker 5: play because they will literally, you know, give up their bodies,
Speaker 5: you know, to make a play. And that's why they
Speaker 5: both have missed time. They play like Tasmanian devils when
Speaker 5: they're out there. But you gotta keep them out there.
Speaker 3: Like Jim Kriner was the former Iowa State head football
Speaker 3: coach when I was a student there and I used
Speaker 3: to interview him before games, and he's popular phrases. I
Speaker 3: want our guys to play with a reckless abandon So
Speaker 3: that's that's getting up your body, right, That's what That's
Speaker 3: what he loved.
Speaker 4: All right, we'll take a break.
Speaker 3: One more segment to go with Jim Miteran. Tom there,
Speaker 3: I'm Jeff Joniak. This is ESPN Chicago and the Bears
Speaker 3: Radio Network segment of Bears Weekly has brought to you
Speaker 3: by IGS Energy with Tom and Jim. Jeff Joningak Karan
Speaker 3: Bears Weekly to wrap things up. There's a lot of
Speaker 3: stuff going on in the league, obviously with the business
Speaker 3: season right now, but a couple of things post combined.
Speaker 4: Jim must start with you.
Speaker 3: I don't know how severe this is, but the Georgia
Speaker 3: outside linebacker Jalen Walker, expected to be a top ten pick,
Speaker 3: one of the top edge players, injured during training in
Speaker 3: a thigh injury. So he's not gonna work out for
Speaker 3: his pro day in April seventeenth.
Speaker 4: Is this a concern?
Speaker 3: Do you know anything more about this particular injury and
Speaker 3: what that means?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I thought it was just a thigh injury. I
Speaker 5: don't think it'll be anything that he'll you know, that'll
Speaker 5: drop him in the draft. You know, say Abdul Carter,
Speaker 5: like the top rusher. He's dealing with a stress fracture.
Speaker 5: Is that gonna need surgery? I think you worry more
Speaker 5: about Abduall Carter than say the Georgia linebacker. But you know,
Speaker 5: you watch Georgia, you know they practice. They call their
Speaker 5: practices in pads, Like their first practice in pads is
Speaker 5: on Tuesday. They call it bloody Tuesday for a reason.
Speaker 5: I mean this team, Yeah, they get after it. They
Speaker 5: get after it. And if you watch Walker play, he's
Speaker 5: a blitzer from the outside, he's the heat seeking missile.
Speaker 5: From the inside, he's a lot like Ropewond Smith. I
Speaker 5: brought up Ropewond's name and he said, yeah, that's the
Speaker 5: first player we throw up his tape at Georgia because
Speaker 5: that's who we all want to be like. And if
Speaker 5: you watch him play, he plays a lot like Ropewond.
Speaker 5: He is around the football all the time. And I'd
Speaker 5: say the same thing about the safety Malachi Starks. Go
Speaker 5: watch him play, Go watch his blitzes. It's like sea ball,
Speaker 5: get ball. That's it and that's all he sees is
Speaker 5: getting to the football. It's pretty it's pretty fun to watch.
Speaker 6: You know, a lot of these guys you always have
Speaker 6: to take in consideration, even like the Philadelphia guys and
Speaker 6: some of their free agent off defensive linemen, you got
Speaker 6: to think of the supporting cast that they're playing with,
Speaker 6: because sometimes you get a little bit more freedom because
Speaker 6: they have more concerned about some of the other star
Speaker 6: quality players on the inside and the outside of them.
Speaker 6: You imagine a team like Georgia and the way they
Speaker 6: play in those practices on Tuesday, it would probably make
Speaker 6: the offense a little bit uncomfortable because you know what
Speaker 6: this defense is going to do, the way they're gonna
Speaker 6: bring it, and you know, can you live up to
Speaker 6: that competition on Tuesdays? But it probably makes you feel
Speaker 6: a little bit easier on Saturdays.
Speaker 3: All right, into the division as we do some notes
Speaker 3: and nuggets here. So, no, tag, I don't think it's
Speaker 3: a surprise for Minnesota Sam Darnold. So is that Jim
Speaker 3: the end of the line there in Minnesota for him?
Speaker 3: And is it JJ McCarthy time?
Speaker 5: I believe so. I think they'll re sign Daniel Jones.
Speaker 5: Is what I think there. They signed him late in
Speaker 5: the year from the Giants when he was released. Then
Speaker 5: they elevated him from practice squad to you know, their
Speaker 5: fifty three man roster. That way, they also get a
Speaker 5: third round draft compensation is what it'll be, because the
Speaker 5: Giants basically lost that. So I think Sam will be
Speaker 5: moving on. I think he'll be coveted, and then if
Speaker 5: McCarthy is not healthy, I would think Daniel Jones is
Speaker 5: used in Darnald as a template, and that's why he
Speaker 5: wanted to sign in Minnesota, thinking he could step in
Speaker 5: be the starter until McCarthy's healthy and maybe rehab his
Speaker 5: career a little bit for the following year.
Speaker 6: Thomas, I gotta think JJ McCarthy better be healthy or
Speaker 6: else is the severity of that injury kind of not
Speaker 6: really telling us the truth because I really thought, in
Speaker 6: kind of a callous way to say it, the best
Speaker 6: thing that ever happened to JJ McCarthy was him tweaking
Speaker 6: his knee so he didn't have to play. I don't
Speaker 6: think they'll go and sign and invest a thirty five
Speaker 6: to forty five million dollar contract in Darnald because in
Speaker 6: those last two games that he finished the season with
Speaker 6: why would you revert back to your old self at
Speaker 6: the most experienced time that you have throughout the course
Speaker 6: of that season, and someone else will go out there
Speaker 6: and pay him and it's going to be a buyer
Speaker 6: beware deal for Darnold. But when you went out and
Speaker 6: drafted JJ McCarthy as high as you did, you brought
Speaker 6: him in here to be the starter with a good quarterback,
Speaker 6: head coach and a guy that got.
Speaker 7: To believe that he can develop him.
Speaker 6: Have you think the NFL learned a lesson from the
Speaker 6: Deshaun Watson contract.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's it's an outlier. It's an outlier contract. And
Speaker 5: that's why owner Steve Bashatti was so mad at the
Speaker 5: Baltimore Ravens because he knew that contract was going to
Speaker 5: affect his ability to re sign Lamar Jackson. And look,
Speaker 5: Lamar's Jackson. That deal after Watson signed that deal to
Speaker 5: Lamar took literally almost two and a half years to
Speaker 5: get completed because every agent's going to want to point
Speaker 5: towards no, we want to fully guaranteed, you know, Deshaun
Speaker 5: Watson contract. And now that market has kind of settled down. Granted,
Speaker 5: guys are getting huge money, but they're not getting fully
Speaker 5: guaranteed contracts like Deshaun Watts. And then it's really as
Speaker 5: hamstrung the Cleveland Browns. It really has they have they
Speaker 5: really they just they got to hold on to him
Speaker 5: for two more years. Realistically, I mean there's no nothing
Speaker 5: they can do.
Speaker 4: I mean there's a chance they'll never take another snap.
Speaker 5: Yeah, realistically, And he heard his achilles again. I saw
Speaker 5: they just restructured his contract today because they can't cut him.
Speaker 5: They can't cut him. He is too financially, he cap
Speaker 5: straps him too much where they just cannot move on.
Speaker 4: Tommy, you look like you're itching to say something.
Speaker 6: No, I just you know, just paying attention to a
Speaker 6: little bit about the quarterback salaries, the ups and downs
Speaker 6: and the investments in that position. And is there ever
Speaker 6: a lesson learned about how much they pay these guys?
Speaker 6: Just like that big deal that Max Crosby got yesterday,
Speaker 6: is it an is it an over the top deal
Speaker 6: for the length of the contract, for how much they're
Speaker 6: paying him? But when you think about the forty nine
Speaker 6: plus million a year that's still owed to Deshaun Watson,
Speaker 6: the do the owners learn anything from this? And are
Speaker 6: they kind of willing to try to take a step
Speaker 6: back instead of trying to re up the next guy.
Speaker 3: All Right, boys, we're out of time. Put another one
Speaker 3: in the books. Can't wait till next week. Things are
Speaker 3: going to be popping. As they say in the National
Speaker 3: Football League. I know I said this a couple of
Speaker 3: years ago. The Bears are poised to make some noise.
Speaker 3: They still are poised to make some noise as they're
Speaker 3: putting together the twenty twenty five version. That's going to
Speaker 3: do it for us. Thanks for listening to everybody. The
Speaker 3: executive producer of the Bears Radio Network is Eric Ostrowski.
Speaker 3: Thanks to our Bears producer Dan Brilly and Jordan tread
Speaker 3: Up and in studio Justin Pottinger and our guest John
Speaker 3: Harris from Footballtakeover dot Com. For Tom Thayer, Jim Meta,
Speaker 3: I'm Jeff Joniac. Have a great night, everybody. This has
Speaker 3: been Bears Weekly on the radio. Homer your Chicago Bears ESPN.
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Speaker 2: The Bears Weekly hosted by the Mara, Bearsville, Jeff Juliact
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