2022 NFL Scouting Combine Preview | All Access

time football. We are back in business and coming to you tonight from the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Indiana. I believe the thirty fifth consecutive year with a future yet to be determined. I'm Jeff Joniak, voice of the Chicago Bears with my broadcast partner, A News Radio seven eighty WBBM is mister Tom there. Tom is not here, He's tucked away at home. But Tom, we got Jim Miller, our sidekick here, our special guest each and every week.

We don't even want them to rest until segment two. We're bringing him m right now out of the cannon. But Tom, you you had a chance today to listen in and watch and take a gander on what's going on in the NFL. We heard from Ryan Poles today, the Bear's new general manager and head coach. Matt Eberflus will here comments from those guys as welcoming up here in the next couple of segments, but quickly before I

bring Jimmy in here. Any overall tone from what you picked up from those two fellaws today, Yeah, two things. If I'm an offensive lineman, I better be ready to

lose some weight and get stronger. And now, when I listened to Matti Eberflus, you know, every time I went to a coaching transition, whether it being in college from Dan Divine to Jerry file So or in the USFL from George Allen to Frank Kush or in the NFL, it's always the anticipation of that next higher how much it affects your job personally, but also one of the message that they're sending every time they're get in front

of a microphone. And I'd like to hear Ryan Poles saying, look at we need to get lighter and master and then Matt continues the process of talking about how hard they're gonna work in the expected effort out of every

one of these guys. And you know, Jeff. When I listen to these guys and I see how prepared and how immediate their answers are at the podium, it makes me excited about training camp and going there to watch these guys work every day, because I don't think anybody's gonna be putting their hand up to get a veteran day off within the first week of the training camp. The OTAs and the mini camps are going to be as meaningful as some of the first practices of the

training camp. But guys, you're unnoticed, be ready to be prepared for whatever position you play, the effort you're expected to give, and don't come in twenty pounds overweight, Jim. I think Tom's fired up and ready to go. He's gonna be hitting the gym like Miller has. Because Tom, you haven't seen him, He's dropped a good twenty five thirty pounds. I had to do a double take. He looks fifteen years younger. Hey, Mattieberflusy inspired me. I mean he didn't get leaned in me. But you know, I

echo what Tom says. I think you do get a sense of the standard of what they expect. I think you know, just in my conversations with both Ryan Poles and Matt Eberflus. They've already talked about what type of player they want. You know, every player or every team, I should say, has a culture of who's going to be the right fit. They've already talked about the schemes of what they're going to deploy offensively and defensively, and what type of players they're going to need within those schemes.

So they're already on the same page from that standpoint. And you know, much like Tom I, you know, I got to kick out of Mattiberflus today. He's like, you know, it's pretty cool. He said, I reached out to all a lot of the Chicago Bears alumni, whether it's a Lacquer or Single Terry or Buckus and all these great players that he's now got on his rolodecks and some of the stuff that they're texting him. He's getting inspired. You know, I think he understands, and I've said this

numerous times. When I walked in Pittsburgh, that tradition and that history reeked all over the place when you walked in that foyer of all three Rivers Stadium and the Lombardi trophies are there, and I felt that way when I walked through hellis haul of the history of the game and how important it is. And I got a good, good conversation with both Ryan Poles and Matt Eberflus that

they take that to heart. And he said, it's pretty cool when you get those texts from whether it's a Tom Thayer or former players that he's communicating with, of what their challenges and you know what they need to represent. And I'm sure Tom at those messages. I don't know if he told you, Jim what those messages were from a guy like like butt kissu, you know, and earlier.

But these guys, when they hear about toughness, when they hear about playing fast and physical and giving great effort, those are all catch phrases that are thrown around by a lot of coaches. But if you don't put some teeth into it, and if you don't demand it from the time you get there until the time you are asked to leave or you choose to leave, then it's it's just going to be lip service. There is no way these two guys, Tom are given this lip service.

This is how it's going to be. And you're gonna have to adjust to it. Yeah, I mean this listen, man, the line has been drawn in the sand since day one, but it's kind of reinforced every time they get in front of a microphone. So you get there, you get hired for the job, you're really not familiar with the building, with the talent, with the video of the games from this past couple of years, and then all of a

sudden you start a little bit more study. You get involved, you know, from the small thing of having eye to eye contact in the same room as Darnell Mooney and how much he impressed him. So you know, it's nice

to see the positive reflections. But again, the message is out there and it's repeated every time, kind of in a different tone, and as the seer as the season kind of approaches, the seriousness to every one of the messages that they put out there, it's it's it's clear of what's expected out of these guys in the position.

They're philosophical thinking about football itself, and even Ryan say and look, man, we need to figure out which offensive lineman fit in the best position they fit in, so there is no predetermined spot that look, you're gonna go here, this is where you're gonna stay. Look, you're gonna come to this position initially, you're gonna compete for that position, and if we feel that you fit somewhere else more effectively for us, we'll make the change. Philosophically. Let's talk

about that a little bit. Jim and Tom. The offensive lineman will start with Jimmy though, because he was ducked under center with those guys up front, so it was clear they want him lighter and quicker for what they want to do. Whatever it is they want to do, lighter and quicker wand Castillo wanted them as big as

possible up front, so he wanted really big guys. What do you take from that in terms of what they might now look like as an offense from the guys that I think they're going to be an outside zone running team, I think is what it tells you they're not going to be a gap scheme. Again, this is in the history of this offense, right, everybody's gonna say, oh, this is the Big Fae offense. We'll know it's not the McVeigh offense. Then people say, well's the Kyle Shanahan offense. Well,

it's not the Kyle shanahanoffs. This is the Mike Shanahan offense. Offense. It was the outside zone run. Tommy can explain it to all the listeners. That's what they did out there in Denver with Terrell Davis. What were though all those offensive linemen, they were legitimately two ninety five to three h five at the most. They were light, they were quick on their feet, they could move, and so that's what I think it's gonna tell you. It's going to

be an outside zone scheme. May you know, they may work in some pulling schemes as well with the powerplays and things like that, but I think and then all the play action will come off of that from that standpoint. Also for the screen game, offensive linemen need to be able to run up field and get to the second level to be able to block down the field. So you gotta have guys that can move if you're going

to go that round. And in that sense, Tommy as well quarterback who gets rid of the football quicker quickly, and that's what they're going to ask as well of justin fields. So does this meantime there are no more three hundred thirty five pound tackles on the Bears in the future, how would you break that down? Then rife,

they'll be there exactly what Jim says. I if they display the athleticism from the size that they're blessed with, gifted with, or developed in the weight room throughout their course of time, then yeah, this is what you can

go in here and compete at. But you know, Jeff, if I'm running, if I'm kind of this conception of the outside zone and I need speed to get to the point of attack, and if you're a tenth of a second too slow, if you're not moving out of your stance real well, if you're a little off balance when you try to move at the beginning of the snap count, then yeah, I'm gonna have to make subtle changes with you. And I don't think we can ignore a guy that they hired last week and Jimmy Arthur,

because he's gonna have control of the weight room. So it's a fine line to have these guys be able to confidently and efficiently lose some weight but still gain strength. And I do think that's gonna be one of the key ingredients here, because the better athletes they have in their stance, they have a wider variety of plays they can run. Let's use the example of Trent Williams right Kyle Shanahan's offense six five, three hundred twenty pounds left tackle.

Some concerning the best game. Remember when he was motioning him he can move? Yeah, that's a lot. That's an offensive alignment over three fifteen three twenty Who can move? All right? Sounds good, Jim Miller, Tom there, We're through one segment of Bears All Access brought to you by IGS Energy. Coming up, we'll hear from comments earlier today

with general manager Ryan Pulls with the Bears. This is Bears All Access with our producer Adam Stadinski at our Score Studios on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy The Score. Welcome back to Bears All Access brought to you by IGS Energy. Choose clean energy for your home at igs dot com because every good choice adds up to a better world. With Tom there, I'm Jeff Joniac and our special guests each week from Sirius XM NFL Radios moving the chains, and thanks to Sirious XM for helping us

out here tonight from Indianapolis at the Scouting Combine. Good to have you alongside with us as we break down today's festivities with the Bears, Brass speaking and all around the league. Jim was doing interviews all day with coaches and general managers. I think it's a cool thing. They're not all here, they're not all coming, they're not all obligated to do it, but just a little sneak peek.

They're not gonna tell you what they're gonna do or give you evaluations on who's going to be a cap casualty or who they're thinking about resigning and free agency, or what they're gonna do and go out and get it, but they'll give you some context. You gotta use your two years and listen to what they say to where you're I think you're gonna go. Yeah, I thought today I talked to Arthur Smith, and I'll tell you what, man, I'm impressed with him as a head coach of the

Atlanta Falcons. One because they were in meaningful games towards the end of the season and they did not have a lot of salary cap space. You knew last year because they had to trade Julio Jones to clear up even more space. To you know, they didn't they signed it. I think only one of free agent because they couldn't afford it, and they still have more cleaning up to do, so they're going to be focused on the draft. I

think other teams are in that boat as well. When you look at say New Orleans, you know that just won't have the cap space. New Orleans just cleared up twenty four million dollars today and they still have another thirty million to go. So and there's a lot of teams in that boat. But then you have other teams that we'll have somebody to spend. It is a buyer's market. They've got to be smart at the contracts they're gonna really pose to guys and the team to really look at.

And everybody accuses Mike Brown of being frugal. Why are they in the Super Bowl? They not only draft well, but look at the free agents they signed last year. Trey Henderson, what a great signing, you know, and Mike Hilton, you know, comes over from the Steelers in lo and behold they find themselves in the Super Bowl. So I think teams just got to be very smart about their business decisions. And then of course you got to nail

at it in the draft. You got to nail your draft picks, not all of them, you know, I think we know. It's kind of a fifty percent type of deal. Some teams are better at it than others. Like I look at a team like Dallas, who drafts better than Dallas. Go look at the roster. All their starters, they're all draft picks. They're all draft picks other than Amari Cooper who they brought over from the Raiders. Dak Prescott was a third round draft pick. Zekiel Elliott first all, they're

all their whole offensive lines drafted. Ceedee Lamb was a draft pick. Delvin Schultzer tight end was a draft pick. Want me to go through their defense? They're all pick it's a Bear show. No, don't go through the defense. That's why. But that's going to be the challenge for the Bears to ye. So select guys and free to see that they know will fit the Bear system scheme wise, offensive, defensively, what they're trying to do, and then nail the picks

that fit what they're trying to do. And this year there's five and tom we got we got a second, we got a third, we got two, five's got a six. So let me ask you this because today it was brought up. You may hear some of it here tonight from Polls or Eberflus, But Tommy, about there again, everybody talks about culture. We heard a lot about culture, and every culture based on who's running the show, is going to be slightly different, different expectations. You want a type team,

you want good chemistry. Of course, you got to have some great players, but you gotta have cornerstones. And I'm wondering because they're not gonna say it yet. Yeah, it's Justin Fields. Yeah it's real Quant Smith, Tommy, But do you feel that they have now analyzed it enough because what they've done is make profile tapes of every position of what exactly they're looking for, so that the GM and the scouts are on the same page as what

the head coach and position coaches are looking for. Do you think there's carryover of some of those guys that are cornerstone pieces for chemistry? Are you wanting to bring in new types of cornerstones to complement what they have right now with Justin Fields and real Quant Smith just for starters right there? I mean, you're always looking for those dream players, the guys that are going to set the standard inside the building. What type of culture do

they come from? If there are a draft choice in their college atmosphere, what type of culture do they come from if they are an NFL free agent in what type of backgrounds do they have? Accordingly, Because you know, one thing, if when you're a free agent, you're looking at coming to a new team that has a new head coach, these guys have great work ethics because they know what's going to be expected of them when they come here for their first go around as an NFL

free agent. And then if you have a guy that is a college pick, you have to understand what is their reputation individually, how well do they play when they're tired, What was the requirements of their coaching staff throughout the latter parts of their college career in where they expected to do as much or did they gain too much respect in their college atmosphere that they kind of got coddled a little bit because it's kind of hard to bring those guys back to earth, and so all those

things you have to take in consideration. But if you're out there investigating an NFL free agent, then you probably have a good understanding of what their background is what their work affic is. But Jeff, you really never know until you get them in front of you and they are playing fatigued and you got to see how hard they play. Yeah, it was interesting, and I thought Ryan Poles made a great point today when he sat down with Serious XM Radio. You can and it's not just

Ryan Poles. Other teams kind of solidified it for me when they said that. Arthur Smith and other guys that we interviewed today said that as well, you can get a player's mindset by just watching him. Watch, you know. For example, for the listeners out there, let's say a receiver catches the ball, is he lowering his shoulder to get extra yardage? Or is he running out of bounce? It's something as small as that. Or you can sit in the meeting room, hey man, tell us why you

ran out of bounce here? Well you know, business decision? Yeah, you know, and you can get that or say during an eighteen minute interview, because it's essentially what it is. A player may be able to fake it through eighteen minutes. But again I had another coach say, well, we went halfway through the interview and said, well, what happened here on this play and the players started to blame his coaches. Yeah, coach turned on the light and said, hey man, interviews done. Yeah,

that's not what we're looking for. You didn't tell the player that, hey man, that's thanks for coming, you know, but they got the information that they needed that this guy was kind of a finger pointer. Hey, blaming the coaches. Coach did this, They used me the wrong way. This at the other thing. You know, you can gain a

lot from those interviews. Yeah, Tom, you gotta go. You gotta rely on the tape because you know, frankly, and it's no different than if any of us were going to a job interview and you know, I don't know, you might have an agent still, Dolia Jim. Yeah, yeah, so you know they get they rehearse you a little bit on what you know the other side is looking for. Tom. I know is never I don't even know if you had a player agent. Tom, I think you did everything

on your own, yourself made man. But you know they're rehearsed a little bit. So you gotta find a way then, because there's ways to even trip up the rehearsal, Like you tap on a guy's emotions, Tom, you find out what really gets them going, or what might aggravate them a little bit, and then they'll tell you the truth. But the tape though, so Tom, like you said, fatigued in the fourth quarter. So I guess I'm watching fourth quarter of a defense has been on the field for

thirty five minutes and see who's playing hard? Is that what you're talking about? Yeah, all those types of elements. I'm gonna look at a safety. When there's a running back that breaks to the second level and has some open space, does he come at that ball carrier with willingness to make a hard hit tackle or is he trying to strip the ball away from the ball carrier instead of making the tackle. Are those types of things

that you have to study too. And the thing that's interesting about interviews nowadays because these agents get these players so pre prepared and tell them the right things to say, and all that's good and well until there be an

interview in that agent not sitting next to them. And it's the same thing as a player, Jeff, because we stand there every single day at training camp practices and you got the coaches surrounding the huddle, and if someone makes a mistake, there's a coach right in his face immediately to tell him how to make him an adjustment.

And then the first time you go and do a game and you're out in the middle of the field and there are no coaches around you, that's when you really see the difference in a player that needs a coach standing next to him, or there's a player that can handle it in the middle of the field by themselves, and how to recover and you know how to have you know, get a good play after a bad play.

That's time there. Jim Miller, Jeff Jonik. Earlier today, general manager Ryan Poles meeting the media for the first time at the scouting count by and looking at what they have on the roster right now and where they're going. Yeah, there's some really good players, you know in the PRESSUFS we talk about justin we talked about Roquan Those guys are talented players and we're to get our hands on

them and see where their ceiling is. And really there's again, with all of the free agents that we have this year, there's a lot of needs in every place. And it's not just starters, but it's depth. And we all know when you go through a whole season, a lot of times that starting eleven twenty two is not going to be the group that you finished the season with. So it's important for us to really make sure that our

depth is taken care of as well. When you looked at the table from this press season of your offensive line, the players you have a under contract, how do you evaluate that crew that you've got it in ability right now? Yeah, you know, we're gonna change it up a little bit, just in terms of the style. So a lot of

those guys and the message has been pretty clear. We gotta change body types a little bit, we gotta get lighter, we gotta get quicker, and through that, you know, I think there's some young talent that just needs to be pressed and that's part of our jobs to create petition or bring the best out of him. So I think we'll do that and we'll see how if you know,

if the cream rises to the top. And you know, especially with the old line play a lot of times, and I don't want to speak for the coaches, but it's gonna end up being the best five to roll out there. Ideally, where does Kevin Jickins line up for you? When you guys get out in the field, it's too early right now. You know, when we get back, we'll get organized. I think we put out the mini camp that the extra mini camp that we get in April,

so we got some time to figure that out. But when we do, you know, we'll move those guys around and see where they fit the best. Head quite head in times that d died into what was already in Chicago, like I'm a roster. Yeah, specifically with the office. What did you see any whether ay where you're pleasently surprised, where you disappointed, you'd like to be more hole than

you thought. What was your evaluation for all that? Yeah, I mean bryce spot was was mooney And then just you know, as guys have come in to work out, we've had the opportunity just to introduce each other and and he stopped in and I was like really blown away by the person. Um, so that was a bright spot. You know, the running back situation is good. Um, you know, there's good offensive linement as well. It's just continuing to tweak that and making sure we get everyone that's fit

and and and then the right spots. So that was a pleasant suppress Urder evaluation and watch he Urder evaluation Yeah, that evaluation. Really, you know, I spent enough time with him watching the tape that hasn't really changed from the press conference other than again meeting him in person. And I think there's something about the guy that's the stoic kind of feel you get from him and serious and locked in the focus, and he's ready to go. So

I think there's a high ceiling. And again it's just putting him in position to succeed in seeing how high that that sealing is. And our coaches are excited about them too, which is which is really cool. Understand the switch the gs, like a lot of important scouting work was done and see the scouge you play. You can't just come in and cret your whole studing part with your pieces were groups work. I should say, how challenging is that? And then do you this draft and reevaluate

kind of rebuild that apartment. Yeah, well, first, I've been through change before in Kansas City, so I've been through that process of adjusting grade skill grade scales and values and how people communicate in the type of reports that have been submitted and how they've gone through all Star games. So I feel like I adapt really well. I will say this. I was very happy with the group of

Scouts that we have right now. The meetings were incredible, and before we broke I told them all how proud I was, because, as in new Gym, you come in and you're like, all right, you're evaluating them, you're evaluating the evaluators. And at the end of it, the thing that stood out to me is there's a group of really, really good people that worked really hard this fall to gather the information. Now, my style was a little bit different,

our meeting structure was different. Where as I said in the press conference, it was it was a culture of candidates open. We watched tape. We have order in the way that we watched the tape. But after that, everyone can speak their mind, and if I see something different than you, then I bring it up to the room and we work through it and you can tell me where you saw it different and we'll go find it. So that group effort, I think was refreshing to everyone.

And again I can't speak more highly of the group that we had in the room. I'm excited, and you know, we'll continue to evaluate, but I was I was pumped

about that. Well, that's a good place to end and then discuss when we come out of the break, because if he's got a good feel already and trust those guys with their eyes and what they've done and the kind of complicated information they're gathering, it says it could be a nice wave into the future with the Bears and this group of scouts finding players for the Bears, both and the pro side with free agency and in the college sky, with their determining here today starting at

the Combine and all the interviews they're going through right now, we'll continue on our conversation here on Bears All Access from the Scott and Combine in Indianapolis with Tom Thayre and Jim Mother. I'm Jeff Jonik on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the Score. This segment of Bears All Accesses

brought to you by Athletical Physical Therapy. Visit Athletico dot com to request an employment in clinic or virtually and start feeling better tomorrow with Tom Thayer, Jeff Joniac and our special guest each week from Sirius XM NFL Radio, Jim Miller. Just heard from Ryan Poles. Tom, I'll give you a chance to respond to some of what he talked about We touched on some of it, but I would imagine for a first time general manager, because you know,

they don't come in and wipe out scouting department. He brought a Cunningham in from Philadelphia that has been a big part of his ability to connect and really hit the ground running as a general manager. He trusts him and he's a really good resource for him. But scouts are signed through the draft everywhere. They don't just get unless they're just absolutely not gonna work. So there you have to. So it must feel good for Ryan to

be able to trust these guys. And I'm talking about the Mark Sadowskis, I'm talking about the Jeff Kings and all the scouts that work in their in their areas across the country. Yeah, that's encouraging to me that he is happy with the information that has given to him from the scouting department that's in place right now. And it's something that Ryan Poles can listen to what a scout is telling him and he knows if it's legitimate

information or it's needless information. And it sounds like he has a great deal of respect for all the information that these guys have brought to their meeting. Rooms. And I like the fact that Ryan is telling us that he really got a good and first impression out of Darnell Mooney, because so did we, And the more we got to meet him, the more we enjoyed his character and his personality and how important football is to him. We all know that David Montgomery in the running back

room is a strong room. And I'm glad he said the offensive line needs to be pressed, because that's just another word for challenged. And I'm glad that none of these guys, excuse me, are coming to practice the first day and thinking, man, I got my position, I'm already my place is set in stone. No, it's not. You're coming here to be competed against to either win the job and impress the coaches or lose the job because you're not doing what we expect of you. And Justin Fields,

he does have a high ceiling. You look at his athleticism and he's used the word stoic, and you know Justin is not a back around type of guy. He comes to practice with great work ethic, He gets out there early, he stays late. And I think when you talk about that position specifically, especially in such a young man like justin fields. It's super encouraging that you see that the most serious position on your team has a very serious work, competitive attitude. Yeah, well, I think you

got to give honest evaluations. The last thing you want is a bunch of yes men in the room where everybody agrees, Oh yeah, we all think he's the same guy that won't work. Yeah, that doesn't work. You know. Tom brought up a good point, like there was there was a general manager I talked to today who said they had a young man in an interview and it was about effort in the fourth quarter, and they thought

the consensus was he was dogging it. But one of the scouts in the room says, they asked the player, well, you know why, you know, do you think you're hustling on this play? He goes, well, I pulled my hamstring in the third quarter, and the one scout knew that he did was hurt. And the kid was out there playing hurt, and so his effort was actually exemplary with what he was dealing with, and he still didn't want to come out of the game and was out there

given to every type of effort that he could. He just couldn't make certain plays due to the injury. So you've got to have all that information available, and you hope your scouts are doing all that that homework like that one Scott was that knew the player was playing injured and brought it up um, And that's what the good information that Ryan pulls can can really go off of. How'd you do in your interviews at the combine? I thought I did pretty well, you know, I thought I

did uh well. I think, yeah, did they pulled up plays and I think they, I don't want to say that they were leading you to, well, hey, why didn't you complete this pass? And I could have said, well, hey, the receiver ran the wrong route. You know, I'm supposed to be a corner. You know, he had horrible hands. To be honest with you, coach, I mean, yeah, you

should have caught that. Yeah, I think you got to sell yourself that, Hey, you're you're a good teammate, You're accountable, reliable, you're productive, and that's what you want to, you know, really exemplify. For me, part of it was the injury. Even coming out of college, I already had a two label coming out of Michigan State because I'd already separated my shoulder, I had a concussion and I had a knee issue. Um that I think to, you know, push

me down a little bit. But I thought the interviews I thought I did there was an area where I excelled from that standpoint and never never stopped me from getting work once I did get in the NFL, and I think from that standpoint it was good. But yeah, you could, definitely you could. I could feel them fishing, you know, with these interviews. I could feel them fishing. And no, don't take the cheese, Jim, don't take the bike. You know. So you know and you do. You gotta

be on your toes. You gotta be you know, and you gotta be savvy. You gotta be tactful. But you have to understand what they are looking for and what they're you know, what they're what the information they're trying to get out of you, because this is what's how they want to build their football team with a bunch of guys like yourself that or hard working, love football and love to win. Tommy, I don't know if you

had interviews like this. You went to multiple combines, but did you have sit downs with teams like they do now? Speed dating? So to speak. Yeah, let me tell you a quick lesson I learned. So my brother in law, who ended up playing for the Falcons for eleven years, was two years older than me, and he was a super educated guy, academic All American two years in a row,

he was a concert pianist. He had all this ability to do things outside the world of football, and sometimes he let a message known that football isn't the end all for me. It's part of what I am, and that's not the message you want to send. And then he ended up sliding, even though he was a two time All American, he slid to the fourth round because people became aware of that message. And two years later, when I was going through the same process Jeff, every

single interview, I was all in. I had no other option. There's nothing else I was gonna do. I was gonna play football and that's all I was gonna do. So, I mean, I kind of learned a message from from my brother in law, because I do believe that he slid a little bit in the draft because scouts out there people gm started believing, Okay, this guy has other opportunities in life where I didn't want. I wanted the guys to think I'd had. I didn't want any opportunity

in life other than playing in the NFL. Case in point was Myron Roll, Florida State safety gets drafted by Tennessee in the sixth round. He made it known, I'm gonna be a doctor. Yes, I like football. Oh. By the way, I'm a Rhodes scholar. Two. By the way, I'm going over to Oxford. Two. He dropped out in the draft. He didn't play football very long, but he is a doctor. That's right. There's hey listen, Michael Haynes. Yeah, when he was drafted, Tom and I talked about this

all the time. You know, Lovey always try to make sure, hey, you know, take off on this foot, and he wouldn't. And he had a Greg blash, I believe. Always said, Hey, he had you know, he was worried about decorating his apartment more than he was ready to play football sometimes, So you know, you do have to sniff that out.

And in another regard, especially when you have Tom, a strong minded bunch of guys that you had that you walked into in nineteen eighty five and you go to the Super Bowl and Jim, You're coming into the Bears in two thousand. Well that two thousand and one team you were there before? What year did you get there nowt eight ninety seven, end of nine. So are your teammates that have been there a bit or these these types of players offensive Lineman'd they interviewing you as well?

When you get into that locker room. I'll let you answer that first, and then Tommy, yeah, I think yeah, they want to get to know what is the eyeballing yet. Well, fortunately for me, I had advocates that were already in there. Tye Halleck who I played with at Michigan State, and a couple other guys who I'd crossed paths with and say, hey, man, it's this guy's you know, he's a good character. This

guy's gonna help us win. So luckily I had, you know, ambassadors that were sticking up for me or speaking of me and saying, hey this this will be a good spot for him. You know. But then you have to earn it. Yeah, you know, you have to earn it. Those guys have to go out there or when you go out to practice. You've got to show them your skills.

You got to show him your leadership ability, you got to show him your dedication of what you're willing to sacrifice to win as their teammate and where they believe, where they believe in you, and uh, you know, and that's a big part of it. You have to earn

it from that standpoint. For me, you know, it was kind of two tier, Jeff, because I was being coached by a Hall of Fame offensive guard and he used to tell me, Look, you can bull crap anybody else, but you can't bull crap me about offensive line play. I've been there. It may be different for tackle or center, but I know offensive guards. So you'd wanted to earn

the respective coach Stanfeld number one. But then you also had no favors given to you by Mick Michael and by Hampton and the guys on the defense they wanted to and we're willing to do whatever they needed to do to beat you in practice to try to make you a better game day player. So it was kind of twofold for me from my position coach onto the

guys that I was practicing against every day. I do believe, you know, I have these discussions often with other play by play guys or just people who cover the sport, and everybody has a different opinion, But I do feel you need some alpha's to be those guys. I don't

think you win without them. I really do. All these years covering Super Bowls and you're in you know, granted it's just a week, but you're listening on every Wednesday, Thursday, Mondays now to how they operate and you find out a little bit about them and it sticks with you when they went. They just have a certain style and swagger about them. The Bears and Oh six had that. They believed in themselves, they believed they were going to win. You guys are all one at it. Certainly Tommy's guys

had it in eighty five m beyond. So who are the alphas who will become the alphas in the future for the Chicago Bears. We'll find out in the days to come. Coming up, we'll here from Matt Ebrablus, the Bear's new head coach, from his comments to the media today. This is Bears All Access. It's brought to you by IGS Energy on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the Score. This segment of Bears All Access is brought to you

by CDW. People to get it. Adam Zazinski is our producer tonight in our Chicago studios and we are into Indianapolis. Jeff Johnny AAC and Jim Miller from Serious x M NFL Radio moving the chains with Pat Kerwin. Couldn't see the tanned up young man. You lost weight. He looks tan. You guys are getting something done in this office. We're trying to man. My goodness, heart, Tom, we gotta we got some work to do. Buddy. You gotta win in the offseason. It's never worked for the time. Are you

winning your off season to this point? Oh, Jeff, Jeff. Right now, I'm in the midst of raising three dogs, and I'm on my feet more than I ever have been in an off season in my life. When you got a brand new puppy and you got to take him out on the hour, I'm off my feet for sure. I'm sure, good, good, good good. To keep you busy. And Matt Eberflus has been quite busy. First of all, he gets hired and then he's got to put together

a staff in short order. So he's been He did that and did so very well with a lot of delegation as well. Earlier today, met the media as a member of the Chicago Bears for the first time in his old town of Indianapolis, where he coached the Colts defense. Yeah, I'm just getting to know him personally. Really, so I've texted most of the guys that are you know, under contract, and I've talked to guys just about personal things. Hey, how you doing, how's the family, how you enjoying your time?

And and really that's it and just getting to know the guys and building relationships so that that to me is the most important thing. Um, once they come in April, you know, for the voluntary part of it and start doing football, we'll get a chance to look at them. You know. Have we looked at them certainly, We've looked at him for what they did last year, in the

previous years and all all those things. But um, you know, a lot of the guys, this is a clean slate for them, you know, and it's we're starting new And I told a lot of guys here walking on fresh grass here, you know, this is uh um, a new staff, new systems. You have to learn it. You got to dive into it, and you got to put everything you

have into it. Because our our systems are are not are not hard to understand, but they're hard to implement in terms of the player because the way we ask them to play in terms of the physical style, the effort okay, the mental intensity Okay, those things right there are going to be different to those players and when they come in they'll have to understand that and they will understand it pretty pretty quick. And uh, it's it's gonna be a little bit different for him, but refreshing. Yeah,

you look at the tape. So as a coach, your your resume is the tape. That's this is the way it is. You want to know how it coach football, look at look at the tape. You know. You want to know how a guy plays football. You look at the tape. You know, because a lot of guys can say certain things, um, which is great. Words are important, but actions more important. So I think that you just

look at the tape and do they fit. You do that with the draft, you do it with free agency, you do it with anytime you're trying to acquire a player. Does he have two things? Does he love football? Okay? And is he willing to work really hard? And to me, if those two things are check, check both those boxes. He gets his foot in the door. And that's that, to me, is what the evaluation process starts with. Get this guy. Oh yeah, yeah, we've got those guys. Yeah.

I mean I can't, I don't want to, you know, talk about certain players right now, but yeah, we have we have pieces in there for sure that that fit that mode of loving football and playing really hard. So uh, there's definitely pieces there. Yeah. So uh, this goes back when I first got interviewed in twenty eighteen with the Cleveland Browns. I got interviewed there, and everybody has their

staff list, and I think that's an important thing. But the reality of it is is that it's it's hard to get everybody on that list because guys are on the contract, guys get promoted where they were. I mean just there's a lot of things moving, a lot of balls in the air. So I really leaned down the coordinators, uh this time, and to Luke and to Allen, you know, into into HT. I lean on those guys to say, hey, who do you like you know, who fits with your system? Okay,

and then let's talk about the list that way. Let's start our list that way, and then I'll interview them on the phone and we'll get him in here and either zoom or bring him into Chicago and we'll talk to him. They fit with our system and our style, then we'll move them on to the next next stage. And then that's what we did, and we end up hiring a really good staff. And he's taking that staff because you guys like Allen Williams, guys like know exactly

what they want. They got some of their same guys that know the system. So now no ways teaching coaches, all right, these guys on boat side, and so now they can hit the ground running. I think Tom it closes the gap a little bit on educating the players and what they're gonna do. Oh gosh, no doubt because no, you know, Mattieberwfoos doesn't have to sit up there in front of all of his defensive coaches and teach them

the system. And I think when you get out there and you get a little time with the new offensive staff to sit behind closed doors, it expedites the learning of these guys. And you know, one of the things I like that Matt says is he's looking to develop a relationship player with the players, not a friendship, because I think that will come with time. You just need to have a working relationship with these guys and then

the fate of their relationship will work itself out. I don't think I ever had a head coach that I said, oh my god, I'm a great friend of this guy. No, he was my boss, and every single day I went to work, I looked at him as my boss. And I think that's the type of working relationship that Ryan and Matt need with their players. That's why Tom and I get along so well. That's how he looks at me just the other way. For the first time, for the first time on the radio, Tom admitted it. I

love it. I've been telling you that for twenty years. You brought it up in a break with me Jim about three technique? Is he on this team? We don't know at this time, but this is what Matt's looking for. This was also today. Um. It's about being disruptive, and that's certainly when you close your eyes, you know those three techniques. What they do. They gotta win the one on ones when they run zone away from me. You got to be able to stay in the B gap.

It's that simple. Those are the two things we look for and they come in all shapes and sizes, and as you've seen it, they got to have exclosive ability though that's the number one trait. Would you say it's as simple as that. And do they come in all shapes and sizes? And if they're not on the roster right now based on you got to go with time the roster right now because there's twenty five free agents. Are they in that second the third round range of the draft or are you're gonna have to go in

free agency? What do you think? Yeah? I think there they are there. You know, well, the guy who sticks out to me down with the Senior Bowl played really well, perry On Winfrey. I mean, that's a disruptive defensive tackle. Really showed it in the game. But yeah, they're out there, they're in free agency. But I would think, you know, with this being a new staff, I would think they wanted to draft a younger player in groom them to bring them up in this new scheme that they're gonna

be running defensively. Make a mccornerstone if possible. That Harris, it was out, yep, yep, yep, Tommy Harris. That's Jim Miller, Tom Fair, Jeff jony Ac one segment to go, we'll look around the NFL the news of the day with all these coaches and GM's talking here on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the score final segment here from Indianapolis at the NFL Scout at Combine and I'm Jeff Joniac along with Tom Fair and Jim Miller from Serious x

M NFL Radio, our weekly guest. Thanks as always, Big Jim for helping us out news of the day involving the Bears. You know, it was a lot of discussion obviously about Justin Fields, how to get him to reach his potential second year They've studied second year quarterbacks. What do they need? Tom, I've been talking about it. They're hard to find. When you do, you hope you've hit

the home run. And he referred to Ryan Poles. Did look at the Super Bowl and the first name you think of is obviously Aaron Downal on the defensive side of the ball. By on the offensive side of the ball, it's Cooper Cup. When it needed something to happen, you

go to Cooper Cup. When San Francisco needed something to play, they want to Deebo Samuel or Travis Kelsey for Kansas City So these you need one of those guys for a quarterback when it's when it's third down, you gotta have it clutch, fourth quarter, need a play, keep a drive alive, score a touchdown, gotta have it. So finding those type of guys, but not simple time. Well you know what Jeff Okay, Cooper Cup, Darnell Mooney, Travis Kelsey,

Cole Commett, Deebo, Samuel, David Montgomery. They gotta learn the system. And I think that's what Matt was saying earlier in his press conference is what these guys get to understand the system so perfectly that everything is going to be able to fall into place. And so I think that's the key ingredient for Justin to continue to develop a relationship with those types of players to kind of assist the rest of the players come on board. All right, I got a quick one for you regarding the barras.

Will there be more new starters on offense or defense? Offense? Okay, so there will be transition. Well, I mean, you look at they're talking about the offensive line. Be quicker here. I'm thinking of Sam Mustafer who just gained thirty pounds. Well, guess what you're on a diet now. I mean, think about it. He got up to three thirty last year and now he's gonna be asked to lose weight again. There's a totally different body frame that they're looking for.

Jason Peters is a left tackle. What did he come in as three fifty? He's off the list, you know. So it's there's gonna be a lot of different different players out there. In my mind, I do like the running backs. I think Khalil, Herbert and Montgomery you're gonna be fine. But there are no sacred cows other than the quarterback. All Right, we got less than two minutes the big drill here, Jim guys short short answers are hey news from the league. Time. We'll get you in

here too. Packers GM Gouda. Kun's not getting trade offer, Jon Rodgers. You're buying it? Yes or no? Yeah? I buy it because he's a Green Bay Packer. They own the rights and he's not going anywhere. All right, Giants would take phone calls for sae Quon Barkley time. Would you trade him? Of course I would offer. You know, if I'm the Giants, I'm in a desperate situation to get as many quality players as I can, and I think I could go out and find a running back,

so yes, I would. Jimmy g our friend from the Chicagoland area, the forty Niners quarterback shoulder surgery after ansurgery, will he be at forty nine? I think he's a forty nine er. I think you know everybody's dangling him out there to be traded. He's twenty four million. Trey Lance has nothing. You got two guys that are really cost effective under the salary cap, and he's led him to not only the Super Bowl, but to the Championship game.

Kyler Murray, Tom According to the Cardinals, they still have respect for Murray and his agent. Do you do you after that manifesto the other day? I think the agents are getting too much power. And for an agent to send a manifesto to tell what, tell what we're gonna need for Kyler Murray to continue to be a Cardinal? You know I don't like that. I'll give it four pintokios on that one, four pinocchios that I ever respect for. That's Jim Miller, Tom Thair. Thanks to Adam Dazinski. Also

to our producers with the Chicago Bears. Damn Bialdy and Jordan Tredap. I'm Jeff Jonny K. Thanks for listening me, everybody. This has been Bears All Access, brought to you by IGS Energy on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy The Score. Thanks for listening to this Chicago Bears Network presentation of Bears All Access. Podcasts are available on Chicago Bears dot com and on iTunes, or download the official Bears mobile app.

Bears All Access has been brought to you by IGS Energy and sponsored by Miller Litte