All Access: Kyle Long on offseason workouts

got a terrific program in store for you tonight. Hopefully should be joined by Jeff Joni, a voice of the Bears as well. As we roll along, and plenty to talk about. Is the draft just around the corner. Ryan Pace obviously doing his due diligence of what players will be drafted. Don't have a selection until the third round. But as we roll along in this program, gonna be joined by Kyle Long, tremendous offensive linemen of the Chicago Bears. Gonna be joined us. And how about former longstapp for

the Chicago Bears, Patrick Manley. He'll be calling into the show as well. Plus we'll take plenty of full calls. But right now, let's welcome in my partner for the next sixty minutes. None better than welcome in one top there, Tom, how are we doing tonight? But big Jim, I'm doing good. You know. It's kind of I think it captivated an audience around the football landscape before the draft is really

Kyler Murray? And I say that, you know, yeah, because of the Bears picking the third round, there's no of these top five, top ten picks that you're really investigating the top fifty picks to see where they would pick. However, when you look at this Kyler Murray scenario, it's really interesting because you know, Cliff Kingsbury, the new head coach

of the Arizona Cardinals. His passing coordinator coach that he hired is Tom Clements, formerly with the Green Bay Packers and been out of coaching for a couple of years now. When I see him being attracted to Kyler Murray, I see Tom Clements more of a passing coordinator coach for Josh Rosen, who they drafted last year. So I think it's kind of weird, how, you know, the the size of Kyler Murray as opposed to every other quarterback that's being considered in the NFL is over six foot, Kyler

Murray is not. And it's kind of weird that that it's almost that one sentence or that one thought has captured a lot of people's you know, thinking in which direction the quarterback position will go. Teams with high draft choice where they will go, and will this create any you know, crazy or not crazy trades, but trades that guys really want to jump up for. Yeah, it's it's interesting.

You know, you almost think Arizona could trade back out of that number one spot and still be able to select Kyler Murray because you just don't see him as a fit in the other NFL offense. I mean, realistically, if he gets past Arizona, where could you place Kyler Murray? You just wonder who would really, you know, have an upheaval at their position of quarterback in the NFL and

would they transition of their offense suposy. What's out there is Arizona reported that they have been offered a second rounder for Josh row And I don't know if if that's the case, but what's being reports that potentially could go down, but you would think that his stock has devalued as it's kind of been rumored for a long time that Cliff Kingsbury would take Kyler Murray number one over a wool. We're gonna welcome in our third team mate.

He's gonna be leading the show, taking over his captain ship. So let's welcome in Jeff Joniac to the program. Jeff doing great, doing great, excited about the week. Got the gremlins out of the way, so we're ready to rock. Got a big show. I didn't hear the beginning, but we are your watch. Stop. No, it's just a little gremlins in the in the system here, so we got it all worked out. Gremlin. Yeah, we got Kyle Long

joining us coming up here in moments. We've got Pat Manley, the long snapper, e extraordinaire and one of the longest tenured Bears in their team history, all coming up. It's his Bears All Access brought to you by IGS Energy. It's Draft week. We got to pick out awards. Tomorrow. Ryan Pace will discuss what he's willing to discuss about the Bears picking from round three and beyond in the draft tomorrow morning, as with reporters, so we get a

little insight tomorrow. This is Chicago Sports Radio six seventy to score. Hey, welcome back to the Bears. All Access brought to you by IGS Energy, a proud partner of the Chicago Bears, providing electricity, natural gas, and home warranty products to over one million customers across the country. Learn more about IGS Energy at igs dot com. Welcome back to the program, Jeff Joniac, Tom There, Jim Miller, and Chicago beart Kyle Long jumping on the phone with us.

The offseason program well under way, back in the weight room, back with teammates. Good to have you back at Haisa High feeling. I'm feeling great. How are you guys doing fantastic? Tell us about your journey this offseason to where we are now. Man, it's been a you know, it's been a quick one. We went a little bit further than I have gone before. You know, obviously get into the

wild card. Stayed around Chicago this offseason and really enjoyed my time getting to see the new facility you get put up and now obviously getting underway at House Hall with the Spring football residents and great, Hey, Kyle, in your lifetime, you've had the opportunity to see other professional facilities. Maybe when your dad was an Oakland or your brother was with the Rams and Saint Louis. What what are your first impression of that palatial state that you pulled

into the new Hollis Hall when you showed up. You know, palatial is the word on us as well. It's it's incredible the things that the mccass season, you know, the Bears as a team have been able to put together there for facilities, it's everything that you know you'd wanted a player, and obviously it's what free just want to be a part of as well. So that's going to be a great recruiting tool for us. Well, Kyle, I'm

wondering if they got enough weight in it. Did they get enough weight for you to throw around in that thing? I mean, finally, you know, healthy for you to be able to utilize that, that's got to be a great thing, because I gotta believe for you, it's got to be refreshing to go into an offseason that maybe you're not in the training room so much and you'll probably be the one who's really contributing from that beautiful new weight room.

You know, it's awesome. We've got a beautiful training room as well, So I'm going in there and get massages

whenever I want. So that's a good thing. But the weight rooms incredible to Clyde Hemrick weight Room, and it's you know, obviously named after somebody who's legendary in Chicago and especially with the Chicago Bears, somebody who means a great deal to our franchise, and it's just, you know, a real honor to go in there and work out every day in that facility along our guest here on Bears Out Access with Jeff, Tim and Jim on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the score. You're entering year seven.

You've been through a lot in your career, no question about it. A lot of a lot of things to overcome, and there are times in a player's career where they feel they got to do a little bit different training and so forth. And clearly you issued out on your Twitter Twitter account recently that you lost a bunch of weight this season, kind of remade the body a little bit. Tell us about that, why you're doing it and how's

it felt. Well, obviously, you know, I had a really major ankle thinging a couple of years ago, ankle injury, and that took away from my ability to really take advantage of cardio and keep my way down in that regard. And I like to eat food and I'll have a couple of beers like anything, like any guy does. So you've got to make sure that you're working out on the other end of that. And now has the ability to do that being healthy. So it's nice to be

able to do that. I was about, you know, damn near three fifty or Darden here, sorry, darn her three fifty for the wild card game, and now I'm down to about three twenty five. So I'm feeling good and the body's able to do more than it was before. You know, Kyle, we've seen you all up and down the line of scrimmage. You can really play any position. But now after a few years and having the experience to play the different positions, what stance are you most

What position stance are you most comfortable with? You know, I've really fallen in love with being on the right side. I'm left handed and my inside hand is my dominant one, and that's my left handed It's something that I've grown comfortable with playing that position so much. And you know, whether it's a right tackle or right guard, I feel like I can get the job done. And obviously under the tutelage of Harry Heastand anything's really possible for a

guy early or late in his career. And James holds true with my case. Well, from I remember earlier we talked to Bobby Massey, your your teammate and right tackle, your cohort there, and he just talked about the drill work of what Harry Heastand pretty much runs every day

he goes. Not that you get sick of it, but you go through those drills every day where it's it's like rope memory and how how have you taken to that and where do you feel that you've made improvement in strides under Harry Heastand well, I think just in regard to consistency, and you know, if you're changing. You know a lot of people say change is good, but I think if you're changing what you're doing all the time,

then that's not a good thing. The one thing that Harry does a great job of is just hammering over those technical points and you know offensive line, that's it's all about doing the same thing over and over again very well. And Harry does a great job with coaching that we really appreciate having in and we love having

areas above it. Guy Along our guest here on Bears All Access on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the Score entering year seven, You've been one of the guys that have been here at the longest one of them anyway, in this group of young Bears that have come along and proved to be a winning team, a whole different mindset, a whole different concept to what we've experienced and certainly

you experienced early in your career. The new additions. What can you tell us about him and what did Matt nag you have to say to you guys on the fifteenth at your first team meeting of twenty nineteen versus what do you have to say a year ago at this time. You know, I've seen so much turnover in my years here, and we've undergone a lot of renovations with the roster and staff. But the great thing about this year is you don't have to learn a lot

of new names. There are some new names, and there's some marquee new names, but at the same time, most of the core of our team is the same. And that's what's beautiful about the whole thing. In regard to coach Naki. I think it's just you have to understand year one with him, you wanted to establish what foundation was and what our identity was, and that was just to continue to film on that identity. You know, one of the results of being a famous team with a

great record is you have a roller coaster schedule. Like I said, last week, Thursday night, Sunday night, Monday night, Sunday noon, Sunday afternoon, and you got to London start Now, how will you have to adjust the way you go about your business? Will you have to make an adjustments? Are are you okay with any starting time that you have that week? You know, I had a coach one time.

We said, you know, we can play him at six am or eleven at night and we can play in the Walmart parking lot and be like And there wasn't a lot of things I agreed with that coach who wouldn't regard to what he had to say. But that was one of those things where I could take with me. And you know, whether we're playing in London or we're playing in Chicago, it's still gonna be football. It's on under yards and they got the hashes right, will be okay,

but you know you got to get your sleep. That's big. Making sure that you're eating the right things and doing the right things from a schematic standpoint, and you'll be okay. But I trust in the staff to get us in position to do the right things regardless aware or when we play well. Kyle too. Part of that is just the maturity of the team. And I've said this to other guys and yourself included, just how this team prepares.

I mean, have you been in an a locker room or experienced to a locker room with the maturity level? Even though there's a lot of young guys there here, you're the one of the older statesmen now, but just the maturity that guys go about their business in their preparation for winning football on Sundays in your experience, Yeah, it's been great to be a part of this team, and I'm really lucky that coach Nagi and Ryan Pace

have wanted me back. And you know, I've played with a lot of events in my career, but i haven't played with a lot of guys that are similar to this group. You know, use Roquan Smith for example, or a guy like a Team Hicks and the whole defense is just littered with guys like this just are obsessed with their craft. And you know, I hate to have a team here this because we're supposed to hate each other,

and I do hate him. But you know when when you when you have a guy like a team Hicks is in the weight room carrying it up every day, and who's at practice just bullying guys. That's the kind of things that that's the kind of things that really emanate throughout a locker room. And a Roquan Smith I mentioned, he's just such a tireless worker and he's so serious about his craft. And the list goes on and on and on and on with our team, and I'm just lucky to be a part of a group of guys

like that. Kyle along our guest down Bears All Access on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy The Score with Tom Thare and Jim Miller. I'm Jeff Joniak Kyle back to the wait thing? What is it? Kyle Long? At three twenty five do differently on the field? Do you feel versus what you said last year at that weight when you still you know, came back, you came more productive at the end of the season. What do you anticipate.

How's that going to translate on game day? Well, you know, it's not like I didn't think I could play football. I can still play football. Um. I think being three twenty five will just help me in regard to my joints, you know, taking less of a beating. Um. You know Tom's been heavier in his life and now he's lean and lean and mean, and he can tell you that he feels better now than he did before. Um, you

know the same. I can excho that same sentiment. Hey, Kyle, have you had any guard conversations yet with Cody Whitehair any? Have you had any Guard center conversations yet with James Daniels, who we have been told that there probably is going to be a position change there. Well, you know, it's it's like Area fifty one. There's a lot of secrets, but you know it's been good. Uh. We we all just want to make sure that we're prepared to do

whatever has asked of us, whatever position that is. I think one thing I can count on is not being asked to place there for me, because I don't think they trust me to make the mic calls. You got to remember the snap count every time. Yeah, we're going on one, bud, But yeah, it's been great And like I said about those guys, we have a great group and um, we're lucky to have Harry Leda and obviously we have tremendous character in this room. It's Ted Larson

back in the weight room. Because you talk about a guy that's got a little something in his neck, there's a guy that you know, plays with the whistle a couple of training camps and go and made it hard, you know, made it physical for a Key Nicks. Yeah. Well, you know, Ted is somebody that takes his craft very seriously and we love having him. And obviously you alluded to the fact that we've had him before and a lot of the guys in this room know him well.

You know, Letto white Hair myself, we're all buddies with Ted. You know, I've trained with him in the offseason before. So it's Bobby Massey played with him in Arizona and Brad Sow and you know, we love having him and he's an absolute he's a monster. We're happy to having Kyle Long our guest tonight on Bears All Access. Appreciate you taking the time. We'll see us soon, Kyle, Thank you so much. Thanks Kyle, Kyle Long. What are the

starting offensive line for a Bears offensive line coming back intact? Yes, maybe a little position change, but the same five guys should be rack and roll and ready to go when we come back. More of Tom there and Jim Miller as we continue on Bears All Access on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy The Score twenty nineteen Middle Night Chicago Bears Draft Party held Saturday, April twenty seven, Soldier Field

noon to six. It'll feature on field activities, locker room tours, player autographs, and of course, live draft coverage and analysis from Bears football experts like Tom Thayer. Get your tickets today at Chicago Bears dot com slash Draft Party time. It's going to be a big crowd over there. Gonna have damn pomp paid David Hoff in Chicago from the Morning Show. Rather, we're gonna have hub Barkish. Yeah, hub Barkish, that's right, hubar Pope Yepkay. So it's gonna be a

good time always, is uh. Even though it's Saturday of the draft and the Bears will have not had a first or second, will know that they had a third round pick, unless Ryan Pace has something else up to sleep. But it'll be a good time, I'm sure. And a different way to look at the draft this year for US well, I you know, I think they're looking at the Bears team with high expectations and then hopefully they get some players, some pieces to add to the puzzle.

So I think that the team in which they're entering the draft with they're really positive about. And Jim and I mentioned at the start of the show, you know, when you have a first rounder within the first five or ten draft picks, you know there's twenty five to thirty guys that you dream about coming to the Bears. Here, it's not necessarily dreaming or hoping for some miracle rookie coming in. It's about getting these guys that can come in establish themselves on their their first year, but also

be competitors. And I'm still excited about the draft, but you know, I'm more excited about the Bears football team than I am the draft. Yeah, I mean, well, you just look at areas of focus. I mean, you know, you still have the ability to get good players even if you're selecting in the third round. I think Ryan Pace has been really an example of that of players that he's picked in the later rounds of the draft. And who knows, you say this every year, good good

guys fall. You know what happens all the time. I don't know the A is the Penn State running back? Will he potentially be available there in the third round because I do and believe that the Bears are looking for a bigger back, and uh, you know that those areas. You just look at the guys that they've visited with the kid out of Temple Armstead, he's the guy that's been in there. He was down at the Reesas Senior Bowl.

Sanders is a back that, granted he may be a one year wonder at Penn State, he performed pretty well in the place a sa Quon Barkley. So there's there's gonna be good players there that they'll be able to target pick up and will definitely add value to the to the team and potentially could be impactful players. Jim's like a tarikohen who was a later on. Sorry Jim and Jeff, I mean, when you look at the assessment of the backs, is it gonna be their ability to

catch or is it gonna be their size? Because to me, I just keep thinking of coach Naggy and the running back position is such an important key to the influence of this offense and the influence of the defense. So when they're looking for a player, what is the assessment that they're looking for, And to me, I think it's past catching ability. Yeah, I definitely think it's a triple threat.

I think that's what they need. And not that you know nothing against um you know mister Howard, but he really wasn't a factor out of the backfield in my opinion. You know, more of a downhill runner, and he was a great one, don't get me wrong, and hopefully he'll do great things in Philadelphia. But I think it's a triple threat, a guy who could run, block, and catch the football. And that's what Sanders has done, you know at Penn State. That's kind of how that offense is structured.

He's a bigger back, but yet it's a spread attack where he gets the ball quite a bit out of the backfield. I think'll just a lot of these running backs are geared this way, you know, even you know, you look at Kareem Hunt, what he did you know from his college days and how he had a huge impact in the Kansas City Chiefs as a third round pick is pretty amazing. So there is some things that translate.

And obviously these bigger backs that can catch the ball in the backfield I think is almost a necessity now in the NFL. Well then, and the other important part of that is, yeah, you can guys that can get in the flat and make a catch and tear in their shoulders, get square and get upfield, break tackles, get a mismatch on a linebacker or whatnot. Is great. But also the untold story of how they run those routes, what types of routes are they equipped to run in

this particular offense. I think the more they can do in terms of their route running and their ability to be used will be of interest to Matt Naggie. And the good news also is you quite the buffet of sizes and shapes and types of backs with speed, power guys, breakaway speed, or just a thumpers, So they'll have a lot to choose from if in fact they go in that direction. All right, that's our traveling music to another break.

When we come back, we're gonna be joined by long time bear and now long snapper Award Name recognition guy. He's getting a lot of reputation from that. Right now it is Pat Manneley will join us on the program. You're on Bears All Access, brought to you by IGS Energy, Chicago Sports Radio six seventy to square IF, TUGO, Bears Networks Present Inside the Bears brought to you by Verizon.

Anthony Adams and Lauren Screeden cover the world of Bears football, on and off the field, every Sunday night, ten to thirty five pm on Fox thirty two Chicago, or watch anytime at Chicago Bears dot Com. Around the Bears Official app Back to the program, Tom Thayer, Jim Miller, Jeff Joniac and now joined by the longest tenured Bear, Pat Manneley,

sixteen year Bear. We bring him on to talk about what's going to be a heck of a celebration, Pat, the one hundred years celebration of Bears football and this the one hundred anniversary of the founding of the National Football League. And when you go back and you look at it, you're in the top fifty one of games played of any NFL player in history. That's crazy, it is,

and it still blows me away. I mean, just to have the honor of saying the most games and Bears history still is something that you know, as you get older, Jeff and Jeff and you guys know that when you get older and you look back at your career, you just start to marvel at some of the things that you were able to do, the friendships you made, games you got to play in, and to say that as well the top fifty one players in NFL history just

still blows me away. But thank god I was a specialist, you know, Pat, When you when you look at your career, you know, throughout your career, uniquely enough, you probably had more teammates than anybody else in the history of the Bears. And when you look at this hundred year anniversary party coming up, is there anybody that stands out to you, star or not that maybe you had a different type of relationship just because of you know, being teammates, being

in the locker room and you have such longevity. Yeah, it's funny you just said that. I was thinking about that. That's the one that I just loved playing with was Mike Brown. You know, obviously I was close with Oland. We are the same draft class, played many many years, Robbie Goldbrad Maynard or lacker Land, all those guys. But Mike Brown just brings a certain energy like he did on the field. He brings that to like the social scene.

So it's always fun to sit around with him and share stories and just pick his brain and be around that uh, that energy. He is just an absolute blast. Well, always good to talk to you, Pat, And I love the Pat YouTube. Jim Well, that long snapper award you got goings unbelievable. And I've brought this up in Pat and I've had conversation. Remember I when I mentioned to you that I played with Adam Schreiber long snapper for the file, because that guy snapped for seventeen years, uh

in the NFL. And here you're a long time long snapper and for you, like when was it early in your life? He said, you know I got a shot at this in terms because you know, I remember playing high school football. We couldn't find anybody did this, you know, snapped the ball to pun or kick or anything. Jim, I owe a lot to my brother, five year old

or five years older. He went off to play Notre Dame and came back after his freshman year and this was nineteen eighty eight when they won the national championship, so they had a flew of four and five star recruits and he wanted to get on the field as quickly as he could. So we were in the front yard trying to teach him how to long snap and

he threw me the ball. He's like, hey, man, give this a shot, and I've been over and did it better than him, and I was like, wait a minute, and he was a little upset because it came a little bit more easy. But from that, from that moment, I kind of took pride in doing it and wanting to be a long snapper on that eighth grade team, ninth grade team all the way throughout, and I had to compete against the guy in high school. His name was Bill Brightville, So every offseason I was always trying

to perfect the craft and get better. And then it's something that took off at Duke as well. They needed one and to do it and was able to do it all four years there as well. Pat Manneley, I guess the Bears, a veteran long snapper, and now the Patrick Manneley Award, honoring the nation's best FBS long snapper. Tell us how that all got going in the right direction, and how honorable is it that you're using your name touched to it. You there's few debates about the best

long snapper in your generation, and that definitely is you. Well, there's a lot of great guys, but you know what's need about this award is just long snappers are finally going to get some notoriety. They don't want the notoriety during a game or anything like that, or during the season because that means they messed up. But the long snapping position is now a position. All thirty two teams have a guy designated just to be a long snapper. Jim,

you were just talking about Adam Schriver. He also played Old Lions, so he was a backup. Now there is a fifty third position on every NFL roster that is allocated towards a long snapper. In college, and I believe these numbers are correct. In two thousand and four, one percent of long snappers got scholarships. Now it's almost up to eighty percent. So now colleges are understanding the importance as well. And I think you're seeing kickers reap the

benefits of it, but their percentage is going up. Punters are you know, a little bit better just because they're catching a more accurate ball. And it's an honor anytime to have your name associated with with with any award, but it's pretty cool to have this as well. But this is about the kids to get the recognition then also compete against each other during the season and they'll

try to win this award. You know, Patrick, in preparation for a game, I bet you probably snap like two hundred balls to the kicker for extra point field goal during the course the week of practice before you get one attempt in the game. And here's my question. Is there a tempo, a sound, a kicker's rhythm that you know whether it's a good kick or a bad swing just by your ability to hear thousands and thousands of kicks over your time. Yeah. The one thing is you

know in practice you're not getting hit. So I would sit there and could see Robbie's foot hit the ball and I could tell if it was good, and I wouldn't have to look up at the uprights. I'm like, oh, he made it, he made it. He made it. In the games, you don't get the opportunities you're getting blown off, you gotta take you know, block somebody, but you really can't hear it because the crowd. But during practice, for sure,

Tom you could. I never even looked up. I would just snap it, see Robbie's foot ball hit the foot, and then walk over the next position where the ball was placed for the next kick. But the game you couldn't hear it. All you could do is hear the crowd. And that's when he knew it was good. Well, Pat if he could break down the position of the ideal

long snapper, because there's more to it than just snapping. Granted, snapping is a big part of it, and the accuracy and in all those things, but in terms of coverage, athleticism, style of body, body type that is that you've you know, require to be a long snapper, and what coaches and maybe gms are looking for in that position, as you mentioned, has become so critical in both college empros. Yeah, I'll start with the body size. It's changed, Jim backing, you

and I were playing. They used to be able to line up head over the long snapper and running over, so you had to be big or now you don't have to be as big. You still have to block, and they can still hit you, but it's about a half count or a second count before they can hit you. So the body sizes are a little different, so I think there may be a little more athletic um. And the three things are, like you said, snap, protect, and cover,

and they're in that order. You can snap an accurate ball, that's great, but you've got to be able to protect. I know, a special team coach's nightmare is hearing that double thud um. So if you can't protect, you're not going to get on the field. And I think just kind of the the extra credit is when you can cover, and you got to take pride in all three. And the one thing about the coverage part is actually when

you get to become a real football player. And that was probably my favorite part of it, was being a rundown the field and try to tackle somebody. Yeah eighty one career special teams tackle. I'm not if I'm not mistaken, right where I'm somewhere around now? Yeah, somewhere around there the umber more when I was younger, Hey, so you're gonna be a part of this one hundred celebration, and you know it's it's it's this is it like, this is the chance for everybody to get together one one time.

This will never be done again. And it's just something that because of the history of this team that I think, as you just alluded to at the outset of your conversation here, is that you appreciate it more now looking back as opposed to when you're in it and it's it's work. It's a job and you loved it, but you know, it's a different type of feeling. And I always feel it takes a while to step back and take a broad view of what you accomplished and so forth,

but to get together with the history. And that's what this is going to be. June seventh to the ninth. There are going to be a ton of current and former Bears players there. Make sure you get your tickets. Go to Chicago Bears dot com to get all the details. But what's it going to mean to you to be a part of this? You know, I only know one organization, So I got a question for you guys. After I answered this, Tom and Jim that sixteen years of one

organization is amazing. And then the history of the organization, the number of Hall of Famers, the great players, the guys that should be of a Hall of Fame that aren't. You know what you're playing for when you put put that helmet on. And so it's all I knew, and it's something I just came to love and still love obviously. But I'm just excited to get around all those guys and relive those memories and and kind of get that

locker room feeling back. You know, all retired guys talk about how they missed the locker room and yeah, you can do that when you get around the table some food and some boots and you can have a good time and do that. But you know, Jim, you played for other organizations. Where where do the Bears ranks in the ones you played for, in the history that they have and what it means to you. Oh, I think for the family owned organizations, Yeah, they're incredible. You know.

I had the opportunity to get drafted by the Steelers obviously the Rooney family. Well shoot, I was on the Steelers when the Bears and the Steelers played in the Irish Bowl over in Dublin, Ireland, and so you know, but I've I've had the opportunity to play for family owned businesses that you know, have those traditions that carry on, have the loyalty for you know, I know people of the Steelers organization that still work there that I when

I worked, her work there, you know. And that's the same for the Chicago Bears, whether it's Kenny Murrock and and people also that's a you know, that loyalty is an unbelievable trait. And there are great people and there are great organizations in the NFL that have that family history, and that definitely the Steelers and the Bears are two that that stand out. And I had the opportunity to play for the for them both and loved them both for that very reason, you know, Jim, Jeff and Pat.

You know, I think when the guys walk in that building, it's it's kind of a hidden not a hidden secret, but unless you go into the building. I think there's so much respect for Virginia McCaskey for the being the historian of the game, for having incredible understanding of the trials that her dad went through in order to build the NFL to what it's become. In her everyday involvement in the program, I think it's you know, there's a

few owners that that have that credibility. But when you talk to Virginia about football, when you talk to her about the history of the game, she has such respect. That's why the guys have so much respect for her when they have an opportunity to be in front of her in conversation or seeing on the team charters or at the facility itself. Pat Manley, I guess here on

Bears All Access with Tom and Jim Jeff Joniac. All right, Pat, you're gonna be on the Scores Draft show on opening night Thursday, So it's gonna be weird not having eight to Bears picks. But you've done your homework as well. Give us a little snippet of what you're looking at in terms of what you think the Bears might be looking at. And then what's your opinion on the kickers in this draft. Well, I'll start with that. Obviously, I'm gonna go with my specialist roots number one as a kicker,

and that's gonna be figured out. It might be somebody that's that's not even you know, draft eligible. I think what they're gonna do is exhaust all efforts and have everybody come through Hollis Hall and bourbon A and then you know, the best man wins. Other than that, Ryan Pace has done such a nice job of building this roster that you know, there's no glaring holes. So it's kind of weird to, you know, forecast what's going to

happen late in the draft. But you know, I think if you if you're looking at it, you say you need an extra another running back. And then one thing not many people talk about and I believe in and Tom, I'm sure you do too, is building through the trenches that I think they needs some more depth on that old line, some young depth. You know, you had Kyle Long earlier. He's not getting younger, but he's still playing

the high level. And I think that's a position that you can, Like Tom, I think you said you're a fourth rounder, you can find some great players on those picks, and that's where you're going to build your team and sustain the success. He's within the trenches, and I think that's a position they should really look at. And coach Harry, the offensive line coach, is a heck of a teacher, so I think young guys can benefit from the experiences

he's developed through his college years and end of the NFL. Yeah, all right, Pat, Well, we're gonna miss you on our draft coverage on Saturday, but good luck with the entire process over the course of the week. Fun week always in the National football and we're looking forward to see you soon. Thanks Pat. All right, all right, great sixteen year Bear Patrick Manneley on Bears All Access will continue with Tom and Jim after this on Chicago Sports Radio

six seventy The Score. So join us for Bears one hundred celebration weekend in Rosemont, June seventh through the ninth. Player autographs, photo ops, football panels, and some really good football panels. The collection of people that are going to be there, it'll be the largest collection of Bears Bears players ever and activities for all ages. So kids are gonna love it, the the long time season ticket holders are gonna love it. The modern day fan is gonna

love it. Get tickets today at Chicago Bears dot Com. Be sure to check it out. Jeff John Act, I think the players are gonna Jeff, I think the players are gonna love it. Also, I mean they love interacting

with the fans of the Chicago Bears. They also like interacting with each other and there's gonna be guys that are separated by generations that may be meeting for the first time, or you know, get a chance to have a conversation with one of your former Chicago Bears heroes, because there's a lot of guys grown up here as a kid that we're need to listen to or watch on TV that you know, you may have a chance to come across this that weekend. Hey, if you got

any draft questions or anything about the upcoming convention. Threety four sixty seven sixty seven with you for another twelve minutes or so here on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy The Score, Herb Lawrence, Mike Chant, our producers tonight, Thanks as always to Jordan trut Up for getting this thing all lined up. Three one two six four four sixty seven sixty seven. One of the mention one thing about offensive line play, and I don't remember where I saw it.

It was a couple of weeks ago, but it's stunning given that you Tom your offensive line played together for a very long time with nary a lost snap among the group of you guys that won the Super Bowl, and you did it for several years since two thousand There have only been five projected starting offensive lines that

have spent at least five years together. It was the Steelers of last year or heading into this year, I should say, the Giants of nine to ten, the Patriots in two thousand and nine, or the twenty oh four Packers. So the turnover and the loss of snap time because of injuries and just change is so prevalent. How do you think, fellas it impacts the game today with so much turnover in the offensive line position? Well, you know

what's you know? I was thinking about this. I was thinking today, Jeff and Jim what the Bears can accomplish in NOPAD football this year. When the get out of the weight room, they start bringing it to the field. You know one thing when you have the group of guys that are together for a period of time and then you start teaching and reteaching. When you start reteaching Alston, you see the element of their game playing faster, and the faster they play, the more difficult they are to defend.

So not only in the offensive line, but everybody on the offensive side of the ball. I expect this offense to be able to learn more, learn it faster, and play faster and that's the key ingredient there, Jeff, is

that you have. You know, That's why I was asked Kyle about the conversations he has with James Daniels or what does he talked to Cody white Hair about playing guard because the communication in between the five has to be uninterruptible, if that's a word, because you have to be able to communicate under the loudest of experiences, sometimes never exchanging a word. But it's all about preparation and

experience together. So you know, I think that's one of the things that could benefit the Bears the most at the speed in which they'll be able to play with and then the continuity upfront to be able to make changes and have a wider variety to your offense because guys are being reintroduced to it for maybe the second, third, and fourth time. And we always talk about Mitchell Trubisky about going from one on one to two oh one.

The offensive line will have the ability to go from one on one to three oh one type just with their experience together. Yeah, I mean that cohesion is big time. It's got to be a concert the way those guys work together, the nonverbal communication that Tom just mentioned and I said it even when we were talking Super Bowl time two years ago was Atlanta. They made it to the Super Bowl. They didn't have one offensive line injury all five I started all sixteen games last year. Who

else did that? Granted they lost the Super Bowl, but they were right there the LA Rams. That's a cohesive unit that lined up every single stamp. And I'm glad Pat brought up offensive lineman about, you know, because in the third, fourth, fifth round, there's good offensive lineman that are there. You know, go check out the Michael Jordan kid from Ohio State University. His dad name was was Kevin Michael Jordan, so one son was named Kevin. He was given Michael Jordan. This is what his name was.

But this guy, he started as a freshman, goes into Ohio State, plays every game. So guy's got forty starts and he's not even twenty one years old. And this guy's six six, three hundred twelve pounds, has played center and guard and probably has the length to play tackle. I interviewed him. He says he believes he could play tackle if neeby He scheduled to be at late third to fourth rounder. Michael Dieter, both the Wisconsin guys can play guard, Michael Dieter and Ben Benshaw. I mean, those

guys are really good players. And last guy I would bring up, also scheduled to be rate in those fourth round, fifth round, would be Drew Samia out of Oklahoma. They've got four offensive linement that are gonna be drafted the same thing. This guy's played center, he's played guard, and he's played a lot of games on a team that has gone deep into college football playoffs. And Jimmy has a nasty disposition. Yeah, he's real five he does. He

plays nasty now when he's athletic and agile. So there's there's some good offensive linement that would be rate in the Bears wheelhouse if they do want to get better at the at those positions to really get some depth. Threety four sixty seven, sixty seven and remaining moments here on Bears All Access in Chicago Sports Radio six seventy to score. Jeff, Tim and Jim with you. Tom, You've been all over this in the kicking situation. You were looking at the aff and seeing, you know, are there

any kickers. You were when it was it was when they were operational, you were identifying them, and in fact, the Bears, you know, did bring in one of those guys, so they got three am a roster right now, Redford Jones, Chris Blewett, and Elliott Fries. The guy I'm talking about, who knows what happens if they're going to look at the draft for this or what's going to be available on what else in terms of a veteran because none of these guys have attempted a kick in the NFL,

how do you value you know what? I like to see that they're you know, they went and picked up quite a few of the guys from the AAF to give them the opportunity to come and compete in the NFL, whatever team, whatever position they pick. But when you talk about Fry the kicker, that was a game that I was watching maybe Week three of the AAF season and they were playing up in Utah in the conditions were

so Chicago like it was a blizzard. The field was covered with snow, and he was banging forty plus yarders out there, and you know, Patrick Manley is not snapping to him, and you have there's differences in the velocity

of the snap and the holder and everything. However, I you know, that's that's what's amazing about Ryan Pace and his staff is that if there's a guy at a position that he feels can come in and compete at the Bears, he goes out and he gets them, And you know, I'm gonna be really be interested and see how Fry reacts this, you know, and being a USFL guy, I kind of pull for these guys because they took advantage of an opportunity and they tried to grow it

into even a better opportunity. Yeah, you just wonder would they take a shot on one of the guys that are there in the draft, whether it's Matt Gay from Utah, big guy's got a big leg, and Tracy also well

regarded from LSU. You gotta believe if those guys sneak through don't get drafted, you would think that the Bears would want more competition, potentially bringing in one of these college kickers as a priority priority free agent, or if they think well enough of them that maybe they take a late run flyer on one of these guys in the draft. Draft coming up on Thursday night, Bears will pick on Friday night right now, the eighty seven pick

tomorrow we'll hear from general manager Ryan Pace. He's not gonna say a whole lot. I'll give you some context, I guess, but that's about it. These general managers, Jim and Tom do not like doing these a pre draft interviews other than, you know, maybe setting the course for some some misinformation, which certainly is happening right now around the league. Jim there, you're trying to get, you know,

act your information. It's almost impossible. I've never seen so many more conflicting reports out there prior to a draft. And what's going on this year. All the Jets are trading down. They want to get Ed Oliver, the defensive tackle. They don't want Josh Allen, one of the better pass rushers in the league. They don't want him. They want to trade out at number three. So there's a lot of disinformation going on right now, well, including the rate.

How about the Raiders situation, Yeah, Raiders with the scouts. And I love Dave Gelman's quote today. He had some pretty funny quotes when he addressed the media. The Raiders got a lot on the line though, because they brought Mike Mayok, who is presented himself on TV as a well educated scout player identifier, and now he's got to step up to the play and make these picks for real. It's easy for all of us to sit here and tell you about the quality players or that they're sir,

and traits that make them attractive. But now when you're sitting there picking for a team that has one hundred million dollar head coach that's trying to get in the midst of a transfer of their organization to Las Vegas. If they go out there and they fail on this draft, I think it'll it's going to have some pretty heavy duty repercussions on that team. What are we focused on in terms of your expectations, the two of you on what Ryan is going to be able to pull out

of this draft. Do you have any particular positions that you're hoping for other than we alluded to the offensive line position for depth and whatnot, Because it seems to me, with the high prevalence of impact potential impact defensive players at the top of the draft, that it's going to shove a lot of different positions down into the middle rounds, namely running back, maybe cornerback, tight ends, all areas that you know we all could look at and say, well,

this could be an area that they could go in. You know, Jeff, I still feel that there's a need for a contributing outside linebacker. I know Kylie Fitz has a good future ahead of him. They signed Aaron Lynch, they signed Isaiah Irvin, and you know the big two they already have in Leonard Floyd and Khalil Mack. I still think there's a guy out there that can be attractive to the Bears coach Chuck Bagano in this new

style or this well this system they're gonna run. And when you have aggressive guys on the inside like a Kiem Hicks and Eddie Goldman and stuff, man, if you could just kind of maybe a reach at that guy with that has an explosiveness that's almost unmatchable. But you know, maybe he's not the biggest guy, but if he has that explosiveness to get around the corner and create sacks when they're worried about Khalil or Leonard Floyd or the other guys on the line, I still think there's a

need at that position for some help. Yeah, and there's there's guys that are there, they're gonna be available. How about Christian Miller, the edge rusher from Alabama eight of his eleven sacks. We're in twenty eighteen alone. I mean, so this guy, I know it's a talented defense down there at Alabama, but this guy's kind of a high cut edge rusher is what he's been able to do. There's other guys that are out there. O'Shane Zimonez from

Old Dominion. A lot of people like him. Some have him going earlier, some have them going in the mid rounds, fourth round. You look at the two Oregon edge rushers, there's a couple out there that have some intriguing qualities. So I do think from that standpoint, whether if it was a backup offensive lignment, there'll be guys their fourth fifth round that you can develop that will be a good player. Edge rushers I think will be there. There's a lot of good nickel corners potentially I think the

Bears can look at. And of course we've diagnosed running back and you know, the even kicker if they elect a draft one of these kickers that we just mentioned. So they've got five later round picks, and I do think there's players in every round the potentially they'll target and guys that they bring in and willing to give a shot at him. All right, Well, we could talk about the draft for another sixteen hours and have fun doing it, and there'll be plenty of that conversation here

on the Score all week. And well, Tom and I will be at the Bears Draft party at Soldier Field on Saturday and we'll hear that on the score as well. So be a fun week for everybody, and Bears fans will be out in force because everybody loves the draft, everybody loves the fantasy football portion of it, and love projecting.

Where everybody's gonna go A real shout out to the Bears organization today as well, in honor of the one hundred, are donating a total of a million dollars and increments of one hundred thousand dollars to ten different charities nominated by fans today. They're in the Lawnville neighborhood in Chicago today. Chairman George McCaskey terricoing out there today again. The community

work done by the Bears organization top notch. Big Tom and Jim fully support their community, fully support the Chicago land area and the whole state of Illinois for that matter. Absolutely so been involved for many years, and we'll continue to do so. All right, appreciate you guys. Have fun this week. Jim, You're gonna be down in Nashville, Thomas, see you Saturday. Very good, Jeff. This has been Bears All Access thanks to Mike Chat and Herb Lawrence. Have

a great night, everybody. This is 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 CDW, Athletico Physical Fee and Forward