All Access: Nichols on improving in offseason

Miller Lite and Ford. Time to talk a little Bears football For the next hour, walkome in everybody Johnny Ac along with Tom Fair from news radio seven eighty and one oh five point nine FM w BBM. Jim Miller will be along as well and cough it up. Shortly, we'll be joined by Well now he's out of his rookie year, Big Tom Balam Nichols, the defensive lineman for the Bears fifth round draft pick last year, so we'll talk to him about his season and what he's looking

forward to. He's out in an NFL event and parts unknown, so we'll be talking to him. But we're just with you on Friday. But short turnaround. Not a lot transpired since Friday obviously when we met and talk with Bobby Massey, but there's always something going on in Today was the first day in the NFL, you can tag players. So nobody that I know of yet has been tagged any of the tags, but there's certainly a lot of names

out there and a lot of other movement around the league. Yeah, you know, the franchise tag, it's it's kind of a fragile thing. Sometimes when you're franchising guys and you want to be a positive influence inside the locker room, they're disappointed that they're getting franchise or franchise because they want the long term, big money, guaranteed contract. So it turned out weird here for al Sean Jeffrey and that whole process. So I no team has the perfect franchise tag scenario.

You look at what happened in the Pittsburgh Steelers with Levon Bell, So you know, that's just part of the growing process of how you develop a team, how you're going to spend your money, and where do you think you want to secure a position or a player the most. And you know a couple of guys that people have mentioned, certainly in the secondary because it is hard to find a really good nickel defensive back. So would the Bears be interested in doing that with Bryce Camahan. You also

have Adrian Amos at the safety position. Things will discuss. I think we have Jim Miller with US now and Big Jim from Serious x MNFL Radio, Good Evening. What's what's made news today? Well, Antonio Brown, of course, of course. Finally you know you got should cry your way out of town. Now. That's that's what happens in the NFL. I mean, geez, it's as hard to believe. There's just

so much drama. I was a part of that organization and never never once experienced They've never been shy about cutting the corda on players, whether it was Rod Woodson, Cornel Lake, There's been some great players, Kevin Green have moved on from there, and it sounds like finally they've they've had enough of Antonio Brown and we'll try to

we'll try to seek a trade for him. You just wonder how much compensation they're going to get for him, right, But I mean, I saw headlines today that there's people are saying that he's not worth the first rounder, and he's got ability, but it's the baggage I think is making him decline in the terms of his value. It's just bizarre. Tom I mean what that guy has done literally over the last six months. I mean the issue down in Floridas, him throwing furniture off a balcony. I mean,

that's still in court in legal proceedings. Then you've got the speeding issue. Then he goes a wall on his team. Not to mention the Facebook live posts that he had a couple of years ago, but I mean, minim, just the guy flat out walked out on his team. You know, even Mike Tomlin just said enough is enough. That you know, his agent calls, Drew Rosenhous calls the day of the game, and Tomlin's like, nah, that's not how it works here. He can't just not show up all week and then

expect to play in the game. And then even today the bizarre post he had on Instagram. It's just I'm with you. I mean, what team wants to take on that baggage. To me, his value has gone down because he wants a new contract that's completely guaranteed. The team's not going to give up a lot. It's definitely not going to be first round compensation. I think it'll be a late round draft. It's kind of you know, Jim,

it's kind of weird. What when Dallas Cowboys went and traded for Amari Cooper and what he did for the receiver position there in a short period of time. I do believe that's the influence of that that they think Antonio Brown is going to have on whatever team he goes to for the receiver. For the receiver group, you better have a strong personality at quarterback. But you know, Amari Cooper is kind of leaving a fresh thought in people's minds about what a receiver can come in to

do a help a quarterback. Yeah, definitely think it's going to have to be a veteran quarterback that he's going to be dealing with. I mean, because Antonio Brown would absolutely walk over, walk all over a young quarterback that really probably doesn't have the strong fortitude to really stand up to him, is what I think. And you better have a veteran coach then too. I think this wave of new coaches has less tolerance for that me kind of activity. And I'm still shocked that it occurs. Now.

This guy came from humble beginnings and worked his way into start him I get it, but wow, it's a total twist in his person ality and his way in his approach to this whole thing. Yeah, well that's what I think. I mean, that's what this shocks me about the Steelers. When you got le beyond Bell said, now, you know his I can understand, it's business right, it's a franchise tag. He had the choice not to show up,

and he elected to go that route. But Steelers have always been about team, team, team, you know, it's kind of like, you know, the fans, it's just the heartbeat of the city and everybody has really rallied around that team and that's what it's always stood for. And then this is kind of just a typical of of how Steelers react. And I think, you know, Steelers fans are just like, yeah, just get rid of them. We're ready

to move on. We don't we don't need him to win, and they certainly didn't need him the last week of the season, as they were able to still win that game without him, even though he went a wall gave up on his teammates. Jeff Jonny Actim Fair, Jim Miller with you here on Bears all the Access we brought to you by IGS Energy Here on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy to score. Jim, what are you what are you hearing on your end of the of the fence in terms of the Bears. Are people asking about here

in this office early offseason? Well, I think for like anything here, you know, we talked to Bobby Massey last week. You know, will they free up when I heard here in Thom's conversation about Bryce and Callahan, who I think is a really good player. He really has performed well as a Chicago Bear. But then you look at how Sheriff McMahon is filled in late in the year. This

is a really good draft in terms of safeties and corners. Again, so you just wonder how much, you know what the Bears elect to match the offers that are out there, whether it's for Adrian Amos or Bryce Callahan. A lot of safeties were scooped up early last off season. That was probably the position that was probably the hottest position

that was scooped up the fastest in free agency. And again I think with market forces like good safeties coming out in this year's draft, you know, if those guys are off, you know, off the boards, and the Bears don't want to pay that highest dollary if it gets too steep, they'll have plenty of options come draft time is what I think? That's Jim Miller, Blond Nichols or the Bears. Would you want us coming back? After this break?

On Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the Score to escape the cold and head to the Reu Palace, Coasta Majaris and Kancoon with your favorite Bears players in Putting Prince and Mulcamara, Roquan Smith and Bilal Nichols, plus Inside the Bears host Lauren Screeten and Anthony Adams visit Apple Vacations dot Com Slash Bears to book today and we're please to be joined by Bilal Nichols here on Bears All

Access were brought to you by Igs Energy, Jeff Jony Actom. There, Jim Miller, you're looking forward to that Mexico trip my brother? Oh yeah, definitely, definitely excited about it. Can't wait to get there. Yeah, get some warmth going on? What are

you up to these days? Man? Yet? Got some time finally to yourself a little bit because last year, obviously going from Delaware to the Combine and getting yourself ready for an NFL draft, it was all about getting your body right, meeting with teams, and there's really no break. Then you go right into rookie mini camp. And this is the plight of young young players. They don't really have time to address, you know, getting themselves stronger in

the office season because it really wasn't one. Yeah, it's definitely different. Uh, you know this this year, I kind of, you know, had some time to take off refresh my body and my mind and everything like that. And then now pretty much I'm just working out, you know, pretty much every day and then I give myself a couple of days off to regenerating my body. But it's definitely

it's definitely completely different than last year. Like you said, last year it was it was a lot of my plate, had a lot of moving around to do a lot of working out. So you know, it's good. It's good to find the experience the NFL all season. Boy, it's so much different than last year. Because I was reading the combined results in the little story and that had a thing called prospect grade and it said blow Nichols five point three four and then it said NFL backup

or special teamer. A lot has changed. How good does that feel? Just to give your sense of what you were able to accomplish in your first year and what you're going to accomplish in the future. US. It was good, I mean, you know, it's it's definitely something that you know, I used this motivation and stood to this day. UM. You know that few of me. Um, you know, I know what I was capable of. You know, the coaching staff helped me out tremendously when I got to Chicago,

to help me reach my reach my potential. And you know I'm not even nowhere close to where I want to be, which is which is awesome. You know. So it's it's just good saying the hard work that I put in pay off. Well. Blaal Jim Miller here and congratulations on a great year the three sacks. And I just remember when you talked about the style of defense at Delaware where you know, really it wasn't an attacking style and more like what you were asked to do

as it's just Chicago bearing. How quickly did did you get that aggressive nature and the techniques that you were taught by the Bears defensive coaches and how they wanted you just more attacking. How long did it take to settle in where you got comfortable with it? Um, I was comfortable with it, you know after my first few days. Um, you know, I always I always was pretty much used to playing I'm more of an attack style type of defense. Just happened when my coaches staff made to change my

senior year in college. That was just the defense that they that they brought in and that they asked me to play. So you know, I had to really like kind of adjust my game. But I was so used to playing in an aggressive type of defense like I'm playing it now, so you know, it was pretty natural for me to go right back to it. Blow Nichols our guest here on Bears All Access with Jeff Jonning, Act, Tom Thayer, and Jim Miller on Chicago Sports Radio six

seventy The score below. You're getting your first taste of a coaching change in the NFL. Not your head coach, obviously, but with a new defensive coordinate, VIC Fan Joe Off to Denver to run that program and Chuck Bugatto coming in. But you did keep Jay Rodgers here, your defensive line coach. How impactful is that to you to be with him for another year? And have you had any conversations with coach Bugatto yet? Yeah, it's awesome. You know that coach

Jenny is still here. You know, he's he's helping me out tremendously. I a lout of a credit to him and the bets on you know, my progress this year and the things I was able to do. He's a guy that always kept things straight up with me. You know, he would tell me what I need to work on and tell me what I did think he's good and tell me what I didn't bad. And you know it's

love with respect there where. I really appreciate him and the coach and you know, he's one of those guys he prepares just like he's a he's a player or even better, you know, he's he's all in every weekend. You know, he comes in and he works hard just just like we do. So you know, I'm very grateful to still have him here. And you know he's he's my d line coach to it. He still continues to tell me things that I need to work on, which

is which is which I appreciate. Hey, I'm sorry, Blo, go ahead, No, I was just gonna say that I did talk to coach Bagano. He reached out. You know, we changed some text messages. You know, it's good to hear from me, and I just can't wait to get started with it. You know, it seems the better you learn the defensive systems, the faster you play. And then you start learning the NFL the complex offensive systems. Now you do start filtering a little bit new system. What

what was it more complicated for? Are you learning the defensive system so you could play faster or being influenced by the complex NFL offensive systems? That's that's a great question. Um, I would say learning the defensive system. Um, you know, you kind of got to learn that first to really

get your seat wet, get yourself started. I feel like that's the most important thing learning and skinny a defense, how your coaches want want you to play in and you know what you're good at, what you can do to contribute to your team. Once you fully understand that and you understand like what type of mindset the defenses, whether it's you know, more aggressive or more conservative, you can really even get to play faster and just let

the game come to you. And then uh, naturally or as a time goes on, you'll start to pick up on, you know, the things that the offense runs or tendency said they like to have that. That's kind of what happened to me drop my rookie years is the season went on, I started to notice certain things and you know, just that made me play faster with noticing things with the offense, like you know formations, would they like to run out of SA formations? Where were the cop plays

in these formations and stuff like that. Well, getting better in the system that you just mentioned about. What what do you think here? If you talk to Chuck mcganna, what do you think you need to work on? Is it initial witness quickness? I love your hustle man, You're always hustling to the football, but you know, things like playing too high? Is it your techniques? What are things maybe you want to own it here on this offseason. Yeah, one of the things I've been really really focused on

it is just my pad level. You know, it was tiling this year we're going on. You know I had when I played with great pad level, I was I was a very great player and it was Kyle's where you know, I could have played with better pad level and it would have made be a better player. Well

explained that to the listeners. So what do you what do you mean by by pad level when you're going against an offensive linement, what you know, talk about where it needs to be where you like, you know plan was the most important thing for a defensive plan would just simply being lower than the man that you're going against.

You know, with with with us being bigger guys, um, you know, it's more natural for you to stand up and take on blocks instead of you know, getting low bity your knees and getting under your man, getting under his pad. So you know, for for bigger and taller guys, it's kind of more natural for you to stand up where. You know, in the in the NFL, if you're standing up, you know, if you're getting double team blocks or you're getting blocked block one person, you're gonna get knocked off

the ball a little bit. So you know, it's all about that pad level, locking out, keeping that leverage. That way, you know, whether it's a double team or one on one block, you're not getting moved at all, You're not getting pushed, you're not getting up in the ground. Hey block. Just a little bit about the fun side of football.

Did you experience anything like postgame celebrations when you were in college and do you like the postgame celebrations and just the looseness that you get to have with this group of guys inside this locker room or something that's new to us and maybe as well as to you. Yeah, you know we uh, it was definitely new to me this year because you know, we we were able to have a twelve worst season, which which was wonderful. So you know, at the every game it was like a celebration.

It was like, you know, Club Doug was really the thing going on. We're in college, but we would celebrate, but never to that extent, you know, only we would be like a top ranked team in a country or something like that. But you know, every week with us, it was like whenever we won, it was like, yo, let's get back to the locker room so we could party. Well, hopefully that I'll continue in twenty nineteen. Man, all right, before we let you go, you're a fifth round pick.

Bears are not picking in the first or second round this year because of the deals that they made Kalil Mac included. There is a different mindset about guys that are drafted on the third day in the NFL. You're one of them? Is that almost a in this case because you don't have those top picks a positive because you're getting a player that has a lot to prove and they put chips on their shoulders. Yeah, I took it.

That's exactly how I took it. You know, as a person, I can come in and just soak up all the information I wanted and just prove my work. I felt like, you know, I was one of the better players, and just just going on day three was just extra motivations for me. So you know, you know, it's kind of anxious to see what we do in those areas, you know, just to see how the new guys coming next year and what type of chip day I have on their show. Well,

they'll be hungry, that's for sure. All right, But we'll let you go. We appreciate taking the time and we'll talk together here on the offseason. Good luck with everything, Okay, thank you, appreciate you guys. Have Bell Nichols our guest here on Bears All Access. When we come back, we'll take your phone calls three one, two, six, four four sixty seven sixty seven. This is Bears All Access on Chicago's Sports Radio six seventy to score. Welcome back to

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. Jeff Jony Actom pair Jim Miller really enjoyable All Nichols. One of the very mature player, very mature guy in that locker room, coming from that smaller program at Delaware. But again, Jim, you pointed it out in time, you

saw it. He had all the tools and the ship. He just played in a different style over there in college, and I think he was a good style for him here with a bear, you know. I, Jeff, I remember you and I were standing out of practice the first day at one on ones, and the first day at one on one he went over the center and they said, okay, he's going to develop into a nose guard. Maybe put some weight on him, and that's the position of that.

He'll try to get his foot wet first. And then I think they started understanding they had he had better athleticism traits to be with the ability to move up and down the line of scrimmage. So he wasn't a one position player. He wasn't like an Eddie Goldman who could be a nose guard in a thirty four defense or in this defense. Bill Nichols could play defensive end in anywhere, and so I think that was the nice

thing about him. Jay Rodgers defensive line coach, he has a really good working relationship with a Kiem Hicks, and it pays off that critical right. Yes, a Keem had his back all year, showed him what it takes in the locker room, on the field, on the practice field, Jimmy, he took him under his arm, man, he really did. And I thought that was a veteran leadership move for Balah. Yeah, and I think you know, when you tell about somebody, you're trying to emulate your game after. I mean, there's

no quit in a Keen Hicks. The guy fights to the end. And that's what I noticed about Balal Nichols. The guy's got a ton of hustle. Man. That guy really fights to the football, doesn't give up on a play. I thought his initial quickness definitely got better as the season went along and he started to be impactful and really, you know, just make those explosive plays where he's kindetrating in the backfield ultimately gets three sacks, and I think, you know, as for a later round pick, like he said,

and especially guys that contributed. I mean, I think pretty much all the Bears young draft picks, other than the young linebacker Eway, you know, really having an impact. His was more on special teams, but all of them I think contributed quite well. But you know, again, I think for a mature team and following veterans, I mean, they've got a good group to learn from. You know, a guy's like a key that they are great leaders that

really help out the young players. So you can see they've been soaking up everything that they could long and they're going to soak up what Kalel Max says and does too. Now from the day the offseason program begins, unlike a year ago, you get them off through training camp. I mean, we saw his impact at practice. I'm very encouraged to see and excited to see what it is from day one of twenty nineteen. What do you consider

day one of twenty nineteen first team meeting. Okay, so that's the interesting thing about it is because of how many uncertainties there were going on that first team meeting last year, and Allen Robinson has talked about it in the past how they felt that they were setting the right motion from that first meeting and things continue to stay in motion. Now. Man, you finish a season, you're healthy. You got a couple, you know, a couple of guys

that are gonna have to work on stuff. But everybody else is in a position, in a positive position where they're going to be in the initial stages of development, not making you know, not trying to get guys healthy and develop at the same time. Yeah, guys like Allen Robinson, Kyle Long, Adam Shaheen, Danny Javathan, Leonard Floyd, these guys are all healthy, Jim, They're ready to hit the ground running. I don't see any real serious injuries to overcome from

this football team right now. No, there's gonna be that much further ahead, you know, just with the install what they're want. It's granted defensively, it's gonna take you know, obviously the mission statement of Chuck Pagano, but we know the system that is in place there, what they're gonna do. He'll have some different tags and some things that he's gonna tweak and how he wants things done, and again he's a different play caller, but the talents there, and

Chuck's called defense a long time in the NFL. I don't expect any drop off from that standpoint. And I just think just offensively alone, they're gonna be much further along just what they're going to be able to do. You know, I know Coach Nagy talked about football one oh one. Now it's going to the higher levels, so to speak, in terms of their education and what they're

going to be asked to do. And I just think it's going to be at such an accelerate the pace now knowing what the what the coach expects from them offensively, and I think they're just going to continue to grow improve, young players that are going to be exciting to watch, and I think they're best footballs ahead of them. All Right, we have a first phone call the night. By the way, it numbers three, one, two sixty four, sixty seven, sixty seven out to Brian and Edison Park and evening. Welcome

to Bears All Access. Every guys. I'm enjoying the show. I've been. I'm sixty five and been a Bears fan since I was eight. Well, you sound like you're twenty one. You're not sixty five. There's no way, Brian, Oh no, it's just going on going on thirty five. Anyway. Bryce Callahan is a player who I've enjoyed watching immensely over the past couple or three years and watching him grow as as a player. I hope we can keep them.

And what do you know about our chances to do that, Jeff, Well, listen the nickel position and you two can talk about it much better. And Jim as a quarterback looking at defenses and what is put on the shoulders of a nickel defender nowadays? It is intense and need an elite mind, an elite mindset, and a guy that really understands what offenses are doing because they have to understand all the

other ten responsibilities around him. They got to deal with tight ends, backs out of the backfield, read the quarterback, in Callahan's case, an outstanding blitzer. And you know, I used to say, remember I used to I used to love the play of Antoine Winfield, Right, I would crow toughest guy in the whole power pound, the toughest you know, defensive back in the NFL. And while Bryce has not

been able to stay completely healthy throughout his career. He is a tough kid mindset and physicality, so I put

a lot of value on him. I do too, But you know, I need a guy that's going to be in there throughout OTAs the development of this defense, and because he's considered a starter because they use that defense so frequently, he's got to be on the field and he's got to be one of those guys with a new defensive coordinator and a couple of new pieces in place that he's got to be out there for day one because I think his role in the defense is

equally as morton as any football player out there. So I don't know if you want to go out there and have a nickelback who's not participating in practice, I'm sure Bryce is going to be healthy. Ones OTAs are on your feet action starts, So it's just, you know, I just need that body in there till the end. Jim. Yeah, And it's just we've talked about a numerous times eleven personnel, which is three wides. It's just more and more prevalent.

I mean, look at a team like the Rams, that's all they run probably eighty five percent of their offensive plays or out of three wides, and a lot of coaches say it now and a lot of GM say it. A lot of your base defense is your forty two nickel, you know, So your nickel guy is almost you know, has to be a starter, and they've got to be able to prepare it for you know, two way goals basically on every single play because you're going to be going against one of the cat quick receivers on offense.

So imagine a nickelback going against Julian Edelman right, a lot of change of direction, all the short routes that he runs, and it's so nifty at what he does. So your nickelback's got to be a hell of an athlete. He's got to be pretty darn tough to hold up against the run. And I think Callahan checks all those boxes. Again, There's there's a lot of good dbs that are coming out, and some of them are strictly slot specialists that that teams are really targeting in drafting. You know, look at

a guy like Chris Harris for the Denver Brockles. Think of how they lucked into that guy. Guy was an undrafted free agent has become an all Pro player. Um so you know you gotta have them. It's just the direction of the game. More teams are deploying, you know, wide out sets, whether it's empty, whether it's three wise, and you're gonna need just more talented defensive backs. It's almost pre rut quisite nowadays. To Naperville. George, Welcome in, George.

Good evening. Yes, I just wanted to ask a quick question regarding, uh, the coaches that are going to be coming on board with Chuck the Gano. How many of them are returning coaches? How many of them are new coaches. Well, there's a bunch of new coaches. They have retained Jay Rodgers, of course, and I think that's a big one right there. That defense line loves him. We love him as a coach, how he instructs, what his intensity is out there on

the practice field, and his instructive ability. These are teachers that they had on defense. But the Shay Townsend comes over from the New York Giants. He's a veteran coach, he's a veteran Pro Bowl player in the secondary. Sean Desai gets a promotion. He's been with several administrations and just saw him yesterday. As a matter of fact, very excited about being retained by the Bears. He's now the safety's coach. He got linebacker coach from the Kansas City Chiefs.

You got Monachino gonna help out Chuck Pogano. There's familiarity there, familiarity there with him in Baltimore. So you know, there's a lot of like minded guys on this staff right now, and Jim, you're gonna lean a little bit on Chuck Pogano to bring in people that he's worked with in the past. Yeah, and you know, obviously, you know the experience, you need that on board, and Chuck comes with a lot of experience. He's a colled plenty of defenses in the past, has been with a lot of good top

ten defenses. And one thing I loved about Chuck Pagano, even in Indianapolis when their talent started to deteriorate, obviously everybody knows that they had a lot of you know, just the coverard was kind of bare. That team always played hard and they continue to play hard for Chuck Pagano. So I do think he's got a real innate ability to motivate players. And hey, let's let's not be you know, no stranger to the great coaches that they lost, and

in good for vic Fanjoe. He gets a promotion to become a head coach in the NFL and he brings one of his talent to defensive assistants that's been with him a long time at donahel who moves on to Denver. So, yeah, it hurts losing that experience, but these other coaches are getting the opportunity, and I think Chuck Pagano has done

a nice job getting the staff together defensively. Yeah, I just like the fact that Pagano has worked with some superstars and he understands the personalities during the course of the regular season. What do you do to light of fire underneath them? And then how do you give them? You feed him enough so they understand their value to the team. I liked what he's been surrounded or by thirty one, two, sixty four, four, sixty seven, sixty seven or Roberts, how that I will get to you coming

out of the break. Adams de Zinski is here along with Herb Lawrence, and this is Bears All Access on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy. The score all Right. The Chicago Bears Network presents Inside the Bears brought to you by veriz At, Anthony Adams and Lawrence Screeten cover the world of Bears football, on and off the field, every Sunday night at ten thirty five pm on Fox thirty two Chicago, or watch anytime at Chicago bears dot com

or on the Bears official app. You might even see double a Jim and Tom with a little bit of different do right now? A little different hair due he actually looks about ten or fifteen years younger. I was shocked he knocked on my door at Hollis Hall yesterday. I was working up there, and I was shocked. What can be different? It's just different, you could ask him.

And then he started making fun of my telephone. He thought it was a business card, right kind the small different part, there's no part, It's just it's just different. Let that be the teaser for his TV show, As we go back to the Phones three one two sixty four, sixty seven sixty seven. Robert on the south Side, hanging through the break. You got Adrian Amos on your mind? Huh, Hey, how you guys doing. I just want to get you guys a pain on something. Uh, do you guys feel

that the safety classes deepest case year. Do you guys think they're going to be more acceptable to Amos walked this year? Well, it's all a matter of finances really. You know, they love Adrian Amos. He is one of their homegrown talents, drafted by Ryan Pace and a great guy in the locker room, quiet leader, and well liked in that locker room. But you know, the business of football will kind of set the price, will see what they decided to do. Because, yes, Jim, you mentioned it

that there's a pretty good class of safeties. There is some in free agency that Adrian's are part of um In terms of how scouts look the safety position. You know, many say, hey you can get you can get a great safety in the later rounds of a draft. Now Adrian is in that position where he's a middle round pick. I believe still, you know, you got Eddie Jackson as

as your big time safety back there. I believe you need those type of safety So I don't necessarily agree that they are easily found everywhere, But you guys may have a different opinion. You know, it's all how you evaluate the talent of safety position, whether in college or it's an NFL free agent you're looking at what do you need them to do. You need to anticipate long throws downfield, you need to support the line of scrimmage, you need to work well within the linebacker and defensive

back structure. And then when you're challenged with a big hit, you have to have the willingness to make it, whether it's on the sideline or the open field to play. And he checks out those, every every one of them. And the thing about it is, you know, one thing when you're around a player that that gets to this stage.

You get to meet him as a rookie year and you kind of see kind of a shy reserve personality, and then of course the years you get to talk to him and he's not overbearing, but he's more confident in himself and his ability. And that's you know, Adrian Amos is the type of guy that when you close the doors and you only have the players in the locker room, he's a guy that you want in there. So I hope the best works out for him. Jim, what do you think? Yeah, I think he's a very

good player. I mean, he's obviously a very sure handed tackler. I think he's a big hitter, he plays physical. I'd like to see the turnovers improved. But as you mentioned, Jeff, you know, you look at Eddie Jackson being a fourth round pick and Adrian Amos being a fifth round pick. Both of these guys are starters and they're productive players, you know. So again, I think it's really about the finances. You know, right now, I think the Bears has got

about a little over five million dollars. That's that's honestly about what you need to sign all your draft picks. Quite frankly, you know, could they free up some money, approach other players, give him a signing bonus, and then maybe clear up some cap space to potentially sign Adrian Amos, But it just depends on how much he's looking for.

I do think he'll he'll get offers out there on the free agent market, and then it's just whether the Bears would elect to go that route or just say, you want to know what we feel, we've got some talented guys that we could turn to to get You know, remember, Eddie Jackson started as a rookie and Adrian name Us got his opportunity to start early, lost his spot, then came back and played a lot better when he got

another bite at the bite at the apple. So they're out there and plenty of draft picks that they could draft in is just a much cheaper option, is where the Bears could go from that standpoint. So good luck to Adrian. Hopefully works out every you know, everything he wants it to be, hopefully works out in his benefit. He certainly worked his way into this position to be a free agent. And I'll tell you though, I love the chemistry in that locker room. I love the chemistry

on defense, and Adrian's a big part of that. He is an unspoken leader in that in that locker room. All right to Madison, Wisconsin, Nick, you're on Bears all access that, Jeff, Tom and Jim. Good evening. Hey guys, thanks taking my call. I'm a big believer in Adam Shaheen's potential. If he's healthy, what do you think his

ceiling can be in twenty nineteen? You know, Nick, he's one of the guys when I talked about the off season, going to the off season healthy and you know, I have to have a you know, to make sure you can work on what you need most. And Adam shan he needs size, He needs some bulk um. You know, you need to be able to stay on your feet so you can get back to running routes and get into a better mode of timing with the quarterback. But he is the type of guy that needs the entirety

of a healthy off season. He's got a tremendous upside. He you know, uses basketball presence within the tight end game. Well when you watch him in individual drills, he knows how to block. He is he has is well schooled on the line of scrimmage interior blocker. So I have high expectations for him, But I just I need to see him get up, you know, every single play healthy, and that's that's I anticipate the worst when I watch him after he takes a big hit or something. Well,

you know, go ahead, Jim, go out. I just I expect big things from him. I just think he's too talented of a player, and it's just unfortunate last year that he missed so much time with that foot injury coming out of coming out of you know, the preseason games. Because I think he is going to be a great

red zone weapon. And it's really you know, I'm not saying he's gonna get double digit scores, but I expect him to be up there, like you know, nine middle him just be knocking at the door to get double digit touchdowns. I think he has that type of ability. Yeah, I mean, that's where he made his touchdown so far. And the other thing, you know, the guy I always think about early days. You taught me Tom and Jim.

You know you remember this player because you felt more man hours were lost to the tight end position because of the types of blocks and what John Already Yeah remember, I mean that is that's that's I'm saying. They're comfortable on what he means. But you know John Already or John Alread caught that out route that's immediately something heavily by the corner or the safety whomever has him and undercut his knees and it was just such a vicious injury.

John Lynch was it? I don't know though, I don't think it was John Lynch, but yeah, I mean there he's John Alred's married to John Lynch's sister, correct, Yeah, I think that. But anyway, Yeah, I mean, Jim, you know, the tight end position, you get chopped down boy like tall lumber. Yeah, I remember John. John was extremely talented, very athletic, you know, like you said, because his brother in law John, they kind of had those creative workouts

that they always did out there in California. I mean they'd be carrying logs up, you know, on their back, like walking up the mountains out there. So very interesting. Prospect was a great guy, great teammate, but like you said, you know, it's it's your livelihood. You know, Guys tight ends and that's why, like guys like Grenkowski that they

hate players that go low on them. You know, I know that all the safety aspect is, you know, from the helmet and the neck up and all those things, but quite honestly, football players they'd rather you go high, especially receivers and tight ends. They'd rather you go high than go low and take their knees out from undernea. Well, I mean, you know, you look at the two difference

in the routes between Trey Burton and Adam Sheheen. There is you know, some of those reps or some of those routes that you have of Adam Sheheen on the inline tight end there you do that that immediate outturn and then you got that support from the outside where it seems like um Trey Burton, he gets up field, he gets to show a little bit more space between he and the line of scrimmage. Yeah, well, you know,

just because Sheheen, Because he's such a big body. He's just a totally different body type than Trey Burton, who is the nifty guy. But you know, to me, why options should be the play for Sheheen. To me, that guy would be uncomfortable, uncoverable because if the backers outside, he just turns inside. If the backer's inside, he turns outside, and he just boxes everybody out. And he's got such a big frame, you as a quarterback can always throw it far enough away for him to just pluck the

ball out of the year. So he's going to clean you up a little bit. Yeah, But you know it's just I always say that with big body guys like that, you got to learn to play with to your stature, so to speak. And I think he still has to

learn that a little bit to play to a stature. Hey, Jim, is that a difficult route though for Mitchell Trubisky to have confidence in to throw that hour You can answer it after the commercial, But you know, just something to think about as a quarterback, is that Is that a confident or a route that you need to throw to get confidence in? All right, we'll get you. We'll get to it. Well, we'll get to Jim's answer after this break.

This is Bears All Access, brought to you by IGS Energy three one two, six, four, four sixty seven, sixty seven. Your phone calls coming up next. You're in Chicago Sports Radio six seventy to score. So great, your newest a little Bears fan with a Chicago Bears Crip club run. You buy p NC to receive exclusive items and offers for children ages zero to four. Visit Chicago Bears dot com slash crib fu. Yeah, you got a little one in the family. We got a bunch of him. John

Henry's the youngest one, Jim. That does not sound small, hey, John, He's not. I mean I think he was like twelve or thirteen pounds when he was born. He was huge. Is that that fair? Hereditary? Wells his dad played professional football or no, excuse me, My niece's father played professional football and this was married to my sister John Scy. So there is size blessed into the that gene. So he got John Henry and what's your little one's name again, Jim. Oh,

my little one is Asa oh Asa? All right. How about the boy Kate or Man. He's twelve, he's been going on thirteen here and then uh kJ my five year old. He's kind of the beast. He went over ten pounds when he was born. Yeah, I remember you talking about that. So he got some future NFL players and yeah, he's close to one hundred pounds as a five year old. He dwarfs. I mean he powers over everybody in his kindergarten. Holy cow, that's good to hear.

All Right, this is Bears All Access our producers tonight, Adam Stezinski and Herb Lawrence. We're taking your phone calls at three one, two sixty four sixty seven sixty seven with you for another ten minutes here to the top of the hour. Let's go back to the phones. Linden on the line from North Judson Lindon, Yeah, you guys are great to listen to. I'd drive home every night listening to you guys, and I could relate to what you guys were saying tonight and about the third round pick,

how well he'd come out. And I just wanted to know if you guys would go back last year and play back some of your recordings, how you predicted the season compared to this year. I know last year you guys never or was not anticipating such a great season, which it was, and this year or anticipating a great season. That's end. That's a great point because I labeled it as the Great Unknown, and you didn't really know what

to expect. It's a whole different offense with all new pieces around, a young quarterback that's in his first year in his system. So right then and there you think, Okay, this is going to take some time. You knew you had great defensive players, but right before the season you get one of the best players in the NFL. That

changes everybody's perception. So I had modest thoughts personally, and I never make predictions on wins or losses, but I have a feel for what I believe in context, and I had modest expectations because whatever you say about John Fox, the culture in that locker room did begin to change, and I knew it was a tight group, and from my perspective being around there every day, that was a great starting point to have a really locked in team that was hungry to start winning because it hadn't been

happening in a long time. Yeah, desper you know, it's interesting. Interesting. Today on the Bears website there is an article by Larry Mayor and Ryan Pace was a feature talking about his decision making process going through and meeting with Matt and Maggie, and the more he met him, the more he talked to him, the more he was kind of unveiling that this is the right guy for the job.

This is how you understand who you want to go out and research and who you want to continue this process and start changing the culture and the process around here. So that kind of I was really encouraged by reading that, the foresight of what Ryan Pace, because none of us knew what we are getting with Matt Naggie. We have friends around the National Football League that always and all of them bragged about what a guy he is, what

a person who was what is football intelligence? You know, just his you know, just the caliber, the quality, the quality of person he is. And so yeah, you know, you think about the Bears losing season before trying to predict what was going to happen the first year of Matt Naggie. Man, we are we are begging and hoping for seven and nine, But then we talked about it.

I think last week in All Access, Now did this pull one year out from the development of Matt Naggie, because now we have Super Bowl expectations, you know, and that's how things have changed around here. Yeah, you just you know, I don't think anybody would have predicted that type of success. You know, it's supposed to be a foundation year, you know, it's a coaches, a young coach's first year. Everybody thought it'd take time to get the offense up and running, but the defense really held to

everything down early. And like you said that that trade with for Khalil Mack I think kind of changed everything because here you got a team that's five and eleven under John Fox, they couldn't even score sixteen. They averaged like sixteen point one points a game to took increase at by more than a touchdown. By the end of the year, they were averaging over twenty six points a game, close to twenty eight. I mean, that type of jump

does not happen normally. So that is a huge turnaround offensively what they were able to do and they're still on the infantile stages. It really started to catch fire week eight, week nine, and they really started to play in score some good points on offense to compliment a defense that was absolutely smothering. And it's very possible they could win fewer games this year and still be a better team and be a more dangerous team come playoff time.

All right, out to Wheeling Todds on the line here on Bearzall Access on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy of the score get evening. Thank you, guys. I got a quick question. You know, when I watched tree Comb run and fisters these defenses and run away from these defenders, You guys got incredible speed, and I wanted to know, in your opinion, who's faster, Devin Hester or tree Con And m Jeff, could you please do the Devin Hester ridiculous line one more time? Yeah, you know that thing

has been put to bed. That goes that goes in the archives now. But I don't know. That's a great question. But I think the the instinctive running of Devon in the open field added to his speed. So to me it was Devin. You know, Devin Hester the playmaker never fit into the offenses of that era. If you would take Devin Hester and fit him to the offenses of this era, where maybe he took a little handoff, a jet sweep, a quick little pass out to the edge,

even more threatening downfield with his abilities. To me, it's the mentality of Matt Naggie being able to use the creative creativity of an athlete. And I think if Matt had his hands on a guy like Devin Hester, I know Chris Tabor, the special team's coordinator, would still be using him every time he could. However, you put him in an offense and you have another threatening weapon. But who's faster? No, yeah, no disrespect to Tarik Cohen, but Devin Hester had some jets. No, I mean that guy's

so fast he lives in the future. It's ridiculous. Yes, yes he was. You know, just again the vision and instincts in that one cut, which is the patent and move for Devin Hester. But hey, nothing to take away from Tariq. I mean he's still he's still a young player too. He's still gonna get get better and stronger. Well,

you know what I don't I don't know. Devin Hester could not play the running back position the way Trek Cohen plays a tree Cohen, he has the physicalness to be able to absorb the abuse that he hate takes. I just don't think that Devin from a behind center, behind quarterback totally different positions, that's for sure. All Right, thanks again for your phone call. Three one two sixty four, sixty seven sixty seven. Jeff time and Jim for a

few more minutes here. I just want to do some thought, says. We go down to the news of the day today. So Jim real quick today with the first day he could tag players. Who do you expect to be tagged? Yeah, you know, when you look at it, I think there's only going to be about six players that will ultimately

be tagged. You gotta believe to Marcus Lawrence of the Dallas Cowboys, he'll probably get the tag Again, Dallas doesn't have a lot of money to really resign him to a long term contract, so he'll probably get about twenty million bucks. You would think d four another pass rusher for Kansas City Chiefs. He'll have the ability to be tagged, and I think Kansas City will tag him. Jadeveon Clowney is an interesting guy. He's I think Houston just no offense to him. I mean he's always banged up, he

never really practices. I think Houston will probably end up tagging him at the end of the day, just get more one more year out of him, and then I think ultimately he'd probably move on in free agency. I don't see them trying to sign him to a long term contract, and then the other players that are out there potentially that cook get tagged. You gotta believe probably c J. Mosley, there's going to be a decision there

by Baltimore. Part of me thinks that they will tag him because to me, he'll command pretty good money as a linebacker out there on the open market. And oddly enough, we always see a couple of kickers tagged every year. I hate to say this, but probably Robbie Gold might get tagged out there for San Francisco, and I would think Gostkowski. One position Bill Belichick has tagged is their kicking position, and I think Goskowski potentially could get the

tag for the New England Pager. You know, when you say oddly enough, explain, well, it's just the kicking position doesn't command a lot of money, you know what I mean, It's very You know, a lot of teams that's a specialized position. And you look at the issues I e. The Bears' problems with kicking last year. I'd tag a kicker too, especially one is as good as Gaskowski or a guy as good as Robbie Gold and what he's done. So again, we've had this discussion before. What position has

a bigger impact on a football team? But probably only get six reps the game right each here? Yeah, they determined outcomes the game as Dow putters. As Dow putters, it's the biggest, biggest play most YARNI right, I just want to right, all right about six plays. I was done. We won't talking to the count combine, Jim. We'll be doing that show from Indy together. Tom will have his ego eye on scouting mid to late round picks. It'll be a different kind of combine for you this year.

They're starters in the third round, fourth round, fifth round, six rounds. They're starters out there. I think the Bears can attract you know, they got the opportunity. All right. That's Tom, Tom Fair, Jim Miller. But little nickles. Thanks to our producers, and thank you for your phone calls and listening tonight. This is Bears all Access 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 down though the official Bears mobile app. Bears All Access has been brought to you by IGS Energy and sponsored by CDW, Athletico Physical Therapy, and Ford