Blasingame talks OTAs | All Access

to talk to you. I know these days are flying by Tom, but I honestly cannot wait for the start of training camp. Yeah. Well, you know, the coaches are starting to get indicators from every single position that they coach, because now information is starting to be repeated, and if they get a chance to sit there and filter through information that happens a couple different times, you get an indicator of how they're taking it from the classroom to

the playing field. So the compliments and the comments that you hear from the coaches, it's because there's you know, they have enough time spent with these guys in meeting rooms and they see how it transfers to the field. Hey, Jim, they're they're talking like things are maybe a little head of schedule, even offensively. And they have some guys from Green Bay, I like the Lucas Patrick, Equomania, Saint Brown. Of course Luke Getzi and the people he brought in

on his staff ease that transition. Then you flip it on the defensive side of the ball. You got Matt Ebertflews and all those assistants coming over from the cold. So what do you think about the possibility that they can really hit the ground running. Not to say that they don't have a lot to learn and a lot to grow in terms of what they have on the field, but from a coaching perspective, what you envision, Yeah, I

think it's gonna take time. You know. I think it's good to have players that have been in the system before. They can really disseminate information. Say, you know Lucas Patrick, who you mentioned, he can get all those offensive linemen caught up to speed. They're going to him for that information the nuances of the offense. Luke Getzi obviously spends a lot of time with justin field, so he's going over the material over and over again, same with a

Saint Brown at the at the receiver position. Then defensively, obviously, when you've got the head coach, this is really his defensive system, and coach Williams certainly echoes everything that coach is saying, but they can probably spend a little bit more time with those players to get them caught up to speed. And as Tom mentioned, now it's translating into

the field, you're gonna start to get honest evaluations. And this is like a horse race, right There's gonna be guys that you know, start out fast and then maybe plateau, and then there's gonna be guys that start out slow and maybe finished strong. And so those evaluations are ongoing

right now. The key is from a player's standpoint, be consistent about it, keep going about your work, honing your craft, doing what you need to do, and eventually you want it to be full speed where everybody's in unison and in sync, where it comes together, and that still is going to take some time. Again, justin fields, getting a lot of compliments from the coach, staff and teammates. This one from Matt Eberflus, I would say, man, he throws

a good deep ball. I would say that he's I'm excited about that, and you can see it in the seven on seven and eleven on elevens and we're gonna take you know, we're gonna take our shots down the field. And man, he does a nice job doing that. And that's what stands out to me. And what that means is time with the running game and this kind of passing game, the horizontal and vertical component of putting stressers out of defense because they'd have to defend every blade

of grass, right. You know, That's one of the things that's always stood us stood out to us about watching Justin early in his career. And he does throw a really nice deep ball, and I think he's got the arm strength to supply this offense with a lot of firepower when you're looking at the speed they brought in. But it is about a complimentary atmosphere on offense. You got to have that strong running game out of David Montgomery and the running back crew and then incorporate the

speed they brought in. So yeah, I think the continuous evaluation of Justin's development is going to be one of the most interesting aspects for all Bears. Fans to pay attention to accuracy component is the big one for Jim right, no question. You know they always say, I mean, I don't know. You tell me they can't teach accuracy. So if he's accurate, he was accurate at Ohio State, buying. Larger quarterbacks aren't accurate in the college game, even if

it's a short passing game. They're not going to be accurate in the fastest paced NFL. Yeah, you know. To me, the accuracy has always been about balance and your mechanics of throwing a football. Your feet got to be in balance, shoulder with the part, and how you deliver the football because, like you said, if you're just a hair off, that can determine whether it's a ten yard game or a

twenty yard game. You know, it's really about the ball placement to lead the receiver run after catching all those type of things. His arm strength is not a problem, right. He was throwing to Chris Alavy and Garrett Wilson. They're both those guys are four three guys and they can absolutely scoot at Ohio State, and so armst ring hasn't been his his issue at all. He has that accuracy because his footwork has been pretty good. Now it's how his footwork marries up with what he's being asked to

do within the Bears system. Some will be from shotgun, some will be from underneath the center, and that's got to marry up for justin fields, He's just got to keep plugging away and as I stated, honing his crap. But those things are going to be paramount. This is an interesting one from Matt Eberflus. He was asked this week what he's come to appreciate about Luke gets you the Bears offensive coordinator, and listen closely, Jim, and tell

me what you think. I really appreciate all the coaches, you know, and Luke, and I'm in the quarterback meeting you know, every morning, and you know, I really appreciate the way he coaches and the way he sympathies it for the for the players, and uh, it's it's really neat to see and need to interject in there as well from a defensive perspective, but he's doing a bang up job in there, and you can see that in

the execution on the field. I mean, the guys know what they're looking at and understand how to operate and the offense is looking good to this point after this short period of time. I think we're ahead a little bit, maybe because we have guys that are in the system and we have smart players, you know, you know, Justin is a very smart player. Those other quarterbacks are very smart, and we have guys that have been in that system.

The key for me there, Jim the head coach who's defensive minded, has been in the quarterback meeting every day. How significant, Audien. You know, it's a good thing. You know, sometimes coach Giron would come in and check on our meetings. I've been with other coaches like Bill Belichick that will do that as well. And you know, these are defensive minded coaches that have to pay attention to the offensive

side of the ball. You know, I think, you know, coach Eberflews has to be in tune with how players are being coached and what they're being presented, and then he can make an honest evaluation of how they're executing. Because again, as he just explained right there, there's going to be certain code words that Luke Getsy is gonna say that is going to mean certain things to the offensive linement. It's going to mean certain things to the receivers.

It's going to mean certain things to justin fields as a quarterback of what he needs to execute, and he could throw out say box numbers, Hey man, look at your box. You know that's just something that he's going to know that he's got to count certain bodies in order to get the offense in the best play. So that's just a coach being on top of everything. He's delegating,

he's trusting his assistance to do their job. And right now it's, uh, you know, this is the honeymoon right now, you know, the right now, we'll see how it unfolds come the first month of the season with what these players are being learning, what they're trying to hone to get ready for the season. Tom I like it because he's gonna have his hand and just about he got he's got to be the CEO, you know, the football team,

So be in as many rooms as you can. But you take Matt's career into consideration, he's probably watched more offensive tape and he has defensive tape. You kind of see how all your us fit together when you're evaluating your own talent. But on a week to week, game to game basis, throughout his career, he's studying the opponent's offense.

So he's in there listening in a quarterback meeting under and kind of thinking of what how they're teaching, justin feel from the mind of a defensive coach that studied hundreds of quarterbacks throughout his time. So when you have that type of rolodex of information in your mind and your memory bank like he has, he's kind of at an interesting, you know, kind of an interesting end of the spectrum to sit in there and listen to an

offensive coach as a defensive minded guy. All right, coming up next, we'll focus on Cole Commet as he begins his third year. Also look at safety with a position coach Andre Curtis in terms of Eddie Jackson's all coming up next with Jim Millerman. Top There, I'm Jeff Joningac on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy The Score. Welcome back to Bears All Access, brought to you by IGS Energy. Choose clean energy for your home at IGS dot com because every good choice adds up to a better world.

This is Bears All Access on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy To Score with Tom Thair and Jim Miller former Bears. I'm Jeff Joniac coming up at the bottom of the hour. Karrie blasting game joins us as well. Fellas. Gary Fensick made a great point talking to him and Jay Hilgan bring the other day up at Hollis Hall. Oh, we always talk about it, and Ryan Poles has stated this, and Matt Eberflus has as well, and I brought it up that you know, you're building a home basically from

the foundation up. You got to attend to every detail to make it perfect at the start, to build the future. But you know, Gary's point was a house stands for thirty forty fifty years, but in the NFL, the home

zon't stand that long. And that's a great point because while this is a transition roster right now with new leadership and new coaches, there's other factors free agency, injuries, did your quarterback develop like you thought he did, the high demand assistance that may leave you after one year, or financial considerations. I think you just hope to find the foundational pieces Tom, to find that sustained success. And

that's why this year to me is so important. Right you know, Jeff, you live in a house that was built one hundred years ago, right of that foundation, And I think those are kind of the foundations that you want to build within an organization that lasts from years,

the year's generation, the generation. You know. I know this is Bears all access, but when you look around the NFL as a whole and you look at Baltimore Ravens or you look at the Pittsburgh Steelers and stuff, those are the foundations that those teams have been successful with. And I think when you look at the Bears, that's where you want to get to. You want to get to the building blocks of a foundation that is successful for generations to come. Jim, does every decision impact that

from this day forward? Yeah, I think, well, I'll just keep it to the analogy of a house. I think we all know when you purchase a house or you build a house, there is going to be homeowner maintenance that needs to be done right. You got to take care of the gutters, you got to take care of the windows. You know, certain things are are going to get weathered over time and they've got to be addressed for maintenance to keep it at a high level and

looking good in the in the neighborhood. So happens. That happens with free agency. Right, you may lose a part you've got to add apart, you know. So I think you're you constantly got to do the maintenance required to keep it looking at a beautiful level. I'm not thinking you're cutting your own lawn. No, I of course cut my own laws. I need high and you may as well get off my lawn. Yeah, and I can picture Jim on a ladder on the gutters. I love it. You're a self made Hey, you're a self made man

from day one. And I know Tim is so Tom sows his own clothes for crying out loud. So that's that's impressive. All right, Let's talk about Cole Comet because I'm excited about him. He looked genuinely thrilled about what's about to transpire this season with this offense and where Justin Fields is, but for himself. In addition, you know, he's not taking anything for grand whatsoever, and he does feel like he's starting over. Yeah for sure, Yeah he's

starting over again. But I'm optimistic. I'm totally bought into what's going on here. Coachi Refluss coming with a great mindset that I think is is really good for this team. You know, obviously we're young, but you know, I'm totally bought into what's going on here and I'm excited for it. He's also taking the cue from his uncle, Jeff Skania, who played a long time of the National Football League,

about being nothing guaranteed as a football player. My uncle played seventeen years and I asked him, this is when I was young. I remember it was my dad asked him, what, how how did you play for that long? And he's like, you feel like you're getting cut every day and that's a tough feeling, but like that's how you got to

come here every day. So like regardless it was the old scheme or old regime, new regime, whatever it is, it's this gonna felt like, you know, I got the jobs are on the line every day, so you gotta come to work like that. If I don't come in here thinking every day I'm gonna get cut like necessarily, but I just like you have that it's it's go time. You know, this is not you know, there's no reason not to study the night before. You gotta know your stuff when you come in. You gotta know your stuff.

Like there's no excuse for not knowing what to do on a play, whether they installed it correctly or not. You got all the sheets, you got everything. You gotta be a pro. Note you're doing so that. It's just being a pro every day, Jim, We're on zoom looking at each other. Tom's head was bobbing up and down in affirmation because Tom speaks that language every day. Well, that's what I'm saying, Jim. And I came from an

era where you could be cut at any day. You didn't have a contract that had a salary impact, that you were uncuttable. And I walked in the house hall every single day when Mike Dicko was my head coach, thinking this is the day I could be cut. And I never felt secure walking in there. And I think that's a good thing. I don't think it's necessarily creates an insecurity in you. It creates a work ethic that

the coaches are looking for. Jim. It sounds like leadership right there too, about telling guys, hey, every detail matters. I like hearing that from Cole. Yeah. Well, I played with his uncle, Jeff Skannina in Pittsburgh, So Jeff was a very hard worker, very diligent teammate and took care of his business because he because that's what it is. You're you got to be conduct yourself as a professional and be prepared for what you're you're asked to do

and buy contract required to do. And I think Cole's serious about it, and I think he's a serious professional, and I think he needs to have a bigger impact in this offense. I thought his numbers increased last year, but touchdowns it didn't. I want to see a bigger red zone presence. This is a two hundred and sixty pound tight end. He was legit six six. I think he needs to be a force down there and make his presence known a little more. So we'll see how

it emerges for him. He's diving into a new scheme and he'll be counted on here in twenty twenty two. Funny you should bring that up. It was a big topic this week on the red zone. Lack of opportunities. No, that was obviously an area that was lacking for me, and so I look at it, and you look at

what opportunities you had in the red zone. So the two that I really look back that I kind of wish I had back were the one against San Fran against Um Warner and the ends o where honestly it's the timing thing between justin one at one place I went the other. That's something that I think Wenha figured out this year. You know, that's that's one of them. And then the same thing. There was one in Green Bay,

a lowball that just skipped off the ground. But so those are the two I look at that I wish I would have had back, And that's really all that all all I can look at and kind of assess myself on. And here's what he's working on in advance of his third season. Everything hands catch. I think he's got to be handsketched, that's one thing with that, and then it's hard to do not without pads on, but really craven violence through my blocks. That's kind of a thing,

you know, especially on double teams. So those are the two things I'm kind of focusing on. Obviously, the hands catching stuff, I can really work on that now. The other thing not so much about pads, but you do what you do it, all right, Let's talk the hands with Jim and the blocking from Tom. Go ahead, Jim. Well, first I'll just say what disappoints me there is that he says there's only two red zone opportunities. All right. He needs to be called upon more to create red

zone opportunities, not just for himself but for others. So more targets need to go his direct shit is my take on that. I think he'll be better at it. I think the new play calling will gear things towards him and maybe he can be like a Travis Kelsey and open up some other opportunities for other players. I like his hands. I think he's gotten better. I think

his hands are softer. And again, the timing and rhythm of how it comes out of Justin's field's hand, and the rhythm and the temple of the ball that Justin throws, that's going to become seamless in my opinion. And again I think Cole Comet's too good of an athlete not to do it. He needs to be called upon more, not less. You know one thing about the tight end position. First of all, the last coaching staff when they developed the game plan for the red zone, they gave all

those practice reps and all those game reps to Jimmy Graham. Well, it's gonna be Cole Commett. He's going to be the guy who's involved in practice and he's gonna get those reps and he's going to develop that timing with Justin.

And another thing is when you talk about his blocking ability, well, when we talk about the tight end from the San Francisco forty nine ers, the thing that really put him on the map early in his career is the ferociousness of his blocking, whether he was pulling, whether he was in a stance on the line of scrimmage, how he challenged first and second level defenders, and how he drove them off the field or into the ground. That's why he's considered one of the better tight ends and all

the NFL. But that's the same mindset that Colt command has developed, is the driving feet, the inside hand placement, and being able to block on multiple level levels in multiple movement tight blocks. And he even mentioned it tight ends. It flourished in this particular scheme. He talked about Robert Tonyan in Green Bay, Kittle himself and the guys in Minnesota. All Right, we gotta take a break. Jim Miller, Jeff Jony Actemp there on Bears on Access here on Chicago

Sports Radio six seventy the Score. This segment of Bears on Access is brought to you by Athletical Physical Therapy. Visit Athletico dot com to request an employment in clinic or virtually and start feeling better tomorrow with Tom There and Jim Melihim Jeff Joni aac Here on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the Score. Defensive Assistance this week, talking

up at hallis hawfellas up. Let's listen in to defensive line coach Travis Smith because Robert Quinn has not been a part of the offseason program right now, leaning on his veteran preparation, He's been in the league a long time. This is a new scheme, but one that he flourished in under Rod Marinelli in Dallas. And that is a

talking point for Travis Smith. So like a lot of our tapes are shown our room, are a lot of skill development progression tapes of him Dallas that I had cut up already from Marinelli that we set it for the young guys especially, it's good for them to see how he works his pass rush progression and so and same with Quen. I worked out Quan when he came out of Miami. Muhammad when I was in Oakland and too, so I've already known him. I've got to meet him,

and I've spoken to him on the phone. You know, Robert Quinn does most of his stuff individually. He's just a dynamic pass rusher. In talk about his flexibility as bendability and what he's able to do with all of his experience. If why, if Robert Quinn was an offensive lineman, I would be concerned because you've got to work those guys, all five got to be working together with the tight

end and with the fullbacks and stuff. But Robert Quinn, as long as he's in the way room, as long as he's in shape, as long as he's in good condition, what's going to be required from him in training camp? I'm okay with that. I don't I really don't care. If Robert Quinn doesn't show up until the mandatory mini camp and then training camp, I would think. So he's been in a four three defense before, he's been in a three four. This guy's been a pros pro. He's

had highs he said lows. There's no doubt about that, and last year wasn't extreme high. And I think he's a very humble, hardworking player that wants to continue to do well. You know, he was actually frustrated a couple of years ago he didn't think he lived up to the billing from from his standpoint, Well, he came back and rebounded big time. I think that says a lot about his character. I think it says a lot about his work ethic, and I think he'll continue to conduct

himself at that way. And the benefit, though, is for young guys to grab the attention of the coaching staff. And Mattyberflus is very impressed with Dominique Robinson, the rookie out of Miami, Ohio. You can see the movement skills, the ability potentially to really turn the corner, and we'll see, we'll see as we go. You know, Bill Polly used to say, boor you got to have at the top of the rush. You got to be able to boor and get underneath and turn the corner. And that takes power.

And you're not going to really see that until until we get the pads on. But fellas, he's got elite athleticism, tom elite athleticism, and it's showing up more than one guy talked about him yesterday. Yeah, you know that's why he's drafted, that's why he's been able to make position changes throughout his college career. However, he's the type of guy, unlike Robert Quinn, that needs to have these endless amount of reps that you have throughout OTA's mandatory minicamp and

then on the training camp. That's the way you're going to see the development of his skills. And it's kind of unique to the position that you have to repetitiously practice your defensive pass rushing moves just as many times as you could possibly get in a stance. And Trevis Gibson and we talked to him last week, Jim. They're

impressed by his awareness of the quarterback position. That means going after the football forced all those fumbles, and if that becomes his thing, especially for this bunch that wants takeaways, that's gonna be good for Trevis. Yeah, well, I think you know, part of playing football sometimes guys get just too robotic out there. They get to you know, they're thinking about their assignment so much that they forget sometimes

about the their awareness. You know, the point is is to get the football right and be able to read the quarterback, whether it's a play action pass whether he's handing off to the quarterback night not biting on say a play fake where a quarterback then takes it out. So you got to be aware of the ball and have your eyes on the football at all times. And that's really paramount in order to get the turnovers the

Bears are looking for as a defense. So it's not only playing fast and yes, still executing your assignment, or you've got to take it to another level and have the awareness of understanding what's going on around you to really disrupt what you're there to disrupt, and that's to get the football when it's all said and done, whether it's tackling it, whether it's tipping the ball, whether it's disrupting it by penetrating any which way you can. You've got to be aware of the situation and what you

can do to affect the play. Eddie Jackson has been a turnover machine in his career with the Bears. His position coach, Andre Curtis, was Seattle's defensive pass game coordinator of the last four years, also coach safeties and was the dbat coach there for three years as well. Influenced by Steve Spagnolo with the Rams and then the Saints conversation with him at Eddie Jackson. Once you're in the

right position, that's when the good stuff usually happens. So that's when you get comfortable and knowing the ins and out of the defenses. You know the stress and weaknesses of the defense, and then you know where you need to be to make the type of players that you want to make. So right now, at this point, it's kind of like feeding them everything. Right now, you know the whole menu, pressures, coverages, you know, all that stuff.

You know, and he's just recepted to learning. We haven't gotten to that phase where it's like, okay, you place them here that type of stuff. I think that stuff will come the closer we get to the season. Right now, we're just teaching our fundamentals and the base defenses, so everybody's well around it. Anybody can set a tone on defense.

But if your safety sets a tone from the physicality standpoints or whether it's brisk or ready, how do you, as a coach and this staff feel about that coming from the back end of the defense to help set a tone. Well, I mean usually most good defenses have good secondaries. It starts there, you know, because the more

you can eliminate explosive plays, I mean, no safety. Sometimes you only make four or five tackles a game, but you gotta make you know that free safety, you're in a position in the middle of the field where you gotta make it one on one tackle, if not as a big play. Well, he's had plenty experienced coaching DB's good ones too, in both New Orleans and also in Seattle. Well, you know, to me, you may not get the indicator of the physical commitment of Eddie Jackson until the regular

season gets here. You know, Jim, how those defensive backs fly around training camp and they act like they're in position and they're going to deliver a big hit. But you know, they just they don't have that luxury and training camp and that I don't know how many reps

the real starters will get throughout the preseason games. So when the San Francisco forty nine ers come in the Soldier field on September eleventh, that may be the first indicator of the physical commitment of some of these defensive players. So you know, I'm going to be sitting on the edge of my seat as much as anybody watching Eddie Jackson because He's really got to be the guy that brings that element to that position. Yeah, I totally believe that.

I mean, when you look at this defensive system, I mean, obviously the safeties are a big part of it. I've talked about Cary Willis for Indianapolis Colts and really the safeties there that they've kind of overhauled and really molded the way Coachieberflus wanted this secondary to perform. And now the Bears are going to have the opportunity to do that. How quickly can Eddie Jackson transition? He's going to be

asked to do different assignments. You know, certainly as a player, you have to be tuned in to what you're facing offensively, what personnel groupings, what's the formation are the you know, what are the tendencies of what they can do out of that certain formation That will give you clues in order to be a more instinctive player of how you're going to play things defensively. Coming up next, Bears fullback Karrie blassing Game joined us here on Chicago Sports Radio

six seventy The Score. This portion of Bears All Access is brought to you by CDW people to get it Jeff Joniac along with Tom Fair and Jim Miller from Serious x MNFL radios moving the chains. We'll take a time out from them and join one of the newest Bears Kyrie blashing game full back. And we've talked about this and welcome, welcome, thank you, foremost world school football guys. So Tom's an offensive lineman for the eighty five Bears,

w want a Super Bowl as a starting guard. And Jim Miller is a quarterback here when the running game was really good. Fullback though it's they always talking about being a dying breed, and that's awful to say, because I think it's such an important piece if you want to really run the football like I think the Bears

want to do here in twenty twenty two. And beyond helping a young quarterback, how do you feel about him a lot of position, you know, just coming out of college, being a running back in college and then making the switch it was new, but uh, you know, learning throughout the years and you know, just picking up techniques and trying to go as hard as I can at it.

I really embraced it, and I really liked playing it, and I'm I'm excited for this year, and I really hope we can do some great things on the ground through the air, just as an offense. As a team. You used to doing that in Tennessee with a guy by the name of Derrick Henry so uh and traditionally, you know, you think of guys the big Burley guys are never going to touch the ball and they're just sledgehammers. While you can do that, you're also going to be

used in a variety of ways. You get that feeling from Luke Ketsi. There's a lot of different things that that that Luke can do with the officers just being as creative and from the sister that he comes from them. It's just for me. I just got to show that I can do it and that I can be consistent with it. And so hopefully throughout this process OTAs and camp preseason, I can show them that I can do

those things and get those opportunities. In terms of the scheme, are you do you have some familiarity with it or is this a brand new thing for you? Definitely some familiarity, Yeah, definitely some familiarity from Art then from Todd, same same type of system. Yeah, all right, so let's go back to that Tennessee days, a couple of years there in Tennessee where you also went to college. You're a Southern

guy from Alabama? Is that Alabama? Yeah, so it's kind of home, kind of cool to play in the area at SEC Country. Um, was it hard to leave that because you got a lot of family, a lot of friends probably down there, and enjoyed making a short trip over to Tennessee. Now it was time, you know, going to school there twenty fourteen and playing all the way up until twenty twenty twenty one season into twenty twenty two. Like,

it was just it was it was fun. I enjoyed my time there, and I enjoyed all the connections that I made there in Nashville. But it's time for a new adventure. You know, my wife's excited to be in Chicago, be exploring new things, and you know, I'm excited. I was excited to get this opportunity, and we're both running into it full speed, you know, buying Other than just affect, it's you know, it's a great city. Chicago's, you know, to me, one of the best, if not the best,

sports towns in America. The passion for football here is as equally passionate as it is down South or in Texas. Our kids play high school football and onto college. There's just something special about being a Bear and a very crowded market with all the big sports and entertainment whatever. When you're a Bear, they love you. They love you, and you know, when things are not great, they still of you, but they're passionate about the whole thing. Is

that exciting to play in that kind of an environment. Absolutely? Absolutely. I mean just kind of being in the city and just kind of moving around and I might go and rent a truck because I got to move some furniture, and then I hand my ID to the guy and they know, you know, that's just kind of like a cool experience. And then you can feel that they love the history and the team like you can. You can

feel it. You can feel it. So I'm very excited to be a part of this Karry Blasting game, our guest here on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the score or with you until the top of the hour. Kind enough to spend some time with us. So when you come into this building, I always referred to it as an honor. I see George Hollis a statue outside of the building. When you walk in here, it's like a museum and you never can get enough of it. I

love the NFL history. I feel my job is partly charting the history of the game as a play by play guy. How about yourself, Some young guys never even were in an NFL game before they came into the league or didn't really care about it. I care more about, you know, college football and whatnot. What's what's your background on it. When I first fell in love with football, the TV state on NFL Network. So I was watching

NFL films and a bunch of different things. So I'm I'm watching Gail Sayers, I'm watching Walter Payton, like I'm watching Mike Singletary, all these guys, like these legends, you know, and so walking into the building and you see their numbers and their names up and then you see Walter Payton's locker and his picture and Mike Singletary and all just all these guys. And so I made the statement to my wife, I was like, this is like the

football Vatican, you know what I'm saying. Like it really felt like a museum, and it felt like you walk into a place where there's a culture, there's a football culture. So I'm loving it. I ate it up on the first visit when we came and signed, and I just love coming to work every day. One hundred and two years of history. Man, you can't get better than that as the first franchise, right, you know? Right? So yeah, and you'll love it when you get the home crowd going,

things go well, place goes crazy. You'll never forget. It gives you goose bumps, that's for sure. Um tell us a little bit about what it was like playing with a guy like a Derrick Henry, just a total beast of a running back. And then what you're learning about your new guys here, Well, yeah, I mean Derek has a work ethic that's you know, that's why he is who he is. And you know he came to work every day, did his job, and you know he's a

good teammate. Love him, love playing with him. And to answer the second part of your question, I get the same vibe from from David and Khalil and Darrington's up here with me and both the young guys. So I'm excited to come to work with those guys. Those guys give me juice when I don't have it, and hopefully I can get them juice when they don't have it. But I love being in the room with him. They're all great guys. They all seem like they love the game, well,

not seem like they all love the game. And as far as we've been here, it's been hard work and just you know, going at it. So I'm happy to be with these guys. I enjoy them. It's fun. It makes it easier to transition, I would think with new team when you got guys who love the game absolutely, you know, you know, guys, there's some guys in the league. They're here because they might be just they're football players, but some of them don't love the game, you know.

But if you get a bunch of guys who love the game, are passionate about it as a teammate, do you respect that and welcome that as much as possible? Absolutely, I respected and welcome. And it just makes coming to work easy because, like you know, when you're if you're working out or running by yourself, you gotta you gotta bring your own juice. But if you got three or four or five six guys in close proximity proximity to you,

and they're going, you gotta go. And there's there's a standard, you know, and so so David and Khalil and Darre's all those guys they carried themselves with a standard. So I'm excited to be a part of that standard and just keep raising the level. And Darren ton Evans also a former teammate. What can you tell us about him? And is it helpful to have somebody you work with before? Yeah,

it's very helpful. I mean just having a familiar face and a guy who's one of my friends, is you know, just off the field, one of my friends, you know so, But you're getting a smart football player with him, very smart. It's gonna put the time in. It's gonna works explosive. You've got some twitch, So I ain't gonna put too much on him, but I'm gonna let him show y'all what he can do. But he's a good football player,

all right. How about yourself? Do you put too much on yourself or you gonna I ain't gonna put nothing on money, nothing on yourself. Let the package be open as the season goes down, correct sir, Yes, sir, how far you've come? You're undrafted guy, Minnesota practice squad signed off by Tennessee, part of some winning teams there. What do you envision for yourself here for the next few years? Winning?

Being my best self. I know what it feels like to to to not be at that peak performance and best self, and I'm just excited to have another opportunity to just go perform and go work and go compete, you know, go test myself every day. That's kind of what I'm here to do. And so I'm excited about it. And if however long it lasts, I just hope I can just do that every day, stack days and be the best football player I can be. There's one ball.

You haven't had that many touches obviously in your NFL career. Is that something you really have a taste for, an appetite for more touches or if I mean, if it comes, it comes, you know, but whatever, whatever works and whatever. If we run the ball from the eye twenty times a game and we're winning games and we're smashing people in the face, I don't care. Like that's I want to win. So if they throw me the rock, cool, if they hand me the rock, cool, As long as

we win and them cool. You know, there was an old Bear here linebacker named Doug Buffone. He has since passed away, but he was the last player that George Hallis coached and he was very popular figure. He got into broadcasting and whatnot, and you know, he was the type of guy that'll always say, hey, listen, if we don't win. I love that team to know they were in a dog fight, in a fight. I think that's

kind of mentality. Ryan Poles and Matt Eberflus would love this team to have, like you're gonna you're gonna be in for a long day no matter what happens when you face the Bears. Do you think this team, in the early stages of what you're learning about everybody will carry that mentality and are bringing guys in that have that mentality. Yeah, there's a lot of guys here that just you can tell they love to compete, and it's gonna be a competitive camp. It's gonna be a physical camp,

and we're just gonna build it to be. That's gonna build the team to be physical and competitive and nasty. And yeah, So to answer your question, yes, I really do think that we have a lot of guys with that demeanor. And who want to be that and want to show up as that. So there are a lot of fullbacks that played high school you know, they played running back, but I played linebacker. You played safety. I

think you played linebacker. Two yep, linebacker. So is that beneficial to bring that defensive mentality to the offensive side of the football a little bit? I think so? Yeah. I think I think it helps to kind of know what's going on on the other side, like when you see it a little bit. Uh, I think it helps a little bit, yeah, to put it to put it lightly,

all right, you had a wonderful experience at Vanderbilt. Tell us a little bit about it, because you know, I don't know if you know this or not, but Ian Cunningham, the assistant general manager, is a relative of Arthur Ash. Okay, So, and in twenty nineteen, you were named the Arthur Ash Junior Male Sports Scholar Athlete by Diverse Issues in Higher Education. Um, what did that mean to you? What did your experience at Vanderbilt mean to you? That carries you into your

professional life? So that that that award that, I mean, that was really cool, Arthur Ash. It's like it's a big, big figure, big legend, you know, so just to be recognized for, you know, my scholar achievements in the classroom, because that's something I went to school to do, is to really do both be a student and an athlete. Um So, so I'm it feels good to be recognized for those efforts. And then just my time at Vanderbilt, like just being on a team with guys that that

you care about, they care about you. Just being able to work with those guys and push through the tough times, enjoy the good times, you know, going to some bowl games. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed playing for coach Mason. I played safety, A played linebacker, I played running back. So being able to adapt and do all those things, it's just it's a cool, unique thing that you know, not many people can say they played three different positions in college. So, you know, I enjoyed it, and you know it was

it was cool. A couple more questions, Well, let you go Curry blasting him. Our guests here in Chicago Sports Radio six seventy to score. This is Bears All Access,

brought to you by Ags Energy. What advice now that you've been in the league a few years, would you have for a young quarterback like Justin Fields, I mean, never have played, never having played the position, I don't I don't know what what type of advice I would give them, but just from a football players and point, I wouldn't give him no advice that he doesn't already do, you know. Just work hard, keep your head down, put

to work in. And he does that. So I'm excited to play with him and see what he does because he works hard, he really puts it in. So that would be that would be the only thing I could say. I couldn't say anything about QB because I've never played it, you know, so I don't know, not even in the youth youth game. I played a little play. I played it a little bit in high school, but like completely different levels, so I would stay away from that trying

to give me any advice on that. But just the way he comes to work, it's just cool to see. So I'm excited for him this year. All right. Last thing, we really appreciate the time. Coach Hebert Fluch said last week. You know, he's looking leadership, leadership, leadership, and it's got to be organic, you know, it's gotta be organic. Doesn't have to always be the star player. It could be anybody. Yeah, I've been told you have natural leadership ability, natural lead

leadership skills. Do you agree with that assessment? And do you do you look at yourself as a leader no matter how what form that takes. Doesn't have to be vocal, could be by actual, could be a number of different ways. How would you I mean that, I would say that's a true statement about not having to be vocal and you know, be what everyone would think a leader looks like.

But we all have our own circle of influence that we can lead in that So whether that's leading in the running back room, leading on special teams, just through how I show up every day and my work ethic and my intention and just being consistent. I mean, that's what I want to do. I hope I can lead that way through my actions. And it's not always about what you say, it's how you show up every day. So I hope that I can be that type of leader and that type of teammate. Awesome way to end

our interview. Nice job, thank you, thank you for joining us, talking to you again and having a great season. Yea, sir, thank you Karry Blast and give our guests here on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy score Back after this break, Chicago Bears single game tickets on Say get yours at Chicago Bears dot com, Slash tickets with Jim Miller in Tom There, Jeff Joning act here in Chicago Sports Radio

six seventy the Score. Let's talk Tevin Jenkins. She was at the podium this week up at hallis All after the OTA on Tuesday, readapting to right tackle after starting his rookie season at left tackle mid year. It's like anything that you're when you're most comfortable, say you outside, like like smoking food for a while, you don't do it for like a year and a half. You might have like a little mess up, you might burn your food,

you might do something like that. It's like trying to get back into the regularity of it and trying to figure out how can you get back there as fast as you can, Like it's just trying to perfect your stuff, like all your stuff, like your craft. He reflects also on how that slow start last year slowedest progress. It was a hard thing from me being out for that whole year before as well, like I was out since October, had the surgery and then I didn't have all those reps.

But like I said, the urgency to come back can say that I need to be getting these ramps. I need to show something that just says I deserve to be where I'm at is. It was very pressing to me and was making sure my mental was good enough to push myself to be the best I could be out there and now just lastly trying to prove it to the new guys. For me, it's about earning trust and earning their belief that I deserve to be on this team still. So I'm working for that trust. That's

what that's ultimately my I'm doing. But more of that trust that they have and to me will make me feel more comfortable and I'll start playing like more comfortable. I guess I don't know well the proof of being the pudding when it gets down the field in pads. But Tom as an offensive lineman, do you like where his mindset is at? After hearing those thoughts? Um, I do. I like what he says. But now I got to

see how that relates to the yam field performance. And that is Jeff and that's being there every day, that's maybe fighting through a little nick or something that you may maybe you're not one hundred percent comfortable, but I can take it to the practice field because this is going to be a super competitive scenario from the offensive coordinator to the offensive line coach to see it. Deser ability what they scouted you a couple of years ago.

Because he talked about opting out the last years in college and then what he went through last year, there are still you know, a lot that they have to see and he's got approved to the coaches he see. He keeps using the word trust. Yeah, but you know he has to show considerable development over time to show that he can play, you know, offensive tackle in the NFL. Jimmy's jump he was at three forty five last year. It is his biggest. That was something that the previous

offensive line coach wanted. His body fat. He said it was thirty three percent. He's now down to three twenty five with a much lower body fat, working in many different things to try and get himself ready. Would you prefer now he just stay at right tackle as opposed to moving him around. I know they want to get the best five, but would that change be of concern at you at off they move him around well, I think first is I think it's a start to start

him at right tackle. Let him get comfortable there before you start moving him around. Let him as Tom just mentioned, he hasn't played a lot of live football. Now you know here he gets drafted by the Bears. He mentioned the surgery in October. Then he gets his feet wet late in the year, as he was had the three week window from being on ir right, so I looked it up. He played a total of one hundred and

sixty snaps. He had seven penalties, all right, so that's one and he had a penalty one out of every thirteen plays. So let him get his feet wet, let him get comfortable at right tackle. Then when you feel and evaluate that, hey he's got this position under his belt, then maybe you start playing with him. Yet, he's got to settle into one position right now, is my take, and it's probably a good thing. He's down to three twenty five. I think four or three forty five is

just way too big for him. What he's going to be asked doing able to take pressure off his back. But let's just let him settle in to one position right now. Ash I didn't realize only one hundred and sixty snaps. But you know, if you stop and think about it, yeah, it was really late. And to think about it, I think how small of live football that he's actually seen the last two years. You know, he

hasn't seen a lot, you know. And one thing about Tevin Jenkins, if you talk about moving him around, I don't think it's necessarily a right tackle to left tackle. I think it's right tackle to right guard, and I do think that is gonna be Tevin's position. Mobility is probably going to be decided in those terms. If they feel that there's somebody performing better at right tackle, can he come in and challenge for that open right guard spot? All right, boys, we're out of time. Another week OTA's

coming up. We'll be back at HAIs Hall on one of those days next week. Did a great job today, guys. Keep up the good work. Jim Miller, Tom, We'll be seeing you back in town as soon as you return from your hot spot in Maui. Safe traffic. Good night, guys, Jim Miller, Tom Thayer, thanks as well to our producer Jordan trut Up and the folks of the Score and for our guest carry blasting game. That'll do it for us. We'll talk to you next week here on Chicago Sports

Radio six seventy to score. Goodnight, everybody,