Building around Justin Fields | All Access Podcast

and welcome Ata Bears Alt Access. We're brought to you by IGS Energy with my broadcast partner from news Radio one oh five nine w WBM. Tom Fair, I'm Jeff Jonia Copall as well everybody. Thanks to our producers Dan Billy and score producer Adams Deadzinski. Former Bears quarterback Jim Miller joins us from sirius XM NFL Radio. Coming up in our next segment, Tom, how we how are we feeling right now? What are you? What? Are you already tired of hearing? What are you? What do you wish

you're hearing? As we enter the pre combine mode and free agency around the corner. You know, I wish the

quarterback class was more impressive. I wish there was a bigger number of first round caliber guys out there that we're gonna be shuffled and juggled somehow, like you know a couple of years ago when it was Trubisky, Mahomes and Deshaun Watson, and you know, you have such a discrepancy and size of the type of quarterback that you want to play in these modern daying systems, and the Alabama guys just doesn't necessarily fit the template of size

that you're looking for when you're talking about how physical the game is. So I'm curious. We'll cj Stroud overtake Bryce Young in the path to the draft last to determine that. Including free agency, we'll discuss all that with Jim Metta as well. Justin Fields. I knew it was going to be a topic. You knew it when they started the whole Super Bowl media tour that it was going to be a topic. But man, it's taken a

life on its own. You're not on Twitter, so you don't see it, but every single day discussion about whether he's good enough? Will you be dealt? Are the Bears looking to move up or excuse me, are the Bears looking to move them so they can get you know another quarterback. I mean, it's it's gonna it's gonna last this way, all the way till April. Man, it does.

It doesn't matter what social media you're on, what Twitter it's on, because every single nationally exposed sports talk show, whether it's on TV or radio, it's the same topic nationally there. And so he got such a disagreement between guys who used to be former gms in the league and they're so convicted that the Bears should trade Justin Fields, and then you have other guys that were hired in

the same capacity throughout their career. Such a disagreement with that and Justin Fields is the direction that the Bears need to stay and they need to go. And that's the camp that I'm in. I'm full steam ahead with Luke Getsy and Justin Fields, and I think if we're gonna see significant development by Justin Field, it's going to be a second year in the same system, the same terminology, with a group of players that he's familiar with, and then the rest of the guys they bring aboard. I'm

sticking with. I'm talking about two. I'm I'm more interested in the line of scrimmage, right now and talking about what what the open and I'm gonna stick with that all the way down the line, offensive defensive lines. What are we looking at here? Free agency and draft and you know, you know be better. It's not even you're gonna bet you're going to you are going to come away with starters on both sides of the ball by way of free agency and the draft that are going

to be upgrades significantly in some cases. And we'll set to another piece to the foundation of the future town, right. I mean, you're in a draft position where even if you make a trade, you're still in you're still in

position to make a decade changing uh positions. When you talk about offensive line and specifical defensive line specifically, I think there's the type of talent out there that you can go out there and change the competitiveness of both of those elements of the team, make them much better. But try to set a couple of pieces in place that will be here for the next eight to ten years. There's gonna be a lot of discussion too about potential

deals here with other quarterbacks. Are you paying other quarterbacks out well, we'll get into this too with Jim on the quarterback thing. But Lamar Jackson is one of the dominoes. Are they gonna Are they gonna sign them? Are they gonna tag him to the point that somebody can put an offer on the table and send him to an offer sheet that may lead to a trade of some sort in a big haul for the Ravens. You got the Daniel Jones matter. He's got a new agent. He's

looking for a little more dough. You look at his numbers and Mitchell Trubisky's numbers over the course of the last three years, four years, and they're very similar. I mean, but one is being looked upon in a different way and Mitch is on the trademarket potentially. And I mean this quarterback think Derek Carr, Aaron Rodgers. I don't know, mant lots to talk about. You know, one thing about Daniel Jones. After they got rid of Joe Judge, they

brought in a new coaching staff. That's when Daniel Jones is flourished. And with Trubisky, no matter where he's been, he hasn't had that year where he's flourished. And they thought maybe this was gonna it was gonna be this year with the Pittsburgh Steelers. So the reason that they're talking about Daniel Jones and possibly franchising or signing him to a long term, long term deal is because of his development in the short term with a new coaching staff,

and now this coaching staff is thinking long term. So you know, maybe the guy is in place there that that can lead the Giants going forward. And so I think the Bears have the guy in place that can lead the Bears going forward. So it's about the positions of interest that you you know, you just brought up an offense and defensive line lead the way. I think because of all this, and because of the three and fourteen season, Bears fans in particular, just can't to get

the process started. They want to just get there. And I'm with you, you know, I just want to get there now and see what it all looks like, you know, but there's so many months to go here yet I don't. I don't I listen. I want time, you know, you know, never wish time away. I want all of the different narratives, the different investigative work. He got to do that. You got to do your due diligence behind the scenes when you're looking at taking a player this high and what

they have to do for the organization. You're not just asking a player to come in here at such a high pick. And I'm not saying the number one pick. I'm saying that the Bears have traded down in a little bit lower in the first round. But he's got to come in and this this this time frame of a coaching staff, of a GM, a new president, and what happened to the team last year, and they got to be difference makers. This is not where you can bring in a group of a group of guys and

hope that in two years they pan out. No, this is you got to pick him in you two months. They got to be the guy that you picked day one starters in day one starters. Indeed, that's what we're looking for, is the Bears get ready for a memorable offseason run. Here they're working hard up at Hollis All coming up next, We're joined by our friend Jim Miller, the former Bears quarterback. He'll jump into the conversation with Tom There. I'm Jeff Joniac and this is Bears All Access.

We're brought to you by IGS Energy on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy. The score, Hey, everybody, Welcome back. This is Bears All Access and we're brought to you by IGS Energy. Choose clean energy for your home at igs dot com because every good choice adds up to a better world. With Tom there, Jeff Joniac and our old pal Jim Miller from Serious x MFL Radio's moving the chains joinder the program as he does each and every week. Jim,

it's a crazy weather world. I mean just down the road a piece into Calvit last night, I mean severe icing. We got eighty five degrees in North Carolina today, where my daughters are going to grad school. You got, I mean what what? What he got up there? Did you guys get pummeled up there? And at least your daughter's away at grad school? I had. I was cooped up with my kids the last two days they didn't have school. Jeff, My life has been a disaster. It's a mess. I

can't get anything done. You know, But do you have your own on air light in whatever room you're broadcasting from, so when it's on, they know not to come in. Yeah, they know, Cat, but that doesn't stop him, you know that? Yeah? Yeah? Now how bad you get hammered over there? I mean, let me rephrase that snow getting kids snow. We got the freezing rain. Okay, that's where roads were bad, dude to the freezing rain. So that's why they pretty much

canceled everything. So everybody's been home. It's been a busy household, so a fun time, but a lot of chaos going up. It's okay, you know, kind of a message of goodwill. Did you see the story about Jim Harball, How he came across a tree in the road and the police were trying to move it, so he got out of his car. They gave him a set of gloves. They never knew who he was, so then he worked side by side with the police and it took him at ten fifteen minutes later they were able to get the

tree moved enough to allow traffic to move through. And then finally after it was all done, they became aware of who it was, and you know, they just sent him a message, message of thanks and goodwill up there in the ice storm. Yeah, there's a lot of down trees so that everybody's helping each out to neighbor helping neighbor, which is is a good thing to me. Now, see I was on it. Jim sorry to interrupt you. I was unaware of this story, and I'm talking to a

guy that's not on social media. So where are you getting your information from? Do you have people out there that send you stuff that are on social media? Time, Well, how'd you come about this story? I was just reading a news a news site. I was, you know, Oh, so you are on social media? No, no, no, it's just an app where you can read instead of having a newspaper, you're you're read it off your phone. And

that was just part of the stories. And I felt I was really happy for jim to pull over and you know, to go out and assist the first responders and officers and doing that, and I think it, like I said, it's a mission of goodwill. Congratulates Jimmy. I don't even know Tom anymore. I mean, my gosh, that's outstanding. I'm glad you're staying in tune and in touch with the world as it spins. Which leads me to this question. Then, so that's a celebrity moment for the guys who don't

know until they realize it. Do either of you have a celebrity moment? They didn't know who you were? And then you did something similar or you helps, and then they realized who you were. Anybody, Tom, I'm a good smiritan every day. Please come on, Mark's unnoticed every single yet you're an NFL quarterback, my fellow neighbor. Of course there had to be. I know, everybody thought you were

er laker. No, no, you know. The only thing that's ever happened to me is recently when I used to bring Ernie to the hospital a lot when Katie was in the hospital. I had Ernie with me and he had a service vest on and there was a woman in there who thought that I was working the hospital with um, one of the dogs that go and me. So she asked me, could you come into my room and meet my daughter? She has a leg issue and you know I and so she thought I So I go. Yeah.

So I went into the hospital room and I actually left Ernie with her in her bed for like thirty minutes. I went down to Katie's room, came back and got the dog, and as I was walking out, the young the girl's husband and wife or husband and father were walking in and he recognized me as I was leaving the room, and he's going, what's that guy? What's Tom doing here? He works for the hospital. I knew you had to have something, that's for sure. Jim. I don't

know if you heard the first segment. I'm sure you're talking quarterbacks on your show every day too, But the justin Fields conversation, it's trending every day, every few hours, there's a new new wrinkle. But I guess we should expect this until the draft, right until they aging carousel quarterbacks sorts out of the trade market. I mean, we knew this was going to happen, but there's just there.

There's cases being made. It's almost like, uh, you know, a defense and one end and in an indictment on the other. From all the experts in the analysts, how are you sifting through all this? Yeah, I think it's a bunch of bunch to do about nothing, quite frankly, you know, so they need something to write about, they need something to tweet about and whatever. So I don't

really pay attention to it. I think the Bears are just focused on what they need to do, and the only decision makers that matter or are going to be in that draft room when they ultimately make these selections. Quarterback isn't on my list quite frankly, so I think they've they've got their guy. He's a hard worker, um can do a lot of special things. Even talked to, you know, some Bears players like Jalen Johnson who I mentioned. I talked to Nicholas Moreau yesterday. I said, all right,

what's what's it like prexit against Justin Fields? He's like, man, he's got He's got everything it takes to be a great one, you know, because he's a special, special, talented player. I think we know they need to build around him, and I think that's what the Bears, you know, what their intention is here this offseason. I think Fields will be just fine. Where's that? Do you think Justin Fields should limit his media access from now until the draft?

Because when I go back and I look, I listened to a lot of the cutoffs from his on the Super Bowl roll, it seems like you can answer a question, then it becomes kind of a topic or you know, could be interpreted differently. Yeah, yeah, and That's what I'm saying. Would would Justin be better off if he'd you know, stayed out of the media way until the draft? Or is you know, is adding to the confusion in the narrative of other people who say they should, you know,

move on from Justin or look to possibly trade him. No, it's a it's a good question. I don't know why

he'd want to be in the media. You know, he said, just had to do it, you know, seventeen eighteen weeks in a row, and even more than that when you think about training camp and there's gonna be plenty of media, whether it's going to be at the OTAs and other things where he's working through through the voluntary part of this offseason where media will have access to him, and you know, I think again, this is a time you

just kind of decompress. You know. I don't know what he was doing out the Super Bowl, whether he was promoting something. Maybe that's why. Yeah, and that's normal, I mean quarterback and you know players do that every year. Yeah, but uh, you know, I don't think it's going to go on a dark retreats or anything like that to him. Everybody but had to go there, didn't you. Hey, I mean,

he can do whatever he wants. I mean, everybody's taking shots and for that, I mean, whatever he's got to do to make his decision for him, Rodgers, that that's fine, I think, but he's the one who put it out there, and I think why people are making fun of it, you know, that's why, that's why I got to say about it. I don't care. I could care less. I

don't even know what it all means. And that's again, each individual's own journey to get their mind right to do anything in life, let alone, or to find that mental piece and quiet, whatever it takes. But he's the one promoting it, so he's opening the door to the jokes and the criticism and whatever else. I mean, it's attention. I mean, well think, I mean, if it's if it's a soul searching thing, you know, I'm sure that a

lot of people have benefited from it. I was reading, you know, I think there was a mountain climber that spent time at a sky sky cave retreat I figure what it's called. And there was a lady in the uh. I forget what line of works she was in, but she's gone there a couple of times. And again it's

just you know, I think we all know. You know, when you go through something you've worked hard, you know, you do got to re energize you kind of recharge your batteries and and you make your decision and go about it. But uh, you know for this, because like you said, he put it out there. To me, it's not a hard decision. I mean, it was funny. I was just doing a show and a service member called in and tried to compare it to war. I'm like, dude, when I played football, I never feared for my life.

You know. I've gone over to Afghanistan on USO tours and Antonio Freeman's a man of fact. The Green Bay Packers receiver was with me and he met we went out to this one base that was on the outskirts there in pakist Or, Afghanistan when we went there, and he met some guys that served with his brother, and Antonio Freeman's brother died as a marine, and but he met some guys in his unit and they all had

a really a tearful moment. But this guy was trying to compare in Roger's decision to like war, and I'm like, dude, I've never feared for my life in football. It's not that deep. I mean, realistically, what's the decision. Does he want to make sixty million dollars or not? Right right, that's the decision. Another report that I just heard and read about was that he was supposed to stay for

four days and he left after two. So did it come to you that clearly within that forty eight hour period instead of the discipline of having the four days to stay. I don't know, man, I did see a video of somebody else that went in there and to have it completely pitch black black am no concept of time. I don't know. I don't think I can do it. I honest to God, there's no way I couldn't do it. So maybe he couldn't either. Two and that of the four or five from the listeners out there, Jeff scared

of the dark. Then yeah, hey, you know I'm the first to admit as a as a kid. Yeah, I hated having the door clothes that I didn't like it. I didn't like it. All right, Well, we'll talk more justin field. Some good analysis and some things you learn about when you delve into a statistical analysis of what

he's done so far. We'll talk about that. And what the Bears need is they get ready to look at that roster and make sure they're making the right decisions to set themselves up for success in the most critical and important offseason. And we've seen here in a long time with top there, Jim Miller, i' Jeff, Joniacker. This is BEARS All Access. It's brought to you by IGS Energy and Chicago Sports Radio six seventy to score. But it BEARS All Access is brought to you by Athetical

Physical Therapy. Visit athletical dot com to request an appointment d clinic or virtually and start feeling better tomorrow with Tom Bear, Jeff, Jonnyac and Jim Miller from Serious x M NFL radios moving the chain. So, Jim, your buddy Matt Castle working for the thirty third team, I saw this. He ranked all the quarterbacks as they stand right now, the teams they're on, and the NFC North had off four in the top thirteen and number thirteen was just

in field. So the men who played the game have respect for what the man has done so far, on what he's capable of doing. Yeah, and they rightfully. So, I mean again, he's a special athlete that can do things that other quarterbacks can't do. You know, I've mentioned that, you know physically, you know, he kind of stacks up to somebody like Josh Allen, because Josh Allen could do

some things physically that other quarterbacks just can't do. Arm strength, you know, his ability to move, to scramble, you know, take on you know, tacklers. He basically runs over linebackers. I mean, how many quarterbacks can do that? And I think Fields is a special type of guy like that that just has special traits. I think we all know he's got to develop as a passer. He's got to be have more anticipation, speeding up the process of reading defenses has got to be better, and all those things

will come. I think he's shown great progress from year one to year two in a new offense, I should add, and I think he'll do that again. He'll make another huge jump here this offseason. I think he's dedicated to it. I think he wants to be a great player. I think he loves football. I think he's a good leader. I think he's got all, you know, all the scoutable traits and some that are unscoutable, the heart and desire to play football and get better that you can't scout.

I think he has all those things in him. So I think he'll continue to grow and get better, Hey, Jim, when you're a quarterback within a new system and you start memorizing the terminology so well that it's almost like Luke could say a word or two out of his

mouth and then you can finish the play. Does that type of knowledge clear the vision for a young developing cornerback where it doesn't necessarily mean or you know, have to see exactly what the defense is doing because you know what you just said and how it fits into you know, the field of play where you're at depending

hashmark down and distance and everything. Yeah, I think you get to the point where you're thinking the game, you know, and you talk through all those things with your your offensive coordinator, Like say your first third down in shorts, you may have five of those, your five third best third mediums, your five best third and long plays where you know, when you're out there in a series and you're moving the ball and all of a sudden that

first third down situation comes up, I was already thinking, Hey, I know we're running zero slot out, you know, Z motion, you know to eighteen dancer, whatever the play call is, you know, and I already knew it because like, hey, we already discussed that this was gonna be our first third and short play call, and I'm already thinking I'm preparing myself for that play and how it should work out, what defense we expect to be or they're going to

be in in that third and short. Now when I send that z in motion in that corner, goes with them ding ding ding Yep, that's just what we practice third and short. This is a man and man defense. There they are. That's my key right there, you know. And now you can just see it on fold with how the game's being called, and that that should happen to you every game. You know that you're so in tune with it that you know what's going to be called.

You can anticipate what the coaches is going to call, you can anticipate what front and coverage you're gonna get, and and you know what you're going to do to try and to attack it. And it reaffirms everything that you practice during the week and all the things that you discussed during the week. I saw this his playoff opponents in twenty twenty two, justin fields when he was healthy.

I was six games. He had a one on three quarterback rating, thirteen touchdowns, one interception and two hundred and seventeen yards a game in those games with a high of two fifty four. I'm assuming those are correct. I saw it on Twitter, but you know, I look only one game of twenty completions. I would like to see obviously, that go up to and that goes back to did you see this guy's jim? The average length of a pass has changed in the last nine or ten years

a yard less. So it's that short passing game where you get guys the ball, run and run after the catch stuff. Yeah, and wide receiver screens and bubble screens and all those things shovel passes that are now really called much more prevalent lead than what they used to be called. You know, I just even go back to the Gary Croton stuff. I remember our first game where we beat Kansas City and Shane Matthews was starting that time, And remember Gunther Cunningham called it a razzle dazzle offense.

And now it's pretty much in every offense, isn't it. And and even some of that stuff was being run back in the seventies. If you go back and look at Pittsburgh Steel stuff, they ran wide receiver screens back

in the seventies, so it has recycled. Now it's just more prevalent the college game and the impact, and it's kind of trickling up, and it's going to continue moving forward because they again want everybody cover every blayd Grass you know Bill Walsh, I mean his quote, you know, I want to throw I want to have my quarterback throw it for five yards and watch the receiver run

for seventy five. And so it's yeah, maybe it's taken a step backward because of the different type of offensive game plans and style of offense that you're running that was different than the Bill Walsh forty nine er heyday, but you know it's still I think what you would like to do is get the ball into the hands of the best runner on the team with open space

and allow him to convert it for whatever he can. Yeah. Absolutely, and it's going to continue to be, you know, because again, all these quarterbacks are running it in college, so it's going to continue to happen in the NFL. I do think, you know, even these quarterbacks today, they just they throw a lot more than you know, like I said, I had like seventeen touchdown passes my whole college career. These guys do that in like four games, you know. I mean,

that's how much they're throwing. And you look at even my kids, like my eight year old, he'll be turning to nine, so he'll start football, but he's done flag football. And they have all these passing leagues like if you goal, they have all these it's basically seven on seven Skelly. So it's just all skill position players, quarterbacks and receivers and tight ends that there's out there throwing and competing. It's in every indoor golf bubble around here. I'm sure

it's the same way down there in Chicago. So those are just all those reps are throwing the ball. You know that those leagues were never even there when I was growing up. I mean, and now they're all over

the place. I'll tell you it would be cool. You see some of these designs also on you know, there's a lot of coaches out there they post tape on RPO design plays and some of them are really creative that you can envision because of the run threat, the dynamic ability of Justin and having running back, having a backfield like the Bears have had a versatile one to really pose a lot with motion from whatever they're going

to add to the mix. Can really get really creative on the designs and still pass from it with great success. And I'm excited about the design moving forward as well. Tom from offensive coordinator Luke getsy when they get different kind of pieces, Oh me too, you know, but you know, get different kind of pieces, but even some of the pieces you already have to see how you can involve those in the game plan more consistently. So we need more out of Cole, we need more out of Clay.

We need to see where Darnell Mooney's eventually going to be throughout the course of the season. You need the running back position to be a part of the passing game is as much as the running game. So God, there's so much, so much growth possibilities because of a guy like justin Fields. That that's why it's so exciting moving forward that you know when he gets time just to hash over terminology with Luke, it's going to improve him more than you know, any other element of practices.

All right, that's Tom Fair, Jim Miller, I'm Jeff Joniac. Will take a break here as we continue on Bears All Access here on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy to score this segment of Bears All Accesses brought to you by CDW. People will get it. Tom There, Jeff, Jonny Ac, Jim Miller from Serious x M NFL Radios, moving the chains with us. Glad you joined us tonight. Getting through the days before the combine, So combine coming up, leaving

on Monday. Jim is that becomes the focus in the central focus and a lot of great insight we'll get from scouts, agents, coaches to some degree, and of course the guys who are trying to get drafted. So it's always a fun event. It is a convention like atmosphere, but it's if you're in football, you gotta be there, right Absolutely. I think it's a big part of the process. Not all these players. Obviously we're playing in the East West Shrine or the or the Senior Bowls. So interviews

are going to be a big part of it. Where the opportunity to interview quite a few few guys, a lot of the coaches and GM's like to get all the media obligations out of the way early, so probably you know, Tuesday, Wednesday, they'll probably pretty much wrap up with them and then pretty much you'll focus on the players after that. But it's it's a huge affair. Three hundred nineteen players are the top players in the country. That are there some players who didn't get invited still

will get drafted. Like it was interesting we were talking to Carl Brooks yesterday, who's a very talented defensive lineman bowling green there in the MAC. I mean, this guy is a big time player. He played and had a great week Donald Mobile, and he didn't get invited to the combine. He said, Hey, is what it is. I didn't get invited, but you know, I think I put my best foot forward and I still think that he'll

get drafted. So it's about the medical I think we know that they just want to see if all the players your body's kind of your resume and and you know, if you're going to invest million millions of dollars into these young draft picks, you want to make sure they got a clean bill of health. So that certainly is the most important part of it. Tom when do you want to hear from Ryan Paul's the general manager. On Tuesday, he'll meet the Chicago media and man Aberflus. The national

media included on Tuesday. That'll be the Bear's a thing at the hotel. And what do you want to hear, you know, Jeff, I almost want to see hear him send a message to the rest of the gms in the NFL, letting everybody know that he's out there to negotiate for this first pick in the draft and put not necessarily expectations, but at least open the lines of communication because I don't think that there's only two or

three teams in play. You want to talk to as many teams as possible that want to come and listen to what you have to offer and listen to what you need in order to take it. So you know, he's not going to sit out there and specifically tell you an individual that he's interested in. Maybe he'll you know, hash over a position or something that he's favoring at this point. But to me, like I said, I would have a booth at the combine on the ground level

and say open for negotiations with every GM. Yeah, I'm certain that it's already started. But you know I talked about this in the first segment with Tom Jim, is that what happens with the venerand quarterbacks is gonna is gonna impact this now namely, and I know folks have written about it today. Lamar Jackson. They could place the franchise tag out in March seventh to keep things, uh still from becoming a free agent. I'm not sure they're gonna be able to get a deal done. He's not budget.

He wants all that guaranteed money like Deshaun Watson got in Cleveland. That's a unique scenario. I don't see that continuing to happen with every single quarterback. What happens with Lamar should he not stay in Baltimore? Does that impact the Bears ability to make a deal with that number one pick um? No, I don't think that's gonna affect

the Bears at all. I think there's you got quarterback needy teams that are gonna want to trade up, and they're gonna want to talk to the to the Bears because Houston's picking at two, So they're gonna want to go above Houston. Say if Houston, who we all expect to draft a quarterback, you know, if you know a team below thinks that Houston's gonna take that guy, they're gonna want to be in front of Houston. So you're gonna want to talk to the Bears, so Colts raiders

Carolina at nine. I would think, I would think even Atlanta. Atlanta's got a lot of kept, you know, got a lot of space. Even though they drafted Ritter last year, do they believe in him. Maybe they like one of these top guys even more this year. So I don't think that when you envisioned them trading, four of them are Atlanta. I could see that. I could see it. But here's the problem with it. If Baltimore can't get the contract done, you have to be willing to do that.

He wants a Deshaun Watson guaranteed between two hundred and fifty million dollars guaranteed. Some teams may not be one. You know. Steve Ashott, he already said he's not going there. He already said that he publicly discredited what the Haslum family did for the Cleveland Browns, giving it that one hundred percent guaranteed contract. They pooh pooed, a lot of owners were not happy about it. And it's the outlier contract.

Even Kyler Murray didn't get that much from Arizona guaranteed, and so they made him an offer, he bet on himself. He got hurt again. They have an offer out there, he does not like it. They're about one hundred million dollars apart. So they just put the franchise tag on him and guess what, he's gonna have to bet on himself again. So I think he's staying in Baltimore because I find it hard to believe in other team's just

gonna be open arms. Oh yeah, here's two hundred fifty million dollars guaranteed when you haven't finished the last two seasons alone for the Baltimore Ravens. You know, when you think about Arizona Cardinals, that is not the template of success that you want to follow. Because when they have Steve Wilkes and they draft Josh Rosen, then they fire Steve Wilkes, and then they bring in Kyler Murray, they

bring in Cliff Kingsbury. Now he's gone, and then Kyler Murray kind of demanded himself into the contract that he was awarded. You don't know how that ended. It's gonna work out, and a lot of Lamar Jackson when you're talking about a team making it want to making a trade or being even interested in taking making a trade.

Are they going to be privy to the inframation of what the factors were with his knee injury last year that was such an enormous setback that he never got back on the field after he got injured or was that just contract strategy And a lot of the numbers that you're talking about Lamar Jackson going forward and people bring up all these numbers there from years in the past.

Now Lamar Jackson, there's a little bit more of a design on how you want to play defense against him, and if you can get physical with them, you affected the kind of play. So I just think that if he was gonna go sign, I think Baltimore is the perfect team for Lamar. But they're bringing in a new offensive coordinator and how much will that be a setback if this new offensive coordinator wants to bring in his

own terminology. You know what's also interesting, he is forty six in sixteen as a quarterback, six wins, sixteen losses, and it's almost like he doesn't want to be there. You know. They've now switched offensive coordinators to a guy who likes to throw the ball, yeah, you know, and supposedly going to run more tempo and all that, but they've won forty six games they have won with this young quarterback. So yes, just kind of all around bizarre

where it's at right now. And if another team, because the other other teams are gonna have the same concerns as Baltimore. He hasn't finished the last two years. The passing, pocket passing hasn't been up to snuff. That's got to be better suit certainly moving forward. So here's the tag and you're gonna have to have a prove it deal again. So either that or signed the long term contract offer

that we offered you. This is what we believe your worth is, and then you're going to get a lot more money guaranteed than just the franchise tag number, which will be thirty two million dollars, which has nothing to scoff at. But he's if I were him, I would want the long term security because he's the last two years, he's been hurt and his team has finished miserably without him in there. Right. Yeah, Tom, if you're going to pick a quarterback in this draft, where would you like

to get one? I'm ticking a similar style quarterback. Yes, yeah, if I was the Bears, you know, if I'm any any time after the If I can get multiple picks in the first round through a trade, and then I start seeing a guy that's similar in skill and ability but needs time to develop on that third and fourth round, then I've start searching for a quarterback to to fit

the just and template. So now when Luke getsy is in there teaching the specifics, the exacts of the style play of a quarterback, that he's teaching it to two guys that are similar in traits. And I'm not saying anything against Trevor Sinian because I think he was a really good backup quarterback this year, and you know, really

as support of the quarterback position. But when you're in a fortunate position with some of the assets you have in a unique year, it would be nice to go out there and find that quarterback that maybe you develop for your own team, or you develop for an asset that's tradeable on the road. All right, boys, will there be an offensive lineman that will start in the same place on Day one of the twenty twenty three season Jim on the Bears. Um, Yeah, I think there's there's

plenty of guys that are out there. I mean, no, no, no, on the current the current guys, Oh, any of the guys who finished the season as a starter at their current position, will they be there Week one of twenty twenty three. I would think probably Braxton Jones and co were those two. I think everything else is up in the here. I think they could draft a center. I

think they could draft obviously right tackle and guard. Um. You know, I think I saw that they just already resigned Iceland right and he sees back in the mix for for the Bears. But I would think more of the right side. But the two guys i'd say would be white here in Braxton Jones, Braxton Jones, Great, you know, I would be interesting, sorry, Jim. I'd be interested to see if they've developed enough familiarity with the athletic traits

of Braxon Jones. If they went out there and they said, oh my god, this left tackle is a valuable to us and he can come in here and he's a Day one plug and play, whether it's a second or third round, is Braxton is he comfortable enough to go over and play the right tackle and fit ins kind of seamlessly like he did as an inexperienced rookie on

the NFL level this year. So that's why when I think of who is gonna be on the starting lineup next year in their same spot, it's almost like all five of them are up for competition, and probably Cody has the stronghold on the left guard position, but I think they need to see improvement out of him this upcoming year from last year. And Braxton Jones really gives them a unique piece. And you know the evaluation by Ryan Poles and his staff about the officeive alignment and

valuable to him. Whatever happens in free agency to start the process, you get your guys. You're gonna spend some money, no question about it. There's a little luck involved and how this all works based on needs and and whatever. But I just spend smartly and get the value as best as what's well because you got other teams every right now, because in the salary cap and everybody's got their teams, are gonna get down get to their cat everyone.

Because you have money, they're all gonna have money. Bears have a lot of money, but that doesn't mean that that's gonna relate to getting somebody that you want, because you still got to maintain. You gotta be disciplined with the value, don't you guys think I mean, say, darn Payne is not franchised. Uh and and and you know, are you just gonna pay our King's ransom for that

or are you gonna still be careful with value? Or if that's somebody they want, I mean, I don't know what their plan is, but I just want to see value. And that being said, what absolute do you need in terms of position that you want to get in free agency over the draft. I'll leave it to both of you. Gym you can start, Yeah, well, I think, like you said, I don't think you want to be a drunken sailor. I do think it's got to be targeted of what

you're going to go after. You know, we talked about three techniques, you know, because that's kind of where it starts and stops defensively, you know, Javon Hargrave just came off an eleven and a half sack year for Philadelphia. Can they afford him? I mean, that's that's a penetrating defensive tackle. Even when he was with the Steelers, they played one gap, three four because he's such a penetrator. So to me, that'd be a guy who's on their

radar screen for the Bears. Again. He had eleven and a half sacks as an interior defensive tackle for the Philadelphiels. Can they afford him? Do they tag him? Or would they tag Chauncy Gardner who had six interceptions in their secondary? Because you don't want to get old. I think we're all aware of that. You want to come off, you want to be signings. Yeah, and that's and then they're going to focus on on the draft. To me, I think the Bears are going to target free agents for

the offensive side of the ball. One to elevate justin fields in the offense. And I think they're going to draft a lot of young defensive players like they did last year and just develop those players pass rushers, defensive tackles, linebacker. You would think we just talked about Nicholas Moreau. He's a free agent. You know, there's a linebacker need there for the Chicago Barris and we liked the secondary. But I think they'll probably draft defensively, veterans will sign offensively

through free agency. Yeah, you know, listen, you know, with the experiences of last year when everybody came aboard and they'd had the Larry Ogan, joeby Mishap and how that was handled. They signed him, then he didn't pass the physical, so you went on and got Justin Jones, and on Justin Jones. At the end of the year you started experimenting a little bit with him on the outside. So

where is his position determined going forward? Because when you look at Trevis Gibson and you look at Dominique Robinson, I don't know what Taco Charlton is going to be doing if he's even in the conversation. You also have to get better at that position, and I don't know if you can rely on the fact that the more playing time that Dominique Robinson gets, that's a guarantee that he's going to turn these traits into a player and

that you know that's yet to be seeing. And if you're gonna have Travis Gibson as one of your starting defensive ends, then you need sack performance out of that position, and not a couple and a couple of games, You need a double digit throughout seventeen games. And you go back one year from right the right year from now, we are talking about the season that Robert Quinn was coming off of and then he came in and really didn't accomplish anything for the Bears after that, and then

was traded to Philly. So I do think that the defensive line, the exterior, the defensive line needs as much attention as we continuously pay to the three technique defensive tack. That's time there, Jim Miller, Jeff, Jonny Act. One more segment to go here on Bears All Access. It's brought to you by IGS Energy on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy to score Calling. All Bears fans get the Ultimate

VIP Fan Package with Chicago Bears. VIP gets secure a game ticket and appearance from Bears legends and more by visiting Chicago Bears vip dot Com. Final segment with Tom and Jim Jeff Jonah yac here as we get set for the combine to the start of the real interesting, The lying season, Jim, the lying season, We're gonna be ear hustling left and right in Indianapolis. Sow you gonna finally take me out to dinner? Though? Sure, Jeff, I mean, all you gotta do is ask right, No, I'll tell

you the truth. Tom. Jim always asks, now we've we've we've had it I think we've had a couple every now and then. I've gotten every now and again, but usually I say no, yeah, you know, I gotta do this. I got that, So you know, I can understand if you just peel back now and you say I've asked too many times. We went out to dinner and mobile as we did. It was like the last supper Tom. I mean, it was incredible because I think it probably

will be the last time. What I noticed about Jeff is throughout the day he listened all of his offers and then yeah, hey he'll recall his best offer and then go with that person, that restaurant, that whatever. You know, I have been I've been accused of such at the Combine in particular. I'm sorry. I got a lot of friends time. I got a lot of friends in high places. No, I don't. But it's a great time. And I'm sure, Jim, we will run into each other at time or two.

All right, let's talk about some other things going on league wide, Jim, are you surprised at some of the assistant coaching hires around the league? Did anything catch you by surprise? Even today, there was the addition of quarterback coach, and if I can find it right Davis. Yeah, Davis Webb, who's now he's gonna be Russell Wilson's quarterback coach. How does that work? Yeah? Yeah, He's only twenty eight years old,

and Russell obviously thirty four. And Davis has played minimally, if if at all, and Russell, you know, I think we know Sean Payton's going to have a heavy hand in that and how the offense is run. So I think really Sean will probably be in those meetings and bringing along h Davis Webb as a as a young coach, because like you said, he I don't even think he's

officially tired retired from the Giants. You know, he was with the Giants last year as a as a back backup, and so, you know, I think Sean and that happened when I was in New England. Basically I've mentioned this Bill Belichick. He ran every quarterback meeting and Josh McDaniels was in there, you know, and it's just kind of like, hey, learn and to do what I do. Listen to what I say. Here's how I want these quarterbacks taught. And Josh was learning at that point. Josh wasn't a play caller.

He was just the listed as the quarterbacks coach, and he was breaking into it, and and Bill Belichick was breaking him in how to coach quarterbacks, and uh, you know, I think that'll be a kind of a similar situation. But here's what I do think what's interesting. Likely look at Frank Reich. He's leaning on a lot of veteran coaches, right, Jim Caldwells down there, the guys who we've hired, that's a very veteran staff. I do think Sean Payton, he's

mixed in some young guys like Davis Webb. But look at the Will Hoyt. He signed the linebackers coach, who's outside backers. He signed Greg Manusky, who's been a defensive coordinator. He's gonna be with Vance Joseph who's now So that's a veteran staff. And then you look at guys like Jonathan Gannon, who's just hired out there for the Arizona Cardinals. Go look at his staff, man, that is a green staff. There's coaches that have never even coached in the NFL

before that they're signing out there. So it's gonna be interesting. You know, There's been a lot of movement for coaches more than what has happened recently in previous years. You know, either this era or the era that's gone by. Jim McMahon always tells a funny story that Andy Reid played

offensive tackle for Jim McMahon when they're at BYU. When Jim McMahon went to Green Bay, Andy Reid why his quarterbacks coach, And when he was sitting in there with the rest of the quarterbacks, Jim was sitting up there reading a newspaper and Andy Reid tol him to put the newspaper down. It's time to get started. And Jim said, Andy, I want to tell you one thing. You will never

teach me anything about playing quarterback. So you think of just the role of what these guys developing to do, and all of the time and energy that Andy Reid has put into it from where he came from and the Lavelle edwards to where he's at. Now, you know the ladder that you're gonna take to get to that point.

It's going to be filled by some characters and some events that you're going to have to show that you have the guts to work through them to prove that you're a guy that can coach these guys that are coming onto your team, Jim, because you're QB, I gotta ask you, of all the quarterbacks of the combine that are invited, who do you most want to see. I'll tell you who. I Mine's Anthony Richardson. I just want

to see what it's all about. I know he hasn't played much, but the athletic gifts or something, so I would I would like to see what he does, just for a reference. You know, how about you? Yeah, the guy and it's unfortunately he won't be able to work out there as Hendon Hooker. I think he can spin it. He can spin the ball. C J. Sprout I like him a lot too as well. I know a lot of people are high and will love us and he's growing on me. To me, he's a little robotic when

you look at will love us from from Kentucky. But got to do more work on him. But Richardson is an interesting name and Hendon Hooker I had the ability to talk to him out there at the at the Super Bowl. As soon as you shake his hand, man, he's got big mitts, you know, so spinning a football is not a problem for him. He can put a ton of revolutions on the ball and kind of after those guys, it's you know, there's there's you know he brought up a guy one. We gotta go, bro, Yeah,

wun run. I'm interested what he's gonna run forty times? I'd love I would love to hear more about this, but we're gonna do it over a beer in Indy. You got it? Sounds good? My friend than you, Buddy Jim Miller toomp there. Thanks, as always our producers Dan Brilliant, Adams Tazinski. The Score program being continues here on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy to Score good out Everybody,