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Bears, et Cetera, brought to you by Miller Lte with the voices of the Bears Jeff Joniac and Tom Thayer.
Things are going well a training camp for the Bears, and it really ramps up as we approached the phase of full padded practices that'll be coming up later this week. Jeff Joniac, Tom Fayer, and Welcome into episode seventy nine of the Bears et Cetera podcast, brought to you by Another Light. We got the Super Bowl winning Bears guard Tom Thayer our special guest this week. Second your defensive tackle Jabond Dexter.
Tom.
How you feeling, buddy, How you feeling.
I'm feeling good and anticipation of Pad's getting on. I think you can tell little bit more about certain positions. However, I'm kind of okay with the nopad part of it, even though I'm reluctant to say it because I think the mental part of it for Caleb Williams, for Shane Waldron, for all the specialty positions on this football team, it has such an important role in the overall success of it.
When you have a chance to go through meetings and be repetitive about the information that you're installing on the field, it's going to be super beneficial in the long run.
I was almost going to have to ask you if you have a fever or something that you made that part. I mean, am I talking to the same time theayer right now?
Yeah?
I am.
But you know again, hey, listen, I wish it was full pads all the time. You know, we talk about there could be three full padded practices before the first game at the Hall of Fame game, and I would have three padded practices in a day and a half of camp. So but I'm looking at the reality of modern day football and the role in the importance that Caleb Williams is going to play in hopefully a decade of success for the Bears.
Observations about Caleb are going to come fast and furious every single practice for the rest of his career. Obviously, it's the marquee position in all of sports, and he's the number one overall pick and high expectations observations from my point of view. Time a couple of things. One, you often tend to look at body language as a reporter or an observer, and reporters make a living off of this, and sometimes reading body language can give you
a total misread. Don't read into it too much. But what I see is an intensity about him as the play's call coming in from Shane Waldron, the music's playing, it's pumping at a very high volume at practice during team drills. It lowers throughout the rest of practice, but it's a testament to what he's going to face on the road in the coming weeks of his rookie season. But he really wants that play in there. He goes to players afterwards. I saw a conversation with Key now
in a conversation with Cole Komen. These are positives for me to see how engaged he is in the moment that as you always like to say, that instant of time where you can make corrections and get on the same page.
That communication will never stop. If we're talking about Caleb Williams ten years from now in breaking in a new receiver that maybe they brought a board in the draft.
That conversation is going to continue right now. The role of the conversation plays an uber important role in the success and the development of timing, of the understanding of coverages, the accuracy factor, what you saw out of the coverages that were being offered to you on certain down and distances in parts of the field right hash left, hash middle of the field. So those conversations will never stop.
A player came up to me the other day and said, let me tell you something. He's got a very catchable ball. It doesn't matter if it's a short pass, an intermediate pass, or a fifty yard pass down the field, a very tight, viral catchable ball. The importance of that tom for a receiver is what it's just.
The confidence of the ball is going to be delivered at a velocity that's very catchable, no matter if you're
ten yards away or thirty five yards away. And I think sometimes over the course of history, now that we've been around football for almost thirty years, we've seen quarterbacks that come in here and yeah, their arm is described as a cannon, but the cannon has to have control if you're throwing a cannon pass that's about an eight yard outlet pass to a running back and it splits his hands even though they have those gloves that have
just a lot of grip built into them. It's different than the pass that's got to be a floater of fifteen to eighteen to twenty yards away. So yeah, I think the quarterback's recognition of his arm talents is as important as it is knowing what the play is and where the ball is going to go.
And as an extension to that, yeah, you don't want the ball eating up receivers, especially in that short game, because a lot of passes are going to be completed from the line of scrimmage or behind the line of scrimmage to ten yards, and those are going to be catching run plays, Those plays over the middle where you got to thread the needle and you got a defender on your back. You got to make those nice and easy, and those fades in the end zone the back shoulder throws.
But as an extension of that, and you tell me if I'm wrong, I gotta trust my eyes. Yes, there have been some incompletions, of course, but the ball is not on the ground a lot.
Yeah, it's true. I think you Caleb understands the target. Maybe sometimes he's going to hold onto the ball a half a second to three quarters of a second a little bit too long that will probably be sped up the more he gets to understand the offense. But the key ingredient there is what you said, and I'm glad you did say it, because not being on the ground
tip balls are disaster. So if you have a ball that's not on the ground, it's into the hands of the receiver, then that's what we need to see out of a quarterback. You talk about a velocity of a of a quarterback, and if you're starting to get those balls that go through the hands of the receivers the way, the first thing that defensive back is living on is tip balls, and so you need to see the accuracy complement the offense.
Tastes like middle Time. Go to middle of Night dot com slash bears pod to find delivery options near you. Celebrate responsibly. Middle Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Ninety six calories and three point two carbs per twelve ounces. Met with the folks from Miller a couple of days ago. Always a fun bunch. They had the middle of late on ice, Tommy, first thing in the morning, enjoying practice. You were tempted.
I know you listen anytime there's an ice cold beverage, whether it's something that's offered to you out of practice or inside the viewing suite, there's nothing like a cold beverage at training camp. And I remember back in training camp in our days, they used to have these fifty gallon drums that were filled in ice and a thirst
quenching product. And when you had the time to go over there, grab one, open it up, you drank the whole can or whatever you were offered because you only had maybe two or three plays in order to get your drink and get back in line to get your next rep.
So now you're not suggesting that there were beers in there, No, never.
You know, you had me think they had a different you know, whether ye water or whatever product that they have on the field. They had these intermittently placed big tubs in that It was so good man, when you had your chance to go and grab something to drink, and those exhausting times at Platteville super rewarding.
Let's talk about the offensive line relative to Caleb Williams and his ability to get rid of the ball in a timely manner, read it or dump it, or just find the completion, because that over the last couple of years has been an issue for the Bears offense. So it was the longest period of time holding the football for justin fields in the NFL, better than three point one seconds on average. So what will that do conversely for the offensive line when he gets rid of it in a quicker fashion.
Okay, first of all, if they're an opponent stadium that has a lowed atmosphere, the offensive guard is going to be the indicator to the center that the ball is going to be snapped. As soon as they give that indicator to the center, that's when the timeframe really starts.
You get the center quarterback exchange, and then if that quarterback can get the ball out of his hands in the right amount of time according to the protection that the offensive line heard inside the huddle, then rather than holding and sustaining your block for a second and a half, now you're sustaining your protection for three quarters of a second to a second, and then a lot more battles
can be won. Now the offensive line has to break the huddle with the understanding of the time of the protection call in the huddle, you have a three step drop, it's going to be a little bit quicker than a five step drop. If you have a play action pass, that means that you're going to go out and try to sell the run more than you are going to be a pass protector. So there's differences in every protection.
But with the immediacy of the ball out of the quarterback's hands, it really is so beneficial to an offensive.
Line, all right. Among the quarterbacks you played for, obviously Jim McMahon and Mike tom Zach and Steve Fuller, there were many others over the course of your time with the Bears. How were they in terms of getting rid of the football as a group?
McMahon was in instantaneously because he understood the coverage that he was facing from his experience in college, and he knew where the ball was going to go as soon as it was snap by Jay. But then you also had guys like Mike Tomzak that got rid of the ball quickly in terms of what he determined to be his read and where it would go. Steve Fuller was not the athlete that you know tom Zak and McMahon were at time, so he had a little bit more time getting back to his stance, and then he was
more of a slow, methodical thrower. And then you had Jim Harball come in. It was kind of an athlete playing the quarterback position and then had a lot of time to be able to try to learn the system perfectly, to incorporate his athleticism in his delivery, and sometimes he was he held out of the ball a little bit longer, but that's the speed of his game picked up as
time went on throughout his career with the Bears. In his career in the NFL, Doug Fluti Doug Flutie was he was an inexperienced quarterback playing with a really experienced team. I think it was a little unfair to kind of make a determination on him because everything was his size was talked about more than his delivery, so you had to provide protection for him and create a stalemate on the line of scrimmage. So he separated. And remember the
drops back then were three five seven step drops. So that's the significant difference when you're talking about those three types of drops, and we are so successful at running the ball. We ran a lot more play action than other did. Other teams did in the NFL, but Doug Flutie, we really didn't have a long enough period of time to figure out. And I was thinking about Doug today because he had a great career in the long term when you're talking about the Canadian League, the USFL and the NFL.
And still doing commercials with Frank Thomas.
Hey, he looks great.
He's got good flow.
Sixty.
Yeah, he's got a really good flow.
Peter tom Willis, Peter tom Willis had a really slow cadence And I remember asking Peter tom Willis because he was a Southern drawl type of player, so he would go blue fourteen blue fourteen, sit hood in where the other guys would go blue fourteen blue fourteen. So their hard count was a lot more deceptive to the defensive line than Peter tom Willis. And I remember asking him if he could speed up his cadence because it's too slow the cadence and there's not a lot of deception
there for the defensive line. But you know, Peter tom Willis was a good quarterback, a lot of college experience, but he wasn't as a scapable as some of the other quarterbacks that we played with.
Yeah, that covers it. Though you didn't have that many during your time.
Right, we are super fortunate to have McMahon for a period of time. Tom Zach had some. I think he started out ten and zero as a starter in his career for the Bears with Steve Fuller here and then Harball and Fluty and such. You know, that's what we What did.
You learn from Greg Landry during your time?
I learned more. Greg Landry was my first quarterback in the USFL, so I up late. I was a teammate with Greg and he was one of the toughest guys I've ever met in my life. One time he got hit under the chin and he bit off half of his tongue and he never missed a play oh go, and then he but as a player, he tried to be a mentor as much as he did a teammate. And that's what I really respected about him. He didn't.
He used to tell me, don't fall into a trap of some of the guys here in the USFL, because they're ending your career right when you're beginning your career. And he was a super tough guy that had complete control of the huddle. As a football coach, he had command of the offense, but sometimes we were fighting in an uphill battle because we didn't have the eighty five Bears there. We had some movable parts that weren't the same as the guys we had at one time.
Yeah, nineteen eighty four as a Bears player, also as a quarterback receiver in tight ends coach from eighty six to eighty eight. He went over to u of I in the nineties, and of course coming into the NFL with the Detroit Lione is the number eleven pick in the draft and Greg Landerne he.
Was the most sacked quarterback in the NFL with Detroit, and he just had some years that were absolutely brutal. But in the long run, I think that's why I respect this toughness so much, because I saw him as a Detroit Lion. I played again. I played with him as a member of the Chicago Blitz, and I respected him as a coach of the Chicago.
Bears, Comeback Player of the Year in seventy six and All Pro first Team in nineteen seventy one with the Lions in his third NFL season, And he's a New Hampshire guy living out on the East Coast. All right, let's switch gears Tommy and move into our conversation with
Javon Dexter. I love this. I love this because you can see the big difference, and we've seen it annually from rookies are quite not sure of what they're dealing with over the course of the season, maybe a bit reserve unless they have a really outgoing personality and then this monumental glacial change in their demeanor. And that would be the man that Matt eber Flows calls Dino Dexter.
Gervon Dexter Senior. Our conversation with tom and I we've been talking about you since the middle of last season on and very excited, and I was trying to flip a coin whose body changed the most. You were, Dominique Robinson, because you guys both are massive right now. You guys look good, you guys, you guys showing off in the mirror a little bit.
That's a that's a tough one. Just because Domb before he changed his body, he still looked pretty now, I know, so I'll probably give it to myself just because Domb was already.
Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's been a massive, massive, investment of time and uh, you feel a totally different player, don't you.
Yeah?
Yeah, what's the benefits that you experience.
Already being able to be out there longer and being able to rush while I'm tired of being able to move a little better, get out the stack a little better, a little faster, a little further, and so all of those things is feeling great.
You know, Javon, you just walked off the podium and you said you're blessed with great height, and you are. And for me as an ex offensive lineman, one thing that intimidated me was height by a defensive lineman because that brings length. When you have your pass rush and you're going through all your techniques and all your arsenal, is there an emphasis on using your length to make sure that you can try to make contact to the offensive lineman before are their hands can make contact to you?
For sure?
I think for for bigger defensive tackles and defensive lineman, that's our weapon. Our length is our weapon, just because when you create that separation off to get off, it's hard for office of lineman to recover from from the length. And I think that's when you use that to your ability. It works well.
When you have the length that you're blessed with. I look at the vision that you're using. You recently had a deflected pass in practice. Caleb had to catch it himself and he had to run it because you can't throw two forward passes. How do you combine and everything with knowing the move you're gonna use out of your stance, reading what the play is, pass or run, and then using your vision in order to read the quarterback? How
are you? How are you able to incorporate all those within an instance of time?
Yeah, I just try to. I try to get those reps.
I try to get those mental reps or even an individual, I try to get those reps to to where when it's time it's a second nature to me. And I think I've I've done a better job this year at at like you said, doing all of those same things at once, and I think so far I've seen myself well one play, like like we talked about, where I took the past that that was a bigger step for me because normally last year I would kind of sit there and just use my extension. Well, now I'm getting
my hands up. Now it creates tip passes create turnovers and that's what we want.
You got eighty one inch wingspan, so might as well put the thing that impressed me, and I think it goes off and underrated is the effort after the play or to continue to play if it gets passed a line, you chase down. You you did it last year, You're doing it at practice, and that that's a wow when you see a guy your size chasing down. And I believe coach Flues told you something about backside play wins championships, right, that was a quote he gave. But how important is it?
Because to your point, fatigue may you know, guys may not run you know as uh uh as often you know after the play and in fourth quarter you can make a play downfield to be just as important as a sack, right, And how important isn't it? And you've always been that way?
Right?
So I would be lying if I said I've always been that way. But being drafted by the Bears and watching old film and that's the DNA here. So coming here and watching the film and seeing how these guys fly around get to the ball, and not just the secondary, but we the whole the whole unit is doing it in like coach flu state, that's who we are, that's our resume, and that's how we want to be on film, you know, Jivon.
After you get off your senior year of football, it's an exhausting period of time when you go through the combines, you're getting ready for the draft. You go through the draft, and then you go through your rookie introduction. But your freshman year in college you played every game, But your sophomore year in college you were super productive in your numbers. You had more tackles for loss, you had more sacks,
you had more production out of your position. Do you kind of see that in yourself from your freshman the sophomore year for a lack of a better term, professionally as you did in college.
Yeah, it's the exact same. When you come into something new, you kind of float by. You're trying to understand the scheme, you're trying to understand your teammates, You're trying to understand a lot of different things, and as well as just being young, so you don't want to make a mistake when you were out there, and so when you play like that, you tend to be a little timid and trusting yourself. Well, when you go into that next year, you know what to expect. You know your teammates, you
know your coaches, you know the system. So now it allows you to play a little faster.
So does somebody like Montes? What when he rolls into the locker room and I forgot what week it was, but it just you stand up and notice, first of all, you guys are similarly built now, and now you're playing next to him on the line. I mean, I love when the two of you are lined up next to each other. My mind starts becoming coach like and I'm like, oh my god, I can design a lot of stuff here.
But watching him and some others in the locker room, because I think a young player just wants to survive their rookie season. There's too much to learn. You haven't stopped since college, right, and you'll learn what being a professional is. Did his arrival help you become what you are right now?
One hundred percent?
And I think, like you said, when you're just trying to survive and then you get a guy like Montes in there and you're seeing what he do what he does to prepare for a game and prepare for the week, you kind of see, Okay, well he did that on Monday, he did this on Tuesday, and then had two sacks on Sunday.
I probably should do that, right.
So having a guy like that and seeing his success, it motivates you to kind of go get it.
Or like Marcedes Lewis, exactly his routine. He doesn't let anything interrupt his routine for the week to get him ready to play.
He's forty years old exactly.
Yeah, did he ever talk to you?
Yeah, I've had several different conversations with Mercedes, And like you said, when you get a guy like that, don't we all want to play twenty years in the league. So when you got a guy like that who's at a place where you want to be, it's almost dumb not to ask questions when you see him, even if they're just eating lunch, eating, sitting at the table. You're missing the opportunity when you don't ask guys like that question.
You know, Javona in your pregame opportunity, your pregame kind of routine that you were going through your work with the defensive line coach and you were working on specific moves and specific get offs at the on the line of scrimmage, and to me, I was kind of impressed with you because to me, you never hit a rookie wall. Am I true in that statement? Was it the assert Was it the montest sweat coming aboard and giving you
a little bit of a spark? Or did you feel fresh the whole year, because it's it's tough going from that senior year where you play twelve games maybe to go to a seventeen game season.
Yeah, I think it was a little bit of both.
Yeah, yeah, you could say montees, but also I think for me it was I wasn't not a place. I think when guys hit rookie walls or even when guys hit a place to where they're comfortable, and I wasn't comfortable how I was playing. I wasn't comfortable. I'm still not comfortable in where I'm at and in my role as a NFL player. So I think guys hit a rookie wall when they're comfortable and they're safe, and they
think they're safe in their spot. But I'm not even close to what I want to be as a football players. So that's why I still had goals that I wanted to check off and still do.
So you know, you and.
Zach are two different positions, two different body type. Zach pickings I'm saying a rookie. Also, can you guys talk about defensive line play or are there different so many, so many differences within your position and your style style play that you know you maybe just talk to each other about the game.
No, No, we definitely talk it and Zach as well as me as two players that can play both positions, so we both talk about Okay, if you're here, this is what you do or this is what you have or try this or try that.
So we definitely talk about the game.
What's your weight? I'm thrill six, right, real six, So listened at three twelve, so you slimmed up a little bit, but you turned a lot of that into muscle.
Right.
So I have a nickname. My daughters gave it to me. I'm Snackshack. Okay, so you know, late night, they actually put an alarm on my cupboard, so they caught me in the middle of the night, you know, eating snacks, and so we all love to have a little snack and we don't think it's gonna make a big difference until you're getting paid a lot of money to make sure it doesn't make a difference. Has it been hard to say?
No, I think the first week, ten twelve days, I think it was hard for me, honestly, I think. But I think once you get a routine and you feel like you see you're getting closer to a goal and you're getting close to that weight that you want to be coming into the until training camp, it motivates you like, oh man, I'm close, I'm getting close. I'm getting closer. Then after a while it becomes a routine and it's.
All the way.
Yeah, that's the thing eating clean, even if you're not a professional athlete, just somebody, which I'm trying to do as I age here.
But once you.
See some benefits, you slim up the pantska go on a little better, and your workouts you're like, oh my god, I can't believe I just did that. It does it totally. Then you look at food is just fuel, right, and I would imagine that's part of this is exactly yeah, exactly. One last thing I got to ask him because he was talking about you know, he was running with the d NS Tommy in the conditioning drill and at the front of the line, I think that's a little bit
of a competitive juice going as well. Right, But there's a guy here and Tommy remembers Tony member of Tony Paris, the safety. He was a bulked up, muscled up safety, hit like a son of a gun. And one time I ran in him and he goes man, you slimmed up. While I was training for a marathon, he goes man, he goes I could not run more than a mile. My body would lock up. Because you guys are doing it for bursts of energy and bursts in a real
small period of time. Right, How of your workouts? What did you do in this offseason for what you said? You know, you want to be as good as you are on first down as you would be on third down and first quarter to fourth quarter, because this is like.
Bursts, right, And so so I split those things up because yeah, you get you can go out there and try to run marathon, but it won't benefit you for a defensive tackle. So what I did was I took some of those things. I took how does a marathon trainer actually train? And how what that benefit me?
Well?
That was doing that was for one that was eating right, and that was the biggest thing I learned that eighty percent of it was eating the right way and how do you eat and how do you hydrate yourself the right way. The rest was I did a workout that's called the strong Man. It's called a strong Man workout. It's equals to their tire flips. You do three or four tire flips. You got six seconds to flip it.
So you're burning, you're burning fat, you're burning calories, but you're also getting stronger at the same time, and that's equal to me.
So for example, the tire flip or.
The you're picking up one hundred and fifty pounds medball and you're walking for six seconds, that's all equal to when you're board rushing in the fourth course and your laser are getting dead. Well, now, when you do those type of workouts, you can you can go.
A little longer. You're not getting dead.
And so all of those little workouts running the track, running a mile and a half, running a hill, running heels, sprint training, honeyard training, so all of those little things that I did is off season, equals to.
One Gabon last question for me, I've been around the NFL now for forty years. But I've never been around hard knocks. Are you aware of it? Do you kind of limit your conversation and were you a fan of it? I've been a fan of it before. Have you been a fan of it from a young guy growing up?
Yeah, I was a fan of hard knocks. I'm they do a good job at not causing it to be a distraction.
They definitely do a good job at that.
But now I've definitely sometimes watched what I say, but it is not like I said. They do a good job at kind of staying out the way and just doing their job, and we're not. We're still working the same way. We're not at this or that for the TV or nothing like that.
So it's the same throughout my whole career. I wish it one time I was miked up for one game because I would like to listen back to that as an older guy, when I was a young guy. Have you ever been miked up yet?
Not? Not here for the Bears, but I have been miked up in college.
You gotta do it one time. It's for your kids, do it one gay, do.
It save it for save it for yourself and your family other people.
Yeah, exactly, all right, lastly, and we'll let you go to Marcus Walker. He's a Florida State guy. You're a Florida guy. Uh, he grew up in Florida. You know what's that like? On the field? Does he give you some business? Because he's given the offensive business all the time. That guy's crazy. I love him.
I love the Marcus. I don't love his decisions that he made to go to Florida State. I think you get a terrible decision.
Yeah, and congratulations it's not getting married.
Thank you.
How cool is that? Any any any teammates go to the wedding.
Yeah, Zach Pickens came to the wedding. It was a great feeling, man, unbelievable feeling. I have a lovely family, a lovely wife, a little boy, a little two year old n Junior. Yeah, it was great, man, awesome, Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Have a great year.
Uh.
It's a very important position on the Chicago Bears. Here we can talk about Kayleb Williams and the offense. How we want three technique defensive tackle. That's big stuff.
So appreciate the fourth most important on the roster. I didn't want to say anything about that I'm putting a little pressure on you.
Okay, okay, Yes.
Sir, appreciate good luck, all right. I always love to get your takeaways. Uh, would you agree?
Though?
He's a totally different cat right now personality wise, confidence, and he's big as a mountain.
Yes, you know. We talked about it the other day when we had Tony Medline on what is Tony Medlin saying? You only one year? And that's what Jervon did as a rookie. In what I'm oppressed about Gervana is he got better throughout his rookie campaign, which is really difficult because there's a lot of rookies that hit a rookie wall and then they're almost sleep walking through the remainder
of the season. He never did that. And I think that the influence and the production increase when Montes got here because he finally had a senior leader on this position and in this locker room. That really helped him
fight through the latter part of his rookie career. But now when you look at him coming into a second year, you know what was important because you can see the change in his body, you can talk to him and hear his attitude and then you understand what his assets are and how he's going to use him.
Over four hundred and thirty snaps on defense last season and seventy one on special team, so over five hundred, did not miss a game, seventeen games and started one. He will be the starter at three technique here in twenty twenty four, and I can't be more excited about a player again. He put on a bunch of body armored,
lost body fat. He got married. He knows. I mean, all you gotta do is look around the NFL this year and Justin Medabikue and his big contract and what's ahead here in a couple of years for a guy if he can elevate himself because there is never enough big guys up front on the offense or defensive line. So this is when you have to instantly. But you got to become a pro. And he's becoming a pro.
Yeah. You know.
The thing about it is when you get a when you're a second round draft choice in the NFL, all draft choices have a lot of pressure on them to perform and be a performer. When you're a first or second rounder, there's almost, you know, there's almost the feeling that you're going to be a contributor almost immediately, and Jervan was. But then when you go into that second year, the whole the whole conversation is growth and potential. You know, what is he doing to make himself a better player
from his rookie year? And I think that Gervana has done so much. That's evident when you look at him going into a second year. When he does get into full pads and he starts playing against different opponents in the preseason games, that's when we're going to see the
best out of Jervan. But I hope it continues to increase throughout the whole season and we get to see him use that six to six frame like an interior defensive lineman that I would be intimidated by playing against that length of an inside guy.
All right, well here's what I'm looking for. Yes, I want to get some you know, I love him via just an a hillacious, packet pocket collapser and but you know, getting those hands up in the air at his size and his eighty one inch wingspan on top of it. So I just looked this up. Kevin Williams, remember the Williams Wall with Pat Kevin Williams. Kevin Williams again a big defensive tackle. Lengthwise, seventy three batted balls in his career.
That's number one. And I don't know what the time ranges, but here here are some of the guys. JJ Watt, of course, was widely known for this. He batted balls down, he got his hands up. He had seventy. Carlos Dunlap, the former Cincinnati Bengal seventy, Julius Peppers the Hall of Famer sixty eight, Jason Taylor sixty four, cam Jordan sixty one, Klais Campbell fifty eight, Jared Allen, a former Bear at
fifty eight. You get my drift here. That size leads to batted balls, which leads to potential interceptions even at the line of scrimmage at the linebacker level or tipped down the field into this secondary.
Okay, So it's kind of funny you bring those type of numbers for a career up because my brother and I were talking about Javon Dexter and the numbers I was expecting out of them this year. What do you got?
So?
I want I want eight batted balls, which is not a lot I want. I want I want six sacks out of him and want not I want eight for loss.
Okay, Okay, I'm not looking I'm not.
Looking for numbers that I expect out of him in his third, fourth and fifth year. But if you give me those types of batted balls and you say you get four of them to convert to interceptions, say you get tackles for loss, that makes the down and distance insurmountable to get a first down. And say you get five sacks on whatever down you want to get him on, because you know that the analytics of getting a first down after you give up a sack, it goes down considerably.
So I'm not asking for unrealistic numbers. But that's what I'm looking for out of Javan.
Here's what he's looking for. He's got it on his phone. It's a screensaver. Eight plus sacks this year, fifteen tackles for loss, Pro Bowl, All Pro. That's just individual and so he's thinking big. Last year, he really came on strong at the end of the year. Obviously, he was hitting the quarterback nine times in the last eight games. Tom so he had twelve. It's on the quarterback for the year, two and a half. Two bad of balls.
So yes, that leverage that he has got to play with and keeping his pads down in the run game and then in the past game. You know, if you rush, if you've lost your rush, get the hands up when the ball's coming out. Let's let's get some let's get some tip balls, Tommy.
Okay, Jeff. So you think of Kalais Campbell, you think of Buckner, and you think of Eric Armstead. You talk about three defensive tackles that have really good length. You look at where they are at in their career and they're all going to get Hall of Fame consideration, and a lot of what they do from the inside and what it means to the overall scheme of their defense is they're using their length as much as any of the other assets they have.
I got a question for you, what surprises you more? Twelfth all time on this list. It's provided by step Muse Alex Brown forty two? But what's more surprising the forty two or his five career interceptions planned edge.
The interceptions, they don't surprise me because it's just good readability on when the bubble screens and screens come into vogue, and Richard Dent was really good. I think Richard Dent might have had three interceptions in his career, but the defensive end interception doesn't surprise me anymore because these guys are working so hard upfield that if a quarterback doesn't expect them to already be penetrating by four or five yards,
sometimes they throw it right to them. But I don't know if any of those were tip balls.
For Alex Pepper's had nine interceptions in his career. Wow, just a unique athlete. Richard Dent eight.
Eight interceptions, correct interception. I'm under selling the big man. Yes, sorry about that. Oh my gosh, this is good conversation. We're brought to you by P and C, official bank of the Bears. And when it's time to tackle some game day deals, then go with a grocery who's been a part of Chicago since eighteen ninety nine, jewel Osco, the.
Official grocery store of the Chicago Bears. So when we talk about pads coming on, you know, tempers are going to flare, the conversation. The ear hustling is gonna ramp up considerably because we got a lowed secondary and we got some really patient but competitive veteran receivers like a Keenan Allen and a DJ Moore and Nicole Kamet and
Gerald Everett in the tight end position. This is gonna be a fiery training camp when the pads come on, because already the offense says, it's been pointed out that, yeah, you guys have been taking a lot of verbal instigation from the defense. It's only going to heighten when the pads come on, and it's only going to sharpen this football team considerably. I can't wait to watch it. Obviously, when you get one on one's offense defensive line, we
love that, but this is this is a high. If that's one, this is one A I can't wait to watch it.
Well, you know, the thing about it is is we're going to be privy to that those types of conversations because you kind of hear them from the sidelines on the practice field. The information in the argument that we're not going to be privy to is in the meeting room because, Jeff, when you put on full pads, the meetings take a whole other level of seriousness because you're talking about real football. You're not talking about a defensive back coming. Oh man, I would hit you in the
open field. You know, you don't know that, but now all these portions of whatever your job requirement is is going to be real because you're going to have pads on, and now the coaches they have to be more critical of you. That's when you have to get thicker skin in the meeting rooms, and that's when you can't take offense if the coach is trying to coach you, because pads are for real on the practice field that the fans and we'll be able to hear, we'll be able
to see it in hard knocks for gosh sakes. Yeah, but inside those meeting rooms, that's more real than any part of football that we don't get a chance to see.
What else is on your list of can't wait to see type things anybody in particular, or a group against a group, or obviously just the continuing development and progress, the incremental improvements that Caleb Williams will take and make.
You know, two things are first of all, a year smarter, a year wiser, a year more intelligent, and more difficult to practice against Tremaine Edmunds and t J Edwards because last year when we came to training camp, Tremaine Edmunds was out a little bit, and these guys were just being introduced to a new system, and I think the first couple of games of the regular season, they really weren't what they ultimately became. So to put those guys out in the field every day, I e. Singletary Otis
and Wilbur it was a complete nightmare. So now when you add those guys in Sanborn and the rest of the crew, I think watching that linebacker position and the influence between the back end of the defense and how they interact with the defensive line. And then to me is the competitiveness of the running back position. I know DeAndre Swift has brought a board to be three down running back, but when you lose the legs of justin fields, you got to have the legs of the running back position.
So how are they gonna be included? Is there gonna still be that role of importance in terms of the analytics and the percentages of the running game and the way it's called. Are we going to have more screens and play action involved in the offense? And then how is the running game gonna really factor in to help Caleb and I think when you look at two really important portions of the overall team success. Running back and linebacker are two of the key ingredients that holds everything together.
You've got to have a performance of an offense whether you got one of these guys in an important blocking role, are they gonna catch a screen or if there's a designation run to them? And then on the other side of the ball, how does our linebacker position factor in and make the overall scheme of the defense better, faster and stronger.
Well, we're learning that Kevin Byrd is a heck of a communicator back there does not shock me at all. Classy guy, classy veteran ballhawk, twenty eight career interceptions. And did you hear coach Fluse saying that John Hook is the best corner coach in the NFL.
To bring that up, I meant to bring that up yesterday, and I'm glad you brought it up.
Can't agree with him more. I mean, just a wonderful coach, feisty, he's got his player's best interests. And you know, there's plenty of history lessons about guys that may not have liked him early in their career, and they are close friends to this day. Guys like Tim Jennings who took his share of verbal abuse at times from John Hoak to get him to play a certain way. Just he's got the player's best interest in mind, the team's best interest in mind, and just a fiery coach.
Love that guy, Love me John Hoak. You know, here's a guy that probably didn't have the athleticism to play a position of such importance on a football team, and he went out there and had a career. And it's kind of funny. Hampton was telling me a story that when John Hoak was here the first Thanksgiving. Yeah, Dan Hampton had John Holk over to his house for Thanksgiving dinner. And then you just think of the lineage here with
the Chicago Bears. But what he's meant and how he's developed a position that's one of the most To me, it's the second most difficult position in football. And I'm glad that Fluse gave him such a high compliment from the podium the other day.
And he didn't just say he said it with emphasis, right, Yeah, exactly demonstrative. I know you're very intrigued. Obviously, the punter for the Bears is going to be the rookie out of Iowa, Tory Taylor but the left footed, cordless weightman. I'm sure we'll see him in the Hall of Fame game. I did some work on this guy. What an interesting guy. What a Belgian born left footed punter out of South Alba. Moved to the US at fifteen. His mom's family is
from South Africa. Dad from Belgium who was a professional basketball player overseas, and the family moved to the Netherlands. So he did play his high school football here in the States. But he's a very good punter. He had a year with Denver in twenty two. He had the most punts in the NFL that year and he was number twelve I think, or ten in hang time. But that team struggled and he had ninety plus punts, so in the mile high air for the most part, with
all those home games out there. But this guy can punt the football. And you've brought it up to me. And I liked that they have a left footed punter and a right footed punter in it. I didn't realize this, but since twenty oh seven or twenty oh Bill Belichick had a left footed punter, so he did the spin of the balls, different challenges, the bobbles, any hesitation could mean disaster in the punt return game.
As you know, how far is the Netherlands away from Australia when you want to talk about the distance of the same position player that are so far apart in where they are raised and how they are raised. It's incredible that it's the two punters this year of the Chicago Bears. But I do I think it's super beneficial to have a left footed punter in camp to get these guys with fifty or sixty.
Reps fourteen seven and eighty four kilometers Tommy amazing.
I mean, it's just amazing when you think about where the NFL is going in terms of worldwide recognition and talent and talent coming aboard.
Yeah, it's good to see, that's for sure, because more and more international influence on the agenda. Indeed, Miller Lite is our sponsor. Tastes like Midder Time, celebrate responsibly Midder Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, ninety six calories and three point two carbs per twelve ounces and draw up a great game plan of savings with Jewel Losco. For your digital coupons, Download the app for a fully loaded lineup of hot deals on produce salty snacks, tasty beverages and more so.
Back to the practice field on Thursday and Friday for the Bears. Tommy and the Pats come out on Friday, fans will be out. They'll be enjoying that view for sure. If you haven't been there yet, I think there've been one fan practice. It looks fantastic. They did a great job. The seating areas now have a canopy to protect you from the heat of the day, and the practices are going to be better than two hours two and a half hours. But when the Pats come on, so it'll
be a long day out there in the morning. Come on out. If you haven't already purchased your ticket or bought your ticket that gets you into the facility. It's a tremendous setup. The Bears staff has been working diligently here the last few years, but they have been preparing this for many, many weeks in advance of this. The fields look great. It really looks beautiful and a great view for HBO's hard knocks to take it all in.
Before we go. So I started watching the rugby seven manter rugby on the Olympics today and when I think of kickoff and kickoff return. And I look at some of this New Zealand team or the USA is playing
the Fijians today, you're scouting. Listen, when we talk about players introduced from around the world that want to play a different sport or somehow how do they develop their ability, we may see some we may see some rugby players in the future coming from that sport to play on kickoff and kickoff return.
Well, Kansas City signed Luis Reese, a European rugby star Luis Reese zemmet. He will likely be on the kickoff coverage during the preseason, so you can take an eyeball to it and Dave Tobe's crew over there.
They tackle and block. So that's the thing about it is, I don't think they're just have only a singular skill set. I think that they have a portion of team skills. Punt punt return, kickoff, kickoff return.
Tom with the spirit of the Olympics, Uh, what would what sport would you have wanted to try to be an Olympian?
Oh, I mean it's either beach volleyball or wrestling.
Yeah, I was thinking I was thinking the wrestling part, but the beach volleyball makes complete sense. You might you might have been a terror out there those days at North Avenue Beach. I never got to an experience tract.
I would have got distracted by the surfing from the beaches that they are. I probably wouldn't invest in the right of mind.
When's the last time you played volleyball on the beach?
Uh?
Right before I got my first hip replacement?
And you miss it? Do you miss it?
I miss all activity? Of course.
Visity heart Seltz your flavors for every vibe, Celebrate responsibly. Multen Cores Beverage Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Tommy will see you in Lake Forest at training camp on Thursday and Friday. Don't be late and we will talk to you again coming up next week. By the way, our podcasts include a visit from former Bears defensive tackle Henry Melton, who was at practice the other day. One of Lovey Smith's guys and that era of Bears living in the city.
And the other one is one of note Devin Hester, the Hall of Famer, will join us. That will drop next Thursday, the morning of the game against the Houston Texans in Ken So. We had a great conversation with Devin.
What a thrill. It's been to talk to the ex BET players, even Chase Daniel and stuff, because we don't get a chance to talk to them a lot other than about football stuff while their career is going on, and get a chance to talk to them for at least a half hour or throughout the podcast. It's it's been. I've loved every minute of it just because there is no you know, there, there's no separation. We're just all you know, former football players talking about life.
Yep.
There's a lot of perspective that we hear and uh yeah, nobody's rushing to get to a team meeting and you only have ten minutes with them, and they're not they're not completely locked in, all right, Tom, thank you, Thank you to Gervon Dexter, Sr. And for Tom there, I'm Jeff Joniha. Thanks for listening. Everyone. Please subscribe now the Chicago Bears official app, Apple, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you
get your podcasts and do that. Subscription helps us out, appreciate it and bear down everybody