Robinson II excited for Training Camp | All Access

With my broadcast partner from WBBM, Tom Thay, I'm Jeff Joniac. We're brought to you by IGS Energy here on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy to score as we get you set for what is now officially training camp practice with pads coming up on Monday. And Tom, when you think back to the impact of COVID back in March, shutting every sport down and the constant tug a war with the experts, the doctors, the fans, the media, everybody, all these opinions whether football was going to play, we still

got hurdles to clear. But now less than a month before the season opener and true Blue training camp practices, it feels like this is going to happen. Well, I think, Jeff, you officially started the countdown to the first regular season game. However, when you talk about all those plans we talked about throughout the corpse of the off season, how is it going to affect the facility to make the safest place possible?

And I think the Bears went to every extent to get the safest environment the players could possibly walk into. All right, and that has to happen because you know, and I know, you can't play football with something else on your mind thinking about ball. You got to be thinking about your assignments. You can't have missed assignments. You can't have mental errors because the evaluation is strict as it always is, but I think it'll be stricter this year,

if that's even possible. There's a small timeframe to get this team ready the first game September thirteenth against the Detroit Lions. Can't be thinking about something else because that's how injuries happen. Up all the time you leave the facility in full pads, you can think about whatever you want to. But once you get in the huddle, once you get in your stance, once the cadence is going.

You better only be thinking about football, your assignment, your goal, your fundamentals, and that's the quickest way to improve as a football team. And I'm not trying to minimize anything time, and I don't think you are either. We know there are serious concerns. Each player has families that may or may not have some issues that could cause a problem

with COVID if they were to unfortunately get it. If something was going on in your life that really had you down or really was weighing on your mind, how were you able to compartmentalize that for three and a half hours or even longer, because it takes longer to get yourself ready on game day to actually just play bond, think about bond, not about that. Well. I do think that's one of the positive escape areas for these football players,

for these coaches. Again, I talk about when you're inside the building, when you have personal time, you can think about any issue that you need to think about. When you get on the practice field and you get in terms of trying to get better as a football team, that's a release for a lot of these guys. That's a relief for a lot of these guys Jeff, Finally their mind can be occupied by something other than world concerns and the health issues. Well, how did it impact you.

Did you ever have a situation in your playing career was hard to play on game day because of what was going on in your head? Yeah, you know, there was different health issues with my mom and dad along the way that it would occupy a majority your free time. But again, when I did get on the practice field, when I got in the football field, I realized the importance of my occupation of what was helping me, you know, decide my fate in life. So I had to pay

attention to football. And then soon as I got off the field, I had we could have other concerns. Okay, so what should we expect on Monday? Enthusiasm at some of the highest level that we've seen in quite a while. Because you think, Jeff, when we're out there in the first day of training camp and they're looking at a four week stretch of just hard, a grind of training camp with four preseason games, it is a grind, and it is a state of mind. This is not this

is getting prepared for the regular season. All that preseason stuff is behind us. This is now regular season preparation in every way, shape or form you started it, countdown is on, and you know, it's that nervousness I would imagine for a player mentally, even on Sunday night, it might be a little sleepless. Oh I know if it was me, I would not be sleeping Sunday night. I would have so much I would be concerned, I would be excited. I'd be nervous. I'd be anticipating what the

future is gonna hold. But you know, Jeff, there's nothing like putting on cleats for real inside the locker room. There's nothing like taping your fingers in your risk because you know you're gonna have contact. There's nothing like Colin Tony Medlin the head equipment manager, and say, hey, fill my helmet up with air. I need a little bit more padding. Every one of those little elements add to the excitement of what you're actually gonna do Monday morning,

starting at about nine thirty. This coaching staff, obviously with four new offensive coaches, there's still a ramp up there for them and to get to know these guys. When they start running at full speed on the practice field with pads, it's a whole different ballgame versus routes on air and walkthroughs and whatnot. Are there any risks from Matt Naggy through artist coaching staff of trying to do too much in a short period of time to get ready?

You know, if I think for the assistant coaches and for the head coach, I think it's all about eye adjustment during practice, Jeff, because a lot of times we see, okay, there's a course of four or five weeks, thirty or forty seven on seven plays. During the course of a practice, sometimes an assistant coach can have an off, off the side conversation with the player that you need to correct

a mistake. I don't think you have that luxury. I think you have to watch the next play being run and make those corrections inside the meeting room in front of the video. So it is about eye contact on the play on the drill you're doing. Any concerns on your part, given no off season, within the framework of the building, OTAs, whatnot, and enough ramp up to avoid serious injuries, I do not have that concern. To me. Again,

I mentioned it several times throughout the off season. This is like old school NFL that you weren't obligated to be at the facility for any OTAs or anything other than a two day mini camp, same restriction, same type of protocol. Now it's going to be about what did you do? What did Jeff Joniac, the wide receiver for the Bears, dedicate himself to the offseason to be prepared day one? And you're gonna see that reflection of it in every one of these guys, attitude's effort, conditioning in

status at the end of the day. Right, I have my forty down to seven point zero to play wide receiver, and I thought you'd thrown me a bone, let me be a growling linebacker or something. You put me at receiver. Well, that's poor evaluer, that's poor evaluation from you, Tom. Jeff Joni X sounds better as a wide receiver than it does a lot. It doesn't have that bite to it like R. Lacker and L Boogie, Lance Briggs and Danny Trevathan and Rokwin Smith. All right, coming up, we're gonna

visit with Bears receiver Allen Robinson. We're gonna hear from feeder receiver Anthony Miller from his Zoom meeting, and also some comments from Robinson from the Zoom meeting on Friday with Bears reporters that there was some insightful stuff there. Head coach Matt Naggie from the week and we're getting you set for padded practices Monday morning at Hallishaw. Jordan trud Up, Dan Bailly our producers for Tom there, I'm

Jeff Joning Act. This is Bears All Access, brought to you by IGS Energy on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the Score. This segment of Bears All Access is brought to you by IGS Energy, a proud partner of the Chicago Bears, providing electricity, natural asking home warranty products to over one million customers across the country. Learn more about IGS Energy at igs dot com. With Tom Fair, Jeff Joniac and our special guests on this week's show, Bears

Wide receiver Alan Robinson. Robinson, good to talk to you. You gotta be as excited as anybody and just being with your teammates and everybody together. Now it's starting to get real and starting on Monday, you throw the pads on and it's gonna it's gonna appear to us as it's real football. No, I'm definitely it's exciting to be back. You know. Again, we spend a lot of time doing doing the leagues and kind of learning different things virtually,

you know. But for most athletes, you know, the best way for them to learn, Our best way for them to prepare is by doing the physical stuff and getting the muscle memory. So being out heart with the quarterbacks, then it put to run route, they pretense balls and kind of go through our offenseests and the fun Hey, Alan, we always talk about quarterbacks learning and receivers. How long

does it take for receivers to learn quarterbacks? For me personally, you know, I'm a person who I don't think it takes that long, you know, I think at the end of the day, you know, it may be a few routes that that you may have to get adjusted to,

or maybe some ball trajectory or something like that. But for the most part, you know, being a being a receiver, you know, you want to be that that like security blanket or that you know, uh sense of comfort for the quarterback, you know, so you want to make sure that you know that there isn't a learning curve or

that you can adapt to almost thinking. I think that's what makes a lot of great receivers greatness that they're able to to kind of minimize that uh adjustment curve you know, to a quarterback or to a different philosophy,

you know. So, I mean again, it may take some some specific routes, you know what may take a little bit of extra work with extra time, but for the most part, you know, being a receiver, you want to make sure that you know that you're in a spot where you need to being that you can, you know, be able to be there for the quarterback and for the quarterback to feel comfortable with you, you know, right

out of the game. You know. The other day, Matt Naggie said, there's value to every rep this year and the in practices. So will you do anything different in practice because you don't have preseason games? For me personally, you know, you know again, Um, I felt pretty good last year. Uh I didn't play in the preseason me or but for myself personally, you know, I felt really good. I felt prepared, you know, I felt sharp, you know.

So for me, um, taking um the same approach as I did, you know, especially you know with just then on top of taking care of my body, you know, doing what I need to do on the field and practice, you know, making sure that um that I'm locked in, and meetings and walker or you know, I think that's the biggest thing, you know, for for me, you know, I take so much out of a out of a walk through, you know, it's to me, it's literally another practice,

you know, just not going that fashion. So so so for myself, I'm able to to kind of you know, get in the groove pretty quickly and to kind of stay in the groove, you know, even even with no preceson Alan Rominson, our guests joining us here on Bears all access. You know, I read something up in Detroit about Kenny Galla Day and his his coaches say, you know, the best receivers are those receivers that dictate to the defense how they have to cover him. Does that make

sense to you? And are you that receiver right now too? Oh yeah, definitely. You know, for me, even my approach to the game as a receiver, you now, I want to dictate the temple. I want to dictate the pace of everything, ninth line of scrimmage. You know, I never want to be reactive, you know, to what the dB is doing. You know, for me and my game is always proactive. I'm trying to make the dB react to what I'm doing, you know, So I think that's that's

a definitely truth. You never want to might be playing, you know, a little bit slower because they're more more playoff of reaction and stuff like that. You want the receiver to be able to dictate coverage, you know, whether that's covered two backside, whether that's you know, making them shade the safety over or whatever the case will be. But you want that receiver to be able to dictate

a lot to the defense. It's a tight team. I've always felt that way what Matt Naggie has done, and your coaching staff and you as one of the leaders and the rest of the leaders, are you looking around the landscape when sports returned and seeing what's going on NBA? The Phoenix Suns unbeaten during their time there together, the cub's best record in baseball. They're together, They're sited, no matter if they're fans are not. The Blackhawks had their run.

Do you see that type of structure for the Bears as they hit the ground running basically? You know, I think, like I said before, you know you have a close knit group. You know, you bring guys together, you know, especially with everything that's going on right now. This is kind of like the safe haven of everything, you know, being able to just come into the facility, being able to just play ball, being able to take your mind off on everything else, you know, especially we have a

close group. You know, guys have enjoyed and I think it's tail from being back that gods haven't have enjoyed being around each other, you know, and just you know, um getting that enjoyment you know again. I mean we went I believe about eight months you know before we actually were able to come together as a team, you know, so being able to be back in the facility and around my teammates and stuff like that. Not only me personally,

but a lot of other guys told that as well. Hey, you know, Alan, I think it's gonna be really interesting because your value carries to the other side of the ball. Well. You have during when time has a lot of conversations with Jalen Johnson, maybe about his habits or what he's seeing, how the NFL receivers. Yeah, for sure, you know him,

him and him and Fuller and Eddie. You know, I think that's a big thing for us as you know, being able to communicate as far as what we're seeing and what we're getting and what people are trying to accomplish, you know what I mean. Even before we even got back, you know, Fuller was telling me that there was there was some stuff that he had been you know, just practicing, you know, as far as his side. You know. So for me, I'm very interesting and very curious to see that,

you know, just see how that plays out. And I had the same time from for me, you know, there's same thing that I want to act tim you know, what is he seeing when I did this? Or what do you feel when I this? Just so I can try to get an edge on the defense, you know, when it comes time to playing games. You know what I'm saying. You know how how they'll be, um, how they'll feel about certain routes or you know how I can kind of you know, conquer certain leverages and stuff

like that. All right, Man, A momentary with Anna Robinson Bears receiver. A couple of quickies one. I just more of a statement than anything. But you know, you've you've been exemplary and your constant and consistent professionalism when you you've come to this team in this city, and even when you're asked questions about contracts and stuff, your focus is on being a pro. Other guys, whatever their situations are, they may sound off a bit, so you know, just

your reaction to that. And also who won your Madden League? I know you and your buddies put one together to pass the time. Yeah, yeah, the one over the summer. Um, I wasn't the Madden League, you know, until and to the until your first question, you know. Um. Again, I mean there's so many things that can that can happen, you know, and really, um, in this business and in this league. You know, all you can really do is

control what you can control, you know, um. And I think for me that's something that I was able to run pretty quickly in this league, you know. So again, I mean I can control what I do and how I quality each and every day, you know, how I compete, how I prepare myself and stuff like that, you know, And that's my main focus, you know, because again, when you start to focus on things that you can't control, you know, it can it can become a bit frustrated,

you know. So for me again, I mean I I let I let certain things outside of me play out, how they play out, you know, but everything that I can control, from a from a preparation standpoint to a teammate standpoint to performer standpoint. You know, I try. I try to control that, you know, and I'm and I'm comfortable at the end of the day, you know, knowing that that's that That's what I did, and I gave him a haul into that. Alan, great to talk to you.

We'll look forward to seeing you next week. Thank you. Sam Here. Alan Robinson our guest here on Bears All Access with Tom Thare. I'm Jeff jony Ak. Let's take a break here on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy to score. This segment of Bears All Access is brought to you by CDW Pelet will get it. Learn more at CDW dot com With Tom Thare Jeff jony Akin this week's edition of Bears All Access. Tom, what'd you think of a rob in our interview? The thing that pops into

my mind is just pure problem, you know, Jeff. I gotta say I wish Matt Naggie would designate captains for the entire season. Alan Robinson would be number one above all these other quality guys we talk about so what I hear him saying. You know, first of all, he own us all by example of what football means to him, recovering from an injury, being the most high profile receiver

on a team that's having quarterback issues. And now when you listen to him talk in front of the media, he says everything you want to hear out of a captain. He's an influence on the young guys, he's an influence on the defensive players, and he shows that preparedness is the result while he's so good on the field. Also, he doesn't give you a bunch of blah blah blah. He just speaks the truth and he doesn't get sucked

into Okay, this is what I need from somebody else. No, this is what I'm going to give to you as your offensive MVP. He was a year ago. I would assume that he remains that here in twenty twenty. Yeah. Leader by example. I think that's the greatest attribute you could put on display once you get in front of your teammates, and that carries from the meeting room to the practice field onto the game field. Alan Robinson is a guy that deserves touches. He doesn't necessarily have to

go out and earn touches. These other guys that we talk about that have the capabilities of touching the ball on offense, they have to go out and reintroduce themselves to the coaches, and they have to go out and earn their touches. Alan Robinson deserves touches, so it can help him considerably get some attention off him from defense is if a guy like Anthony Miller plays to his potential, he believes he can be a very big impact player

and can be special. He was talking with reporters this week and one of the big things we keep hearing about from Mike Furer, he shows them a lot of tough love as an assistant coach and an outstanding receivers coach, and from Mattneggie and maybe Anthony really bristles sometimes at the notion, but he does understand what they're trying to say. To be a true pro it means in the classroom,

on the field, at practice, and on game day. There's nuances of being an NFL receiver and it is a learned behavior because a lot of guys don't come from the college game right to the NFL. Here's a clip when I was drafted. I I was just thinking of the game is you know, just going out there and playing, um, you know, not really paying attention to, um, the depth of my route or um, you know, the small details

of you know, this game. And UM, I was really just going out there and running and playing, you know what I mean. But when you really understand the game and you know the concepts of the play and uh what kind of defense is back there? Um, then it

puts you on another level. And I think this year, UM, you know, I've gained a lot of knowledge, UM, and I've been working pretty hard, so I can't wait to see the result, you know, learning how to operate, you know, like within the meeting room, the weight room, um, just around the whole building. Just being a complete pro. And UM, I think this this is the year that I'd be that I want to be perfect out there. I'm gonna field. I want to do each and every play right into

the best of my ability. So I just want to have a smooth year as far as you know, normal what I'm supposed to do. You know, I just never stopped working. Eventually the opportunities came our way, so hopefully I get even more of those this year. Hopefully I start off the year like those last few games of the season last year, So I'm ready for everything that

comes with you. You know, you can't blame receivers from the college game, because yes, if you're really star potential to be an NFL player, be a high draft pick, you're burning a lot of people in the college game. And I think you can get lulled into thinking, yak, I just rely on my skill set and that it can't happen that way. It's got to be deeper in that.

You're exactly right. But you know, one thing Anthony Miller said there is I have to be more detailed about the concept of the play because these plays Jeff through the architect and the designer, there's an exact to them. It's not a general vicinity. And maybe the quarterback will see you because you're beating college defensive backs, it's all. It's a pro quarterback is going to anticipate where you need to be and they're gonna throw the ball a

second and a half before you actually get there. So understand the concept. You know, when you go into the NFL facility, there's not a request box in there. It can't say dear, coach, this is Anthony Miller. I request ten more touches a game. No, we talked about it before. Deserve or earn Anthony Miller, no matter how good he is, he has to earn more touches this year. In addition, Robinson from his Zoom meeting with reporters addressed that same topic.

Tom on the process of what Anthony Miller is going through. He's definitely find of his niche with everything in and growing and continue to develop a mature and see different things you know, within the game, you know, because I mean football, it's a game. Within the game, you know, you have everything that's going on in between the lines,

you know. But also you know before and after, you know, things, preparing yourself to see different things, what you're expecting, being able to predict different coverages, different leverages, you know, and things like that. And I think that's something that he's learning, you know, being able to line up to know Okay, if he gets this look, you know, how defenders will play him like this, you know. So it's all the process and the more snaps that you take, you know,

the more familiar you get with that. You know. So again, like I always say, you know, um, playing playing ball is the only way that that you can get better and on the way that that you can understand more things, you know. So I think for him, you know, late last season, as he starts to get a lot more repstion as we got later in the season, you know, he's kind of able to to take that momentum into this year, you know, and just kind of, you know, be able to develop and be able to mature, you know,

within the lines a lot. Well, you know, he had nine for one forty against the Lions, he had how did an eighteen a touchdown against the Packers? Time his second half of the season and a five game span was really good. Thirty three four thirty one, two touchdowns. Is that his new floor? We wanted to be his

new normal with great consistency. You know what Allen Robinson says there, He speaks volumes specifically to Anthony Millier because even though they're both wide receivers, they played two different roles at the wide receiver position. So Alan Robinson is being able to create his niche in terms of what he's asked to do at his receiver position. So now as he's watching film on a daily basis, and you

see All twenty two. He has an opportunity to pay attention to what Anthony Miller is doing on the inside, so he understands the route tree, what he has to do specifically to influence the coverage against Allen Robinson or for himself. I just think that what Alan Robinson is trying to teach Anthony Miller, it's in every single day process. If you're a one year player or a ten year player.

You know, you may think as you're listening to this out there that we're spending so much time on this topic. But I think it's extremely important because you look around the league there are some really powerful weaponry at the skill position within their own division as well. And creating and manufacturing and growing some of these assets offensively beyond Alan Robinson is to me as important as anything. Now.

The quarterback battle will also shed some light on that, because we're either going to see massive growth from Mitchell Trubisky to become the starter and stay the starter, or we're gonna see Nick Foles play to his potential in an offense that he knows and by that all boats will rise. In either case, if things are going well, then all these other positions can also grow on that

same path. And I think, you know, whatever, the running game, the offensive line needs to be obviously better, but the receiver and tight end position, the skill positions have to become big in terms of the scheme. You know, all the exterior weapons have to become bigger than they were last year, including Allen Robinson, but what include the tight end position and the variety of tight ends they have.

You look at the receivers outside of Anthony Miller, there are some guys there Jeff that are going to be nipping at his heels for his playing time in coach stand Fell Dick stan Fell, my Upans line coach. He always used to have a saying, as long as your arrow is still pointing up, you're gonna get coached. As soon as I see your arrow start pointing down, I'm going to have to make other personnel decisions. It is

the reality from the eighties to the two thousands. Yeah, I think the biggest weird I think is the biggest fear for a player. And you know, I've been around this now for twenty four years with the Bears and thirty five years covering sports. And when they player knows that you stopped getting coached in the true sense. They may be telling you what you need to do, but you can tell the difference when you're not being coached.

The two greatest concerns is when you're not being coached and when they start drafting guys that you're saying position that have certain traits that you have, but maybe a little bit more in depth in terms of time at the position program they played in or even clock speed. So when they got these multiple bodies waiting in the same line as you, you better have eyes in the back of your head. All right, we're gonna take a break here on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy The Score,

we come back. We're gonna go position by position in our segment here and try to give you a true blue preview on the doorstep, I should say of the startdown, the countdown, the countdown to camp, the countdown to pads, as we embrace the NFL Here in twenty twenty with Tom There, I'm Jeff Joning acc on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy The Score. Tide Cleaners is now offering new Tide Complete Care. This exclusive cleaning formula can only be

found at Tide Cleaners. Visit Tide cleaners dot com to learn more Today, Welcome back to Bears All Access brought to you by IGS Energy with Tom There Jeff Joning ek Hurt from Allan Robinson earlier this evening looking forward to his twenty any campaign, looking to improve at the receiver position at the top of his route, which is always an important nuance to the position time That makes a difference between a big play and no play at times,

and beating a dB or not beating a dB. You have been talking about this before we go into this position group, position by position. Maddeneggie has talked about this repeatedly from the time the season ended to the time the season is going to begin on September thirteenth. He wants a mentally and physically tough football team, but in this camp time he is emphasizing urgency for excellence in

every single rep. With the season a month away, we as coaches got to understand that the players got to understand that there's a little bit more of a sense of urgency. So every single rep that you take in practice, every single rep that you scripted as a coach, it really, really really has to be magnified. When we're done with practice, we get together, we watch the film. The evaluation process,

we have a good process for that. There's definitely a sense of urgency between all of us and making sure that we're effective in every practice. You know, in the twenty five camp. So we've covered Jeff because they have that long period of time. He kind of lived through that honeymoon stage with the coaches as they lead up to the regular season. But this is regular season seriousness.

From the Monday when they start putting on pads. All that honeymoon period is over, and like Matt says, this seriousness, the importance, the value of every rep is increased dramatically. All right, what side of the ball you want to attack first? Offens or defense? Defense? All right, we're gonna start with defense. We're gonna start with the defensive line, not necessarily the front seven defensive line. The return of

the Keem Hicks to me is the biggest story. I would say the substory to that is Eddie Goldman opting out for COVID concerns here in twenty twenty. How does it impact everything with those two guys in particular. Again, you know my affinity for Keem Hicks. I think he's the type of guy that has Reggie White type of traits and he can lend that to the defensive line. Eddie Goldman I'm concerned about, but I can't think about him because he's not here for to me, Roy Robertson,

Harris Lile, Nichols, Urban Abdula, Anderson. They have to have career years, I mean, the best that they played since they benefit the NFL. That will decide the faith of this defensive line. It's not a Keen Hicks, it's all the counterparts. You can make a case that inside linebacker is one of the strengths of the football team. Roquan Smith, who seems dialed in and ready to go plant to his potential, will be a big part of that story, no doubt about it. You know, Roquan Smith is a

Pro Bowl caliber player. You got Danny Trevathan who has speed and assets that a few linebackers do. Okay, let's go to that next level. Joe Elia Booneyway, Josh Woods, those are the guys that are going to have to take that next level step and really turn the inside linebacker into quality play, but also turning into depth and quality play. You'll be interesting to see what other rookies, undrafted free agents get into the next They have some high hopes for a couple of those guys, but they

will be challenged to get reps. But they'll have to be if they make it to the practice squad. They got to be on a moment's notice during this COVID era is what we're gonna have to call it for game day this year and a larger practice squad. Let's go to outside linebacker stars, period stars. You know you got marquee names in the NFL. You know when you look at Khalil Mack, you look at Robert Quinn. What can this next level do? Can Isaiah Irvin take another

step forward? Can Vaughters take another step in that level? Can Khalil's younger brother have an opportunity to impact. Can Gibson, the player they drafted, come in here and show the traits that we've seen on tape and bring them to an NFL field. And Barkivous Mingo, who could be a very important player on special teams as well, but as a run stopper, and it came into the league with pass rushing skills, So that's a guy to watch as well. Very well set there in terms of depth and what now,

let's go to cornerback. Tom. You got Kyle Fuller and now a leader on that unit. He is the veteran presence and playing at a three year stretch of outstanding excellence to teach whomever becomes the starter on the opposite side. Kyle Fuller has a work ethic right now that's second to none in terms of cornerbacks in the NFL because that goes from the meeting room to the practice field. If you go out there and you look at his dedicated time into his tablet where he's studying the way

he plays, studying the opponent. That's what young guys have to learn because that can be they're probably their most helpful tool away from the facility. But then you've got a key group of other guys are going to have a lot of fun competing for that cornerback position because Jeff, if you go out there and you line up every NFL player, the most confident group of athletes on the field,

a lot of times are cornerbacks. Can they bring that now to the meeting room to no padded practices onto the practice and whoever's there's going to get attacked in week one, two, three and four until they prove that they are ready to take that position and be a big time defender there. Nicol I love Buster screen, another guy a leader to help craft. There's plenty of options behind him as well to grow. Let's go to safety.

The big story there is obviously to Sean Gibson's battle with Deon Bush, and then you got Eddie Jackson, one of the premier defenders in the NFL. Eddie Jackson's gonna have to be the leader he was paid to be in this defensive backfield, on the defense, on the whole team. He's got a return to the ballhawking traits that he displayed a couple of years ago. A lot of that

goes to the callings of Chuck Pagano. But then when you do look at the other safety battle, how excited would you be if you're gonna play a safety position with the front seven in front of you. I think there's huge capabilities. I would love to see Dion Bush capitalize on his opportunity, but it's gonna be difficult for him because to Sean Gibson has a lot of experience in the NFL and they have seen a lot of different offenses biggest concern on defense, what might it be

identifying that proper cornerback. Because you mentioned Jeff Week one, two, three, four, and five, they're gonna face great receivers and great quarterbacks up and down that whole early portion of the schedule. They have to have a solid plan of attack at that opposite corner, all right, for time constraints. Because we did embrace what is the strength of the football team, that defensive unit we're going to switch to special teams will do offense in the next segment. So special teams.

I know. There's a ton of conversation that we've had off the air and on the air about Eddie Pinieto. It's year two and a lot is expected for development and improvement in terms of having the opportunity to make bigger field goals, longer attempts from fifty plus, and just that consistency you need beyond forty. Yeah, you know, he's kind of the Anthony Miller of the special teams. Anthony Miller has to earn his opportunity. He has to earn

touches by impressing the coaches in practice. It's the same thing for Eddie Piniero. You got to be able to walk up add a pinero before he kicks. Shut your eyes, listen to his foot hitting the football, and that's going to tell you a lot of the story. Has he gained leg speed, has he gained laying strength, has he

gained confidence in those his own accuracy from distances? And I think every day during the course of training camp, because it's so short, we're going to have an opportunity to see that plethora of return options, including the great ones in Cordarell Patterson and Terricohen in the punt game, and the presence of Ted Gain. Maybe an opportunity for

Darnell Mooney we'll see during practices. But they are well conceived to have a very strong return game again, and they have a core group of guys that were played the most important role in big returns, and that's the blockers in front of them. So all these returners you talked about, aside from Ted Gan Jr. And Mooney, are familiar with the blocking schemes in front of them, and I think that can speed up the process in the

early part of the season. But it's still home run potential punting game with Patrick o'no with a long snapper, Patrick scales. The Pats are very close duo and they've included Pinetto in that bunch. This is the seventh year now for Patrick O'Donnell. He's the model of consistency from the punt game. He's got a high spiral, long punt and he can punt at the rugby style and really

dictate field position. He really was a savior last year when Eddie did Nick as thee and he was able to kick off and that's always a nice ace in the hole. So I think Patrick is still in this. You know, he's not in the development stages, but he's really a high level pro good gunners. You got shaf you managed to lead the way there if obviously you look at the linebackers. He a Booney Way and Woods will be key factors in that. And Quadell Patterson as well proved to be a guy that can get down

the field and make things happen. You know, Sheriff could be another one of my identified captains at the start of the season because it's all about desire, willingness, inability to do anything that's asked of him at a moment's notice. All right, when we come back, our final segment, will look at the offense and some other quick hitting questions for Tom Thayer. I'm Jeff joni Ac. This is Bears All Access on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the Score.

Hey Bears fans, it's important to stay connected now more than ever, and at Motorola we love making that possible. With the new razor, you can enjoy staying connected a little bit more. It's a phone, it's an accessory, it's an icon reinvented. Hello Moto. Jeff joni Ac along with Tom thare our final segment here on Chicago Sports Radio

six seventy The Score. Tom, the Bears are coming up with something that's going to debut Monday at eight pm on their Bears YouTube channel, episode one of Bears Behind the Scene series entitled nineteen twenty Football Drive. Here's a little clip from General manager Ryan Pace at the initial team meeting in the Peyton Center getting everybody comfortable with the COVID nineteen protocols. You know, the moment the COVID situation started unfolding, life quickly. Want to how can we

handle this better than any other team the NFL? Like, how can we create a situation where when you guys come in here, and then you talk to players with other teams. You look at us and say, man, we're doing it better than all the other teams in the league. I want you guys to feel that and that it's not just talk, it's not just lip service. You feel it when you walk in the door as a first impression, and then most importantly, you continue to feel this throughout

this whole season. So that's a clip of it. Bears fans, you're gonna love this look behind the scenes and what has been a monumentally difficult undertaking for the franchise in order for Hawle saw it'll be suitable for a successful return to play how the season ended in disappointment in twenty nineteen and frankly how Tom it's set the table for a different twenty twenty. There's a lot of good clips in there, a lot of great camera work done

to take fans behind the curtain a little bit. The Bears broadcasting department planning to do more of this throughout training camp. I don't know exactly how many, but I think fans are going to appreciate the look given that they cannot attend training camp this year. You're gonna hear players and coaches miked up. I think it's a lot of fun. You put yourself in the mind of Ryan Pace when we talk to him during the offseason. It's

like blinders on. All you do is you prepare for the draft, and then you get ready for OTA's and mini camp and you don't think about a lot else. Now you got to give Ryan Pace a complete off ramp. I can't think about football or players. I got to think about how making this facility the most confident facility in the NFL, completely off the grid of what you

are initially thinking. It's probably good that they were already in the process of adjusting training camp to have it entirely at Hollis Hall, that was probably a savior of time. But what you had to do to develop safety inside the building a really spearheaded an important role. All right, let's tuck offense. In the lead up here to camp, got to start with quarterback before we do. Anthony Miller had an appraisal of Nick Foles in his first experience

with him. You can definitely tell that, you know, Nick has been playing this game for a long time. He knows this offense very well. You know, he's very detailed in practice, you can get him in the back of the offensive play going through his progressions and he's not even in you know, that's just the type of player he is. And I can't wait to see him live action,

you know, to see what he really can do. One of the roles that every single offensive players should have is they should know the play that's called in the huddle, even though they're not in the huddle. So if you see Nick Foles out there going through the end and going through all the details of what his assignment would be, that's the same thing that Anthony Miller should be doing.

That's the same thing Cole Commet should be doing every one of these news guys, including Demetrius Harris, and then there's Alan Robbinson. He was asking the Zoom Coffee's seen a change in Mitchell his mechanics after working with him in the offseason a quarterback coaching, I think. So it's

kind of it's hard to tell. I don't really know mchannics and stuff like that, but you know, just as far as you know how you see him um move around, and you know how he how he throws the ball, as far as you know, being being just more you know, confident in h and everything. You know. I think, like I said before, that's the that's the same thing with

with Mitch. You know, as you know, as you're going to you know, your fourth year, you know, the more football that you play, you know, you're able to slow the game down. You're able to slow a lot of things down. You know, Jeff, when I looked at Mitch's mechanics, I never looked at him saying, wow, he really needs to change this about himself or and he needs to change his delivery. It's all about the mental side of it.

And as Alan Robbin just said, the longer year around football the law, the better you understand those types of details. And I think that's going to be the deciding line for Mitch. It's not as mechanics. It's about how well he understands and knows this offense got a battle for the interior spot at right guard. Jermain Effetti Rich had coward overall the interior offensive line thoughts big, big bodies.

You know, when one Castillo was talking about his offense line, he's talking about you know, three hundred and twenty pounders, three hundred twenty five pounders across the board, that's some big size, big strength. Now, if they can move athletically like Juan Castillo needs him to move, then you're gonna see a lot should be a lot more powerful line tackles. You know, Bobby Massey, I liked his growth that he's shown the last couple of years. He's got a good

understanding of how to use his length. He's got good feed along with his size. Now you go to the other side, Charles has got to pick it up a little bit. Charles Leno had a couple mistakes last year that really came back to halt the Bears and in some important scenarios. I think the specific coaching of Juan Castillo can put Charles Leno in a more aggressive position but also have a more safely placed position with his hands to stay in a better position. Ends been revamped.

We put all the math out there for you. It was one of the worst productive units in the National Football League at that position. We fully expect a big bounce here in twenty twenty with the additions that have been put together, no doubt about it. I think Cole Cammet Jimmy Graham, you got to put him at the top of the heap because Both of these guys have great catching ability, but again, Cole is going to have to be a blocker as well as JP Holts and

Demetrius Harris and Jessper Horstead. They all have different qualities, but I do think there's enough guys that can have that online blocking role, eights back role, fullback role, and the U tight end role. I think it's going to be a great development in a complete importance for the success of the offense. Also could help out the running game and that in line aspect of things, and that brings us to the running back position and David Montgomery,

Tarikko and Ryan h I love David Montgomery. It would be his job to have as many carries as he sees fit. He's capable of doing everything. But the role that Tariq will play, Cordarrell Patterson and the other guys that they're fighting for playing time, Ryan, all those guys are going to be in arted. But I think David Montgomery is going to get a bulk of the work out of the backfield. He spent a lot of time

tonight when Alan Robinson an Anthony Miller conversation. But there's a whole collection of talent at the receiver position that we're looking to see rise. You got Riley Ridley, you got Javon Wims, you got Mooney into the mix. You got ted Ginn Jr. To also a lot to pick from. How many they bring to in terms of roster on September thirteenth against the Lions is yet to be determined, but I'm expecting six. Well. To me, I put Riley

Ridley number one. He is my most interesting character. I've got a couple of examples, a couple of training camps watching Javon Wims. I know what ability he has. He has to do it with great consistency. Riley Ridley. I think he's got a better understanding of route running. He's played against big competition in college, and he's had a year to mature. So I have high expectations for Ridley to compliment Alan Robinson, Anthony Miller, Jimmy Graham and the

rest of the crew. All right, now, some quick hitters for you, Tom. You have no idea what I'm gonna ask you here, so I know it's putting you on the spot. All right. Will there be a rookie starter in Detroit Week one? Yes? Share to share. I think both Cole Commet and Jalen Johnson have an opportunity to line up play one who will grow over the course of the season and be a big factor in the last half of the season. Tshan Gibson, the safety, will be able to capitalize in the second half with this

front seven He's gonna play with. Biggest challenge for Matt Naggie this season is calling the run game. Who starts more games at quarterback? Mitchell Trubisky. Where do you see

the Bears fit in the division? I think they will fight for the top position in the division and it's gonna start with the early game dominance player the Bears can least afford to lose on each side of the ball this year, A Kim Hickson, David Montgomery, who is your surprise riser on this roster of eighty players that on September thirteenth, we're gonna go, Wow, that guy made

the team and he's making plays. Riley well, considering how many games he was active for last year and what he could now go from what being active for a couple of games last year to being active for sixteen games and having the offensive coordinator decide where the ball is going to be distributed according to where he's lining up right, And it is really a difficult question because there's so many guys that we know what they can play too in terms of their potential that have to

I'm gonna throw one on there. I'm gonna throw below Nichols, below Nichols because he flashed enough, needs to stay healthy and they need him in a big way to be a big time contributor upfront. Well, then I would switch him and Roy Robertson Harris. I would play Roy Robertson Harris in the middle of the defensive line and I

would play blow Nichols off to the edge. I think that Roy Robertson Harris has this ability, this size to move up and down the line of scrimmage from guard to guard to center and invoke his size in that position and time before we go. The key to any training camp We've at it for years is obviously the health of the players. So knock on wood and no serious injuries. Hey, there's gonna be some mispractices for this

or that. But it's like Anthony Miller was saying on Friday to the media on the Zoom Call, in a condensed and gym packed one month to the trip to Detroit to play the Lions. It's health, both from COVID nineteen but also from injuries. Start the season healthy, finish healthy, you increase your playoff chances. The biggest challenge, like for any team, I think, and coach says this all the time, is the team who's gonna be the healthiest, the team

who were gonna have all their players available. You know they have. That team has the best chance to win. And I think we're just so tight on those details around here that we won't have that problem. Hopefully we don't have the problem. All right, that's a complete training camp preview, like you wrote it in a newspaper article. Time way to go to break it down, looking forward to Monday, countdown to training camp. All right, that's down. Fair.

I'm Jeff Jonia. Thanks for listening and everybody. Thanks to our guest Alan Robinson. Thanks most of all to you for listening, and our producers Jordan Tredup and Dan BURRELLI that'll do it this week here on Bears All Access on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy The Score. Thanks for listening to this Chicago Bears Network presentation of Bears All Access podcasts are available on Chicago bears dot com and

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