Ryan Pace on unique offseason | All Access

All Access. Good to be with you once again, as we are each and every week here on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy The Score brought to you by IGS Energy. My name is Jeff Joniac, my broadcast partner, the Super Bowl Bear, mister Tom Fair wearing the light clothing over there in Maui. I understand you a little bit on edge, though, because the news side of me quickly got on the phone because there was an earthquake off the coast in New Zealand, and every time that happens in your neck

of the world, you start worrying about tsunami. And sure enough, there were tsunami watches, so we good were gonna be able to make it through the show. Yeah, I think we will. But it's a real and and it's an obstant I mean, an honest kind of a way of life out here, because I've been out here now for a couple of tsunami warnings. And when you have a chance that it really does affect the island you're on, you can see the rise and fall of the ocean right before your eyes. So um, it's it is scary.

People do start getting prepared for it, but because of the warning system within the South Pacific, they have a good ability to judge what could possibly happen or what won't happen. And so I hopefully they're standing down by now right. Well, yeah, I'd imagine the chatter with all you and your friends, and I know you got you guys like getting out on the water and surfing. It becomes a big conversation though it does, but you know, it's I don't know, you know, it's just something that's nice.

Like we have in the Midwest. The warning system of the storms that are coming through in preparation is the key to it. So again, I think everything's gonna be safe out here, but it is. It is a reality, you know, all right, big time coming up on our show, We've got our old friend Israel Dednage joining the program coming up at six zero eight, and at the bottom of the hour, we'll spend a few minutes with Bear

Gender manager Ryan Pace Tommy. Obviously we heard both Ryan and Matt Naggie earlier this week a couple of days ago. Going through the off season. You know, it's it's it's the way it is. It's it's the combine without the combine interviews with the coaches and general managers. So they're not going to talk a lot about any individual players or schemer. It's never gonna happen in rare cast cases do they do so a lot of time for all those decisions to be made where they keep it close

to the best. But was there anything from the two of them that stood out to you about what the plan might be here in the off season. Well, I still think there's a lot of uncertainty about the plan.

I think the certainty is though, they got the coaching staff in place, and I think that's one of the first things they needed to do because of all the coaching staff movements around the league that they had to get things settled and they have a plan in place, and I think that's the good thing for a majority of the players that have been here and that will

be here. And I think when you start formulating a plan amongst the coaches up in the offense and defensive coaching rooms, you got to become familiar with each other before you're going to really have the ability to teach whatever you're teaching to the new guys, whatever the new coaches are teaching to the guy. So that's where they're at right now. But you know, to me, it was more of a reminder that reality's coming a little bit closer each day because when we are doing All Access

after the season, it was almost talking fantasy football. It was so far out there, all these forms and all these rumors were starting. But then each week you start chipping away a little bit of that big block of

ice to see what's really gonna happen. What's going to happen with free agency, what's going to happen with the salary cap ramifications, what's gonna happen with some veterans that have experience, and you would like to investigate their talent where they're gonna want to go because nowadays, which I appreciate by the players is they do have an opinion of where they want to go, what type of system they want to be a part of, what type of scheme they want to be, you know, to be exposed to.

So there's a lot of things that the information comes weekend and week day in and day out, and this and this season clicks a little closer weekend and week out. That's why fans love it. It's it's definitely it's it's not fantasy football, but you try to wander a little bit about what you'd like to see on your own team. You mentioned the coaches. This was Mattneggie. No, there's not. I mean, you know, the one with vic is you know, uncontrollable.

He goes ahead and you know, gets that that head job in Denver, and so that's that, and then you have another one where it's retirement, you know what I mean. So that's just that part. Uh, And then I do think offensively for us heading into this second year together, man, I can't even begin to tell you how much easier it is going into watching the film right now in the morning together and just everybody knowing it and not have to having to have to reteach things, you know.

So now for Sean it's been very important and I love this. It's been very important that really all of us are in the building together, all by the rules and all all by the protocol, but being there. As much as we love doing these zoom interviews and these zoom talks, they're they're they're good, but it's just different when you're in the building. It's different when you're together. And that's kind of the direction that we're going right now.

And I think for Sean now getting back to what he wants and some of these because that is you know, a lot of new guys on that side, they're able to kind of really feel who each other is, their personalities, have ideas, and not have to click the new button every time they want to talk. So that part's been good. And the offensively, I feel like we're step ahead just because we have Bill Laser and now Flip has had the quarterbacks and our other coaches. They're heading another fourth year,

so I really feel good. But where we're at now, we got to put it all together. We just got to see where the off season goes. And they have scheme evaluations going on or right now. That's part of the big part of the off season as they get that going and then the other side of it is player personnel. Hey time, we're gonna go to Israel to donage a bit early here, so we'll bring in our old friend, the former Bears defensive lineman and such a

major part of the city of Chicago. What he's working on, philanthropically, professionally, you name it, he's got it going on. Is he? How you doing? My brother Joe about it? Good to talk to you. Thanks for joining us tonight. You're with Tom and I here on Bears All Access brought to you by IGS Energy. You know, first thing I want to talk about is because I've had a chance the last couple of days to visit with a couple of

your old teammates, Rashid Davis and Jason McKee. And every now and then, when you get into conversations about that oh six team and you really start to think about the quality of players on that team, up and down that roster, that was one heck of a team. They were almost all those guys could play. It. Isn't that just guys just hanging out of the bottom of the roster. Do you ever sit back and think about just how

good that team really was? Yeah, I mean, especially when we get together, right, we while you're in it, you never you don't quite understand or you don't quite know how special what you have, you know, how unique it really is. Right And now that we're you know, a number of years removed for that season, it was to look back, it was pretty incredible. It was pretty special. The talent we had, the bonds that we had, the way that we played together, it was it was unique, right,

And I actually didn't even realize that. So when I had left Chicago, I went to Detroit for one year and actually went to New York. It's just different, right, It's just what we had was on the whole the level. And it's hard to replicate. Every club, every coaching, you know, group of coaches, every team, you know, managers, everybody's trying to find a way to bring that culture, that chemistry, that energy to the club. And we were fortunate to

have it well. And you know what, you could have been a Buffalo bill that here and missed the whole boat because they did send you do an offer sheet and the Bears matched it. Do you remember that whole process? And yeah, what was it a real thing that maybe you would have you know, gone to Buffalo absolutely I

flew down to Buffalo. I had a spent way more time there than the anticipated and then they called me into the office and they made me an offer right there on the spot to become a bill and have an opportunity, you know, to to really contribute and be a part of what they were building there defensively. And you know, I had a tremendous amount of love for for Jerry Angelo. So I stepped outside, I called, actually called Jerry and you know, I just wanted to chatted

with him on what was going on. And he said, hey, is he if if if you want to go to Buffalo and start and have an opportunity to start, and you know by all means you know, we won't match the offer, but if you want to become a Chicago if you want to stay in Chicago, bear, if you you know, think that you know we are fit for you, you know, as you know, we love you, we have a plan for you. You know, I'll might match that offer. And now he had seven days to match. I told him,

you know, I'll know, yeah, stay in Chicago. And you know it worked out just incredibly for for the next few years, I mean, and the ending up being here you know, ten years plus, it was it was pretty special. Is when you look back at it all and all the success you've had in sports because you change your body style, you change your career, you moved around positions, You did things that has not really expected of a guy your size, like your kickoff, coverage ability and stuff.

What's the most common trait between sports and business sas what's the one thing that you need in both? But I would say the number one I guess, yeah, trade or just skill set that really correlates between both sports

and businesses. Just perseverance. Right, It's just you've you've got to be able to continue to work and grind and just you know, continuing to to to pay that price to do what's necessary and knowing that eventually the outcome is going to happen, right, especially when you're talking about startups as an entrepreneurs though, to that work ethic and that perseverance are are two, you know, two skills that you must have, especially at to play elite at an

elite level of football. At the NFL, you know, every year I was there, they brought in a new starter, They brought in you guys, they were trying to replace me. Every year, especially towards the end there you know they're bringing in really young talent to guys, and you had to just continue to work grind, especially in the offseason. The easy part is on Sunday, right. The real work is preparing the body, preparing the mind, and then continuing

to work when there were setbacks. Right when hey, Corey woutin's going to start this week? Right, I'm like, man, Corey, would's gonna start right, Except it doesn't matter. You show up, You keep working and you support the guys around you. That's the same and the life as an entrepreneur. You just keep working and grinding. You got to be able to pivot change. You know, is he wants you to play three technique. The next year you're back to to

you know end and then you're playing nose. We want you to you know play just kick kickoff or or kickoff return. You know. It's just it's trying to consistently find value about it too. He is. The part of the success you've had is um you physically. You could always go the next day and you could prove yourself every day on the practice field, every day in the

game field. How do you what advice would you give to me or anybody else who played football a physical sport their whole life, but now they have to go and prove their self meant on a regular basis. How do you make that transition? Well, there's just there's no I'm just a really strong believer that there's no magic right, there's no magic button or no wand to wave right. It's just about the commitment right. No, not about emotions,

not about how you feel. It's about making that commitment to yourself that you're going to do what's necessary right. And at the beginning of that journey, it's hard, right to get up, to just continue to grind, to work, to learn, to just be intentional about learning, educating yourself,

win or lose. Right, you make a mistake, you get up and you do it again, You do it again, and with that commitment and that repetition of continuing to do it, eventually that becomes your habit, right, that becomes your mindset. It's just ingrained in you. But it's it's a process. Right at first, it's like work. It's hard, it's challenging, you don't know if you can continue. Right, it's you know you're you're doing things that aren't are aren't comfortable right getting out of that. You got to

get out of that comfort zone. And that repetition due to that commitment makes that mindset, It locks it in place. It makes that that thing that you've been doing over it turns it into just like your your reaction, right, you're not thinking about it. It's just how you wake up and how you function. And and it starts with just that commitment, regardless of external circumstance, that you're gonna show up, you're gonna do what's necessary, you're going to

put into work. Israel dona Ja our guest. You're on Bears All Access here on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the Score. I got knocked off the air, so I don't know exactly what question you asked in Big Time, but let's dive into what you got going on in the South Loop right now. Restore Jim the rstr And. I heard you. Uh, you're like what a third of the man you used to be? You know, I've lost

was seventy eighty pounds. You know, we opened up a yeah, a boutique fitness studio here in the South Loop, and you know, ultimately just to help people transform their bodies right, and and you know, as you know, transform warming the body, it really starts with the transformation of the mind. How you're saying, how you prepare, how you work. So I interrupt you. Why did you say, as I know, what do I know about transforming a body? I've been the same short, stubby guy for as long as I've been

a lot up. Listen, the last time I saw you, you were looking leaning in me. You're looking good, I interrupted you, So keep going. I'm sorry, no, no, no, no, so so um, you know, to be able to lead others in that journey, you know, you got to be right yourself. So I just I just you know, at the beginning of the pandemic, I made just commitment to continue or just to start to like sharpen my weapon

and get my body back in fighting shape. And so I could just be a better leader in the process of leading our members UH to achieve their vision for what they wanted to look like physically. And these are half hour workouts, thirty minute workouts. Yeah, and that's when we began. When we first opened, I just really felt that the future of fitness was was going to be

these thirty minute workouts. And that you good transform your body with just a commitment to thirty minute workouts, you know, four days, five days a week really specified on on building muscle on the body, legs, back, chest, arms, right, and then with some nutrition added to that, you can really move the needle and start to see your body change. You know, Israel, are we spend our whole life trying to be stronger the next day than they were then

we were the day before. When you talk about the stages of the bodies that we go through after our career is over. This is this a low impact type of workout or is it a workout that you are going to raise your heart rate to the extreme and you know, push yourself to the type of exhaustion that you faced on the football field, whether a hot training camp, practice or even a conditioning session. Yeah, it's it is low impact but high intensity, right, so you are going

to get your heart rate up. We have an a fault bike like and you know everybody, you're gonna ride the assault bike. You're gonna drive for thirty seconds, sixty seconds and then go straight into mountain climb bearers or other movements. So your heart rate is gonna We're gonna

drive it hard, You're gonna have short work windows. But the beauty of it is like it, we want to meet you where you are, right, So you push hard as hard as you can, and you know, if you need to slow down, slow down right Whenever you're ready to get back into it, get back into it. But what you find is just gradually continue to push your limit. You go a little bit longer than next week, you go a little bit longer than next week, and before you know it, you know you can ride the full

sixty seconds, so you can do the full workout. But you know, we wanted to build something that was low impact. You know, I had a serious right knee injury throughout my career, and you know I didn't want to do a workout that every time I finished a class my right knee was just torn up and you know, inflamed and soul, and so you know, that was like the

base of where we started. Anybody we have, remember that's seventy four years old, right, she does the same workout everybody else does, but at her level, and we wanted to make sure it was something that could meet everybody where they were at, whether a lead athlete or someone just getting started, you know, Israel Dnaje, when you get to meet a lot of your people, you're always so well dressed. You present yourself in a suit. So I'm

just saying the way you look, your appearance. And then sometimes you know, are people more interested in the Israel Donaje of all the professional athlete, Israel Adnaje, or Israel Adnaje the businessman and the impact you're having, you know, all over the business world right now, Well, I mean it all depends, you know, on kind of where we are,

where I am or the circle. I will say, it's even all these years being removed from the game, you know, I retired officially twenty four team or twenty fifteen officially, and just a love that I'm fortunate to still get in the city and when I travel, it's it's pretty special. And I'm just thankful to have been a part of the club for so many years, you know, ten seasons in in Chicago, and and so when any time I get, you know, love for from that chapter of my life,

it's it's just special. I really just appreciate it. I'm thankful to our fans because if not for them, you know, we don't have the fortune to do what we do day in and day out. Um. And then for the work we do in the community, whether it's you know, with the with the schools, or with you know, the officers, or or any of the initiatives that we run, you know, Um, the support that I get there as well is incredible.

But I always have to press the point that when it comes to like impact work and the work we're doing in Chicago, I'm I'm a very small part of that team. I'm fortunate to be just again on a team where everybody's bringing their best to like solve some

major issues in our city. And you know, I'm fortunate that I had this platform called the NFL and you know, this platform of being a Chicago Bear, and that I can bring that to the table and hopefully create some value so we can drive awareness to these initiative initiatives that we're trying to basically end or solve for the city of Chicago. All Right, we're gonna let you go, but before we do, I understand you now are a franchise co owner as well. Congratulations, one of the owners

of the Chicago Red Stars. You know, Yeah, touch on that quickly and How exciting is that. No, it's it's really special. You know, as you know, Chicago is a sports city, you know, from the top to bottom, and you know to you know, while I played, actually I didn't know much about you know, the Red Stars, right, And to have this incredible group of athletes right here in our city that are just legendary in this league

that we're in, um the NWSO. And now to be able to be a part of an ownership group that's working to take this team and really the league to the next level, it's pretty special, right. We have some great players, we have some incredible talent, and and the awareness of our club and what we've done, the history

of the club and what we're about to do. That's what I'm really excited about sharing with the Chicago fans, with the community, and just getting people out when we can, obviously when the world gets back to some normalcy, get more people out to those games. All right, Israel, appreciate you coming on. Everything you touch turns to gold. So and get double A and that Jimmy yours will you. Hey he's been working hard, man, he's been working hard on that and that heavy bag. So yeah, he's doing

I mean he's offt the town of late too. He's doing a great job. Yes, yes, all right, come on again talk to us. Will you appreciate it? All right, fellows, appreciate you. Take care Israel Dona Jay six six, two seventy five when he started and who knows what wits he played that over the course of his career, but a long career and a very good one as well, twenty nine career. SAX, Gonna take a break, our first one to night here and Bears All Access on Chicago

Sports Radio six seventy to score everybody. Jeff in time back with you on Bears All the Access brought to you by IGS Energy. Choose clean energy for your home at igs dot com because every good choice adds up to a better world. You know, we just finished talking abot Israel. Donagy coming up at bottom of the hour, Bears you other manager Ryan pace for about ten minutes to join us as well. You know that I keep talking about this. It's gonna be fifteen year anniversary of

that twenty oh six team. Unfortunately they did not win the Super Bowl. But you know, you think about the stars on that team, and you think about what it takes to get to a Super Bowl. It also takes the collective group of role players. And if you really think about a lot of those guys were tremendous football players, some of whom went on to win Super Bowls with other franchises. And the guys that come to mind are like Brendan iam Meade, Joe and Corey Graham, Adrian Peterson

probably an underrated aspect you think about. I was just talking with Olden Cruz, the Alfonso Boone. I mean, all these guys that were considered, you know, nice players, but in the collective you after towards fifteen years, look, boy, almost every player on that defense was a name player. Offensively that offensive line, name players. When I see some of those guys because we go out where we watch him every single day, We watch him from the beginning

of training camp to the end of the season. And sometimes they achieve higher expectations that iv I or we have set up for them, and some of them don't achieve what we hope they would because we see glimpses of greatness, whether it's in a game or in a practice. And that's one of the things about a guy like Izzya Donaje is he was a great athlete. He didn't

have a lot of notoriety coming in. He was willing to do every single thing that was asked of him, from losing extreme amounts away to gaining extreme amounts of weights, to playing a more physical version of his position than play of the outside covering kickoffs. The destructive force he was on that And you know, you see some of these guys and what they're able to mold and build themselves into, you kind of get an indication why they're so successful when they leave the sport in Israel. Donaje

is a great example of that. They have a lot of other guys, a great guys on that team, great personalities. I think it's worth celebrating that this journey that they all took and what they've done after their careers. You know, you talk about Israel, but you can also talk about a number of players they stayed in the Chicago area. They like being here, like being a part still of

the Bears organization. You got you know, Jason and Rashid coaching over at Carmel High squad in Mound the Line now giving back a little bit to these kids about what it takes to be a professional and how go about the process of being a good football player and

a good student, and on and on and on. We could go on and on and on, but there's a lot of great stories yet to be told because I every day, you know, in Dan Pompey has been writing stories about some of your old teammates and things I've never heard of before, which obviously you've heard all of them because you lived it. But there's always something that

you never knew before. And that's what I love about learning about this stuff, right and you know, the more modern day, modern day guys that we get to know because you know the eighty five Bears, you know, they're

a team of so long ago. The accomplishments of some of the young guys that you're talking about, because there's other ex members of Bears that are coaching college programs in high school programs around the country, and everything that they've invested in theirselves, they're able to pay it forward to the young guys and the young girls that they're

coaching in their sports of choice. And I think it's cool for Israel Adonoge to get involved in the soccer team in Chicago because I'm telling you, it has an impact in the area, and the success of that team impacts the surrounding communities of the stadium and wherever people come from to watch it. So I think it's a pretty cool, a pretty cool endeavor that Israel's taken on. All Hey, we're gonna take a break up. By the way, Jimmy Graham tweeting today that he wanted to get ahead

of it a little bit, but he's okay. He was in an accident this morning down in Miami, trying to avoid a disabled vehicle in the center lane. His car rolled over, but walked away unscathed. He said one word, simple, Tom blessings and yes he is fortunate and lucky. So yeah, no doubt about it. I'm amen before him. All right, coming up, Ryan Paced, Bears General manager, to join us here at the bottom of the hour. This is Bears All Access on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy to score.

Welcome back to Bears All Access, brought to you by IGS Energy. With Tom there, I'm Jeff, Joni Act. Good to have you alongside along with Adam Stazinsky, our producer and time now to welcome in Bears General manager Ryan Pays. Taking time out of what is a extraordinarily busy time of year. Joined the Zoom crowd earlier this week along with Bear's head coach Matt Nage, to get us up to date on some things going on in the off season. Ryan, think for joining us. Good evening. How are you doing?

I'm good, guys. How you guys doing doing? Okay? You know some are better than others. Because Tom's in Maui, so you know he's enjoying the sunshine, so maybe we should rattle his cage a little bit. Ryan. You know, we're we're over here grinding and he's on vacation. Get any surfing in Tom as much as I can, Ryan, That's that's the reason I'm here, is just to take advantage of the surf out here and some of the

nice weather. I do feel guilty when I see the daily weather reports throughout the month of February and see what everybody, including my family, is struggling through. But I think the surfing has taken an important role in my life and it keeps it going. Yeah, one day I'll invite us out there, Ryan, for sure. Anyway, so this time of year is is a challenging one for general

managers and head coaches. This would be ordinarily be the you know, right around the combine time or after the combine, but all the teams get in front of the media and they ask a lot of questions about things that you're not going to answer, and that's about personnel decisions that you plan on making and free agency, trades, draft whatever. So it's it's very interesting to try and piece together then what the plan might be. And so it's something

you acknowledge. But is it hard to answer questions this time of year? Yea, death it is, because you know, you want to answer the questions and you want to be forthright, but it's it's hard because it's competitive, you know, and everybody's listening to what everybody's saying right now and trying to read between the line. So you just got to be careful with it. But but I understand it, and uh, you know, it's part. It's part of this

time of year. But you know, we had a lot of big decisions coming up and we're all in the office now. It's good to be in here. You know, this time last year we were all kind of you know, getting kicked out of the office. So it's all it's good to be in here with the coaches, and it's

going through all our preparation. I want to take you back to the Super Bowl actually, because with Tom Brady winning the MVP for Tampa Bay winning a Super Bowl, but the defense easily as a unit could have won the MVP of that Super Bowl because of what they did to an outstanding offense in Kansas City. Do you look at that at all when you go about, now, okay, where does this franchise have to get to in terms

of style and so forth? Because it is a sum of the parts, it's not necessarily Yes, the quarterback position is ultra important. Everyone gets fixated on it. You do as well as a general manager. But is leveraging the importance of what's happening around the quarterback equally important and maybe overlooked in many respects because this week and the next week, everybody's going to still be talking about the quarterback, But it's what's going to happen around these other franchises

and what's put around the quarterback offensively or defensively. Yeah, you know, I think there's something to that, Jeff. And when you watch that at defense, you know, with Todd balls, as they got rolling, they got better and better as the year progressed the Tampa defense and you know there's a lot of there's a lot of good draft picks

on there. Jason like did a good job and you kind of saw it all come to head in the playoffs and in the super Bowl, and you know, I think you look at our defense and a lot of the young talent with you know, you can go on with with blow and Eddie Goldman coming back and Roquan and Jayleen Johnson and let men go on in Eddie Jackson. But it's you know, it's it's accumulation of that talent developing. Uh, you know in your own system drafting well, and you

definitely saw it for that defense. But I think I think we have a lot of that too. Hey, Ryan, Um, just a little bit about the coaching staff, because you don't know what guys are coming or going, and it's hard to anticipate that when a coach like Patton comes on the market. Do you have to react fast or is this a process that you can linger on and think about what direction you want to go in. Yeah, you know, I think it's a balanced Tom. I think

you do got to react fast. It's almost like I look at you know, that that phase when we hire coaches almost like free agency, and sometimes even more so because they can be multipliers and it's like it's like a quiring a player within your division. You know a lot about him, you know, playing them twice a year, So we know a lot about Mike Betton and have a ton of respect for him, and and and you know Matt has a ton of respect for him. So when he became available, we you know, we were able

to act pretty quick, you know. But I think there's a balance too, because you've got to make sure no different than the culture in your locker room. You know, we have a culture you know upstairs with our staff, and you got to make sure it's a good fit. And you know, Sean Desai was very involved. And I think when you get all those pieces together and everybody balances each other out and we all drop our egos and what's best for the team, I'm we're excited to

have him. So he's a really good addition. You can already feel it within the building. He's putting in a ton of reports right now in free agency. I was just just reading a couple before we get on the phone, and you know, just his experience and his perspective on things is very valuable for us. You know, when you Jeff talked a little bit about where you guys would be if it was a normal NFL year, and you know,

you got some talent has come in the league. That's a redshirt sophomore that's only played a couple of college games. And I don't know if this is a silly question a reality a real question. When you go back and you try to look at as much information about these players, would you ever have to trace the steps all the way back to their senior year in high school because maybe they don't have enough of a guy playing a position at the college level but he's eligible for the draft.

I don't think that's silly at all. We do that, we go, we go all the way back, and we do that in normal years, you know, just especially a lot of times for the character too. But you know it's hard. I mean, let's if a guy opted out in the twenty twenty season, and you know, you're going all the way back to twenty nineteen. We talked about a guy the other day that was opted out, was injured in nineteen, so you're looking at eighteen tape. So uh,

you know, it's it's it's a difficult evaluation. Our area scouts are so valuable in this process because you know, there are boots on the ground, they're the ones in the school. But information is harder to obtain this year. It's precedent at times, so we got to lean on our scouts. We got to lean on different avenues to collect that information, and that's what we'll do. You know, you talk about the coaching staff bringing in the guy

like Tom Herman this week. He has so much intel on these guys in college right now, and it goes all the way back to recruiting them, you know, being in their homes recently. So it's there's a lot of different ways we can use different avenues to our advantage, and this is a year to maximize that. Ryan Pace, our guest Bears General Manager for a few more moments here on Bears All Access brought to you by IGS Energy.

Building on that your own experience and Ryan's experience, there's reasons why there's faith in both of you because of the types of people you are, what you've learned along the way as younger hires, when you got your first big jobs here now in your seventh, you're Matt entering his fourth. Is there a way also, I'm using that word leverage to leverage all of that experience and how valuable is that and where does that collective experience benefit

every process? Do you go about in building what is going to be your twenty twenty one team? Yeah, I think, you know. I think we both operate with a lot of humility, and you learn from mistakes, you learn from experience, and you just learn as we go through this together, and I think we balance each other well, and we lean on our staffs and the continuity depth that we have in the building with the scouts and the coaches. I think it's really valuable and it's really come together.

I felt it last in last year's draft, and I think the success of last year's draft when you looked at all those picks, is a byproduct from that. So I feel really good about it. You know, all the experiences we've gone through, I feel like we're stronger than ever right now, and it just gives you a ton of confidence going into free agency this year. That's going to be another unprecedented event with tons of players becoming available.

A lot of guys are going to get cut, But I feel like we're ready for any direction it can go because of our experiences in our time on task together. Hey, Ryan, what you were able to experience from the interior of the offensive line last year when you got Sam Mustifer. James is going to come back. Cody had his strongest year. I think, ever, you still have Alex, you got Arlington Hambright.

Does that blood of talent give you a little bit of freedom on the interior the offensive line, maybe to concentrate on the outside because of the development of these guys that you really didn't know what expectations to put on him when you brought him here a couple of years, both as draft choices or free agents. Yeah, Tom, I love that question because we feel really good about the

interior of our offensive line. And you know, both white Hair and James Daniels were second round picks for a reason, and they've really grown into their roles. And you know, I thought when we put Cody there at left guard, I thought he really settled in and played his best year of NFL football. And getting James back is going to be huge. You know how much upside he has and he's been working his tailoff and then you can't

say enough about Sam Mustifer. We're so lucky to have him and his leadership, his intelligence, his ability to calm everybody down. It's infectious. You know, he's the guy spreading twenty yards down field, picking up the ball carrier, you know, just just leading the whole group, and it's so natural for him. And you go back and you look at his character and Notre Dame, and you know, he was the leader that that off the line room at Notre Dame, and there was a lot of good players in that group,

and he was a leader. And I think it's just that's very natural for him, and he settled into that role very well, and I think it was infectious to the entire offense. Ryan, you alluded to the fact that we'll let you go here in a moment. You alluded to the fact that the next couple of weeks and maybe even the next month could be crazy. I'm paraphrasing

what you're saying. Can you kind of put into context what you think it will be like out there with teams cutting salaries or not salaries, but cutting some of their assets because of the salary cap and whatever else, and maybe it's going to be an unprecedented glut of people out there that will create opportunities for some really smart decisions. I think so, Jeff, you know, talking to agents around the league, and I think that everyone's expecting

that and we're prepared for that. You know, you had the guys that you know are going to be unrestricted free agents, and we had those guys graded, and we're ready. But there's a lot of you're predicting who's going to get cut and who's going to be available, and we're grading those players and we just mix them in, you know, on the board, and you know, especially at the positions of need that we're focused on and what's realistic for us, and it's just working through that. But I think there's

going to be some surprise cuts too. And you know, we grade a ton of players. You know, everybody's graded every every year in the league. And we got multiple reports and I think having that many reports in the system and all hands on deck with our scouting department, our coaches is really going to allow us to maneuver and tivot as it happens this offseason, because there's going to be a lot of that as these guys are getting released, and I think We've got to be ready

to react quickly, and we will be. Ryan, we really appreciate it. Before I let you go, I know um Field Yates from ESPN listed all the adjusted salary cap numbers for all the teams. He says, we're released by the league. Did it create more room for you for the Bears. Yeah, you know, we we've kind of been operating under a couple of different scenarios and you know, we're we have a number of mine where we think it'll be, and you know, we have a plan in place to make sure that we can do what we

need to do with that number in mind. And you know, I'm always very complimentary Joey Lane, and there's a reason for that. We've been together for a long time and he's really created with how we do these things. And I have a lot of confidence going in free agency with him by my side and how we handle that. All right, Ryan, appreciate it so much for coming on. I hope to talk to you soon. You guys too. Thank you. That's Bears gentlemanager, Ryan Pace. We're gonna step

away for a break. This is Bears All Access. We brought to you by IGS Energy, and this segment of Bears All Access, also brought to you by Athletical Physical Therapy. Visit Athletical dot com to request and a point in clinic or virtually start feeling better Tomorrow. Back with Tom after this on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy The Score, The Chicago Bears Network presents Inside of the Bears, brought

to you by Verizon. Anthony Adams and Lauren Screeden cover the world of Bears football on and off the field every Sunday night at ten thirty five pm on Fox thirty two Chicago, or watch anytime at Chicago Bears dot Com around the Bears official app. With Tom There, I'm Jeff jonah Yak. Welcome into the program, our producers, Jordan trut Up, Dan Billy and in our Score studios Adam

Stadzinski helping us out along the way. Heard from Israel, Dona Je and Ryan Pace Tonight, Tom some other news of the day today is the process that we kind of alluded to with Ryan is there's going to be a bunch of names out there and some are starting to already get released. I'd hate to be a veteran this year, but Ben Roethlisberger is, and now we'll be back for an eighteenth year with the Pittsburgh Steelers. So another chip in that quarterback bingoor, where ever you want

to call it. He's gonna be in there for twenty twenty one, given up some salary, gonna make fourteen million, which is a bargain for a starting quarterback, and he's made a lot in his career, But in his he's positioning it as Okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna give up a little so we can clear some space to bring in some guys that can help us win a championship. Yeah, you know, I don't feel sorry for Ben Roethlisberger for only getting paid fourteen million dollars. He's made a lot

of money, but is he worth fourteen million dollars? To me, I'm a little suspicious of Ben Roethlisberger's help. If I'm out there negotiating as as part of a negotiator for professional football team, my first intentions is finding a guy for whatever I'm gonna pay him that's gonna make up

through sixteen games. Ben Roethlisberger, excuse me, Ben Roethlisberger. The last couple of years is turned into a day to day operation, and it's it's unfortunate, and I know that, you know, he's put up on this um Steelers pedestal or the pedestal of NFL quarterbacks. But you know, Jeff, just because he's telling me, I'm willing to reduce my salary to that amount, it wouldn't be a foregone conclusion

that he would be my quarterback. Yeah, but he did though thirty three touchdowns and just ten interceptions last year and won twelve and three and fifteen games. So he did. He did do a nice job job, right, he did. But you know he's he's just recovered from elbow surgery. They didn't know how long how much he was gonna be able to play, so he has that same amount of uncertainty coming into the season as he did. And listen, I'm you know, hey, take a pay cut, congratulations, but

I need to field a winning football team. So you mentioned to me today and we talked about the potential that seventeen to eighteen teams might might be having a different quarterback. It won't ultimately be that, but there are there are situations and scenarios that could happen. We already know Indio have a new quarterback. Jacksonville was gonna have a new quarterback, Washington have a new quarterback Detroit the Rams, for sure. Everything else now is potential depending on who

goes where and why. And you wanted me to throw that at you. What's your angle today on this whole quarterback carousel? I just think it's not going to be a great year for quarterback play when you have that many teams in the league that are changing quarterbacks. What's the first thing every team says when they change quarterbacks says, Hey, we need a process of getting this guy up to speed. Not everybody's going to be a Tom Brady because Tom Brady was a lot was allowed to include a lot

of Tom Brady into Bruce Arians in that offense. You know, Philip Rivers did a nice job for Indianapolis. Ultimately they fell show short of their goal. And every goal of every team is to win the Super Bowl. But when you have that much turnover and then you have a new coach in Detroit with a new quarterback, you have a new you know, coach in Jacksonville, You're gonna have

a new quarterback. How is Joe Burrows going to recover from a knee surgery after he has been such a good rookie season, and are they going to fortify the offensive line so he can be protected, because he's not going to be able to have a long sustaining career with the abuse that he took during the career last year. So I question the quarterback position going into this season because there is so much turnover and that's not even counting the other pieces that are going to be missing

from teams that are good with high salary guys. So I just this year, does that concern you, even from a Bears perspective, then yeah, be just because listen, since I've been around the NFL, but since I've been paying attention to the NFL as a young kid, every time a new quarterback has come aboard, they've always have a built in waiting game. The only guy in the history is with no waiting game so far has been Brady this year, that's not there. I'm Jeff jonah Yak and

it's more segment to go. As we sit away here, this is Bears All Access on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy square. Everybody back with you. At the top of the hour, we're gonna turn it over to Arld pal hub Archists. She'll entertain you tonight talking football and all things sports, maybe even a little black Hawk talk. Black Hawks playing some good hockey, big time. They take on the Tampa Bay Lightning three out of the next four nights. You got the Bulls hitting the All Star break with

wins in six out of ten games. You got Cubs and Socks baseball cranking it up, but Bears football still dominates the headlines. Man, it's the beauty about the National Football League, and that's what we're here to talk about. A couple of things up one, you know, Matt Nagy this week talked about how challenging it is going to be this offseason. We all know that even from our perspectives to scout and analyzed college talent in twenty twenty one, a big time challenge in so many ways. It's it's

it's definitely unprecedented. H it's real. So now that that just puts more of the onus on our personnel, It puts more of the ononis on our our coaches, and different phone calls that we got to make just to make sure, hey, what do you know about this? What do you know about that? And then you know, just making sure that what you see on tape is real. And then you've got some guys that don't have a lot of tape because the world went down, So without

a doubt, this is unprecedented. Do you trust everything from tape tim and go from there because you still have to know what makes a guy tick, and unfortunately, in this situation, you're not going to know until he's in your building, on your field iPads and ready to go right. You know, I would like to give meet a guy face to face. I would like to talk to him

eyeball to eyeball again. If I was making a decision about someone that I was going to bring in as a high draft choice, I would love to go into a gym with him and either work out with them or watch them work out. That would tell me everything I knew, because if you had to take a top talent guy and introduce him to fifty pound dumbbells, then you're telling me all I need to know about a guy.

But if this guy walks me, if this guy walks me through a workout, and I'm gonna use JJ Watt as an example, because there's video of him working out all the time, and that type of interest in the physical element that it takes in order to be a successful NFL player. If I had a guy that was teaching me new things in the weight room, that would that would put him up at the top of the ladder. And then from your perspective, because you know, as an

offensive lineman, this is extremely valuable. Is the intelligence of the game and understanding leverage and angles and what defenses are trying to do to you as an offensive lineman. How are you evaluating guys coming into the league in that regard? Just from one Well, that's what I'm saying. That's all I need is do to watch tape because then you're going to be able to look at adjusted balance.

Are they are they coordinated footwork? Do they understand the cadence that they're playing with and getting off the ball in a reality time where you're not laid off the ball and given the defensive lineman an advantage depending upon whatever position you're scouting. I think if you have a series of a few games on tape, you can tell the story of the athleticism, the player's awareness, and the player's commitment to the detail. So are you finishing a

block or are you avoiding a block? Are you getting in the way of an offensive player and finishing the tackle or are you trying to bounce off of him and strip the ball instead of tackling. Are you looking for work? Tom? Are you looking for work? Exactly? You brought that up a lot last year and it is something that I pay attention to with that that phrase in my mind, that's what I'm excited about. That's excited. Scared to cut you off, but that's what I'm excited

about with James Daniels, A healthy James Daniels. He was looking for work last year, and that kind of mentality and nastiness is exactly what is needed on that offensive line, for any offensive line, not not the Bears offensive line, And not that I'm saying it was missing. I'm just saying I want those types of guys. But that's what

I add. That's why I asked Ryan Pace there. You got a lot of talent in the interior line, and it may give you a little bit of freedom to move guys around, maybe to offer guys out there that have starting ability already you know it, So you're not moving Cody Whitehair out of left guards as well as he played last year in the strength that he displayed, and just how well he played and Alex did a

really nice job at right guard. So the competitiveness of that interior position, because to me, I'm sticking with Sam Mustafer. Are you are you hoping the Bears draft and offensive lineman if they drafted. Listen, you know there's a There's something I had written down and um it was about because I see all these reports and they're predicting offensive linemen. Um I want I don't. I don't want versatility. I want reliable. So don't give me a guard tackle tweener

that their position is undecided. I want to tackle. I want an offensive tackle, a guy that's bred to play that position. He's got the size, he's got the measurables, he's got the understanding. Don't say I'm hiring this offensive tackle and if he fails, I can move him to guard. I have enough of those guys. I need a guy that is a dominant offensive tackle by trade and training minus scrimmage is where it's all at. Big time. Thank

you so much, appreciate it. We'll talk to you next week and enjoy the sun there and Maui stays safe. Thanks to everybody out there, including Jordan Tredup, Dan Brilli, Adams, Dedinski along with Israel Dedana Jay and Bear's gentle manager Ryan Pace. We're out of time. Hubbarc Is next. Thanks for lisitening everybody. This is Bears on Access, brought to you by IGS Energy on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the Score. Good night,