Ryan Poles discusses roster construction | All Access

Physical Therapy and CDW. All Right, welcome to September, everybody, ten days from the season opener at Soldier Field against the San Francisco forty nine ers on noon kickoff in a pleasant, good evening to everyone, back with you here on Bears All Access on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the score. I'm up at house, so we're brought to you by IGS Energy, my broadcast partner from news Radio one oh five nine. Chicago Bear Great Tom Thayre knustled

away there and Joliet. Good to be back and good to be talking out opener Tom, because I'll tell you, when you're in the Thicket training camp, it seems like it's gonna last forever. And you know you're going through the preseason that wrap up against Cleveland. Still you're still still weighs away still got another week, but now the vision is there. You can see it. The roster has been put together for at least the time being keep

anning pieces and now ready to go. Tommy. You know, Jeff, I sat there, and I sit in front of the flip card, and you study the names on the sheet in front of us, for both the Cleveland Browns and the Chicago Bears, and you kind of get a pretty good line on them. Because we've been going to practice every day. Have you ever heard the term revolving to our roster? Yeah, because that's what we're in. And I remember my last year in the USFL, we had so many bodies coming in and out of practice on a

daily basis. They actually came onto the field during stretching, cut a guy to bring another guy in. And now it's almost like we as excited as we were about what this team was able to accomplish, what the assistant coaches have provided Ryan Poles and mattieber Fleus, the excitement of what the future holds for these guys. You almost have to have that roster in front of you to start re memorizing the names, of the numbers, the positions

of the guys that have come in. It's exciting. I still have the same confidence I did when I left Cleveland, but it's just there's a lot of new names that are going to be on the roster for the San Francisco game. All right, we haven't seen some of these guys yet in uniform, so we're gonna have to do our homework as well. A new addition today again undrafted rookie from not rookie, but from Minnesota. Was from the

University of Iowa, Amir Marsett Smith. He had one hundred and three had a touchdown against the Bears last season. Do you remember him? He twice had good games against the Bears last year. Overall production limited in terms of his targets and so forth. But another young player. And if you look at the ages of the guys Ryan Poles brought in and the undrest or in the claim market and the waiver market, they're all in that sweet spot,

little bit of experience, but young. Twenty five, twenty twenty four, twenty three years old. This team right now, average age on the roster is just over twenty five years old, right. You know, the NFL is a young man's game, and it's kind of just a level above college. And when you think of the names in the ages of some of these guys, there's gonna be a few guys that are always going to be the foundation of a team. You got your Cody Whitehairs and Robert Quinns and stuff

that have been able to solidify NFL career. That is put them in a position that they're the old not the oldest guys on the team, the most experienced guys on the team. But this is something that we all have to get used to with the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the way teams and contracts are put together. So that leads us to a couple of days ago, Matt Hubert Fluce really expounded on this young young team, this idea that it's okay and almost needing to play young players.

You can understand a coach that's like that. You know, it's a little bit gunshy, wants to play with the more experienced guy because he's know what he's doing and all that. But to me, if you've got the right guy, you know, and you have the right guys in there and they're young, you have to play them. You have to because the experience they get in that first season is playing. It's invaluable. You know, they're gonna get learned so much ball by being out there and playing rather

than sitting on the sideline. And if they're good enough athletically and they're good enough players, you just got to put them out there and they'll they'll figure it out eventually, you know. And then you guys got to coach them up and coach them through the ups and downs of it, and you know, and keep their confidence up. But I believe in that because what you do is you build a faster, younger football team when you do that, and hopefully the guys that are less injury prone, potentially you

know they're gonna be counted on the availability factor. So this sparked the conversation I had with you the other day, because you've always intrigued me with the notion that if you didn't think about it, you'd never know it and you'd have to be back there and involved with it. But the Bears, when you guys won the Super Bowl with the youngest team in the NFL that year, So I went back and looked at it. Twenty seven up lost something like that, whatever the averages are, So then

they went deeper and I shared with you. The Miami Dolphins had the youngest Super Bowl team ever at just over twenty six years of age in nineteen seventy one. They didn't win that Super Bowl, but they went unbeaten

and won it in seventy two. The Seattle Seahawks just a few years ago, building the way the Bears are building with young, fast, physical players and taking their time to build it the right way, built a winning culture and then went to the Super Bowl as a young team lost at twenty six something average age, then the next year won the Super Bowl. You go down the list and you got the old Pittsburgh Steelers teams, the Buffalo Bills teams that repeatedly went to the Super Bowl.

There are some thirty plus teams. As you pointed out George Allen over the Hill Gang. They wanted those guys, and they didn't care about draft picks. They wanted the older guys. There have been plenty of teams that won that way as well, but it's more of the twenty eight, twenty seven, twenty six average age football teams that eventually build into that time. Well, when you listen to what Matt Matt Eberl says, he says, it's the right guy, Jeff.

And so when you go look at those young rosters, go down and look at that rosters and look at the star quality players of the young men that you have on that team that ended up contributing to super playing in the Super Bowl or Super Bowl victories. The coaches on those staffs made the choices for the right guys. And I think that's what really stands out with me when I hear Matt Eberflus talk about developing a roster

in the modern day NFL. You're not just gonna put a guy in there because he was drafted in a certain position or he comes from this type of marketed school. It's the right guy. And when you think of a guy like Braxton Jones, Yeah, would you think he might have a guy from one of the marquee schools around the country, you know, But this guy is the right

guy for the position. And even when you listen to Ian Cunningham and Ryan Poles speak at the party him today, they talk about how fast of a developer this guy was. They believed he could be a starter when they evaluated him, but even his development surprised them, right, And I think that idea that you're gonna be able to get on the field and play right away if you're if you're talented enough, and you have the the traits that they're seeking,

the character that you're seeking. I'm thinking again, I use this analogy all the time, lobsters in a lobster pot. You know, you're trying to get on the field because you know you got a chance with these guys. And there are coaches that won't play young players, especially at specific positions. I mean some teams, some guys just won't put that trust in there. And you know, I find this to be a refreshing moment for Chicago Bears fans.

You're gonna see a bunch of young guys with their hair on fire, and whatever they win, they win, whatever the record may be. You know, right now, let's find the best guys to foundationally build a fast, physical, nasty football team. That's my opinion on it. Tommy, before we go to break, I'll let you speak your mind here. Well, no, Jeff, you know, Joe, I want guys that want to play football.

I don't want a guy that's going to be drafted by a team that's content with sitting around a couple of years waiting till the veteran in front of them moves on. I want a guy that's just chopping at the bit to get in that uniform and to be on a game day, you know, a game day participant. So to me, I think that's the most important role that any of these guys can desire to have on a football team, is to be a player. Immediately. All right, here's what's coming up on the show tonight. We do

not have a player interview. We will be sitting down with Ryan Polser I did earlier today up at Hallis Hall after his news conference with the media, So we'll have some of that coming up in segment number three. And our good pal Jim Miller from Serious x M NFL Radio, former Bears quarterback, I'll be joining us in just moments. We'll hear snippets as well from a course of the interviews that we had this week. A lot ahead, Bears getting ready for the regular season opener. Can't wait.

The season itself starts on September eight. Next week, Bears get a three day break. After a short practice today, they'll be rare and ready to go. Bears coming up against the forty nine ers. This is Bears All Access with Tom There, Jeff Joning, Act, Jim Miller ahead on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the Score. Welcome back to Bears All Access brought to you by IGS Energy. Choose clean energy for your home at igs dot com because

every good choice adds up to a better world. With Tom There, Jeff Joning Act and please to be joined by our good pal and a regular during the course of the off season, I should say, but once the regular season starts, gets a little a little harder to get a hold of because he's so busy and we got some players on. But Big Jim Miller, former Bears quarterback, did a great job in the preseason telecasts of the Kansas City and Cleveland games. Big Jim, how you doing?

And now what did you glean from those two games? Because you did the work, you did the in depth study and called the game. What what'd you learn about this team? Yeah, Jeff, Tom, I think you know you could see it. You know, I think factor of what players are being asked to do, and I think Coachieberflus has effectively gotten his messaging across. I mean, I saw a team that hustle I saw a team that would

going discipline. Uh yeah, I think you see a young team, but you do see a much faster team out there. I mean, let's be honest, a lot of young players are going to play this year for the Bears. You know, we even pointed it out on the broadcast of the eleven draft picks. And then you know, minimum, I see nine guys, and then you factor in rookies like Jack Sanborn who's an undrafted free agent who makes the rush. The guy's going to be on all four core special

teams plays you know, Trent and Gill. You know Vayleis Jones junior, he's gonna play, And so the list goes on and on, and it is. It's about a youth movement. It's about the growth and development of players. And we'll see where it goes. But yeah, I think the coach and the staff they effectively have reached these players of what their standard is because I saw a lot of hustle and a lot of discipline displayed by the Barras. Hey, Jim,

I got two questions for you. The role of Luke Getsy, the play caller being on the field for justin fields, and then how long does that relationship take to develop in terms of, you know, the eye contact, the understanding what Justin does well with Justin wants there to be called in, how Luke starts understanding his strength of the specific game plan. Yeah, you know, you know, whether guys

in the booths are on the field. I think the one benefit of the coach or the play caller being on the field is when you do go over the slides for the pictures on the sideline and you say, hey, you know, maybe Justin says, why I saw this. I saw the backer back up he was he was on

the line of scrimage and then he backed off. You know that maybe sometimes you can't communicate it to a coach and they'll be able to look through those things together, and then Luke can say, hey, here's what I'm thinking. Then this is what they're doing on first and second down.

This is what I'm seeing on third down. We may go to more of this, or we may go to more bootleg game to take advantage of some of the things that they're showing us, and this really be right there for Justin fields to walk them along, to walk them through. Hey, this next series we're probably going to focus more on this, you know, whether it's a certain run game, we're going to try and set up these plays in the play action game and just really kind of talk him through what he expects to call and

so he'll be prepared as the game goes along. Just being there down on the field and looking at the pictures with one another. You know, Jimmy, think when you look at last year's San Francisco game, is there anything that Justin or Luke can take from the way that they defens Justin in that game? Or do you think it's not necessarily a new scheme, but a new formula of how they want to go about their business against

this specific type of offense. Yeah, I mean there could be certain things on passing down to where maybe they tried to do a mush rush against Justin fields just no one. He's got the escapability of the legs. But I honestly think the Bears are going to be far different, you know, game planning wise and how they attack San Francisco. I do expect the Bears to use utilize more twelve personnel,

meaning two tight ends. I think that's going to be imperative because you've got a young left tackle on Braxton Jones and quite frankly, you know, I just think that's that's the Bears sweet spot. I thought in that final preseason game against Cleveland that was kind of their home, you know, and that's why they performed so well and Justin felt very good with the play action and stuff of it. Plus you still don't know right now what is the three wide package? Who does that entail? Is

Pringle healthy? Is Valos Jones healthy? You know, the three wide package as yet to really display itself for the Bears, and health is going to be a big part of it. But I think running the football and that twelve personnel pack, it really was a nice place for the Bears to be in that final preseason game. Luke gets you this week the offensive coordinator, explaining this whole offensive plan remains

a step by step process. When we got here in April, we had this very well thought out plan of how we wanted to go this process to look and we're gonna stay committed to that process. I don't think we're gonna This isn't link an elevation to a moment. This

is part of the process. This is the stepping stone of you know, our goal was to get better into into you know, apply pressure to our team on our own and the way that we installed it, the way that we or the way that we implemented the offense, the way that we installed it, the way we came to training camp, the way that we performed in preseason.

This is all. These are all the next steps. These are all steps to where we want to be um and so this next game, again, we're not We're We're still pedal to the metal and we're still challenging these guys every day, both mentally and physically to play the play style that we want to play. And that play style is going to be just like it is for special teams in defense, attack, mod mental focus. Jim No penalties. You know they did a nice job of the preseason.

Uh those kind of penalties, pre snap penalties are aggravating to any coach. But I get the impression. And I don't know if you've talked to Getsy prior to him coming to the Bears, but just listening to him talk, it's a nonsense and nonsense guy. I think he likes to have fun on the field too, but he holds everybody accountable here. He wants what he wants and he's got it all drawn up the way he wants it, and I like his tough edge. He's not ready to

all throw bouquets to everybody either. He's just holding everybody accountable because there is a long way to go. They got to figure a lot of things out offensively. Well, yeah, I mean, you know you I heard you two talking about this team, and you know, and Jeff, you brought up obviously Tom's World championship team, and there's a big difference there. You know, the team that that that Tom played on. Look at the guys alone that just defied X is an oas you know. You got Richard Den,

you got single tear. I mean we can get there's Jim get into the double digits. Jim. I'm not saying this team is that. No, you're misinterpreting what I'm saying. All I'm saying is it's a starting point to be this kind of team, what you're trying to build from the foundation, and maybe in a couple of years some of these guys develop. Who knows what they're going to be able to add next year. You know what I'm saying.

I'm saying, Yeah, it's better to do this than have a bunch of guys that are not going to be here when they are competing for a Super Bowl. Yeah, because I do. I think this whole year is about and we've been pretty consistent talking about this on Bears Axis. They're not done. The roster is going to continue to turn. You know, here everybody's talking about Alex Leatherwood. Here's the former first round pick. Now he's got a shot here with the Bearers. We'll see where it goes. But it's

about the growth in development of young players. And I think again, it's got to start somewhere and it's got to build, and if all things are equal, typically you're going to play the younger player, and with their style of football of what the Bears want to play, they're gonna go and they're they're willing to accept these growing

pains with these young players. And like you said, maybe there are some diamonds in the brush, because you've already seen some flashes from some players that look pretty positive, whether it's Valis Films Junior. Hey, I know it was a small sample size, but that was a nice put

return out there in Seattle. You know, young players like Sanborn who's undrafted, he's out there making plays and we'll see what they Yet the rest of these young players do, and as coach said, you're going to coach up, they're gonna play fast. They know what the standard is and they're gonna fly around and play some football. And like you said, the foundation has to be built. It's got to be built somewhere, and it's got to be built with these young players and how quickly they grow and develop.

You know, Jim, when you talk about a foundation, let's talk about the offensive side of the ball, because there could be guys that might have some reps from the receiver position or whatsoever, that haven't had any reps so far in the preseason with the Bears. And when you talk about Luke getsy in an offensive coordinator trying to build a foundation, man, you're gonna have to be doing

it on a fly. And some of these guys, even though they have a couple of days off, they might have to be up at that facility every day going through meetings to just get semi caught up to speed so they can get a handful of plays in their

hip pocket. If they're not contributing on special teams or those types of phases, they totally agree, because again, I think it's pretty clear there are no sacred cows, you know other than justin Fields and Jayalen Johnson and Quinn and probably Roquan, there's just a handful of guys that again, if if guys aren't in the building in taking the time to ensure that their spot on that roster is going to be there, because when their name and their

number is called and they can't perform, there could be somebody else coming in there the following week that will take the extra time to get it done. I think it is that vollable of a roster where they're going to continue to turn it. And like you said, right now, there's and that's why I say that about the three Wives package because the receiving position has been so banged up with Pringle and Vealis Jones hasn't been in there.

It's still been undecided. So that's something that's going to develop and grow and really show itself as the season goes along. And you would like to think the younger player in Valis Jones Junior is going to continue to grow and develop and hopefully earn one of those roles to be a starting receiver by the end of the season. I would think we already know we can kick in punt return, but with his role increases that receiver, then maybe Tristan Abner now goes back to do the kick

return now that Valis Jones responsibilities have changed. So we'll see how it all shakes out. But again, it's got to start somewhere, and the Bears are willing to go through this challenge. Really like the body time of Velis Jones too, because he's got the speed obviously, thick, thick guy just getting a chance to meet him for the first time. This is not some one hundred and ninety

pounds skinny receiver running fast routes out there. He's got some meat on the bone to break tackles and hopefully be a slippery receiver with the ball in his hands. How we're gonna take a break coming back, We're gonna hear from Ryan Pole's interview I did with him today up here at Hollis Hall. We'll talk to the general manager. This is Bears All Access. It's brought to you by IGS Energy with Tom Thayre and Jimmer. This is Jeff

Joning Act on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy score. This segment of Bears All Access is brought to you by Athletico Physical Therapy. Visit Athletico dot com to request an appointment in clinic or virtually and start feeling better tomorrow. Earlier this afternoon, up at Hallishaw, after his news conference to the media, along with assistant Gimmy and Cunningham, Bears General manager Ryan Poles sat down for a conversation about where things are headed. Just ability to adapt and adjust.

Things constantly change and move. You can have plans, but oftentimes that's not what's going to play out. So I think just always staying on our toes, always staying on our toes at the front office, and being able to maneuver and adjust and continue to grow our roster. The other pieces, you know, it's trusting the people around us. You know, I have a great staff with Ian, Jeff King, Trey Cooziel and just leaning on each other to build us roster the best we can. Did you guys approach

this almost like draft weekend? Yeah, yep, that's that was the That's something I learned back from my past. You know, we see this as an opportunity to you know, improve our roster and we stay active in the preseason film. We grind the tape. Like I said before, there was very little sleep going on. We were in the in the in the draft room, and we just were buzzing. Every game. We were flashing guys. We had board that we went off based on value. It's very similar and

we executed it really well. About some really good ages on these guys too. Fit what you're trying to do here, right, It was that important. It was very important just you know, young talent that can be developed and help us over a long period of time. All Right, I'm gonna say this delicately because you know what it's like to be cut. Yes, So now that you're in the position of cutting, how did that work for you? Now that you're doing it? That was something I was exposed to, you know, in

years prior. But when you have a whole class and you kind of look at those guys as yours, you know, it's it's difficult. It's a difficult conversation. I always have been empathetic in that moment because I've been there and I understand what it means. And I think the other thing is just to give real feedback to the guys and be honest and upfront. I think they appreciate that. Yeah,

did you get some interesting responses without getting any specifics. Yeah, there was guys that just want to know where they stand and where they could get better, and giving them that feedback goes along. Ways. You had some really high praise from Matt Eberflus and you're gonna smile. I mean you said you love that, dude. Yeah, tell us why it's leadership. It's leadership. I got asked that question a lot.

Why did you pick Matt Eberflus In my first response most of the time, if not every time, was his leadership skills. It's how can you be demanding but have empathy with your players at the same time, And you can feel the buy and you can feel the energy. It's authentic. It's real, and I know all of our players feel that, and that's what you want to play for, that's what you want to work with, and that's him to a t. So I've been really really happy with him.

Think that word authentic is the critical piece because coaches can come in here with a lot of different phraseology and Ray Ryan whatever, but you are so on point with that. It's just you can feel it in the building. If the players are just coming back you see any same things. Was that important for you to hear it from the players too? Yeah, it is important. You know.

You read these interviews, you watched these interviews, and the players talk about Matt and it makes you smile because you know that you have a good leader in place and you know we're ready to kick this season off. I'm not sure you get into specifics about who's left from past or not, but there's only nineteen and I think three or four on the practice squad, so that

is a mighty big turnover. It speaks to the overall plan to a find the exact Bear player you want to identify for the future, but also again in that certain age category. How did that work out in the end for you? Do you believe? Yeah, I think it works out. It worked out really well. There's core players on this team, you know when I walked in the door that we're still excited about and they're going to

help us win games for a long long time. And then you know, part of the challenges is building the rest of the roster, and we attack down on many different levels for agencye. The draft and then the waiver wire. Here at the cutdown day, and I think we did a good job. Two great storylines among many this camp, and they're on the offensive line. Start with your fifth

round pick out of Southern Utah, Braxton Jones. Yeah, Braxton just continues to develop and grow, and he hasn't sometimes with young players, you're waiting for the moment where it looks a little bit too big right now, and he continues to just blow through those gates and prove that he can handle that position when the lights come on in preseason games, when the pads come on, versus vets like Robert Quinn, and he shows resilience to keep fighting,

to have a short memory and just keep going. So his development has been outstanding and I love seeing that that. You get excited. You look at your buddy like did you just see that? You know that Braxton had and then you see it day after day after day, and he's coming along. So I'm excited about him. He's authentic too, in my opinion. He gets up there at the podium, he tells you everything he's done wrong. Then he needs

to work on No, that's a good point. I brought him in my office just probably a week ago, and I wanted to make sure. I said, nothing's gonna be give into you past this, but I hope you take a moment to at least patch yourself on the back a little bit because what you're doing is really really good and you continue to perform. So just take the moment to one be proud of yourself, be happy with yourself a where and continue to work, continue to get better,

don't settle. Will be proud of the progress that you've made in a short time. And I think even for him, hearing that I was proud of him went along ways and we all are. So you know, I think he's going to keep working, keep running and become a really good player for us. I would assume the same conversation could be had with your right guard right now, Tevin Jenkins. Yeah, yep.

We moved you know Tevin around, and you know the beginning of his career, you know, it was a little bit choppy, but he keeps coming back and he keeps fighting. I think the thing that I'm proud of him is he got to the guard spot and he just went and he went hard. When he watched the tape, the thing that makes all of us excited about Tevin is his finish and his strain, and when you have that, that's contagious for the whole the whole group of five

to to play in that similar fashion. All right, big picture, heading into this season with your own roster, a ton of salary cap space, first round pick, still a whole season to play. But this doesn't all come together overnight. How excited are you for the future of this franchise. I'll start with just the season. I'm excited to see these guys perform. Um. I talked about it before, but just be resilient in moments of adversity. I just want this group to stay tight all the way through this

season and just continue to get better. And then for the future, we'll keep doing what we do, which is add talent, you know, and and get better in every way that we can. You know, we're gonna hit the road. Ian and I are going to go to Colorado and watch a game there, go to Georgia, go to Louisiana, and we're gonna start the process of, you know, getting ready for the draft and fre agency for next year. I use the type of guy that wants to be in these stadiums to see guys with your own eyes.

All year. Yep, and I gotta have a lot of frequent flyer miles power. Yeah, and I got that advice. You know. I had a really experience and very talented former GM asked me like, do you plan on hitting the road and getting out there still when you're a general manager? And I said absolutely. He said, yeah, I don't ever lose that. You gotta get your eyes on these guys. You gotta walk up on him, you gotta ask questions and get to know them. So that's the plan,

all right. Matt kept telling players, hardest thing they're ever gonna do. He said it again this week at the podium for the new guys coming in, hardest thing they're ever gonna have to do. How did they overall accept the challenge? And do you assume now that the foundation is set for that anybody coming in here is gonna have to because that locker room will hold them accountable

as well. Yeah. Yeah, I think the standard that he talked about on how we're gonna practice, how we're gonna play, the toughness that we need to have, you know, finished. He's always talking finish every video if you stand next, going to practice constantly about finishing, So that's the expectation though for anyone that comes in is we're gonna finish or play hard. We're gonna play fast. And you know, I think the group has done a really good job,

you know, adapting to that because it's not easy. And I think through that and Mats talked about this, there's a there's a mental toughness that comes along with it when you're tired. Can you still perform? Can you still think? Can you make calls and communicate? So that has affected our culture for sure, you'd always like it to be the case. But all eleven rookies are still here, Doug Kramer unfortunately on injured reserve, and then some undrafted guys

as well. Yeah, that also speaks hitting the ground running to find these guys, make some moves on draft day, and now look what you got on your roster building the future of what you want to see embarrassed. How promising is that for you? And that your scouts and your personnel department and your coaches all are on the same page to net that kind of outcome. Yeah, it

speaks volumes about everyone across the board. It's about the front office, the scouts that we have in the building, it's about the process and the time put into it. Or we can have hard conversations and we can get to the truth and make good decisions. And that's why we do what we do. And then the coaches, we've talked about this at length. They're teachers when when they bring we bring a player in, they take that as a challenge to teach them and maximize their abilities. And

we're seeing that with this first group. Expectations for Justin, Yeah, in terms of what he's showing you now stairs stepping where he's at. How optimistic, Ay, I'm very optimistic. I love what I've seen from start to finish. He's coming along and you can see things happening faster. You can see the poise and control that he has. You can see the athletic ability that he has, and that, paired with how Luke you know in his offense is going to be I think Justin's going to be really, really

good and we'll see it play out. I know he's tough, I know he's resilient, I know it's smart. We've learned all that. So I'm excited for him and will continue to keep growing around him and get better. That's Paris general manager, Ryan Poles, Jim Miller, Tom, theyre Jeff, jonnyak Fellas have at it. You heard the press conference, Now you heard that. I think a little bit of a sense of relief to get to the fifty three. And now you just cherry picked throughout the course of the

season where you need bodies, where you fill in with injuries. Overall, what do you think, Tom? And then Jim jump right in. You know, Jeff, when you hear Ryan Poles talking, you hear him talk about the cuts, it's almost like he sees a little bit of himself and Braxton Jones. When you look at the template of Ryan Poles, he's that similar size, a tall offensive tackle, and no matter what happens to us throughout our career, we always have the desire to play. And I was cut and I know

what it's like to go through that. So I like everything Ryan Poles has said. I like how Ian Cunningham has complimented him up at the podium, and so now what they said, it's got to take action on the field. And the way he concluded the last question to you is he's excited to see what happens next Sunday, just like all of us. As X Bears or Bears fans. Yeah, I think, you know, it's pretty evident as we've touched on this whole program, they're going to play a lot

of these younger players. And so again I don't think Bears fans out there can just you know, there's gonna be growing pains, you know, but you need to see these players, say at different increments of the season, whether it's the end of the first quarter, at the end of four games, whereas fields from week one to week four, whereas fields from week four to week eight. You know.

So there's gonna be a process as this goes along throughout the entire year, and part of it is going to be the guys around justin fields, and these young players are gonna be thrown into the fire and they're gonna have to adapt and adjust pretty quickly. And then I think the coaches will continue to add more things.

You know. That's another reason why I probably said, you know, early, as I say, against the San Francisco forty nine ers, when you've got Nick Boston and you've got Eric Armstead on each side, maybe that's a good two tight end set game, because I would think I wouldn't want to throw Braxton Jones to the Wolves, and not just yet. You know he's gonna be facing a pretty good pass rusher. So they're gonna do some things to subtly help these young players as they grow along. But where it started,

you can see it's a discipline team. They play extremely fast. I think they play hard. They've got more speed, and I love the way Justin Fields ended the preseason against

the Cleveland Browns. Got the offense feeling good. They score on the drives that they were out there, so that they're building something and it's really the build up to Sunday is what they're trying to do, and they're going to try and do that every single week with these young players, it's going to be critical all season long. All right, guys, we're gonna take a break. Great seats available here Chicago Bears this season at Soldier Field. Get

your tickets at Chicago Bears dot com, slash tickets. More ahead with our producer Adam Stadzinski. Thanks for listening, everybody. This is Bears All Access, brought to you by Ges Energy. Back with more in a moment. This segment of Bears All Access is brought to you by CDW, people who get it. Jeff Joniac along with Tom Thayer Jim Miller from Sirius XM NFL Radio moving the chains. Hey, let's go buy positions here, fellas. Let's let's take a look

at some things. Jim, let's start with you. We could talk all day long obviously about justin fields. We've been talking position by position over the course of this entire offseason. But now we know pretty much what we got. So let's talk offense. And I want to begin with the tight end position because I personally think that Cole Commetz ready for a big one. Now he's got a block too. There's got to be this blocking component for in fact, everybody. Jim's got a block on this team. I'm going in

that direction. Let's break down the tight end position. I'm gonna give time to the offensive line, but let's go tight end running back here, Jim take it away. Yeah, I'll tell you what. They picked up a big time blocking tight end that Tray bob lest Go from the New York Jets. That guy is essentially a six tack is what he is, and so that's kind of what he was at West Virginia. And I think it'll it'll definitely help, and it just tells you the Bears are

going to stay in that sweet spot of running the football. Okay, Cole Commet is is I think can do it in all three phases in line, they can split him out, he can do certain things. I expect his impact for the Bears to make another big jump. You know, he got up to sixty receptions last year. He needs to be a red zone threat, and I believe he will be factored in with how like the green Bay Packers use Robert Tonyan, I think Cole Commet is more than capable to fill in that type of effort at the

tight end spot. And then I think Griffin. I think Griffin's the solid guys, a nine year pro, similar to how he was utilized with the Jets. I think the Bears are set there and they've got tight ends that can help out young tackles. I think the Bears are going to run a lot more twelve and thirteen personnel than anybody realizes because Green Bay did it a season ago, and I think lou GUESSI has the same plan store

for the Chicago Bears. You know, for me, when I look at the offensive line, obviously you have to go with the guys that have jelled the most throughout this process of training camp. And when you have Braxton and you have Cody, you have Sam at center, Tavin at right guard, and Larry Boram at right tackle, you have that group that has has enough reps that you get an indication of how well that they can play and kind of mature together. The key ingredient here to me

is is where is Lucas Patrick. If he's the type of guy that can come in and contribute as an interior while his thumb is still healing up, he might be the type of guy that could be active during the beginning of the regular season and be a legitimate backup at all three positions on the interior, or if if his thumb's not healed up enough, he could be a legitimate backup at both right guard and left guard. So Lucas Patrick is an interesting cog in the whole

game day roster. And then you're gonna have to figure out who was the best fit to be the backup tackle right now? Isn't Riley Reef? Is he gonna come along where he can back up bowl tackles. But I think when you have the five guys that have had the most reps together, Chris Morgan, the offensive line coach, who I think has done a fantastic job. He's got a good line right now. Put together all right now,

Darnell Mooney. As you look at the receiver position this week, you know in that preseason finale Jim and Tom fourteen different players caught the football and that was impressive, and that Fields wants the whole offense to touch the ball. That means you have to cover everybody. Can't eye on anybody. I mean, somebody's maybe having a good game the week before and you feel like you gotta eye on that guy,

and there's another guy that shows. So I got to make sure you have oyes on everybody, especially ashould be around the leader. Everybody's like, we don't have anybody. I don't have anybody for justing the throw too or whatnot. But that you're just gonna have to pick somebody, kick somebody to, you know, close up, and then somebody else is gonna go off. And so it's jur choice who

you want to defend. So if you choose to cover that guy and this guy destroys you, then you got to go back and deal with that So, like I said before, we have a lot of elite players, not a lot of known name guys, but not there's always guys that don't have names when they first came to lead or or when they're trying to progress and grow

so and they make a name for themselves. So we got a lot of guys that, uh, you know, can play very very well and they're gonna make names for their self as them as well, including me, And they like he's got the confidence. I like that confidence. Another guy I like and I can't wait to see what else can be done here in terms of getting him involved in having a second crack at an opportunity. Gym is Dante Pettis and even as a punt returner, smooth

with the hands. Uh, he has had that baseball background that's helped him considerably in that regard. But again I'm not ruling anybody out here. And again Ryan talked about Is today because he was asked about, you know, the perspective from the national folks and even here in town that did he do enough to help justin field surround him, And that is a fair question. But he also wasn't going to just blow it out to sacrifice the overall

future of this football team. And I think that there's plenty of guys there that they're going to be able to to mold into players. Well, there's there's guys that have played right Bayron Pringle is considered an ascending player with what he's done in Kansas City. Darnell Mooney, I think we all would consider him an ascending player with what he's done the first couple of years. Dante Pennis was a good player when San Francisco had him. His

issue has been injury. It's not his lack of ability, you know, his injury not only with San Francisco, but the last year with the Giants, he got hurt. Valis Jones. We'll see where it goes. Sat Quantimus or Quantimus Saint Brown. He kind of fell out of favor for Green Bay. But his asset is knowing the offense and how he could help the room out overall. That's was his greatest

asset here this offseason. This is no different than when I started with you know, with Marty Booker and the young players, David Terrell and the guys that we had there and even Marcus Robinson. All right, I didn't care about you know, the play calls or anything like that, though the defense will decide whether guys get open. I used to go down before with a snack or anything like that. I would always open up the wide receiver door, and I just say the guys, and it became a

running joke. If you get open, you get the rock. I don't want to hear anybody crying at me about, oh I was open on that play, because coverage is going to dictate where I go with the football, and I'm going to read the coverage correctly to get it to the right guy every single time. And the more they saw that unfold, the more they knew they were always alive. They were always alive on every route and

dependent on the coverage. They knew as soon as they came out of their stands that ball's coming my way because Jim's gonna get it to where the ball needs to go. Now, it's my job to get open. So no player is ever dead on any single play. So Dez White, Marty understood it, Marcus Robinson understood it, Bobby Ingram understood it, and all those guys got open when it was their time against that coverage. They got opened, and that ball was headed their way every single time.

I like it, Jim, I like it. All right, we're gonna talk defense. You're willing to sticker off for one more you gotta go? Yeah, No, I'm sticking roll Man all right, an all day sucker. I'm like, we'll talk defense in our final segment as we get you set for the opener. Bears All Access brought to you by IGS Energy on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy to score coloring.

All Bears fans get the Ultimate VIP fan package with Chicago Bears VIP security, game ticket and appearance from Bears legends and more by visiting Chicago Bears vip dot Com. Two guys that are in that category, Tim there, Jim met her with me former offensive lineman and quarterback. We're gonna break down the Bears defense here before we let you guys go for the nights and get you set for a long weekend. I hope you have good plans, Jim. You're not gonna be tied up just working all the time.

Gotta have some funnier, Gotta get ready because it's a grind labor day weekend. Brothers. After this weekend, that's when it really starts right Well, yeah, I'll take smart art all right after. He's got eleven kids, he's got no time. Hey, listen, you know, I don't know if time cared. Am I allowed to say what happened over the weekend? Sure? Okay, so time a complaint of his stomach ache, and I was I was calling him soft. I say, come on, knock it off. Ready, Okay, maybe he ate too many

pistachios or something. I don't know, but I can't consider continue, continue, continue. I call him Sunday night, Hey, how are you feeling? He goes, I'm in the hospital. So he had his appendix out, his appendix on the verge of blowing up, So he go. So the first thing I thought of was Oland missed one game in two thousand and two with a pendix, So you better not miss a day of work because two days later we had to tape

a TV show. So he showed up, Dutifulice here right now feeling a whole lot better show he got it out that whole trip to Cleveland. I give him a pat on the back, Jim, Yeah, I'd say, so, um talk about all day suckers, man. I mean, he doesn't he doesn't need any time off he's right back in there in the light up. So I knew Tom was tough, but that just kind of proves it right there. Yeah, all I know, Tom, if it were me, you would have been calling me so many names. I can't even.

I can't even right now. You just I'm not listen. I'm not giving up my reps to anybody for any reason. All right, let's talk defense here. Uh, we gotta do this quick. We got about four minutes, so Tom, let's start at the defensive front. You're got your you're a blocker by trade. How you dealing with this front? You know Quinn and Alquitine Muhammad on the ends, you got Jones at the three technique and Angelo Blackson on the nose.

I think this is a really good defensive line. I think the instincts of al Quinn Muhammad is as good as any defensive end as I see the speed and the rushing ability, and Quinn we know what he can provide. Jones is just has to have that determination of a three technique inside defensive player. And I think Angelo Blackson hasn't about as good as in eight instincts as a big man in the defensive front as you can have so I think they'll be super complimentary to the linebacker position.

And the addition of Armanda Watts, who was looking like a starter in Minnesota and three to four there though, So he's backing a forty three. That's somebody to keep an eye on. Jim, I'm giving you the linebackers. Roe kwant Smith first feels he'll flourish in this defense. Oh, man, I flourish in any defense. It'll you know, you just line me up and tell me you'll play and him there. Oh,

it's It's definitely sweet. Allows you to play in space more and I feel like that's one of my biggest attributes, playing in space vision. Didn't get to do a lot of that in the past, but being able to do that now, I think it's gonna be good and I think it's gonna pay dividends for me. Big Jim, how do you look at the group? Yeah, I think, well, Marl can he can run too. Now he plays with great effort. Roquan I think he's going to settle in

very nicely at the weak side linebacker position. We even talked about this when Niberflus was hired as the head coach that I said, hey, man, maybe Roquan will be moved over to the week side backer. That's who he is. He's a run and hit guy, so he'll be a heat Sinki missile and look for his tackles to be every bit of one hundred and forty eight that he

got a season ago. And then you've got guys that have been in this system, obviously Matt Adams before and Jack Sanborn is gonna be coming along underneath them there. But I think that's a good group of linebackers and the Bears have to speed now. I think Nicholas and with Roquan, these guys will be able to apply to the football. But essentially Roquan he's the new Lance Briggs's that's who he needs to be in this Bears defense, and that's a lot of places are gonna get funneled

to him. There. There's no question about that. That's been said many times. Where the belief in this defense starts from Alan Williams, the defensive coordinator. He was very a thorough in his analysis today. I think that this defense is opportunistic. We're jelling together as a as a unit, as a team, and when you have a group of guys that have a purpose that's bigger than themselves, and they believe in that purpose. You know. We One of the things we like to say is we want volunteers,

not hostages. We want guys that want to be here. We want guys that believe in what we're doing, and they do believe. I feel they got a little bit of swagger. So let's go into the secondary. I'll take that with Jalen Johnson. He's on the verge of something great in my opinion, Kindle vill Door and then Kyler Gordon Fellas. They rave about his athleticism, they rate about his balance, his feet, his ability to get to the

football has been thorough. He's just gotta stay healthy. And then the Bears are ten and oh, and Eddie Jackson swipes a football in his career ten and oh, so he hasn't had one in thirty one games. I think it's gonna be a nice year for Eddie. I think they's gonna be bouncing around. And you already have a brisker jersey, so you don't need to hash over about him. I have a brisk Yes, you've about you from the

moment they drafted him. You've been on Jikwan Brisker and I see you in that jersey, and I know you'll wear it proudly. I know eleven he's being facetious. I definitely have not purchased that jersey, but I get it. You know, I love safeties and what else do I love? I love the corner blitz As we know, we'll end the show on that, so I'm expecting Kyla Gordon to get some corner blitzes this year from playing inside Nicol whoever else plays that physician, Jim, thanks so much, appreciate

you coming on, buddy. Thank you, Jim. Always fun to be with you. Guys, Jim Miller, Tom Thare, Thanks to Adams Tazinski and our other producers, Dan Brially and Jordan Tredup. Thanks for listening, everybody. This has been Bears All Access. It's brought to you by IGS Energy here on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the Score. Talk you next week night, everybody. Thanks for listening to this Chicago Bears Network presentation of

Bears All Access. Podcasts are available on Chicago Bears dot com and on iTunes or download the official Bears mobile app. Bears All Access has been brought to you by IGS Energy and sponsored by miller Lite