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Yes, Bears et cetera brought to you by Miller Light with the voices of the Bears Jeff Joniac and Tom Thayer.
Cuts have been made, deals have been done, and probably more to come before it's all said and done. The twenty twenty three Bears prepare for their one hundredth fourth season in franchise history with a new look and a new hope for success. Hi, everybody, this is Bears et cetera with Super Bowl winning Bear Tom Payer. I'm Jeff JONINGAF, my broadcast partner on ESPN one thousand of the Bears Radio Network, and we're brought to you by Miller Lte
tastes like Miller Time Chicago. All the angs that players have felt over the course of the last few weeks. Time and no way is there a sigh relief, right right?
Jeff you know, have you ever watched the end of the Stanley Cupp or a golf tournament where they show the guy that's inscribing the name of the winners on the trophy forever.
That's not happening yet.
Those names are not being inscribed on the roster for the finality of the Chicago Bear season. There's hundreds of names and positions and players in previous scouting that they've done on players that have to see if they fit and they may be better on this team than they were on the team they were trying out for, because of depth, because of different instances throughout the course of
time in training camp. So I think this is something that we need to, as you say, pump the breaks and let's see where the roster is in almost two weeks where instead of tomorrow.
Right as of right now, twenty six players on offense, twenty three on defense, and three of the specialists of course, and the newest edition is Dan Feenie, a local product from sanbrig Go out there in Orland Park. Tommy another local guy and a guy with experience, acquired from Miami Dolphins in return for a sixth round pick in twenty twenty four more on his arrival from head coach Matt Eberflues. Pending the passing of a physical.
In there, you've got an inside guy that you feel that can play all spots and back up and you know and be you know, a good a good starter there.
So that's really it.
And it's kind of like having a good swing tackle, you know, And that's really what the thought process was there.
We just said that everybody felt the but tevins week week. We interpret that as you expect them to be good to go.
That's what they're saying. Yep, everything looks good. We're getting guys in. We had a walk through, a nice long walkthrough meetings yesterday. We got the same thing today and guys are looking good there and they're ramping up. Guys that have been out are starting to do a lot of you know, land based stuff and getting in the speeds and cuts and moving around. So we'll see where it goes. But looks good right now.
With Cody is healthy, will he go back to center? Where do you anticipate him staying in left guard?
We're gonna have to look at that once we get the roster finalized, you know, because there's a lot of moving parts right now that we're looking at you know, every position, you know for depth, and.
You know potential otherwise. But yeah, right now, we can't really say that we'll see Tommy.
Four years with the Chargers, two seasons with the Jets before joining the Dolphins earlier this offseason. He's got almost one hundred career games and sixty four starts under his belt. The thing is, the key here is I would imagine from your perspective, he's insurance and he's got experience at both guard and center.
Exactly. It's all about versatility, Jeff. You know, when you bringing in a guy, especially an offensive lineman, this late in the mix, he's gonna have to be sped or fed a lot of information over the next fifteen or fourteen or however many days there is before the first game. But he's gonna have to digest a lot of information before they put him on the practice field so he can get involved in the play. So it's something that he's going to have to stand right to the right
of Chris Morgan, the offensive line coach. Every single play that's called, he's almost told his assignment. And then when he gets an opportunity to get some reps. You know, you have to be told your assignment again, but these professionals know how to study. I've had it happen to me when I got cut by the Bears. I got picked up a couple days later by Miami Dolphins and they said, listen, you better sit there and study your plays so we can activate you as soon as possible.
And it's no different now in the NFL.
Yeah, maybe any abit easier transition. Maybe Mike McDaniel from that tree of Kyle Shanahan and guys up in Green Bay and of course Luke Getzi, so there could be a little bit of an easier transition possibly. But you know, does this also signal anything to you about the health of the offensive line, in particular, what's going on with Cody white Hair, what's going on with Lucas Patrick, what's going on with Nate Davis, and what potential is going on with Kramer as well.
And Tevin Jenkins.
You know, because when you listen to Matt abra Fluis, he wasn't committing to the length of his injury or to any of those guys, and some of them are still day to day. So I think it's important to come in here and pick up a guy that has NFL playing experience, because it's not a shock to a
guy that's already been in the NFL. Sometimes it is a surprise that's a college player that comes in and plays in the first regular season game because the you, Jeff Listen, man, you've been around the NFL long enough and you know the tempo of the regular season is a lot different than the uncertainty or the amount of reps that these guys are told they're going to play in the preseason. So I think the one key word is we get ready to start the season is chemistry.
And if you think of chemistry, it fits in every single one of the segmented positions that they need to get better before they go against the Green Bay Packers.
A lot of questions about Nate Davis that was asked if head coach Matt Eberflush on Tuesday, is he going to be ready to play for Week one?
We're just looking at the phases where he is now. So he's in the steps that it says he's going to be ready. I don't know what's going to happen with the other steps because I can't I can't tell the future. But right now, he's in line for where he needs to be and we'll see where it goes from here.
The player like.
That who hasn't been on the field though all that much, can you tell the buy into the hits principle to the intensity, to the level of which you expect your guys to be playing since you haven't really seen that from him in your system.
Uh yeah, I mean I've played against him for four years or whatever it was, from eighteen to twenty twenty one, so I know what kind of player he is. You know, I've seen what kind of player is the intensity brings to the line.
And when he's been there and he's looked great.
You know, he's been in there looking good at his past sets, his jumps to the second level in the run game.
So he's looked really good in there.
And like I said, the process will take care of itself and he'll be ready to go.
But my past experience is with him, he's our kind of guy.
Tom. It made it seem like everybody's going to be ready to go come week one, with the exception of Tevin Jenkins.
Well, you know, Nate Davis, he's got to be ready to play. If he was able to put his pads on a couple times in Indianapolis, and throughout the last week of the preseason, he's got a Is this not a ramp up period anymore for Nate Davis? This is
a prepared to start for Nate Davis. And the biggest help that they can give Darnell right is having an experience lined up to his immediate left, in his immediate right when you talk about the tight end position, Nate, you were paid a lot of money to come in here and to be a day one bona fide starter. That's what I expect out of him, and I hope that's the same expectations for Bear Nation and the Bears coaching staff.
Score huge savings on an impressive lineup. But items are jewel Osco for you. This handyapp features hot digital deals on everything from premium produce and savory snacks, a butcher, fresh meat, and more. Get additional details at jewelosco dot com. All Right, Among the cuts the veterans defensive end Trevis Gibson and cornerback kendallville Door. They've been in the program
now for several years. DeMarcus Gates was banged up, didn't play much at all during the preseason, Steven Carlson, the tight end of Ante Collins a tackle, and also some other veterans like Derise Fountain at the wide receiver position, Michael Ojamudia at corner, and Simba Webster. Some of these guys, even though they're veterans, will be brought back to the sixteen man practice squad. So this is probably something that
we probably shouldn't even get into. But let's tackle Gibson number one, because obviously the idea that he was asking for and granted a trade request did not materialize, but it seemed like the handwriting was on the wall for Travis.
Yeah, you know, there's coaches out there that have familiarity with him. You know, if you look at Sean Desai in Philly, you look down in Miami with Vic Fangio, there's guys that are familiar with his style of play, in his dedication to the everyday responsibilities of an NFL player. So you never know, he could let he could land
at one of those two teams. I think if I was Trevis Gibson, I would stay fresh, I would stay working out, I would stay ready to play at a moment's notice because he showed, you know, in the preseason that he's got pass rushing skills. So maybe it's something that you can continue to refine those skills you end up in a roster and have a long, healthy, happy career.
I got to talk about Tyson Page and he is the number two quarterback right now. Nathan Peterman was waived. It does not prey clue, according to the head coach, Matty Reflush from bringing in some experience at the quarterback position, but his performance throughout training camp in in the preseason certainly turned everybody's heads. Here's Eberflution on what he's looking for in the young man's.
When you're a young player like that, you know you have to improve and get better every single week. And he's going to learn as he goes through the process of how the game plan changes every week, and that's probably a lot different than what he's used to.
You know, you put a training camp.
Install in and you're going through these concepts that you have, you know, the runs, and then the play action comes off of it, and the screen game were putting in and you know, the quick game, the empty game, and so forth, and you kind of go through that process during week one week, two week three of training camp, and all of a sudden, now you get to a game week and you're like, say, hey, we're going to pull this off the board, this off the board, We're going to change this, just this, and.
You got to learn all those concepts.
But they may look different to the to the defense, and that's how we put them in.
So he's got to learn how to do that process.
Tom, anything about this surprise you, Well.
Let me ask you something you announced the Senior Bowl. Does anything that surprise you? You have more eyes on experience from his practicing. When you go from the college he went to Shepherd University right now, you go to the Senior Bowl with all these Division Division one five star quality athletes. Me, I'm surprised just because I didn't
know anything about them. But I've grown to like these guys that stay in college for four years because it's evident of the extra couple thousands of reps that they get in those last years and it helps them, you know, elevate their skills. What about you, Joni, He's surprised.
No, I'm not, because I've said all along. It's just there's something about the guy, the way he carries himself, the way he walked down the practice field, the way players responded to him, the way he throws the football, his mechanics so no, and his belief. I mean, you know this word, mox he keeps coming up. I think it's just in the household he lived in with that father who was internationally famous for being a hand arm wrestler and being a champion of the best ever. He
just walks and walks to talk. You know, he's just there's something about him. And whenever you hear about there's something you bottom guys, you know they're going to get a chance. And now he has a chance. And he believed this long before he started high school out there in West Virginia, long before he was ignored by colleges. He felt his whole mindset, Tom, his whole mindset was
getting to the NFL. And when he started that process, there's video on it and he's quoted as saying, people are gonna they're gonna be wondering why they passed me up when I play in the NFL. And so now he's on the doorstep of being in the NFL.
Jeff, when I was a junior in high school, me and two classmates of mine. Sitting in class, we said, hey, how are we going to sign our autograph when we make it to professional sports.
It was in April of my junior year.
I had that same mindset in my head, and I'm glad that Badget agent had it because you see what has come out to be. Now, the first thing you hear that term the eye test. Does he pass the eye test? Is he Doug Flutie five to nine plus? No, he's six three, two hundred and fifteen pounds. He passes the eye test. But now what's all about the mental test?
And he's passed it. He's shown the coaches, given the indication and meetings and on the practice field and on the game field, that nothing's too big for him.
So I'm proud of the kid.
I'm happy for him, and I hope he has a long, successful career.
I love these stories, and they're all over the nation. For Football League, there's a bunch of guys making teams that nobody thought they would make, and let's see what happens with their careers. One of those guys is tied in Robert Tunyan. He talked about Beijing and how he interacted with him. Their conversations and his own Indiana State to Detroit Lions to Green Bay Packers journey. Let's listen in.
He's a good kid, he's a gamer. What's good about him. He was from a D two school and he played a lot of football. It's not like a guy who is just you know, starting like a handful of games in Division one and then getting drafted. You know, he played, you know, a lot of games, had a lot of success. So he has a lot of football under his belt.
Been very self aware just about the level that he came from. And he said that he'd make plays and he'd notice some guys. But wait, like kind of almost like a little bit of shock that a D two guy can make right like that, like you went where to school? Like how have you seen your teammates react to like how well he's played this preseason?
Knowing where I think that's what's good about Like our team, you know, a young team, like everyone's so like the camaraderie is good. Everyone doesn't really look down on people where they came from or you know, if you can play.
Football, you can play football.
And those are the people that we want around this building and we want a part of this team, So.
Yeah, it is a little different.
You know, a D two quarterback, you know, just coming in just all of a sudden making plays. But if you look at his film and like who he is and you know his statistics and all that, I mean, he's been doing it so.
Along the same lines.
You were a guy who had to fight for a roster spot.
What do you remember what the emotions of like roster cutdout, dame.
What advice do you have for guys?
Kind of Yeah, I mean I had, you know, when I was in Detroit, I had the worst where you know, I went in to sign my practice squad contract and then they didn't have it all of a sudden. And then the next year I go in and they call me. You know, I get that, you know, the prank call that I got cut, and then I go in there and then I made the team. So it was like
completely the different, completely opposites. But yeah, I mean just advice, I mean it really it does, you know, weigh on you when you get that call or when you get cut. But there's so much that can happen within these like next handful of weeks. You know, so many injuries in the first couple of games, or you know, you see roster moves that you know people didn't really like, or you kind of just see how the NFL unfolds in terms of rosters and moves and stuff like that. So
he kind of really can't dwell on it. But yeah, I didn'tan. I didn't sign Green Bay until like week or like the first week of December, so I was at home for like a whole year. So and uh yeah, so I mean really cliches it sounds, really isn't now it starts, but you know, when you get your opportunity, you know, finishing and executing and just making do with your opportunities.
Someone had the audacity to prank call you from the front office.
Like no, no, no, it was like another player who got cut, and then he used like the same text and copied and pasted and sent to me. I literally went into the office and handed in my iPad and then everyone was like excited to see me, and I was super confused. I didn't say anything. Yeah, there's like an article on it on ESPN or something like that, but this was yeah, two thousand and eight, Yeah, twenty eighteen.
I had a really good preseason, and I like they basically told me like I was on the team, so I was like cool, and then like I'm at home like playing video games with my buddy, and all of a sudden, like I get that text and I literally drove like so mad to the building like hand in my iPad. Then my tight ends coach in the GM are like super excited to see me.
I was like, this is weird.
That was a great story from Tanya. The one I cannot believe though, was getting the crank call from somebody he didn't really like on the team telling him that he was cut after he thought he'd made the Packers.
How me, it was it was a text, so some other teammate got cut through a text, and then that teammate took that text and sent it to Tonian.
I would have drove right to that person's house and beat the.
Crap out of them and then went back and hope, like heck that I still had a playbook at the end of the day.
Yeah, that's I gotta tell you.
It's one of the greatest stories I've ever heard from an actual NFL successful player by Robert Tunyan And someday I would like to talk to him behind closed doors and get more of a off the microphone, you know, response to it.
Well, even Detroit, he shows up for the practice squad and that there was no contract. That's all I said. There was nothing.
There was nothing.
That's it.
It was all.
It was not happening. So and he didn't even play football for almost a year before he got together with the Packers and they had a ten touchdown season up there in Green Bay. So great guy, local guy. Glad he's here. And that's an exciting watch. Game day snacking calls for good foods. Chunky guacamaldi made with has avocados, tomatoes, onions, solan showing a squeeze of lime juice. It's the perfect snack to watch while the Bears win. Score something today
at your local grocery store. Game day is guak day. I'm gonna tell you we you know, and you've been making a lot of comments about me and my parent love for number twenty nine Tyre Stevenson. But you know, I've also really my eyes are telling me, okay, Zach Pickens can play football. He can play football for me, and I just love the idea of Pickens and Dexter. They get out there together, they walk around together. It's
like your offensive lineman when they're all together. These two guys, they are joined at the hip and maybe they have great ten year careers here with the Chicago Bears. A defensive line, defensive tackle, nose tackle in this system. What are your thoughts on Pickens in Dexter.
They don't have a lot of similarities in their.
Style of play.
When you look at Zach Pickens, you look at the immediate explosiveness that he gets in control of the offensive lineman, and he puts them in a defensive position that offensive lineman don't want to be in. Gavon Dexter has athleticism to move laterally and to move vertically, like he says, So I like the way that these guys are increasing
their repertoire, their arsenal. And Travis Smith a defensive line coach, I think he's the perfect guy for them because he's got a variety of skills that he's been taught from other coaches, and then he does a really nice job of teaching.
These guys on the move. So they put them in place.
It's not something that they think about, it's just the way they react as defensive linemen. So I'm looking for the increased potential and growth of both of these guys in their own different skill sets.
Here's Pickings on the potential he sees with Dexter. He's running mate.
Oh yes, sir, we definitely do that, celebrate. We dap each other up every time we're about to go on the field. We give each other confidence. And that's the one thing I always want it. And if you believe it, he believe it, We're gonna be all right. And I feel like if we do our if we play our cards right, can't nobody stop us.
And that being said, you know, Dexter, let's listen in. He feels that he's starting to prove people wrong. And when asked, well, what do you mean you know, he goes, I was a second round pick. He says, it's so calmly. Let's listen in.
Oh yeah, completely opposite player now. I mean, I mean like getting off the ball, playing vertical and learning how to do some of those things. Even my rush ability has turned the whole different levels, so.
Like lean and athletic ability more in college, it seems like a natural thing, and then you come up period to realize it takes more than that.
If you come to that kind of realization.
Right, Yeah, of course, I think like a guy like me, I can win someone on one is just with my god given But now there's guys who's just as big and just as strong. So it's a technique versus technique. Pad level hands, inside hands, it's a lot of little things that you gotta have to win.
That's the kind of agitation you had, Right, he's agitated. He wasn't hurt. Yeah, but he what he's mad. He's not a first round pick, so therefore he feels people don't believe in him.
Yeah, but drink that fourth round kool Aid like I've been drinking.
I'm still bitter about it.
So it's any good. It's not. It doesn't taste. There's no taste. Doesn't changed.
Come on.
But I admire these two defensive linemen because they're not satisfied, they're not happy. They know they have a lot of potential, but they need to work hard to you know, have that growth cultivate. And so, like I said, I'm excited to see him down the road. And I think they're on a good team. There's some good veterans here. And when you look at the front seven of any defense, you need that rotational defensive line that can keep your
reps as fresh as they can possibly be. And I hope they're contributors on week one, day one.
All right, So you got nine of them as of right now, DeMarcus Walker, you and Heke and Gockway, Dominique Robinson, Rashim Green, and Terrell Lewis. He makes the team, Justin Jones Andrew Billdings, then Zach Pickens and Javon Dexter Senior. Do you like the rotation the flexibility of these nine gentlemen.
You need to see DeMarcus Walker where he's at. He hasn't shown me enough on the practice field other than you know, being a little chirpie, being a little instigator.
I like that side of them. I think the team needs that.
But I need to see DeMarcus Walker healthy and have multiple reps on the field, be in full pads to show me what he's going to contribute to the outside position.
We are brought to you by Molten Cores Busy Heart Celsiter, the official Heart Seltzer of the Chicago Bears, and United Airlines Official Airlines of the Chicago Bears. And we're brought to you by PNC the official bank of the Bears. Tremaine Edmonds had that twenty day absence from training camp get in a few snaps in the preseason finale, so we haven't seen him in his entirety with this defense as well with his running mate TJ. Edwards, Eddie Jackson
of course, and Jakwan Brisker at safety. So Kyler Gordon was asked if he's concerned about that lack of continuity as they head into the opener since.
The beginning of camps, and OTA is like, we've been in moments that we all juled together, and I've seen the way that we've all played and how dominant can be kind of like what I was talking about a little bit earlier, and so you know, being able to have that in that chemistry and stuff, and even to be able to go through walk throughs and do stuff and the communication be so smooth that when you know we're going through play, it's like, I don't know, it's
just smooth, and especially compared to last year at least for me, and you know, being able to talk about players and we can do this, we can do that.
Okay, let's just make sure we.
Talk it up and like I don't really have any doubts as far as the way we're gonna Jel. I've seen each player, you know, do something special individually and add and contribute to this defense and stuff like that. So I think a lot of people are curious about it. But as as a defense and people that have been here in the building, like I don't have a lot of doubts in the players that we have and stuff like that, So I feel good about us.
All right. Gordon says he's not worried about it because he's seen it throughout course of the offseason and practice that when they were healthy, these guys were playing a certain style of defense, and they did. They looked good, They looked better at times than the offense did throughout certain practices in the offseason and training camp. What is your take and concern at all for the starting defense as it prepares for the Packers.
Well, this is my concern.
When Kyler Gordon was at the mike, communication inside the classroom was a lot different than chemistry out in the field when you have moving part against your opponent, I do when the whole defense was out there, I think, Jeff, that was the most impressive element of training camp force. In the first four or five days of camp when they were all out there, they were fast on their feet, They're athletic, they moved well, they're taking the ball away, they're putting pressure.
On the quarterback.
I like that Kyler Gordon feels that they're in a better place now than they were a year ago.
Obviously when some of these kids were rookies.
But if they have all these guys stay healthy, they have depth in the defensive backfield. They're more athletic at the linebacker position. With depth, they got a better rotation a defensive lineman. If they can stay on the field together. What did k Kyler say at the end of it that they could be scary. This is a good group. This is a good group. So I'm excited to see that.
Now. We need the offense to feel the same way about itself with Justin Fields pulling the trigger for DJ Moore, Chase Claypole, Darnell Mooney, Echuamenia, Sam Brown, Tyler, Scott Baylis Jones, Junior Cole Comet, Robert Tunyan, Mercedes Lewis, and the running backs. He kept five running backs, including Kyrie blasting game. So you've got a lot of weaponry and a lot of mismatches you could create if everything falls into place. But of course, the offensive line's got to come out healthy.
So these are all all things, a lot of questions. Yet with two weeks to go before the start of the season, opener.
Down chemistry, Jeff, and I keep I'm going to repeat that word until I get one hundred reps of the offensive line together, of the same five guys, and I think that's when you can start scratching the surface of the chemistry that you ultimately need. So you know, Jeff, take for example, the first three games of the year, and you think of the defense Green Bay runs, you think of the defense Tampa Bay runs, and then you
think of the defense that Kansas City runs. There are subtle differences to every one of those defenses, and you don't have time to talk on the line of scrimmage about the communication of responsibilities. You got to get to know each other so well that it's a blink of an eye, it's an elbow tap in the huddle, it's a head nod, it's a code word at the offensive line that everybody knows exactly what you're talking about.
So, uh, you.
Know, my opinion, is still out there, and I'll give you that opinion after hopefully I see those hundred snaps.
All three of those defensive lines have impressive players on it, assuming of course, that Chris Jones returns and avoids a holdout there for Kansas City. I hope not all right, Big Time did anything on the final roster as we know it right now, A surprise you and you know, take the injuries aside. There were a few guys banged up.
Of course, that practice squad will feature players that are from other rosters, but a number of rookies that did not make the final roster will be on that practice squad.
You know, surprise.
No, I'm just waiting to see the guys get into their place, to see how they developed on this team, because you know, you make you talked.
About the absence of tremade Edmunds.
You know, we talk about the absence of Chase Claypool. So there's veterans on this football team that haven't been.
Around for a little while.
DeMarcus Walker that they're going to play a significant role on this football team, Jeff. So when you talk about these next days leading up to the Green Bay game, it's almost like they have to speed up their process of contributing to this football team mentally, physically, and you know in the meeting rooms in every way that the Bears are going to be asking of them. So I'm excited to see. It's not the finished product before the Green Bay game. It's the product before the Green Bay game.
And just taking a glance at the Packers a roster, Obviously, the biggest change is the most important one to Jordan Love, but a lot of the same names that we have dealt with over the years are on that roster. It's a young receiving corps. It's a veteran defensive line with the veteran defensive players in the secondary, and a veteran offensive line with a pair of running backs that can cause you some damage.
Why they cut your guy? Who is that trick O'Donnell?
I know they cut him Monday.
Yeah, I'm surprised about that, Patrick O'Donnell.
Will he'll end up on an NFL roster as an active player maybe Week two.
But you know, I mean there was a.
Lot of kickers around the league traded in moving around teams at this part of the season.
So I'll listen.
You know, in Green Bay I don't like Green Bay, that's no secret. But I like Patrick O'Donnell and I was surprised when I saw his name.
All right.
Lastly, one bit of nugget that is important for the season to come, Tommy. Eight of the bears thirteen losses came down to a single score and they had led in the fourth quarter in some of those games. That's how much excitement there was in the season that became a fourteen loss season despite that fact they were So how do they bridge that gap?
Now?
How do they win those You know, they have to have more sustainability time sustainability that leads to score on offense. They have to keep their defense fresh late in the game because when you look at the analytics and the statistics of the defense, you know it's got to go hand in hand, Jeff. It's got to be a contributing, scoring, time consuming offense that allows the defense to play fresh.
Because we just talked about all the assets the defense has, and if they're allowed to go out there in the fourth quarter and play a fresh brand of football, then you're going to see them winning those types of games. And you know, so we need probably more explosive plays in the fourth quarter as well.
All right, that's going to wrap us up. Thank you. Miller Lte, the official beer of the Chicago Bears, tastes like middle time Chicago. Tommy, We'll talk to you in a couple of days.
Gotta boy, Jeff.
Thanks for listening. Everyone. Please subscribe now on the Chicago Bears official app, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcast. We'll talk to you in a couple of days. This is Bears et cetera with Tom Theare. I'm Jeff Joniek. Thanks for listening.