What we learned from rookie minicamp | Bears, etc. Podcast

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I am Jeff Joniac.

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Brought to you by Miller Light with the voices of the Bears, Jeff Joniac and Tom Thayer.

Exciting times for Bears fans.

Schedule release on Wednesday of this week and fans out of their collective minds, Oh my gosh, it's as big as anything he does. And we get our first look at the new Bears coaching staff on the grass, coaching up the rookies over the weekend try out guys as well. We had another successful Bear's care gala, and we're cooking right now with Tom Thayer, the Super Bowl winning Bears guard. I'm Jeff Joniac. We're brought to you by Miller Lights.

I wish you were.

Here because I think I got to kick out of the coaches on the grass just listening to them coach, a little bit of fire, a lot of instruction, a lot of motivation, not letting anything slight is promised, I can tell you that.

And the result it was a fun watch.

I mean, it's just shorts and guys running around doing techniques and fundamentals, but I enjoyed it.

Well.

For me, it's a little different because I had a.

Chance to listen to a lot of it.

And when you kind of shut your eyes and you're not paying attention to any one person, you're kind of paying attention to the sympathy of voices that surround all of the practice fields and whether they're yelling encouragement or correction or whatever they're talking about according to the position and the guys are coaching. I think that's the neat process and the beginning for me is kind of listening and getting to know those new voices with your eyes closed.

I hear some of my takeaways from from my eyes. Ozzie Trippelo is a huge man. Let me just tell you that right now. He is a big guy, and it's not just linear.

He is built.

He is broad chested, big armed dude and just a large human being. Luther Burden the Third has got burst to him, man, he's got burst and finished to his game. Did make a heck of a catch, banged up on it, but he was right back out there on Saturday. And Kyle Manungai he's gonna be fun to watch as well. He may be short in stature, but he's a plowhorse man. He looks good. And Zay Frazier the Corner thinly built, but he can move those long arms make an impact.

L Boy, he's got a big voice.

Eric Bana me, you're not walking back to the huddle, Tom, you gotta hear about it.

No, it was fun.

Jeemy the Enemy is one of the guys that you close your eyes and you kind of get to know already because his approach to coaching is a little bit more old school, where he's not gonna coddle you and tell you how.

Great you are.

He's going to tell you what you screwed up, what not to do, and for God's sakes, don't touch the cone's yeah, when someone kicked the cone in there.

And so I.

Like, you talk about Antoine Randall l and you talk about beenemy, you talk about Al Harris and these guys. It's kind of neat to listen to, you know, the help that they're going to give these young players to come in here and compete the best against the veterans.

And over the course of this podcast, we'll hear from defensive line coach Jeremy Garrett to sit down with him. From a couple of weeks ago, he worked with Miles Garrett with the Cleveland Brown so he's been in the college game. And then j T Barrett, just getting his feet wet as an NFL coach, came over from Detroit with the Bears head coach Ben Johnson, so has some interesting comments what he had as well, just from his perspective not that far removed from being a college player.

So that's big.

By the way, tickets will go on sale through Ticketmaster, the official ticket partner of the Bears, here on Wednesday. But for this game, you can already start buying those tickets. It breaks a you know, it's been two years since no primetime game used to be an annual thing. You're going to play the Packers in primetime, so this could be either three thirty or six thirty. So that's primetime enough for me, and it'll be interesting late in the season Tom, and.

Then the Black Friday Game.

About that, the Black Friday Game, Tom, the Bears are going in primetime with the Black Friday Game. That also means the possibility when the schedule comes out that the Bears could also play on Christmas Day because that happened and the teams who played on Black Friday they played on Christmas Day.

Right, Well, you're going to have to do a lot of your shopping online, yeah, because I know Big Friday is a huge day for you to hit all the malls and pick up stuffs for Caitlin and Kelly, but this year you might have to do it.

At halftime at Philadelphia, we'll go shop in the morning je steaks only.

Yeah, so how do you feel about those two?

You know, I want to see the whole schedule because just talking about two games out of seventeen is just a little underwhelming. But when you put all seventeen together, where when, how conditions heat, cold, all that kind of stuff, it'll be fun to see because you know, they kind of leak a couple of games. And I look at the Minnesota Vikings. How they have two international games back to back, one doublin Ireland and one in England. So

That's funny.

Yeah, we got to talk to our guy Pete Bursich because that was on my list of things to talk about later in the show. But let's talk about it right now. Because they're the only team in the division that's playing an international game. There are thirteen overall teams gonna have an international game this year out of the thirty two, and that's gonna be an annual thing and it's going to increase. It's gonna increase. So that's the future. But what is it ten days abroad? Okay, what is

I like to say, that's real money, Tom, that's real money.

But you know, there's so many other considerations that you have to take into an effect. You know, Now, are you gonna leave your family home for ten days or are you gonna bring your family with you for ten days?

You know, And there's a lot of young guys in the NFL.

That are married and guys that are newlyweds, So there's a lot of decisions that you have to that have to be made, similar to like a baseball team that goes on a ten day road trip or a basketball team. So these guys, they have a lot of friends in other professional sports, and maybe you should take some advice from those guys about how they go about business on those long extended trips.

We've never been on one.

Our longest trip is probably going to the Super Bowl for five or six days, and that's for one game. But when you're talking about going from Ireland to England and everything else in between, it's gonna be it's gonna be trying.

Yeah.

Of course Jacksonville has done that, but this is something brand new for Minnesota. Okay, let's get into some things here as we get you set for some of the sounds of the week last week with the Rookies. This podcast brought to you by the official beer partner of your Chicago Bears.

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Go to Miller Lite dot com slash Bears Pod to find delivery options near you. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Ninety six calories and three point two carbs per twelve ounces. All right, let's start with Holston Lovelin Tom transitioning right now from that injury where he had to have surgery in January, so his return to full activity won't be until some point during training camp. So he likes to

Yeah, I'm a big fan. I love like this spirit is energy. He's super like determined, he's ready to go. He's ready to take this thing to the top. And he's no nice guy. He's gonna I see him getting getting on butt and you know, getting on people's butts and but fired up to like super excited. I'm loving how he coaches' so early and I'm excited to play for him.

He's gonna be a topic.

Let's every time there's a practice, the media will ask a question about Ben Johnson to a player, maybe something they heard, something they saw how he goes about it, because there's so there is more intrigue about Ben Johnson than any Bears coach we've ever been around since Dicka my opinion, because they're watching him because he has that reputation of excellence that he brings to from Detroit and

But it's almost like you have a scientist. Okay, So we saw him in the lab in Detroit and what he did with the personnel, what he did with the guy like Jared Goff, bringing in Jamar Gibbs, and how that.

Offense, and it's kind of exploded up there.

Now this lab that he's in, this new lab in Chicago is completely different. The quarterbacks aren't the same, the running backs are different. The personnel on the exterior of the offense and the tight end position in the offensive line, they are a lot different from the formula, the formula that he perfected in Detroit. So now what is the formula for the Chicago Bears personnel? And I don't think that's ever going to stop. That's going to be Ben

I appreciated what he had to say when his only day at the podium for the rookie Minti Caamp talked about finding that sweet spot and coaching their different personality styles are going to come out for all the coaches, including himself, in scenarios and situations.

And then this to me is the most important learn what the.

Guys need to be pushed, because sometimes they do may not be may may not be feeling it one day, working through an injury or having a bad practice. What how far can you take a guy what they need? How you figure out what they need to be pushed?

I like that.

I like that thought me too.

I think that's kind of an evaluation that goes, you know, understated, because sometimes these coaches are the guy, the guys that get to see these guys at their worst moments. So when you show up at the facility at six o'clock

All right, here's Luther Burden, the third drafted number thirty nine. He said it. It was the quote of the week. It's gonna stay with him forever. Everybody who passed up on me has got to pay. He believes in himself. He feels he should have been drafted much higher. But this part of his conversation is that he's gelling with Antoine Randall, l his receivers coach.

I feel like he's going to bring the best out of me. You know, I've seen his past history.

You know, he's a guy who's you know, been in my shoes, so he knows what to expect in you know, different ways how to handle it.

So I'm grateful, you know, to have a great coach like him.

On the on the practice field, Burden getting a lot of attention from Anton Randall l but he was coaching everybody up the same way. He's just full of energy exactly the way we've described him.

Yeah, and I love it here and I'd love to see it because these guys need to be inspired coming out of college and into their first NFL action, and you gotta, like we're just talking about the last been pushing their buttons.

You got to get the best out of them.

You got to make sure that they work play in and play out, and that they work harder on Sunday. So I think that this is kind of probably the perfect player coach combination because you need a young guy like Burn that needs inspiration for an experienced guy like Antoine Randall.

El and Antoine wenderbl can still spend it. He throws a nice pass, Tommy, he really puts some heat on that missile.

He can he can with it.

Those guys, you know, they don't lose that. They're they're always They're always.

Going to have that so hey, and you know, he can probably help in some of the drills when you need a couple of extra balls flying exactly.

Reuben Hippolyte, the second self described bumpy first day. I guess Dennis Allen told me, you needed a better day the next day, and he appreciated that. But they're really what draws them to this player is the speed and you can see it on.

The hook four four to two.

That's the ability to be a coverage weapon. But overall, he describes his journey here to the NFL how he was overlooked many times in his life.

Misery loves company. There's a lot of people that don't know what I had to go through to get this opportunity. You just look at my story, just not going into the Combine, not going to the Senior Bowl, Trim Bowl had a Hula Bowl, which you know, I give a lot of you know, credit to Nick Logan for trusting me for to play in that game. But just that and then I called the NFS twice to see if

My meetings and stuff with like that.

So you know, all that is just a combination of you know, me getting his opportunity now.

Definitely don't take it for granted.

Very grateful for you know, everybody upstairs for believing in me and in my ability.

Now it's time for me to put together.

I just love my story for anyone who's you know out there who thinks that they need you know, you know, things like the combine and invite singer boy invited, you know that, who thinks that they need that to get drafted?

You don't. You just got to put your best foot forward.

You gotta run fast and uh, he's got to be your best self every day.

And I feel like I'm showing that.

I got a lot of messages, a lot of love, a lot of hate too, but that's what comes with it, so I'm all for it.

The essence of that was the surprise that he was a fourth ron or others had him as undrafted. Uh, just draft analysts, you know, the the crowd that does that work. During this entire offseason, he wasn't buying any of it, and I'm glad talking about putting a chip on another shoulder.

There you go, listen.

I I love his reaction to how the draft went down, and his dissatisfaction with his evaluation or non invite to the combine. All those types of things that are going to stay in the back of his head are going to be fuel for the fire.

You think of what happened with TJ.

Edwards throughout his career after being undrafted free agent and now he's one of the best interior linebackers in the NFL. I think that kind of fuel is, you know, is really important for any of these guys, and Hippolyte is one of the guys that I think he's going to be inspired by it.

All right, Assie Tripillo, what a what a nice guy, you know.

I introduced him to Tommy Wattle in the hallway because played with his dad and got a big charge out of that. I stopped him in the in the lunch room, I said, hey, I got one more nugget for you.

I don't know if you know.

Who this person is, but a gentleman by the name of Jim Finks, a general manager in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, had a big hand and putting together that starting offensive line for the nineteen eighty five world champion Chicago Bears and was a big line of scrimmage guy.

He's in the Hall of Fame.

Just so you know, he drafted your dad in New Orleans and that's a great nugget. He was like, man, thank you so much for tell me. That's a cool story. I think it's a cool story. And it's interesting that he is a Bear. That and Jim Finks so popular in this organization. And I know you respected Jim Finks as well.

Oh heck yeah. And you know I knew his dad. I knew who his dad was.

You know, I knew a lot about him from his college background and stuff.

And so Trapillo has.

Got an opportunity to keep that name alive and flourish even farther in the NFL. So he's definitely a guy I think all Bears fans will pull for. But he's also in the midst of a job interview that could be some of the more difficult times over the next five or six months in his life. When you're trying to go from right tackle to left tackle or maybe even on inside in the guard, then you're going to have an extreme upgrade and talent every single snap that

And you know that smile stays on his face.

Here's Trapillo on getting his first snaps at left tackle throughout the course of mini camp.

Throughout college, I knew that I wanted to play in the NFL, so doing so you have to be versatile. That's the quickest way to get on the field. So you know, after practice, even though I was the right tackle the last two years in college, working left, making sure that it's it's still smooth, still feels good. Especially after the season. You know, I was working more left than right just because catching out for lost time. So it felt good today.

Did you have a non football checklist?

I mean yeah, you could say similar, similar like showing who I am as a person along the staff, all the great people around the staff here. So I think that sort of coincides in a way with who I am as a football player.

Well, you know, some guys have to learn how to be a pro. Some guys are just a pro. They're just a pro. Asi Trapello is a pro because, as he indicated, working at left tackle after practices at Boston College, thinking big right, thinking long term what that means, maybe an injury on his own team, or maybe the NFL is going to look at me. I have to play both sides. Way to go Ozie Tripillo Right.

Listen, man, But you know they're saying in the NFL is the more you can do. There is very few guys out there unless you're a bona fide left tackle and that's what you played your whole career, and you know that's what you're walking in the NFL to do.

You know, there's a few of those guys.

That's the first thing an offensive line coach wants to do. Feed you as much information and as much as many stances as you can possibly get into on the offensive line and see where you fit the best.

And the most confident.

Okay, Tommy, a couple more guys here. Kylem anung guy, the running back out of Rutgers. Here's a clip from him on dropping into the seventh round.

You know, I'm concern myself with who went before me and all those things that drafts over with to my rare view for me, but definitely something I'll take with me in some fuel chip on my shoulder. But that's kind of been my whole career and my path to getting here. And you know, the things that allowed me to excel in college, I got to figure that out at this level first, and then, you know, use those things to my advantage and then I expect to see the same results.

What are those things?

You know, the little things, little details, you know, just being a professional sport and with grown men. At the end of the day, everyone's talented, everyone's got the certain things that are necessary to be a football player. It's a little details that makes the great guys great, you know, that allows them to see the results they see. So I got to figure out what those things are for me.

You have a great saying when something is brought to your attention that aggravates you a little bit, you say, don't care.

He does not care where he was drafted. It matters not.

And that's the proper way to look at it, because once you are on the field, now it's your ballgame. You show what you got, You're gonna get evaluated from a completely different set of eyes. This is a different system, different scheme. You got your chance, you run with it. And I like that he's looking forward in that backwards tom oh me too.

I really enjoy this young running back. I enjoy everything he said. I like the things that you see on tape and what Eric the enemy needs out of them, and what Ben Johnson is gonna use him.

For this offense.

So I think he increases the competition in the backfield, and uh, you know, I I think he's got a bright future ahead.

Of him in the NFL.

We're brought to you by PNC Official Bank of the Bears, Za Frasier, the rookie cornerback out of Texas San Antonio. And we brought this up many times, the coaching work of Al Harris and watching Al Harris just strut around on that field with a resume of importance as a player. I think it hasn't gone unnoticed by anybody, including these guys.

Fraser, I'm being coached by Harris Man.

Coach Man helped me for sure getting my stands higher, not being too low when I'm perst Man and stuff like that. So being coached by him is really a blessing for he gonna coach me every day, even coaching Harris and I got here and right now, so you know this bit having him right there just it just motivates everybody, and it just you know, elevation our game as well.

Tommy made a terrific play at one point breaking up a pass and that was his mo. He gets to the football, he's like a man. He had six interceptions, but a lot of pass breakups in college.

You know one thing about Frasier, I always say I believe that the cornerback position is the second most difficult

And really can utilize that length and size of his.

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The essence of our conversation.

How is that transition from college.

To PROFI It's been good.

You know, I was with the Browns in twenty twenty, so it got some NFL you know experience, and some Midwest experience, so kind of used to the cold a little bit, but you know, you get to this level, you know, football is football, just as minus the recruiting and all the home visits and things like that. So it's been good man, you know, come from Jacksonville and now you know with another NFL team, it's it's been good.

Does it feel like you have a lot more runway when you don't have to worry about those other things in college?

Yeah? I think it is. As a coaches, definitely.

I think the biggest thing, like you're gonna spend the hours in football, You're gonna grinding football.

You know, all of that doesn't change.

I think the biggest thing is you know, when you're off, when you're on summer vacation, like you're actually off and you're with your family and you can give them all your attention and it's not you know, you got to answer the phone for every recruit that's calling. So that's the biggest difference. I enjoyed recruiting, but it is nice to be with your family and not have to interrupt that time.

All right, So what do you think of your guys so far?

Like the group, Man really really excited about everybody as a whole. You know, I spent some time with those guys, been meeting with them.

We got some talent.

We got some work to do, and I'm just excited to get on the field, man, and work with them and coach and do what we love to do on the grass.

Can you kind of explain to us, because we haven't seen him from the inside, only the outside. Look at it, Gray Jarrett's energy, enthusiasm, juice.

I mean, he's a leader. I mean you could feel it. He's one of the guys you walk in the room. He has a presence about himself and he is, you know, very detailed. You know, he takes notes as if it's the first time he heard anything, So you can see the leadership in him. I know he's doing great in with those weight room guys at this time. But you know, I think he's the type of guy. I mean, he's a captain, he's a he's a veteran, he's tough, he works hard, he has the right mentality.

Uh, he's an unselfish player.

I think anytime you get a guy like that and you add that to your defensive line, you know, along with the talent we had in place, man, I think it's it's exciting, uh to have that type of guy join us.

I was excited with him as a veteran in.

Your Billings, how can they help the younger guys come in.

I think just just uh, the biggest thing with new guys coming in is how to be a pro. And so those guys Billings he sweat all those guys can just reiterate, you know, the coaching points like here's here's a note taking process, here's how you handle yourself as a pro, here's how to get rid of the distractions if there are some. But just to be a pro and have longevity in this league, I think is important.

It should in terms of what they're being asked to do this year versus whatever you don't you know last year, doesn't matter previously or matter. Yep, the style that Dennis wants when you snapped the ball boot.

Right, yep, yep.

So you know, really looking forward, you know, first of all, we want to see a tough, a tough group, a tough defense in general, and we all know it starts up front, so mentally tough, physically tough. We want to see relentless pursuit, all right, and we want to strike blocks like we.

Want to attack up front.

We want to knock guys back, and so that's kind of mentality style that we want to be with. You know, we want to disrupt the timing of the running back and the quarterback, and so that's that's really our goal and what we strive to do and what we want to put on tape.

I hear a lot of great things about this coach also being a excellent teacher and a fiery guy, very nice guy. But he's got a lot of work on his hands because there's a lot of clay to mold on that defensive line, a lot of different personalities, body types, talent, everything that Dennis Allen is trying to get accomplished about. These guys coming off the ball hard and just banging into that guy across the line of scrimmage and them being disruptive and penetrating.

I like that Garrett recently had college experience because he kind of understands the young buying of defensive linemen that are coming up through the ranks out of college and then coming to make the pro game. Then he also understands the professional guys because he's been around the game for a while now. And so I think when you take the combination of your past experiences as a position coach, you know how it fits according to every one of their personalities, you know how to get the best out

Yeah, you know, if you just go on last year and the projection anyway, you had eight guys that are coming back as starters, right, so the defensive improvement that will come, it'll be the other supplements added from what

You know one thing that the h coach is really said throughout your interviews with me, I know there's no depth chart, and I like that though Jeff and I want them to keep saying that until they get into training camp in pads a couple of weeks, evaluate one on ones of every different segment that you're looking at. You look how they fit in according to the mental

You know you made it. Let's let's see what's next.

And so it's the same thing with your if you're in a professional level. Let me look at that first depth chart. Where am I? Okay, what do I need to do to climb up that depth chart or what else can I do to improve my opportunities?

Did you have the same euphoric rush when you ran to the scores on the outside of your teacher's office after a big test and you have passed your map final.

Remember remember those days in college.

Yeah, I didn't run with the same excitement. That was more earn. I probably had more confidence in my football ability than my schooling.

Yeah, the kids today they get you know, it's how digital we had to run.

We had you had to sit there and you had to look for your for your.

Test score on a on a piece of paper outside the office.

Oh my god.

It was talk about a stomach ache tom for both of us. I'm sure again. We're brought to you by PNC Official Bank of the Bears. A note on Dennis Allen on Shamar Turner. By the way, and since we had Turner's interview last week, I didn't run any soundbites throwing from the podium, but I love this quote and he's he's a Texan. Dennis sounds a Texan. So put it all into perspective. I think we'll have to put the saddle.

On him and break them a little bit.

But we'd rather have to pull the reins back rather than have to whip him to get him to go. I love that quote about Shamar Turner and that's that's an ode to his aggressive play.

He drew some flags in college. You won't be able to do that in the NFL.

But he's gonna play with a lot of fire, and they don't want to take that away from him.

Oh no, You never want to just go urage a guy from playing full speed all the time, whether he does it in practice or games. But you want to take that full speed attitude and be able to connect it to fundamentals and techniques and al sudden turn this, like you said, this wild horse into something that's rideable and the usable, and take his traits and turning turn them into assets.

Start them out at defensive tackle, working both three technique and nose tackle, and they see versatility in him, but one step at a time.

That's kind of the approach with j. T. Barrett.

I sat down with him when all the coaches who were available a few weeks ago, asked him if he drove right in when when getting to teaching Caleb Williams and the rest of the quarterbacks.

I wouldn't say just dive in. I think it's a process, and so we're trying to take the necessary steps in order to make sure that we're going about things in the right way as coaching staff to make sure that guys are prepared and so when you get to OTA's and training camp that we're all on the same page. So it's just a day by day process.

What do you think of the entirety of the staff because the experience levels from a veterans sixty nine year old defensive coach to the different types of influences offensively and is it been a fun process to hear everybody's thoughts.

No doubt, Being that there's a lot of experience, there's a lot, you know, a lot of things people have done in their past. There's a lot of ways to do with one thing. So with that, it's been cool to hear the unique different ways some my you know coaches have a play scheme up and play whatever it is, So I think that's been cool.

In your approach as a coach, do you coach the way you liked to be coached or do you have a different way about you now from a player perspective to a coach person.

I would say that I'll probably take an approach that how I would like to be coach. As a player, I knew I wanted to be coach hard. I knew I wanted to, you know, I don't know I wanted to. I was getting better each and every day, right, So with that, I feel like I do take that same approach and making sure that you know, at the end of the day, we're at least getting better in some.

Area each and every day.

From a quarterback perspective, so I'll say, yeah.

It's interesting to hear all the coaches because they all are saying, we say, coach hard, We're gonna coach guys hard. I mean, it's it's it's it's refreshing to hear.

It's a tough, tough business, but there's we've got a lot of responsibility. We've got to be accounta roof making sure that we know our job, know what to do, and it's not easy.

But at the end of the day, it's profession football league.

So yeah, that's okay, thank you.

When that was.

Higher, he said that he want the assistant coaches to be ready to grind late.

Nights, especially on the office.

Try to call it like can you give us a little insight or what you like? Pretend to weekly works like fornder doctor.

Well, yeah, just that a lot of late nights So it's interesting, you know, because my family they would, you know, try to come see me up in Detroit during the season and they were like, oh, you're always at work, and it's like, yeah, guys, it's my job and it's really important. So yeah, I'm at work, you know, nineteen hours the other day, Like this is what it is. But no, it just comes with it.

So some really good answers from j T.

Barrett finding his voice as well as a coach, the former Ohio State quarterback.

Very serious guy, very serious guy.

And I think being not so far removed from college is another advantage in working with these young quarterbacks like Caleb Williams and Tyson Bagent and you got the veteran case Keenum Austin Reid also on this roster.

Yeah, you know, I think it's an exciting opportunity for J. T. Barrett because he's what the Chicago Bears, a new coaching staff and a new head coach from the ground floor. And if you start seeing the emergence of Caleb, there's gonna be a lot of conversation of what where can J T. Barrett go in terms of his coaching and his coaching success.

But I'm glad.

Right now, he's only focused on the Bears quarterback room. He's not trying to think too far ahead or even behind, but he's just trying to get every one of these quarterbacks an equal opportunity to succeed.

Did you hear the Declan Doyle interview at the podium during Mini caamp I said, Caleb came in on a Saturday, went through his own walkthrough by himself in the paytent center. Just he's driven to show that he's got to handle on this for his teammates and for his own future and for this team's future. I thought that was a good, good anecdote, good story, you know.

I think from the moment Caleb was drafted, he's always been a really wise young man up at the podium, but he also knows what's at stake here because now this is the third program in three years. In the difficulty of mastering the terminology that he has to learn

New Chicago United Airlines getting brand new planes with all the bills and whistles like Bluetooth connectivity screens at every seat in room for everyone's roller bag. United proud to fly the Chicago Bears and you too mentioned Bears Care. Another big night. Thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to cancer and ovarian cancer research Breston Ovarian Cancer Research. Another big, big night in terms of those contributions and the live auction.

And you know, some of the.

Players there included Roma Dounza, who he must have taken about a thousand pictures. People really are attracted to Rome's personality and he was He was so generous.

With his time over the guy.

I have to mention that, and same with other players and some of the guys that have been there many times, like your teammates Stan Hampton and Gary Fencik and Charles Panett. Tillman was there, Jerry Azuma, Anthony Adams, those those folks, so DJ Moore. So it was a very very fun night went smoothly and a big night for cancer research for sure.

Well that's awesome, you know, listen, man, that events meant.

A lot to every single Chicago Bear player.

Who's walked into that event and they know that how it's helped people that are in such a position of need at that time. And the whole Chicago Bear staff has always done a great job of putting it together.

And you running the live auction.

I know that is not easy, but it's it's super beneficial to the people that that it helps.

I'll tell you what makes it easy when you have President and CEO Kevin Warren grabbing the microphone to give it himpassion plea and explain just how we are all interconnected. Unfortunately, in the cancer world, there's not a person that we know has not been impacted by someone they know that has been afflicted with cancer of any type, all of us.

So he did a heck of a job. So I appreciate that as well.

Hey, Tommy so OTLs will be starting May twentieth. There'll be three on field days that week, four days the following week, then a mandatory midi camp June third through the fifth, and then the rookies got to come back for one more week, but that'll be it for the offseason until training camp starts.

We don't have the exact date just yet.

That'll come rolling out once the schedule is released on Wednesday.

But you know you'll be back in.

Town and enjoying that process. And I'll tell you, the excitement is bubbling up.

Man.

It's just seeing the guys on the grass again.

A lot of smiles on a lot of faces, just because everybody wants to rinse the bad taste out right and start over here and get it right and have a great, great.

Twenty twenty five season. And I know you feel the same way.

Yeah. Hey, it's going to be one of the most competitive divisions in the history of the NFC North in the NFL, and I think every time you have a conversation, whether they're having a conversation in Green Bay, in Detroit, Minnesota, or Chicago, the conversation.

All revolves around the division.

It's something that you know, the Bears are in the process of improvement, coaching players and everything, and you know, I'm excited to see where this is going to go.

Hey, Bears Fan Steinhoffels is a proud partner of the Chicago Bears are now open in Orland Park. Steinhoffels is Chicago Land's furniture and mattress leader, with the largest selection to fit every style and budget, and as one hundred percent employee owned shopping store and online at Steinhoffels dot Com. One last thing, your dear friend and a guy that has because of you, have had a few conversations with the enjoyed Chris Berman.

I got to give him a shout out.

The Berminator gets to stay with ESPN through its fiftieth anniversary and first Super Bowl. He got a contract extension. He's seventy, right, he's going to be seventy yep, just.

What seventy just turned seventy the other day.

An amazing career and I'm glad they still believe in Berman and he delivers every time he takes the mic, and you tell him congratulations from me as well. I think that's huge, especially you know he's all abau ball. He's all about football, of course, and he's really carved out that niche and really been a big presence in terms of the National Football League in that regard. Certainly his work at the Hall of fame also underscores that.

Well, you know, I did get a thank you message for him while we are doing this podcast, and I talked to him a couple weeks ago and he said, and he will be and I don't think there will ever be another fifty year employee of ESPN, and that was his goal. He wanted to stay with ESPN and to get to that fifty year anniversary. Super happy for him,

So yeah, I appreciate Burman as well.

Yeah, I'm sure I'm sure he's tickled, no doubt about it. All Right, that'll do it for us for Tom there, I'm Jeff Joniyak.

Thanks for listening to everybody.

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Spear down, everybody,