Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We're touching on the Chicago Bears. What a fascinating offseason
it's been for the Caleb Williams led Chicago Bears. And
look who's back, our good friend from Bootleg Football and
so much more. Just one of the greatest football officionados
that we know, e J. Snyder. Welcome back, my friend, Josh.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Great to be back. Is Football's back. I'm back, Everything's back.
This is great.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
It's time, baby, it is time we go through those
tumbleweed months, Man, where we're making lists and trying to
just grind through it. You guys do just a great
job filling the void. By the way, I want to
promote some of that out later here in the interview,
but man, thank you for all you do and thank
you for being here with us as we dive into
the NFC North. Then we'll get to some of the
other teams in a minute. But the Bears. The lead
here obviously is Ben Johnson. They kick off camp today
(00:45):
and some of the reports have it that you know,
he's running a different type of operation right now in
Chicago than we've seen, at least from just a messaging perspective,
and obviously he brings some great concepts from his time
in Detroit. Your early impressions of Benjajohnson taking over there
on the Chicago front, I think it's.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Been really needed dose of put up or shut up.
Its detail orientation team wide. If you don't keep up
with the details, you're going to be held accountable. He
pulled the first team offense off the field today when
they were not, uh cutting the mustard like he expected
them to. They admitted it at the press conference afterwards, said, hey,
we weren't as you know, we weren't where we need
(01:27):
to be. And having a head coach that can lead
you down that path is I think one of the
great strengths of Ben Johnson in terms of what he's
bringing from Detroit really starts the lines, and that's having
proper talent depth. And we'll talk about that offseason, but
they really assembled that on both sides of the ball,
but especially on the offensive side of the ball. I
think Ben Johnson made it a non negotiable in his
(01:48):
interview with like, Hey, my system is based on good
offensive line play, and if you're not going to do that,
we're not going to do this. And then they went
out and did it.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Yeah, certainly a lot of focus obviously on Caleb Williams
number one overall pick from last year. He J. Snyder
is our guests here from Bootleg Football, and when you
look at the tape and you guys have done a
great job you in particular breaking down a lot of
the quarterbacks around the NFL. When you look at Caleb,
the numbers were the numbers, and we know there's always
this story behind some of those numbers. There were some
inherent disadvantages built in and baked in to the roster
(02:19):
and coaching last year. I would say with Chicago, how
did he come out as a rookie? Did he think?
From your perspective, he made it out alive and he's
willing and able to sort of progress With Ben Johnson,
how do you see that marriage.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
I think the marriage is going pretty well. He did
come out of last year alive, certainly physically. Mentally, there's
a lot of work to do because a lot of
what he learned last year was not good. He learned
not to trust his offensive line. He learned that the
play caller does not always have his best interest in mine.
That was last year. That's out the window this year
with Ben, which is good, but he is going to
(02:54):
have to learn to trust his line again. They went
out and rebuilt that line. I think it will come
fairly quickly for him, but that's not where his homework ends.
Ben Johnson's been very candid about the fact that they've
spent a lot of time together and that he has
sent him home with homework, and that homework is footwork.
Changed his stance to get him into the play quicker
put his left foot forward. Getting him comfortable under center
(03:17):
and in the play action game is going to be
absolutely essential, because not only did he not do a
lot of that in college, but if we're talking about
what the Lions were last year, they were number one
in overall under center rate fifty seven percent. They were
first in play action rate as well, and fourth in
run rate. So he's going to have to learn how
(03:38):
to play that game. I think he can, but it's
a big change, and he seems to be embracing it.
I certainly think he has the physical skills to do it,
but it is a big leap from where he was
last year and what he was asked to do even
before that in college.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
And part of the adjustment too, I think is just philosophically,
as you mentioned, a little more of the run game
element with Ben Johnson in the addition of Coleston Loveland
in the draft, which I don't know if you were
shocked or stunned. I wasn't, but I was a little
surprised that they went that direction. They doubled down at
pass catcher and go to Luther Burton later there on
(04:13):
Day two. But I'm fascinated by Loveland. With Cole Comet
in the mix there, does that look to you like
some additional twelve personnel packages for this offense?
Speaker 2 (04:24):
I think it does. But Loveland's really fascinating to me
because of his hybrid ability to take some of the
tight end workload and some of the slot receiver reps
as well. Even before the draft, I said, I really
saw Loveland as a player that could take part of
the Sam laport role and part of the Amen Moros
Saint Brown role. Now he's not going to be all
of either, but because he is effective down the field,
(04:48):
because he catches the ball away from his frame so well,
he's gonna get a lot of work. And if we
go back to Sam Laporta in his rookie year under
Ben Johnson in Detroit, he had over one hundred targets.
I think Loveland's is going to get work early and
often in this offense, and it's probably going to be
I think the second most targeted player overall, probably behind.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
DJ Shift of the defense real quick, E J. Snyder
taking a look at the Bears with us in our
two day series, and I know you know pre interview
we didn't touch on this too much. You and I
chatted yesterday, but I wanted to just put you on
the spot here. This secondary. To me, when you look
at it from top to bottom, I see a lot
of promise, if not one of the best secondaries in
that conference. When you're looking at Brisker obviously, Buyer is
(05:29):
a veteran Jalen Johnson. They think highly of their Kyler
Gordon's got some game. I don't watch the Bears as
much as I should, but when I look at them
on tape, I see a lot of talent on that
back end there.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
The talent is absolutely there, and the best news for
all of them is the arrival of Dennis Allen. Some
of you guys are really familiar with down there. Oh yeah,
and the man coverage corners are going to excel in
Dennis Allen system, and that's Jalen especially, but also Tyrek Stevenson.
That's the game he played in college. That's what got
him drafted. He was a very good press man, handsy
(06:05):
maybe two handsy corner at the line. But he comes
into the league and then they don't play him in
man press very often at all. Of course, he had
to fail mayor and other things. I'm willing to kind
of look past that because I really believe he's a
tremendous fit both the outside corner is a tremendous fit
for Dennis Allen, and then Kyler is one of the
best nickels in the game. I would say top six,
(06:29):
top seven, and Dennis Allen's going to be able to
use him as a real wild card all over the field,
either as a corse player at the line or dropping
in coverage. And I see the same thing you do.
A lot of talent in the secondary that is being
dropped into a system that's going to push its strengths.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Talking Bears with EJ. Snyder here on Game On in
our two a day series. You know, again we don't
want to put you on the spot, but general expectations
if you have sort of a ceiling and a floor
in terms of win totals. What would you say for
this team, what's the best case scenario do you think,
and what's the floor for what they should be able
(07:05):
to accomplish this year?
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Overall? I think the aim is really a return to respectability,
being a pro operation that's run as such, and punishing
division frows because that's where it starts, the very tough division.
I don't believe they'll probably win the division this year,
but the team's not starting at the bottom talent wise.
Typically when there's a coaching change you come in, they
might not have a quarterback. There's a lot less talent
(07:28):
in general than there is across the roster in Chicago,
so they're kind of starting at the midline. That's going
to be a real boost for them. I think they
should be challenging for a wildcard spot late into the year.
If they're doing that, Caleb's playing well, you know, picking
up Ben Johnson's system and delivering week to week. I
think that's a win for them. The ceiling is probably
(07:49):
winning a playoff spot or you know, winning a playoff
game once they get there. If they get that wild
card spot, the floor would be being in contention for
that last wildcard spot right up until the final weeks
in the season age.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
I think that's a great call. I think you're trying
to build that culture as we're seeing down here in Carolina.
One of the big things that they're aiming for. I
would think knowing Dan Morgan, their ascension when he was
a player, and John Fox came in and one of
Foxy's things was always, you know, let's get to the
end of December with an opportunity to be playing meaningful
games when we're knocking on the door there, and that's
your sort of entry portal back into relevance here. Speaking
(08:25):
of which that division, the NFC North, I'm not going
to touch on every single team, but I find the
Vikings to be one of the most fascinating teams in
the NFL because it's a roster built to win and
win big. Right now, you've got almost everything covered, but
this situation at quarterback, we just don't understand what we
have in JJ McCarthy yet diagnose the Vikings is are
(08:46):
you still thinking this is a team that can win
thirteen fourteen games or do you have some questions about
McCarthy that give you pause.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Well, it's your lucky Day Jack, because it's Vikings Day
on Bootleg Football, so they breve you just drop about
an hour before this, about an hour before those interviews,
so that's perfect. You want the full, full meal deal
on what we think of the vikings, go check that out.
It's an hour long, but the too long didn't read
version is I think it is a very talented team.
JJ McCarthy, regardless of the fact that he's been in
(09:16):
the league for a year, is still a rookie in
terms of on the field play. He's still going to
be picking up speed of the game, seeing things he
hasn't seen from defensive coordinators. He's got a really good
team of coaches to help him out, not only Kevin
O'Connell who's former quarterback himself, but also the quarterbacks coach
and McCown and even in the assistant quarterbacks coach, So
he's going to have a lot of extra sort of
(09:37):
quarterback brains to help him out. But he's still got
to deliver and it is a very high bar. They
won fourteen games last year, didn't win the division because
the Lions pushed him out in the last week. But
this is a very talented team built a win now
with a good defense, and that's a lot of pressure
for what I'm going to call a rookie quarterback in JJ.
So I think even if they don't win the fourteen game,
(10:00):
they could win twelve and still be a really good team.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Yeah. We'll touch on the rest of that division throughout
the course of training camp season here, but I'm glad
we got your perspective, not only on the Vikings there,
but on the Bears. Is the Bears are looking to
turn the corner and get back into contention for the
playoffs once again. We know that struggle down here in
Carolina is very real. So we were laid man E. J.
Snyder Bootleg Football joining us here on our two day series.
(10:24):
Before we let you go, let's promote it all out.
What are you guys up to? What can we see?
Where can we find it?
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Look up Bootleg Football. We are seventy five thousand strong
over there, and we are going through our entire summer
preview series, which is an hour plus episode on each
individual team and every move they've made since the end
of last season setting up for this twenty twenty five
NFL season, Our predictions, their personnel, ads, coaching changes, losses.
(10:53):
All of it is in there, and if you're a patron,
you can hang out and you get division recaps at
the end of every week, plus infographics which I think
are up to eighteen pages of data for every single team,
so probably more information than most anybody possibly wants, but
we put it all out there.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
I call that show prep. That's what I call it.
I'm gonna go check it out today. Bootleg football man,
y'all check them out.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
E J.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Snyder doing a great job. Thanks for stopping by, Bud.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
John, Thanks for having me back. It's always a pleasure.
We're touching on the Chicago Bears. What a fascinating offseason
it's been for the Caleb Williams led Chicago Bears. And
look who's back, our good friend from Bootleg Football and
so much more. Just one of the greatest football officionados
that we know, e J. Snyder. Welcome back, my friend, Josh.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Great to be back. Is Football's back. I'm back, Everything's back.
This is great.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
It's time, baby, it is time we go through those
tumbleweed months, Man, where we're making lists and trying to
just grind through it. You guys do just a great
job filling the void. By the way, I want to
promote some of that out later here in the interview,
but man, thank you for all you do and thank
you for being here with us as we dive into
the NFC North. Then we'll get to some of the
other teams in a minute. But the Bears. The lead
here obviously is Ben Johnson. They kick off camp today
(00:45):
and some of the reports have it that you know,
he's running a different type of operation right now in
Chicago than we've seen, at least from just a messaging perspective,
and obviously he brings some great concepts from his time
in Detroit. Your early impressions of Benjajohnson taking over there
on the Chicago front, I think it's.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Been really needed dose of put up or shut up.
Its detail orientation team wide. If you don't keep up
with the details, you're going to be held accountable. He
pulled the first team offense off the field today when
they were not, uh cutting the mustard like he expected
them to. They admitted it at the press conference afterwards, said, hey,
we weren't as you know, we weren't where we need
(01:27):
to be. And having a head coach that can lead
you down that path is I think one of the
great strengths of Ben Johnson in terms of what he's
bringing from Detroit really starts the lines, and that's having
proper talent depth. And we'll talk about that offseason, but
they really assembled that on both sides of the ball,
but especially on the offensive side of the ball. I
think Ben Johnson made it a non negotiable in his
(01:48):
interview with like, Hey, my system is based on good
offensive line play, and if you're not going to do that,
we're not going to do this. And then they went
out and did it.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Yeah, certainly a lot of focus obviously on Caleb Williams
number one overall pick from last year. He J. Snyder
is our guests here from Bootleg Football, and when you
look at the tape and you guys have done a
great job you in particular breaking down a lot of
the quarterbacks around the NFL. When you look at Caleb,
the numbers were the numbers, and we know there's always
this story behind some of those numbers. There were some
inherent disadvantages built in and baked in to the roster
(02:19):
and coaching last year. I would say with Chicago, how
did he come out as a rookie? Did he think?
From your perspective, he made it out alive and he's
willing and able to sort of progress With Ben Johnson,
how do you see that marriage.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
I think the marriage is going pretty well. He did
come out of last year alive, certainly physically. Mentally, there's
a lot of work to do because a lot of
what he learned last year was not good. He learned
not to trust his offensive line. He learned that the
play caller does not always have his best interest in mine.
That was last year. That's out the window this year
with Ben, which is good, but he is going to
(02:54):
have to learn to trust his line again. They went
out and rebuilt that line. I think it will come
fairly quickly for him, but that's not where his homework ends.
Ben Johnson's been very candid about the fact that they've
spent a lot of time together and that he has
sent him home with homework, and that homework is footwork.
Changed his stance to get him into the play quicker
put his left foot forward. Getting him comfortable under center
(03:17):
and in the play action game is going to be
absolutely essential, because not only did he not do a
lot of that in college, but if we're talking about
what the Lions were last year, they were number one
in overall under center rate fifty seven percent. They were
first in play action rate as well, and fourth in
run rate. So he's going to have to learn how
(03:38):
to play that game. I think he can, but it's
a big change, and he seems to be embracing it.
I certainly think he has the physical skills to do it,
but it is a big leap from where he was
last year and what he was asked to do even
before that in college.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
And part of the adjustment too, I think is just philosophically,
as you mentioned, a little more of the run game
element with Ben Johnson in the addition of Coleston Loveland
in the draft, which I don't know if you were
shocked or stunned. I wasn't, but I was a little
surprised that they went that direction. They doubled down at
pass catcher and go to Luther Burton later there on
(04:13):
Day two. But I'm fascinated by Loveland. With Cole Comet
in the mix there, does that look to you like
some additional twelve personnel packages for this offense?
Speaker 2 (04:24):
I think it does. But Loveland's really fascinating to me
because of his hybrid ability to take some of the
tight end workload and some of the slot receiver reps
as well. Even before the draft, I said, I really
saw Loveland as a player that could take part of
the Sam laport role and part of the Amen Moros
Saint Brown role. Now he's not going to be all
of either, but because he is effective down the field,
(04:48):
because he catches the ball away from his frame so well,
he's gonna get a lot of work. And if we
go back to Sam Laporta in his rookie year under
Ben Johnson in Detroit, he had over one hundred targets.
I think Loveland's is going to get work early and
often in this offense, and it's probably going to be
I think the second most targeted player overall, probably behind.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
DJ Shift of the defense real quick, E J. Snyder
taking a look at the Bears with us in our
two day series, and I know you know pre interview
we didn't touch on this too much. You and I
chatted yesterday, but I wanted to just put you on
the spot here. This secondary. To me, when you look
at it from top to bottom, I see a lot
of promise, if not one of the best secondaries in
that conference. When you're looking at Brisker obviously, Buyer is
(05:29):
a veteran Jalen Johnson. They think highly of their Kyler
Gordon's got some game. I don't watch the Bears as
much as I should, but when I look at them
on tape, I see a lot of talent on that
back end there.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
The talent is absolutely there, and the best news for
all of them is the arrival of Dennis Allen. Some
of you guys are really familiar with down there. Oh yeah,
and the man coverage corners are going to excel in
Dennis Allen system, and that's Jalen especially, but also Tyrek Stevenson.
That's the game he played in college. That's what got
him drafted. He was a very good press man, handsy
(06:05):
maybe two handsy corner at the line. But he comes
into the league and then they don't play him in
man press very often at all. Of course, he had
to fail mayor and other things. I'm willing to kind
of look past that because I really believe he's a
tremendous fit both the outside corner is a tremendous fit
for Dennis Allen, and then Kyler is one of the
best nickels in the game. I would say top six,
(06:29):
top seven, and Dennis Allen's going to be able to
use him as a real wild card all over the field,
either as a corse player at the line or dropping
in coverage. And I see the same thing you do.
A lot of talent in the secondary that is being
dropped into a system that's going to push its strengths.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Talking Bears with EJ. Snyder here on Game On in
our two a day series. You know, again we don't
want to put you on the spot, but general expectations
if you have sort of a ceiling and a floor
in terms of win totals. What would you say for
this team, what's the best case scenario do you think,
and what's the floor for what they should be able
(07:05):
to accomplish this year?
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Overall? I think the aim is really a return to respectability,
being a pro operation that's run as such, and punishing
division frows because that's where it starts, the very tough division.
I don't believe they'll probably win the division this year,
but the team's not starting at the bottom talent wise.
Typically when there's a coaching change you come in, they
might not have a quarterback. There's a lot less talent
(07:28):
in general than there is across the roster in Chicago,
so they're kind of starting at the midline. That's going
to be a real boost for them. I think they
should be challenging for a wildcard spot late into the year.
If they're doing that, Caleb's playing well, you know, picking
up Ben Johnson's system and delivering week to week. I
think that's a win for them. The ceiling is probably
(07:49):
winning a playoff spot or you know, winning a playoff
game once they get there. If they get that wild
card spot, the floor would be being in contention for
that last wildcard spot right up until the final weeks
in the season age.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
I think that's a great call. I think you're trying
to build that culture as we're seeing down here in Carolina.
One of the big things that they're aiming for. I
would think knowing Dan Morgan, their ascension when he was
a player, and John Fox came in and one of
Foxy's things was always, you know, let's get to the
end of December with an opportunity to be playing meaningful
games when we're knocking on the door there, and that's
your sort of entry portal back into relevance here. Speaking
(08:25):
of which that division, the NFC North, I'm not going
to touch on every single team, but I find the
Vikings to be one of the most fascinating teams in
the NFL because it's a roster built to win and
win big. Right now, you've got almost everything covered, but
this situation at quarterback, we just don't understand what we
have in JJ McCarthy yet diagnose the Vikings is are
(08:46):
you still thinking this is a team that can win
thirteen fourteen games or do you have some questions about
McCarthy that give you pause.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Well, it's your lucky Day Jack, because it's Vikings Day
on Bootleg Football, so they breve you just drop about
an hour before this, about an hour before those interviews,
so that's perfect. You want the full, full meal deal
on what we think of the vikings, go check that out.
It's an hour long, but the too long didn't read
version is I think it is a very talented team.
JJ McCarthy, regardless of the fact that he's been in
(09:16):
the league for a year, is still a rookie in
terms of on the field play. He's still going to
be picking up speed of the game, seeing things he
hasn't seen from defensive coordinators. He's got a really good
team of coaches to help him out, not only Kevin
O'Connell who's former quarterback himself, but also the quarterbacks coach
and McCown and even in the assistant quarterbacks coach, So
he's going to have a lot of extra sort of
(09:37):
quarterback brains to help him out. But he's still got
to deliver and it is a very high bar. They
won fourteen games last year, didn't win the division because
the Lions pushed him out in the last week. But
this is a very talented team built a win now
with a good defense, and that's a lot of pressure
for what I'm going to call a rookie quarterback in JJ.
So I think even if they don't win the fourteen game,
(10:00):
they could win twelve and still be a really good team.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Yeah. We'll touch on the rest of that division throughout
the course of training camp season here, but I'm glad
we got your perspective, not only on the Vikings there,
but on the Bears. Is the Bears are looking to
turn the corner and get back into contention for the
playoffs once again. We know that struggle down here in
Carolina is very real. So we were laid man E. J.
Snyder Bootleg Football joining us here on our two day series.
(10:24):
Before we let you go, let's promote it all out.
What are you guys up to? What can we see?
Where can we find it?
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Look up Bootleg Football. We are seventy five thousand strong
over there, and we are going through our entire summer
preview series, which is an hour plus episode on each
individual team and every move they've made since the end
of last season setting up for this twenty twenty five
NFL season, Our predictions, their personnel, ads, coaching changes, losses.
(10:53):
All of it is in there, and if you're a patron,
you can hang out and you get division recaps at
the end of every week, plus infographics which I think
are up to eighteen pages of data for every single team,
so probably more information than most anybody possibly wants, but
we put it all out there.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
I call that show prep. That's what I call it.
I'm gonna go check it out today. Bootleg football man,
y'all check them out.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
E J.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
Snyder doing a great job. Thanks for stopping by, Bud.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
John, Thanks for having me back. It's always a pleasure.
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