February 21, 2025 • 33 mins
The NFL combine begins Tuesday in Indianapolis. Bears general manager Ryan Poles and head coach Ben Johnson are expected to meet with members of the media during the combine. Shaw Local's Sean Hammond and Michal Dwojak discuss what to expect from the combine.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/shaw-local-s-bears-insider-podcast--3098936/support.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/shaw-local-s-bears-insider-podcast--3098936/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
What's up, friends, Welcome back to this Shaw Local Bears
inside our podcast. I'm Shaw Local Bears beat reporter Sean Hammond.
Joining me as always is Shaw Locals very own Michael Dwojack.
The NFL Scouting Combine is here. It begins next week
on Tuesday. In the past, we've heard from Ryan Poles
early in the morning. On Tuesday, we've heard from the
(00:23):
Bears coach, then a little bit later in the day.
We don't have the full schedule yet for their availabilities,
but that's what we're expecting. And of course then there's
four straight days of NonStop prospect interviews. Michael, what are
you excited to learn about the Chicago Bears next week?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I guess just what their priorities are, right, I think
we all know what their priorities are, but I feel
like I'm interested to hear, you know, Ben Johnson and
Ryan Poles kind of get into it a little bit more. Right.
It's obviously just been like, you know, the new coaching staff,
you know what went wrong and that kind of stuff,
and I feel like this will be a good opportunity
to kind of get into like how do you fix
(01:01):
what didn't work last year? Like I feel like a
lot of what we talked about with Ryan Poles at
the end of the regular season, and rightfully so has
been you know, like what are you looking for in
a coach who's in charge? Like what's going on and
all that sort of stuff, And I don't feel like
we really got a good opportunity to kind of get
into like what are the holes on this team? What
do you fix on this team? And it's kind of
(01:22):
the same thing with Ben Johnson, right because like obviously,
the only time we got a chance to talk to
him was his introductory press conference, and a lot of
that is, you know, like what is your philosophy's going
to be, like what brought you to the Bears and
all that sort of stuff. So I'm interested to see
you know, they got their coaching staff together that they
released that the other day and now you know, we're
all full steam ahead and like now we're focused on
(01:43):
you know, how is this what are the fixes to
this team to help them kind of realize what they
were supposed to be last year?
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Yeah, you're right, Like, obviously, when we haven't heard from
Ben Johnson since his introductory news conference, I believe it
was January twenty second, so almost exactly a month ago,
and obviously things were kind of surface level at that point. Yeah,
he mentioned we gotta fix the O line, we gotta
you know, get better in this this or that area.
(02:12):
But it was all sort of vague. And look, it's
the NFL. These guys are going to be vague. That's
just how it's going to be. Like, we're not necessarily
going to get great answers. You're not gonna know what
the Bears are planning to do based on what they
say next week. But I do think that it's a
good opportunity now that Ben Johnson has sort of been
(02:33):
in his job, Ben in his role, he's got the
staff together. They they put the full staff out yesterday
and announced everyone who's joining him. The next The next
step is, you know, turning that full focus towards the
football team, you know, the product on the field. And
I'm sure that that that staff is putting together their
(02:53):
heads and trying to figure out how exactly they can
make this team better. And a big part of that,
of course, is going to be through the draft, and
the combine is a big, a big step towards doing that.
But yeah, I want to know what more like, now
that he's been in his role for a month, Like,
what what does he see on the film, you know,
from this team last year, Because even just a month ago,
(03:15):
he you know, he knows what the knows the Bears
well from being in the division. But at the same time,
he even admitted like, look, I got to dive into
the tape a little bit more so I want to
hear what he has to say about the twenty twenty
four Bears and how that will inform his decisions moving forward.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
And I'm also kind of curious just to know what
is what is this working relationship going to look like? Right,
Like what is it going to look like between Ryan
Pulls and how much is he going to you know,
rely on Ben Johnson, right because like, yeah, you know,
he's found a lot of good players obviously in the
secondary and other stuff in Caleb Williams and and other positions,
but you know, the offensive line and for to an effect,
(03:53):
the defensive line has been his blind spots, right, and
it hasn't worked so far. So how much is he
going to rely on Johnson? Ian Cunningham? Is he going
to be part of the process. Obviously he's a finalist
with the Jackson and Jack Wuires and which who still
don't have a GM heading into the cob which is
just again a good reminder that things could be worse
Paris fans. But I'm just interested to know what that
(04:17):
relationship looks like where I think, you know, Ben talked
about like we're gonna be lockstep, We're gonna be attached
to a hip during the introduct Trey press conference and
that's just kind of stuff that you kind of hear
at the beginning. But I'm kind of curious to know now,
like what does that look like? Like, how much are
you going to rely on him? What is the offensive
line prospect you know, in free agency and in the draft,
(04:37):
what is that process going to look like. I think
there's a lot to learn through that, and I think
we'll get a lot of that on Tuesday.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
If you're joining us live here on YouTube, hit the
thumbs up. That's a great way to support the show.
H follow, follow our feed you can, you know, find
out when we're going live. We're trying to do that
once a week throughout the offseason and keep that going.
I know we didn't meet with you guys last week.
It was you know, it's February. It was a slow week.
We decided to give ourselves a week off, but we're
(05:03):
back at it. The NFL Combine is next week and
we're excited to get down to Indie and to see
what's going on. If you're listening after the fact on
Spotify or Apple, please leave us a review. That's another
great way to support the show. And as always, head
over to Shawlocal dot com you can read all of
our Bears coverage. We've got lots of stuff up there.
(05:24):
You know, I was I wrote something the other day
that was just kind of looking back at Ryan poles
first three drafts in charge of the Bears, and you know,
it is kind of I don't startling is maybe too
strong of a word, but it is. It is interesting,
which is maybe a bad word because I think that
(05:46):
word doesn't always mean anything. But Ryan Poles hasn't drafted
an edge rusher higher than the fifth round, and you
look at what they have this year with three picks
in the top forty one, four picks in the top
seventy two, I think it is there's probably an opportunity
to do that. We know how much they need to
find somebody on the other side opposite Montes Sweat. I
(06:07):
just feel like this is the time to take a
swing on that. You know, we we both agree that
this team needs to build this thing through the trenches,
whether you're talking offensive or defensive line. Obviously the O
line was was a disaster last year, but both of
those sides of the ball could be better. Michael, do
you if you're the Bears, like, how much is is
(06:30):
the offensive line? You know? Is it? Is it far
and away? Number one? Is it? One A, one B?
Like how are you looking at this?
Speaker 2 (06:37):
I think it's a one A, one B situation where
I think the offensive line is. I think that's your
main priority this offseason, and I think you need to
address it in both free agency and in the draft.
Because you drafted your what you advision to be your
franchise quarterback and Killer Williams right like, you need to
protect him at all costs. You need to set them
up for success because if you don't, you're not gonna unite.
(06:58):
He's not gonna reach his full pit potential and you're
not going to get the value that you put into
him when you drafted him with the number one overall
pick last year. So I think the offense. I think
the thing is, like, the defensive line has good pieces, right, Like,
obviously you have Montes Sweat, you know, I think Billings
is a good piece, you know, whether he's your cornerstone
(07:20):
defensive tackle moving forward and that kind of stuff. I
you know, you can debate into that and kind of
get into that. I think Gravon Dexter showed you some
good things here and there, but he needs to be
more consistent and you never got that, you know, that
key piece opposite of Sweat, but of the offensive line
when you look at down it, I think you have
one relatively sure guy and Darnell right right, and then
(07:44):
you kind of have Braxton Jones, who you're kind of like, well,
maybe if you put him up, you know, maybe if
you surround him with better players, maybe that'll help him too.
But other than Darnel, right, I think you you know,
you don't have any offensive lineman that you feel entirely confident,
and so I think that kind of answers the question
for you where you know you should be bringing back
at least a majority of your offensive line, you know,
(08:05):
if you think that they can really help you, and
you haven't seen that with this team, they haven't been
able to develop, you know, the offensive line that they
have brought in. They take projects with what we've seen
so far, and I think that's the major reason why
you kind of need to focus on the offensive line
a because you want to you know, protect Kila Williams
and help him reach his success. But you even saw,
(08:26):
like everyone's talking about with Philadelphia and to a lesser extent,
the Chiefs, like in Detroit and all the good playoff
teams have great offensive lines, right, Like, that's how you're
able to succeed, That's how you're able to run the ball.
And that's what the Bears need to do. And I'm
kind of curious to see is this something that they
dedicate like all four of their first picks in the
(08:46):
draft to and all their free agency. Like, I think
that's a major thing that we really need to find
out about. How dedicated are they to fixing this problem
and which path are they going to take to do it?
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Yeah? Absolutely? Uh. Ricknzial's in the comments, Good morning, Rick,
thanks for joining us, says that Poles has addressed the lines,
but the problem is that that he misses more than
he hits. I think that kind of goes along with
what you're saying, where like there's there's been a fair
number of sort of project type prospects, you know, the
Dominique Robinson, the Austin Booker, the Kuran Amagaji, guys who
(09:21):
who you're betting on their potential, but maybe it's not
there yet. And when you're betting on, when you're taking
a gamble on guys like that, you don't know if
it's going to be there. Like the only the only
real premium picks that he's used on those lines where
Darnell right with the number ten pick, you could throw
Jivon Dexter in there, I'd say that's a you know,
that second round pick, that's a pretty premium pick. I
(09:42):
think both of those have worked out well so far.
But yeah, like you you want to see, you know,
obviously last year, like of course they drafted the quarterback
and they went wide receiver with the number nine pick.
You know, we'll see, uh, you know, further on down
the line, how that how that plays out? Obvious you
look at what happened last year, You're like, man, you
(10:02):
really like an offensive lineman. But at the same time,
you know, you got to give Roman doonsday some time
to develop. I think he's still going to be a
really good player in the league. But yeah, the point
being that it's it's maybe why why a lot of
those feel like misses is because of the type of
player that they've drafted with those picks. You know, you
take an Amagaji with a third round pick, that's a
(10:24):
third round pick is still a premium. You still hope
to get a starting caliber player in the first three rounds.
I think that should be the goal, and then everything
after that is kind of gravy. And really the Bears
have focused a lot, you know, in rounds four, five,
six on some of these these linemen, and it hasn't
always panned out.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
And I think that's another big question that I hope
that you know, we're able to kind of ask, you know,
Ryan Pulls on Tuesday, It's just what have you learned
from your past experiences? Right, Like, obviously it hasn't worked
the way they've been able to develop them or their
path of you know, taking projects in the mid tier
rounds and thinking that they can develop them because either
either you know, they're talented players, but maybe they misvalued
(11:07):
the players, or maybe they just haven't been developing them
the right way. So I'm curious to, you know, see
whether you know, Ryan after a few years on the job,
is able to kind of, you know, put into perspective like, hey,
like our evaluation process was wrong in this, Like we
thought that maybe we can get this out of this player.
He's not gonna talk specifically about, you know, ex player,
(11:27):
but he will say like, oh, like we thought we
could do this with this, we haven't been able to
do that, or we missaw something on tape, or we
thought that maybe we were catching someone off guard and
we were going to get a sneak peek or something.
I think all that's on the table right because none
of it has worked. The development hasn't worked, the selections
haven't worked for thus far. And uh, I think that's
a major question will have to answer. Oh, he'll have
(11:49):
to answer with are they changing their approach at all
with Ben Johnson coming in with the new offensive line
coach coming in, or are they just going to kind
of continue what they've been doing. And I think that's
a big question to answer.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
CJ I threw this comment up on the screen as
I'm pointing out that Javon Dexter was a premium pick. Yeah,
you can throw Zach Pickens in there too, and of
course that hasn't been as successful. He was the very
first pick of the third round. That's more or less
essentially a second round pick. And so yeah, there's there's
been some some good picks up top, and and of
(12:25):
course there's been some bad ones. Obviously Vaalis Jones was
a third round pick too that didn't work out. Not
that he's a guy in the trenches, but yeah, you
got you gotta nail these picks. Look, they're not gonna
nail every single one. Chances are, chances are one of
those picks, whether it's ten, whether it's thirty nine, whether
it's forty one or seventy two, one of those probably
(12:47):
isn't gonna work out. And I know you don't want
to hear that now in February, but but that's just
kind of the reality.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
And I think that's the value of having so many
picks early right that. I think that's I think that's
been something that Ryan Poles has done a really good
job of. Obviously, he put himself in a spot to
draft Caleb with the number one pick last year, but
he has been able to you know, he's built this
draft capital fairly well through different trades. Obviously, the Carolina
one is the biggest one. That's how they get all
these picks. But I feel like he has done a
(13:15):
good job of setting themselves up nicely, you know, for
free agency, they got a bunch of cut cap space.
They do have a lot of a draft picks this year.
And I do think, you know, with everything that we've
talked about obviously in the draft picking and the and
the questionable selections different rounds, he is in a good
spot to make you know, big selections and big you
(13:36):
know signings this year. And I think they actually leave
Bear fans with a lot of excitement because they're in
a good position to do it. And now it's just
now it's just determining whether you've learned from your past
and you can kind of learn from those lessons and
make right decisions this year.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Yeah. One more comment here from Rick too. Does Poles
let then pick the od lineman and free agency in
the draft? I mean, I think it's gotta be a partnership.
I think it's got to be both of them on
the same page, especially when you're talking about any big
money deals any you know, the number ten pick, Like,
(14:10):
these guys are gonna put their heads together and have
a plan. I would imagine it's gonna be kind of
the same case of what Kevin Warren was saying about
finding the right head coach, Like they'll know who who
the right pick is. I would think obviously, you get
to a certain point, you spend so much time, like
evaluating the guys at the top of the draft. I
(14:32):
would think that that they've talked that through enough times
that they're going to be on the same page by
draft night. But maybe where that that differs is as
you get further down the list and and you know,
there's there's so many names on Day three and maybe
maybe the coach likes this guy and the GM doesn't
so much. I don't know, you know who who ultimately
will make that call. I mean, ultimately it's it's the
(14:53):
GM's decision who they draft. But I gotta think that
they're going to be in lockstep throughout this whole process, Michael,
because that's the best the best franchise is that's how
it works. You look at you know, the Rams with
with Sean McVay and Less Snid, like that's how it works.
Those guys are working in tandem.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Yeah, I don't think you pay Ben Johnson a top
tier coaching contract just to you know, develop plays and
you know, do you know gimmicky stuff like you you
signed him, you you know, hired him because you saw
what he was able to develop with the players that
he had in Detroit. And you know, Ben Johnson saw
what a good lineman looks like during his time with Miami,
during his time with Detroit, He's been he's he knows
(15:32):
what a good offensive line looks like, what skilled players
look like. So yeah, I mean, is it going to
be a situation where Ben Johnson wants a player and
he's going to you know, Stronghold Ryan Pols and say,
I'm going I want this player, we need to draft them.
I don't know if it'll go that far, but I
do think that, you know, they'll have a really good
communication based on what we've heard from them so far.
(15:53):
And I do think that, you know, Ben Johnson's opinion
will matter a lot because it is going to be
his offense and it is going to be you know,
his you know, neck on the line.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
And specifically with the draft. You know, they these guys
go through so many simulations and like the the prep
work that goes into that, Like they know exactly what
they're gonna do in every scenario, and almost to the
point where it's probably it's probably, you know, predetermined, Well,
if XYZ happens, will do this, you know if that's,
if something else happens, will do that. I really think
(16:25):
that that these guys will will come up with a
plan that they both like together, and I don't see
that being an issue. I mean, I think these guys
are gonna work really well together. Obviously, they've only been
working together for a month, so we'll we'll see. We'll
learn a lot this offseason about how they work together,
about what they envision for this team, and I guess
we'll get our sort of first glimpse on Tuesday when
(16:47):
we hear from them down in Indianapolis. Michael, another question
that we wanted to touch on today as we're as we're
thinking about that that number ten pick. I know, the
draft is still two months away. We're us barely like
getting going in this process. I'm excited to talk to
some of these prospects next week and and get a
(17:07):
little bit better idea of what's going on at the
top of the draft. But as you look at that
number ten pick, is is that what? What where are
your thoughts on on tackle versus guard? If you're looking
at offensive linemen, is that too high to take a guard?
Do you care? Do you just want the best offensive lineman?
Speaker 2 (17:23):
I think at that point, I just want the best
offensive lineman. I think you figure it out for I
don't think you're in a position if you're the Bears
where you can be picky, right I don't think you're
in an odd where you can be like I don't know,
like I think we want to tackle more than a guard,
like I. And obviously all of this kind of depends
on what they do in free agency, like if they
you know, that's on a contif or you know, if
(17:44):
they get anyone else like that, you know, that will
determine what they do in the draft. But I'm not
too picky about it. I mean, I just think you
have too many holes on the offensive line right now,
where you just need to take the most You need
to take the most talented player that you can at
that at every single pick, I think you just take
the most talented player, whether it's an offensive lineman, whether
(18:04):
it's a defensive lineman, and you just take them, and
I think you just set them up for you know,
success and develop them because I don't think that this
offensive line is really in a spot right now where
it can decide, well, we need a guard more than
a tackle, or like we should you know. I think
you can maybe make the argument about whether you want
to trade down and get more picks and that sort
(18:26):
of stuff if you're seeing like maybe the you know,
the pick selection isn't where the value is and that
sort of stuff. But I would say you just need
to take the best player available at that point because
there are plenty of holes to fill, and I don't
think I think that both Philadelphia and Kansas City has
kind of shown you that you can't have too many
good offensive linemen or defensive linemen right because injuries happen
(18:49):
and you always want to stockpile that that group as
much as possible.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Yeah, my my response, My thoughts on this are, did
you watch the Bears oh line like last season? I
really don't think it matters. I think you take the
best offensive lineman. He was therefore he had number ten. Obviously,
you can trade up a little bit, you can trade down.
There's different things you could do I again, super early
to be saying this, but I just feel like they're
(19:13):
gonna stick at number ten and take the best offensive lineman,
whether that's a tackle, whether that's a guard. I mean,
we kind of had the same conversation a couple of
years ago. Not the exact same conversation, but it was,
you know, Darnell Wright was primarily a right tackle, like, okay,
do you want to take a left tackle or a
right tackle with the number nine pick at the time.
(19:33):
Obviously they traded down a spot took him at number ten.
I think Polls clearly just wanted the best offensive lineman
he could get, and he felt that was Darnell, right.
And I kind of think that's going to be the
same thing here. You know, if Tyler Booker, a guard
out of Alabama, is the best guy available, if the
top tackle is already off the board, but you think
(19:54):
that maybe this number one guard is gonna really help
your offensive line. Like that's okay, and uh, I have
no problem with them doing that. Of course, it does
depend what happens in free agency a little bit, but
I don't know they have so many like we said,
Like you said at the top, Michael, I mean Darnell
Wright might be the only guy on that starting five
(20:15):
on the offensive line who has his job set and
so it's really kind of like a clean slate if
you want it to be. You can debate about the
left tackle, but I think they got to just take
the best the best offensive line and available to them.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Yeah, you need to take the best guy. And I
think you do that with you know, the first three
or four picks, right, Like I I outside of someone
you know, maybe jumping out and someone's like, well, like,
we didn't expect this guy to be here, let's go
after him. I don't think you look at I don't
think you look at running back. I don't think you
look at you know, tight end or anything like that.
(20:52):
I know that's kind of been floated around there.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
There's some good tight ends in this draft, especially.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
In the car and like, I don't know if you
want to have the cool comet conversation about you know,
releasing him or anything like that to save camp space.
But I do think you just got to focus you.
I you know, I feel like I'm gonna repeat this
for the next two months. I want this to be
like the un sexiest like draft ever. I just wanted
them to draft offensive lineman and defensive lineman, signed offensive
(21:17):
defensive linemen and just like not that they cannot be fun,
but like obviously the you know, the the wide receivers,
the running backs, you know, they're the flashy players and
that kind of stuff. But the Bears have done that
the few years and that hasn't worked, right, So like
you need to just get the the big boys in there,
Just get them from like the best SEC Big ten schools,
and just you know, PLoP them in there, sign them.
(21:38):
And I think that's it. That's your biggest thing right now.
You can't really divert from that because there's too many
things going on right now where you can just kind
of be like, well, I want the flashy player, like
I want to Ashton Gentry. I I don't think that's
a that's in the Bears. Uh, that's in the Bears future.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
No. I think I think it would would serve them
well to have a completely boring draft. That's okay, Yeah.
I mean if obviously, the the die hard fans, the
folks on the show here with us this morning, you know,
they get excited about the offensive lineman. But if the
average run of the mill Bears fan is bored by
(22:14):
the Bears taking lineman all day long. I think that
will be okay, and ultimately that will be good for
the team. Another comment here says more important in free
agency for the Bears a guard or a center. I
think I agree with with Rick and CJ. Both said
that they think center is probably the higher priority. I
(22:35):
think I'm on board with that. I do think you
need to. That's kind of been like a thorn in
their side the last couple of years, like they haven't really.
I mean, Coleman Shelton was fine last year. He was
a he was like your your average baseline starter, like
he did he did well, and he started every game
and he was consistent and he was there. But if
you want to really upgrade that offensive line, I think
(22:57):
you need to to find a way to get an
elite center in there, or at least a top, top
tier center. And they just haven't been able to do
that now.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
They haven't, and I think, uh, I think that's why
I kind of agree with you. I think I'm going
with center too, mostly especially because I you know, just
based on reading you know guys, you know, mock drafts
and that kind of stuff like it doesn't seem like
it's going to be a deep draft for centers or
anything like that, so I I, you know, listen, like,
I think the center position has become one of the
tougher ones to find because you know, once you have one,
(23:31):
you're not gonna let them go right like You're obviously,
they're very important to your quarterbacks development. They're really important
to making sure that everyone's in the right spot at
the right place running the offense as well. So I
think that's your biggest priority in free agency, and I
think you focus on the guard and the draft. You
can sign obviously some cards or a guard in free agency,
(23:53):
but I do think that you can find more in
the draft than you can the center position. So I think,
you know, I think you need to focus on the
center position because you need to find a guy who's
kind of been established, has done a good job, and
has proven that he can lead an offense. Because I
don't know if you want I just don't know if
you want to put that in a rookie's hands, right Like,
(24:15):
I don't know if you want to put a rookie
in a position to you know, kind of help Caleb
development as opposed to have a guy who's been there
and done dad, And obviously there's a big name out
there in free agency that I know everyone's talking about
leaking with the Bears. But I do think that center
is more of a free agency than it is a
draft thing.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
Yeah, just looking at PFF's top one hundred free agents,
Drew Dolman from the Falcons is the number one center
on their list. He's number twenty two overall. They have
Ryan Kelly from the Colts also in the top one hundred,
and then Coleman Shelton rounds it out at number one
hundred overall. I mean, that's certainly a possibility that they could,
you know, see what's out there and just decide to
(24:55):
bring Coleman Shelton back. Now, you also do have Ryan Bates,
but of course he appeared in three games last year.
You're not super confident that he's going to be going
to be fully healthy and going to be able to
man that spot for you.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Yeah, do you want to do that again? Though? I
feel like I feel like you just want to turn
the page right, like.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
He will be a great, a great backup who can
play any spot.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
Yeah. I would agree with that, and I think that
was the bearst problem last year, right, Like they had
a bunch of you know, not to you know, look
down at anyone, but you didn't have like sure fire starters
right on your offensive line. It felt like it was
a bunch of guys who could play multiple positions. Which
is great to have versatile guys, but at some point
you just want to have a guy that you know
that is going to be there every single week and
(25:39):
you can kind of build that consistency and that's something
that the Bears just did not have last year.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
Okay, we got a few more minutes, Michael, who are you?
Who are some of the prospects who you're you're excited
to hear from next week? As you're you're you know,
thinking about the Bears specifically, Like I know everybody gets
excited for the quarterbacks and especially in drafts season, but
like when you're looking at the Bears, like who do
you want to hear from? Who do you want to
kind of get to know next week at the combine?
Speaker 2 (26:06):
I think the obvious names are obviously like Will Campbell
from LSU, arm On Bombo from Missouri, you know, Calvin
Bates Junior. Just those top guys just to kind of
you know, I think you can learn a lot. Like
I kind of go back to last year at the Combine.
I didn't know much about Romadoons at the time. I
(26:27):
knew he was good at Washington, I knew he was
part of that team. But I remember leaving that, you know,
his press conference at the Combine and being really impressed,
being like, whoa like this guy like this guy just
kind of seems to get it right. And you kind
of saw him do that with the Bears his rookie year.
So I know, obviously, you know, how much do you
take from the combine These days, I know a lot
(26:47):
of guys are kind of doing their own you know,
aren't participating or they're doing their own testing, and they
just kind of show up just to show up, just
to kind of talk to these coaches and gms. But
I do think they you can get something from the
press conference just to kind of learn more about these guys,
how they could potentially fit into the Bear's locker room,
how they can potentially you know, take on more of
(27:08):
a leadership role and that sort of stuff. So those
are some of the guys. Obviously, it would be a
dream for Abdul Carter to obviously fall to the Bears.
That's there's I don't think there's any way that happen.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
That's gonna happen.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
But you know, Mike Green from Marshall, he's a big
name to watch for the Bears if he ends up
still being around in that position, and some of the
offensive linemen kind of fall down. So those are some
of the top guys. I think it's just kind of
interesting just to kind of see, you know, how you know,
what their philosophies are, how you know, how they feel
about potentially playing at guard or tackle or you know,
(27:43):
different positions and where they kind of see themselves because
you know, what you played in college doesn't necessarily mean
what you're gonna play in the NFL. So I am
curious to see how what their approach is to being
a versatile player.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Yeah, I'll be curious to see, you know. Also, you know,
I don't spend a lot of time focusing on the
actual workouts because it's kind of like a lot of
it's silly, not a lot, but some of it's silly.
But Ryan Poles does value those those athletic offensive linemen
who can move and especially if they can move laterally
(28:16):
and I think that's gonna be really important one. Josh
Simmons is another name to watch out for. The medicals
are going to be super important for him. He had
a major knee injury, was the starting off tackle for
Ohio State until midway through the season. That's gonna be
one to to certainly keep an eye on because if
he's like cleared and and teams are feeling comfortable about him,
you could see him shoot back up boards like he
(28:39):
looked like he was the number one tackle before he
went down with the injury. That's that's another name to
look look out for. Yeah, I mean some of the
guys you mentioned Will Campbell of course, and Calvin Banks
and Tyler Booker, the guard who I mentioned from Alabama
a little while ago. Yeah, Like, I do really feel
like the Bears are going to be zeroing in on
(28:59):
these offensive lineman and this is going to be a
big week for them to to sort of get to
know these guys. That's the thing that's that's so important
about the combine is you have that interview time. I
would really recommend I if anybody out there hasn't watched
the off season hard knocks from last year with the giants, Like,
I thought that was really cool to watch the behind
(29:20):
the scenes stuff from the combine and what some of
those interviews were.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
Like yeah, for sure, and you get a lot of stuff.
And it's not even just for the draft, right, Like
it's a lot of you know free agency. Obviously you
can't tamper or anything like that, but a lot of
you know, agents and you know gms and scouts just
happen to be in the same place at the same
time and you know, maybe build relationships. And that obviously
happens a lot in Indianapolis during this week, So a
(29:44):
lot of you know free agency. You kind of for
the Bears, especially you know Ryan Poles has been there,
but for Ben Jonson, you want to build those relationships
and you want to you know, get those conversations kind
of going like oh, like what are you thinking? Like
where you think so and so would be interested in
maybe going one day or they comfortable with where they're at,
like and I think another big thing is you kind
of learned what the market's going to be like for
(30:05):
a lot of players, right you kind of see I
know it was reported this week that the salary cap
is going to go up a bunch this year, So
a lot of that stuff kind of happens to a
lot of stuff is happening with the prospects in the
interviews and getting to know them and that kind of stuff,
But a lot of free agency and a lot of
the off season kind of gets started with this week
in Indianapolis.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
This is one of the few times on the on
the calendar when when all these these gms are in
the same place at the same time, and yeah, a
lot of those conversations happen. I'm sure the Tennessee Titans
will be having a lot of conversations about what they
want to do with the number one pick and sort
of feeling out who. I don't know if they'll trade
the pick. I don't know what they're going to do,
of course, but if if they're considering it, you know,
(30:45):
this is when they would sort of put the feelers
out there and find out what they could potentially who
might be interested in potentially moving up. Yeah, I do
you know, we saw the Marvin Harrison last year, like
do the whole I'm not to work out at the combine.
I am curious to see. I'm sure we'll learn in
the next couple of days. If anybody is going to
(31:06):
go that route, I feel like maybe Travis Hunter would
be like the only name I'm thinking of where it's like,
does he really have anything else to prove on the
in a workout? I feel like probably not, But I don't.
I really do think that that is more of a
like Marvin Harrison Junior was in such a unique spot
and Travis Hunter is in such a unique spot. I
don't think that's going to be the norm.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
No, I don't unless you're a top tier guy like I.
It's just kind of interesting, right because like those medicals
are pretty much the only thing that you kind of
hold on too, right, Like those are kind of the
only thing you kind of have as an advantage. But
I think it does behoove you to kind of just
go through the process, talk to the guys and kind
of just kind of put your name out there, because,
(31:51):
as you mentioned, with that hard knocks, like you don't know,
you don't know what moment or like what conversation is
going to kind of put you over the edge, right,
is going to convince someone that you're the person that
they want to draft. So I do think that will
probably continue to kind of have what we've seen in
the past. Yeah, I think I think Shad or Sandras
(32:11):
would probably you know, take part in most of the things.
And I think cam Ward obviously, I know he got
a flag for the Bowl Game and that kind of stuff,
but I do think that he'll do a lot of
that stuff. But yeah, I would agree. I think you
would probably see consistently what we've kind of seen in
past combines.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
All right, we got to get out of here. Thank
you everybody for joining us live one more time. Hit
the thumbs up here. If you're with us live here
on YouTube, subscribe, we'll let you know when we're gonna
go live on Twitter as well. I'm at Sewan Underscore Hammond.
He is at m dwo Jack ninety four. If you're
listening after the fact on Spotify, on Apple, wherever you
(32:48):
get your podcast, please leave us a five star review.
We would really appreciate it. That's another great way to
support the show. As always, head over to Shawlocal dot com.
You can read all of our Bears coverage up there.
We're gonna have lots of stuff next week from the
NFL combine. We're both planning to be there. He's Michael
Dwojack I'm Sean Hammond. This has been the Shaw Local
Bears inside their podcast. Thank you for listening everybody. We'll
(33:09):
catch you next time.
What's up, friends, Welcome back to this Shaw Local Bears
inside our podcast. I'm Shaw Local Bears beat reporter Sean Hammond.
Joining me as always is Shaw Locals very own Michael Dwojack.
The NFL Scouting Combine is here. It begins next week
on Tuesday. In the past, we've heard from Ryan Poles
early in the morning. On Tuesday, we've heard from the
(00:23):
Bears coach, then a little bit later in the day.
We don't have the full schedule yet for their availabilities,
but that's what we're expecting. And of course then there's
four straight days of NonStop prospect interviews. Michael, what are
you excited to learn about the Chicago Bears next week?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I guess just what their priorities are, right, I think
we all know what their priorities are, but I feel
like I'm interested to hear, you know, Ben Johnson and
Ryan Poles kind of get into it a little bit more. Right.
It's obviously just been like, you know, the new coaching staff,
you know what went wrong and that kind of stuff,
and I feel like this will be a good opportunity
to kind of get into like how do you fix
(01:01):
what didn't work last year? Like I feel like a
lot of what we talked about with Ryan Poles at
the end of the regular season, and rightfully so has
been you know, like what are you looking for in
a coach who's in charge? Like what's going on and
all that sort of stuff, And I don't feel like
we really got a good opportunity to kind of get
into like what are the holes on this team? What
do you fix on this team? And it's kind of
(01:22):
the same thing with Ben Johnson, right because like obviously,
the only time we got a chance to talk to
him was his introductory press conference, and a lot of
that is, you know, like what is your philosophy's going
to be, like what brought you to the Bears and
all that sort of stuff. So I'm interested to see
you know, they got their coaching staff together that they
released that the other day and now you know, we're
all full steam ahead and like now we're focused on
(01:43):
you know, how is this what are the fixes to
this team to help them kind of realize what they
were supposed to be last year?
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Yeah, you're right, Like, obviously, when we haven't heard from
Ben Johnson since his introductory news conference, I believe it
was January twenty second, so almost exactly a month ago,
and obviously things were kind of surface level at that point. Yeah,
he mentioned we gotta fix the O line, we gotta
you know, get better in this this or that area.
(02:12):
But it was all sort of vague. And look, it's
the NFL. These guys are going to be vague. That's
just how it's going to be. Like, we're not necessarily
going to get great answers. You're not gonna know what
the Bears are planning to do based on what they
say next week. But I do think that it's a
good opportunity now that Ben Johnson has sort of been
(02:33):
in his job, Ben in his role, he's got the
staff together. They they put the full staff out yesterday
and announced everyone who's joining him. The next The next
step is, you know, turning that full focus towards the
football team, you know, the product on the field. And
I'm sure that that that staff is putting together their
(02:53):
heads and trying to figure out how exactly they can
make this team better. And a big part of that,
of course, is going to be through the draft, and
the combine is a big, a big step towards doing that.
But yeah, I want to know what more like, now
that he's been in his role for a month, Like,
what what does he see on the film, you know,
from this team last year, Because even just a month ago,
(03:15):
he you know, he knows what the knows the Bears
well from being in the division. But at the same time,
he even admitted like, look, I got to dive into
the tape a little bit more so I want to
hear what he has to say about the twenty twenty
four Bears and how that will inform his decisions moving forward.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
And I'm also kind of curious just to know what
is what is this working relationship going to look like? Right,
Like what is it going to look like between Ryan
Pulls and how much is he going to you know,
rely on Ben Johnson, right because like, yeah, you know,
he's found a lot of good players obviously in the
secondary and other stuff in Caleb Williams and and other positions,
but you know, the offensive line and for to an effect,
(03:53):
the defensive line has been his blind spots, right, and
it hasn't worked so far. So how much is he
going to rely on Johnson? Ian Cunningham? Is he going
to be part of the process. Obviously he's a finalist
with the Jackson and Jack Wuires and which who still
don't have a GM heading into the cob which is
just again a good reminder that things could be worse
Paris fans. But I'm just interested to know what that
(04:17):
relationship looks like where I think, you know, Ben talked
about like we're gonna be lockstep, We're gonna be attached
to a hip during the introduct Trey press conference and
that's just kind of stuff that you kind of hear
at the beginning. But I'm kind of curious to know now,
like what does that look like? Like, how much are
you going to rely on him? What is the offensive
line prospect you know, in free agency and in the draft,
(04:37):
what is that process going to look like. I think
there's a lot to learn through that, and I think
we'll get a lot of that on Tuesday.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
If you're joining us live here on YouTube, hit the
thumbs up. That's a great way to support the show.
H follow, follow our feed you can, you know, find
out when we're going live. We're trying to do that
once a week throughout the offseason and keep that going.
I know we didn't meet with you guys last week.
It was you know, it's February. It was a slow week.
We decided to give ourselves a week off, but we're
(05:03):
back at it. The NFL Combine is next week and
we're excited to get down to Indie and to see
what's going on. If you're listening after the fact on
Spotify or Apple, please leave us a review. That's another
great way to support the show. And as always, head
over to Shawlocal dot com you can read all of
our Bears coverage. We've got lots of stuff up there.
(05:24):
You know, I was I wrote something the other day
that was just kind of looking back at Ryan poles
first three drafts in charge of the Bears, and you know,
it is kind of I don't startling is maybe too
strong of a word, but it is. It is interesting,
which is maybe a bad word because I think that
(05:46):
word doesn't always mean anything. But Ryan Poles hasn't drafted
an edge rusher higher than the fifth round, and you
look at what they have this year with three picks
in the top forty one, four picks in the top
seventy two, I think it is there's probably an opportunity
to do that. We know how much they need to
find somebody on the other side opposite Montes Sweat. I
(06:07):
just feel like this is the time to take a
swing on that. You know, we we both agree that
this team needs to build this thing through the trenches,
whether you're talking offensive or defensive line. Obviously the O
line was was a disaster last year, but both of
those sides of the ball could be better. Michael, do
you if you're the Bears, like, how much is is
(06:30):
the offensive line? You know? Is it? Is it far
and away? Number one? Is it? One A, one B?
Like how are you looking at this?
Speaker 2 (06:37):
I think it's a one A, one B situation where
I think the offensive line is. I think that's your
main priority this offseason, and I think you need to
address it in both free agency and in the draft.
Because you drafted your what you advision to be your
franchise quarterback and Killer Williams right like, you need to
protect him at all costs. You need to set them
up for success because if you don't, you're not gonna unite.
(06:58):
He's not gonna reach his full pit potential and you're
not going to get the value that you put into
him when you drafted him with the number one overall
pick last year. So I think the offense. I think
the thing is, like, the defensive line has good pieces, right, Like,
obviously you have Montes Sweat, you know, I think Billings
is a good piece, you know, whether he's your cornerstone
(07:20):
defensive tackle moving forward and that kind of stuff. I
you know, you can debate into that and kind of
get into that. I think Gravon Dexter showed you some
good things here and there, but he needs to be
more consistent and you never got that, you know, that
key piece opposite of Sweat, but of the offensive line
when you look at down it, I think you have
one relatively sure guy and Darnell right right, and then
(07:44):
you kind of have Braxton Jones, who you're kind of like, well,
maybe if you put him up, you know, maybe if
you surround him with better players, maybe that'll help him too.
But other than Darnel, right, I think you you know,
you don't have any offensive lineman that you feel entirely confident,
and so I think that kind of answers the question
for you where you know you should be bringing back
at least a majority of your offensive line, you know,
(08:05):
if you think that they can really help you, and
you haven't seen that with this team, they haven't been
able to develop, you know, the offensive line that they
have brought in. They take projects with what we've seen
so far, and I think that's the major reason why
you kind of need to focus on the offensive line
a because you want to you know, protect Kila Williams
and help him reach his success. But you even saw,
(08:26):
like everyone's talking about with Philadelphia and to a lesser extent,
the Chiefs, like in Detroit and all the good playoff
teams have great offensive lines, right, Like, that's how you're
able to succeed, That's how you're able to run the ball.
And that's what the Bears need to do. And I'm
kind of curious to see is this something that they
dedicate like all four of their first picks in the
(08:46):
draft to and all their free agency. Like, I think
that's a major thing that we really need to find
out about. How dedicated are they to fixing this problem
and which path are they going to take to do it?
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Yeah? Absolutely? Uh. Ricknzial's in the comments, Good morning, Rick,
thanks for joining us, says that Poles has addressed the lines,
but the problem is that that he misses more than
he hits. I think that kind of goes along with
what you're saying, where like there's there's been a fair
number of sort of project type prospects, you know, the
Dominique Robinson, the Austin Booker, the Kuran Amagaji, guys who
(09:21):
who you're betting on their potential, but maybe it's not
there yet. And when you're betting on, when you're taking
a gamble on guys like that, you don't know if
it's going to be there. Like the only the only
real premium picks that he's used on those lines where
Darnell right with the number ten pick, you could throw
Jivon Dexter in there, I'd say that's a you know,
that second round pick, that's a pretty premium pick. I
(09:42):
think both of those have worked out well so far.
But yeah, like you you want to see, you know,
obviously last year, like of course they drafted the quarterback
and they went wide receiver with the number nine pick.
You know, we'll see, uh, you know, further on down
the line, how that how that plays out? Obvious you
look at what happened last year, You're like, man, you
(10:02):
really like an offensive lineman. But at the same time,
you know, you got to give Roman doonsday some time
to develop. I think he's still going to be a
really good player in the league. But yeah, the point
being that it's it's maybe why why a lot of
those feel like misses is because of the type of
player that they've drafted with those picks. You know, you
take an Amagaji with a third round pick, that's a
(10:24):
third round pick is still a premium. You still hope
to get a starting caliber player in the first three rounds.
I think that should be the goal, and then everything
after that is kind of gravy. And really the Bears
have focused a lot, you know, in rounds four, five,
six on some of these these linemen, and it hasn't
always panned out.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
And I think that's another big question that I hope
that you know, we're able to kind of ask, you know,
Ryan Pulls on Tuesday, It's just what have you learned
from your past experiences? Right, Like, obviously it hasn't worked
the way they've been able to develop them or their
path of you know, taking projects in the mid tier
rounds and thinking that they can develop them because either
either you know, they're talented players, but maybe they misvalued
(11:07):
the players, or maybe they just haven't been developing them
the right way. So I'm curious to, you know, see
whether you know, Ryan after a few years on the job,
is able to kind of, you know, put into perspective like, hey,
like our evaluation process was wrong in this, Like we
thought that maybe we can get this out of this player.
He's not gonna talk specifically about, you know, ex player,
(11:27):
but he will say like, oh, like we thought we
could do this with this, we haven't been able to
do that, or we missaw something on tape, or we
thought that maybe we were catching someone off guard and
we were going to get a sneak peek or something.
I think all that's on the table right because none
of it has worked. The development hasn't worked, the selections
haven't worked for thus far. And uh, I think that's
a major question will have to answer. Oh, he'll have
(11:49):
to answer with are they changing their approach at all
with Ben Johnson coming in with the new offensive line
coach coming in, or are they just going to kind
of continue what they've been doing. And I think that's
a big question to answer.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
CJ I threw this comment up on the screen as
I'm pointing out that Javon Dexter was a premium pick. Yeah,
you can throw Zach Pickens in there too, and of
course that hasn't been as successful. He was the very
first pick of the third round. That's more or less
essentially a second round pick. And so yeah, there's there's
been some some good picks up top, and and of
(12:25):
course there's been some bad ones. Obviously Vaalis Jones was
a third round pick too that didn't work out. Not
that he's a guy in the trenches, but yeah, you
got you gotta nail these picks. Look, they're not gonna
nail every single one. Chances are, chances are one of
those picks, whether it's ten, whether it's thirty nine, whether
it's forty one or seventy two, one of those probably
(12:47):
isn't gonna work out. And I know you don't want
to hear that now in February, but but that's just
kind of the reality.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
And I think that's the value of having so many
picks early right that. I think that's I think that's
been something that Ryan Poles has done a really good
job of. Obviously, he put himself in a spot to
draft Caleb with the number one pick last year, but
he has been able to you know, he's built this
draft capital fairly well through different trades. Obviously, the Carolina
one is the biggest one. That's how they get all
these picks. But I feel like he has done a
(13:15):
good job of setting themselves up nicely, you know, for
free agency, they got a bunch of cut cap space.
They do have a lot of a draft picks this year.
And I do think, you know, with everything that we've
talked about obviously in the draft picking and the and
the questionable selections different rounds, he is in a good
spot to make you know, big selections and big you
(13:36):
know signings this year. And I think they actually leave
Bear fans with a lot of excitement because they're in
a good position to do it. And now it's just
now it's just determining whether you've learned from your past
and you can kind of learn from those lessons and
make right decisions this year.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Yeah. One more comment here from Rick too. Does Poles
let then pick the od lineman and free agency in
the draft? I mean, I think it's gotta be a partnership.
I think it's got to be both of them on
the same page, especially when you're talking about any big
money deals any you know, the number ten pick, Like,
(14:10):
these guys are gonna put their heads together and have
a plan. I would imagine it's gonna be kind of
the same case of what Kevin Warren was saying about
finding the right head coach, Like they'll know who who
the right pick is. I would think obviously, you get
to a certain point, you spend so much time, like
evaluating the guys at the top of the draft. I
(14:32):
would think that that they've talked that through enough times
that they're going to be on the same page by
draft night. But maybe where that that differs is as
you get further down the list and and you know,
there's there's so many names on Day three and maybe
maybe the coach likes this guy and the GM doesn't
so much. I don't know, you know who who ultimately
will make that call. I mean, ultimately it's it's the
(14:53):
GM's decision who they draft. But I gotta think that
they're going to be in lockstep throughout this whole process, Michael,
because that's the best the best franchise is that's how
it works. You look at you know, the Rams with
with Sean McVay and Less Snid, like that's how it works.
Those guys are working in tandem.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Yeah, I don't think you pay Ben Johnson a top
tier coaching contract just to you know, develop plays and
you know, do you know gimmicky stuff like you you
signed him, you you know, hired him because you saw
what he was able to develop with the players that
he had in Detroit. And you know, Ben Johnson saw
what a good lineman looks like during his time with Miami,
during his time with Detroit, He's been he's he knows
(15:32):
what a good offensive line looks like, what skilled players
look like. So yeah, I mean, is it going to
be a situation where Ben Johnson wants a player and
he's going to you know, Stronghold Ryan Pols and say,
I'm going I want this player, we need to draft them.
I don't know if it'll go that far, but I
do think that, you know, they'll have a really good
communication based on what we've heard from them so far.
(15:53):
And I do think that, you know, Ben Johnson's opinion
will matter a lot because it is going to be
his offense and it is going to be you know,
his you know, neck on the line.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
And specifically with the draft. You know, they these guys
go through so many simulations and like the the prep
work that goes into that, Like they know exactly what
they're gonna do in every scenario, and almost to the
point where it's probably it's probably, you know, predetermined, Well,
if XYZ happens, will do this, you know if that's,
if something else happens, will do that. I really think
(16:25):
that that these guys will will come up with a
plan that they both like together, and I don't see
that being an issue. I mean, I think these guys
are gonna work really well together. Obviously, they've only been
working together for a month, so we'll we'll see. We'll
learn a lot this offseason about how they work together,
about what they envision for this team, and I guess
we'll get our sort of first glimpse on Tuesday when
(16:47):
we hear from them down in Indianapolis. Michael, another question
that we wanted to touch on today as we're as we're
thinking about that that number ten pick. I know, the
draft is still two months away. We're us barely like
getting going in this process. I'm excited to talk to
some of these prospects next week and and get a
(17:07):
little bit better idea of what's going on at the
top of the draft. But as you look at that
number ten pick, is is that what? What where are
your thoughts on on tackle versus guard? If you're looking
at offensive linemen, is that too high to take a guard?
Do you care? Do you just want the best offensive lineman?
Speaker 2 (17:23):
I think at that point, I just want the best
offensive lineman. I think you figure it out for I
don't think you're in a position if you're the Bears
where you can be picky, right I don't think you're
in an odd where you can be like I don't know,
like I think we want to tackle more than a guard,
like I. And obviously all of this kind of depends
on what they do in free agency, like if they
you know, that's on a contif or you know, if
(17:44):
they get anyone else like that, you know, that will
determine what they do in the draft. But I'm not
too picky about it. I mean, I just think you
have too many holes on the offensive line right now,
where you just need to take the most You need
to take the most talented player that you can at
that at every single pick, I think you just take
the most talented player, whether it's an offensive lineman, whether
(18:04):
it's a defensive lineman, and you just take them, and
I think you just set them up for you know,
success and develop them because I don't think that this
offensive line is really in a spot right now where
it can decide, well, we need a guard more than
a tackle, or like we should you know. I think
you can maybe make the argument about whether you want
to trade down and get more picks and that sort
(18:26):
of stuff if you're seeing like maybe the you know,
the pick selection isn't where the value is and that
sort of stuff. But I would say you just need
to take the best player available at that point because
there are plenty of holes to fill, and I don't
think I think that both Philadelphia and Kansas City has
kind of shown you that you can't have too many
good offensive linemen or defensive linemen right because injuries happen
(18:49):
and you always want to stockpile that that group as
much as possible.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Yeah, my my response, My thoughts on this are, did
you watch the Bears oh line like last season? I
really don't think it matters. I think you take the
best offensive lineman. He was therefore he had number ten. Obviously,
you can trade up a little bit, you can trade down.
There's different things you could do I again, super early
to be saying this, but I just feel like they're
(19:13):
gonna stick at number ten and take the best offensive lineman,
whether that's a tackle, whether that's a guard. I mean,
we kind of had the same conversation a couple of
years ago. Not the exact same conversation, but it was,
you know, Darnell Wright was primarily a right tackle, like, okay,
do you want to take a left tackle or a
right tackle with the number nine pick at the time.
(19:33):
Obviously they traded down a spot took him at number ten.
I think Polls clearly just wanted the best offensive lineman
he could get, and he felt that was Darnell, right.
And I kind of think that's going to be the
same thing here. You know, if Tyler Booker, a guard
out of Alabama, is the best guy available, if the
top tackle is already off the board, but you think
(19:54):
that maybe this number one guard is gonna really help
your offensive line. Like that's okay, and uh, I have
no problem with them doing that. Of course, it does
depend what happens in free agency a little bit, but
I don't know they have so many like we said,
Like you said at the top, Michael, I mean Darnell
Wright might be the only guy on that starting five
(20:15):
on the offensive line who has his job set and
so it's really kind of like a clean slate if
you want it to be. You can debate about the
left tackle, but I think they got to just take
the best the best offensive line and available to them.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Yeah, you need to take the best guy. And I
think you do that with you know, the first three
or four picks, right, Like I I outside of someone
you know, maybe jumping out and someone's like, well, like,
we didn't expect this guy to be here, let's go
after him. I don't think you look at I don't
think you look at running back. I don't think you
look at you know, tight end or anything like that.
(20:52):
I know that's kind of been floated around there.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
There's some good tight ends in this draft, especially.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
In the car and like, I don't know if you
want to have the cool comet conversation about you know,
releasing him or anything like that to save camp space.
But I do think you just got to focus you.
I you know, I feel like I'm gonna repeat this
for the next two months. I want this to be
like the un sexiest like draft ever. I just wanted
them to draft offensive lineman and defensive lineman, signed offensive
(21:17):
defensive linemen and just like not that they cannot be fun,
but like obviously the you know, the the wide receivers,
the running backs, you know, they're the flashy players and
that kind of stuff. But the Bears have done that
the few years and that hasn't worked, right, So like
you need to just get the the big boys in there,
Just get them from like the best SEC Big ten schools,
and just you know, PLoP them in there, sign them.
(21:38):
And I think that's it. That's your biggest thing right now.
You can't really divert from that because there's too many
things going on right now where you can just kind
of be like, well, I want the flashy player, like
I want to Ashton Gentry. I I don't think that's
a that's in the Bears. Uh, that's in the Bears future.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
No. I think I think it would would serve them
well to have a completely boring draft. That's okay, Yeah.
I mean if obviously, the the die hard fans, the
folks on the show here with us this morning, you know,
they get excited about the offensive lineman. But if the
average run of the mill Bears fan is bored by
(22:14):
the Bears taking lineman all day long. I think that
will be okay, and ultimately that will be good for
the team. Another comment here says more important in free
agency for the Bears a guard or a center. I
think I agree with with Rick and CJ. Both said
that they think center is probably the higher priority. I
(22:35):
think I'm on board with that. I do think you
need to. That's kind of been like a thorn in
their side the last couple of years, like they haven't really.
I mean, Coleman Shelton was fine last year. He was
a he was like your your average baseline starter, like
he did he did well, and he started every game
and he was consistent and he was there. But if
you want to really upgrade that offensive line, I think
(22:57):
you need to to find a way to get an
elite center in there, or at least a top, top
tier center. And they just haven't been able to do
that now.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
They haven't, and I think, uh, I think that's why
I kind of agree with you. I think I'm going
with center too, mostly especially because I you know, just
based on reading you know guys, you know, mock drafts
and that kind of stuff like it doesn't seem like
it's going to be a deep draft for centers or
anything like that, so I I, you know, listen, like,
I think the center position has become one of the
tougher ones to find because you know, once you have one,
(23:31):
you're not gonna let them go right like You're obviously,
they're very important to your quarterbacks development. They're really important
to making sure that everyone's in the right spot at
the right place running the offense as well. So I
think that's your biggest priority in free agency, and I
think you focus on the guard and the draft. You
can sign obviously some cards or a guard in free agency,
(23:53):
but I do think that you can find more in
the draft than you can the center position. So I think,
you know, I think you need to focus on the
center position because you need to find a guy who's
kind of been established, has done a good job, and
has proven that he can lead an offense. Because I
don't know if you want I just don't know if
you want to put that in a rookie's hands, right Like,
(24:15):
I don't know if you want to put a rookie
in a position to you know, kind of help Caleb
development as opposed to have a guy who's been there
and done dad, And obviously there's a big name out
there in free agency that I know everyone's talking about
leaking with the Bears. But I do think that center
is more of a free agency than it is a
draft thing.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
Yeah, just looking at PFF's top one hundred free agents,
Drew Dolman from the Falcons is the number one center
on their list. He's number twenty two overall. They have
Ryan Kelly from the Colts also in the top one hundred,
and then Coleman Shelton rounds it out at number one
hundred overall. I mean, that's certainly a possibility that they could,
you know, see what's out there and just decide to
(24:55):
bring Coleman Shelton back. Now, you also do have Ryan Bates,
but of course he appeared in three games last year.
You're not super confident that he's going to be going
to be fully healthy and going to be able to
man that spot for you.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Yeah, do you want to do that again? Though? I
feel like I feel like you just want to turn
the page right, like.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
He will be a great, a great backup who can
play any spot.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
Yeah. I would agree with that, and I think that
was the bearst problem last year, right, Like they had
a bunch of you know, not to you know, look
down at anyone, but you didn't have like sure fire starters
right on your offensive line. It felt like it was
a bunch of guys who could play multiple positions. Which
is great to have versatile guys, but at some point
you just want to have a guy that you know
that is going to be there every single week and
(25:39):
you can kind of build that consistency and that's something
that the Bears just did not have last year.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
Okay, we got a few more minutes, Michael, who are you?
Who are some of the prospects who you're you're excited
to hear from next week? As you're you're you know,
thinking about the Bears specifically, Like I know everybody gets
excited for the quarterbacks and especially in drafts season, but
like when you're looking at the Bears, like who do
you want to hear from? Who do you want to
kind of get to know next week at the combine?
Speaker 2 (26:06):
I think the obvious names are obviously like Will Campbell
from LSU, arm On Bombo from Missouri, you know, Calvin
Bates Junior. Just those top guys just to kind of
you know, I think you can learn a lot. Like
I kind of go back to last year at the Combine.
I didn't know much about Romadoons at the time. I
(26:27):
knew he was good at Washington, I knew he was
part of that team. But I remember leaving that, you know,
his press conference at the Combine and being really impressed,
being like, whoa like this guy like this guy just
kind of seems to get it right. And you kind
of saw him do that with the Bears his rookie year.
So I know, obviously, you know, how much do you
take from the combine These days, I know a lot
(26:47):
of guys are kind of doing their own you know,
aren't participating or they're doing their own testing, and they
just kind of show up just to show up, just
to kind of talk to these coaches and gms. But
I do think they you can get something from the
press conference just to kind of learn more about these guys,
how they could potentially fit into the Bear's locker room,
how they can potentially you know, take on more of
(27:08):
a leadership role and that sort of stuff. So those
are some of the guys. Obviously, it would be a
dream for Abdul Carter to obviously fall to the Bears.
That's there's I don't think there's any way that happen.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
That's gonna happen.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
But you know, Mike Green from Marshall, he's a big
name to watch for the Bears if he ends up
still being around in that position, and some of the
offensive linemen kind of fall down. So those are some
of the top guys. I think it's just kind of
interesting just to kind of see, you know, how you know,
what their philosophies are, how you know, how they feel
about potentially playing at guard or tackle or you know,
(27:43):
different positions and where they kind of see themselves because
you know, what you played in college doesn't necessarily mean
what you're gonna play in the NFL. So I am
curious to see how what their approach is to being
a versatile player.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Yeah, I'll be curious to see, you know. Also, you know,
I don't spend a lot of time focusing on the
actual workouts because it's kind of like a lot of
it's silly, not a lot, but some of it's silly.
But Ryan Poles does value those those athletic offensive linemen
who can move and especially if they can move laterally
(28:16):
and I think that's gonna be really important one. Josh
Simmons is another name to watch out for. The medicals
are going to be super important for him. He had
a major knee injury, was the starting off tackle for
Ohio State until midway through the season. That's gonna be
one to to certainly keep an eye on because if
he's like cleared and and teams are feeling comfortable about him,
you could see him shoot back up boards like he
(28:39):
looked like he was the number one tackle before he
went down with the injury. That's that's another name to
look look out for. Yeah, I mean some of the
guys you mentioned Will Campbell of course, and Calvin Banks
and Tyler Booker, the guard who I mentioned from Alabama
a little while ago. Yeah, Like, I do really feel
like the Bears are going to be zeroing in on
(28:59):
these offensive lineman and this is going to be a
big week for them to to sort of get to
know these guys. That's the thing that's that's so important
about the combine is you have that interview time. I
would really recommend I if anybody out there hasn't watched
the off season hard knocks from last year with the giants, Like,
I thought that was really cool to watch the behind
(29:20):
the scenes stuff from the combine and what some of
those interviews were.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
Like yeah, for sure, and you get a lot of stuff.
And it's not even just for the draft, right, Like
it's a lot of you know free agency. Obviously you
can't tamper or anything like that, but a lot of
you know, agents and you know gms and scouts just
happen to be in the same place at the same
time and you know, maybe build relationships. And that obviously
happens a lot in Indianapolis during this week, So a
(29:44):
lot of you know free agency. You kind of for
the Bears, especially you know Ryan Poles has been there,
but for Ben Jonson, you want to build those relationships
and you want to you know, get those conversations kind
of going like oh, like what are you thinking? Like
where you think so and so would be interested in
maybe going one day or they comfortable with where they're at,
like and I think another big thing is you kind
of learned what the market's going to be like for
(30:05):
a lot of players, right you kind of see I
know it was reported this week that the salary cap
is going to go up a bunch this year, So
a lot of that stuff kind of happens to a
lot of stuff is happening with the prospects in the
interviews and getting to know them and that kind of stuff,
But a lot of free agency and a lot of
the off season kind of gets started with this week
in Indianapolis.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
This is one of the few times on the on
the calendar when when all these these gms are in
the same place at the same time, and yeah, a
lot of those conversations happen. I'm sure the Tennessee Titans
will be having a lot of conversations about what they
want to do with the number one pick and sort
of feeling out who. I don't know if they'll trade
the pick. I don't know what they're going to do,
of course, but if if they're considering it, you know,
(30:45):
this is when they would sort of put the feelers
out there and find out what they could potentially who
might be interested in potentially moving up. Yeah, I do
you know, we saw the Marvin Harrison last year, like
do the whole I'm not to work out at the combine.
I am curious to see. I'm sure we'll learn in
the next couple of days. If anybody is going to
(31:06):
go that route, I feel like maybe Travis Hunter would
be like the only name I'm thinking of where it's like,
does he really have anything else to prove on the
in a workout? I feel like probably not, But I don't.
I really do think that that is more of a
like Marvin Harrison Junior was in such a unique spot
and Travis Hunter is in such a unique spot. I
don't think that's going to be the norm.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
No, I don't unless you're a top tier guy like I.
It's just kind of interesting, right because like those medicals
are pretty much the only thing that you kind of
hold on too, right, Like those are kind of the
only thing you kind of have as an advantage. But
I think it does behoove you to kind of just
go through the process, talk to the guys and kind
of just kind of put your name out there, because,
(31:51):
as you mentioned, with that hard knocks, like you don't know,
you don't know what moment or like what conversation is
going to kind of put you over the edge, right,
is going to convince someone that you're the person that
they want to draft. So I do think that will
probably continue to kind of have what we've seen in
the past. Yeah, I think I think Shad or Sandras
(32:11):
would probably you know, take part in most of the things.
And I think cam Ward obviously, I know he got
a flag for the Bowl Game and that kind of stuff,
but I do think that he'll do a lot of
that stuff. But yeah, I would agree. I think you
would probably see consistently what we've kind of seen in
past combines.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
All right, we got to get out of here. Thank
you everybody for joining us live one more time. Hit
the thumbs up here. If you're with us live here
on YouTube, subscribe, we'll let you know when we're gonna
go live on Twitter as well. I'm at Sewan Underscore Hammond.
He is at m dwo Jack ninety four. If you're
listening after the fact on Spotify, on Apple, wherever you
(32:48):
get your podcast, please leave us a five star review.
We would really appreciate it. That's another great way to
support the show. As always, head over to Shawlocal dot com.
You can read all of our Bears coverage up there.
We're gonna have lots of stuff next week from the
NFL combine. We're both planning to be there. He's Michael
Dwojack I'm Sean Hammond. This has been the Shaw Local
Bears inside their podcast. Thank you for listening everybody. We'll
(33:09):
catch you next time.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.