February 27, 2025 • 39 mins
Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles and head coach Ben Johnson spoke with members of the media at the NFL combine in Indianapolis this week. Shaw Local's Sean Hammond and Michal Dwojak discuss what they learned from the Bears this week.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello, and welcome back to the Shaw Local Bears Insider podcast.
We are live from Indianapolis, joining you guys here on
YouTube to talk some Bears football. We got to hear
from Ben Johnson, we got to hear from Ryan Pool today.
We are not in our usual setups here, as you
can see if you're with us live on YouTube. We're
we're making it work here with the with the backgrounds
(00:23):
we have, so we appreciate you joining if you're if
you're live with us, Michael, how you doing today from
Indy Good?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Enjoying another day in Indianapolis and joined the weather. I
walked out for five minutes, so that's been that's been good.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
But it's good.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Indianapolis is always fun because I feel like you get
to see a lot of different people, a lot of
different things, and it's a lot to see in this week.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Yeah, it's warm, warm ish here. I hear it's warm
ish back home in Chicago too.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Guys.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Let us know in the in the comments if you're
getting any feedback audio feedback from us.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
I know we're not.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
We don't have our normal setups, so we're trying to
make it work here. But it is officially draft season
and the combine is here. The draft. You know, it's
still two months away, but it feels like it's it's
officially here. Once we get down here and we get
to to hear from the coaches, from the gms, and
of course from from a bunch of prospects. We've heard
(01:15):
about half the group already. We got a couple more
days of prospects coming through to media the media room
and talking about what they're expecting here, what they're going
through in this process. If you're watching us live on YouTube,
do us a favor and hit the thumbs up. That's
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(01:36):
Spotify or Apple, please leave us a five star review.
That's a great way to support the show. And as always,
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So yeah, we heard from Ben Johnson and Ryan Pols
on Tuesday, you know, kind of kind of vibes check Michael, like,
what what what stood out to you from from sort
(01:58):
of what they were saying. I thought it was kind
of like what we we've grown used to with Ryan Poles,
especially obviously they're not going to be sharing a whole
lot of details. But I thought that Ben Johnson was
was just as energetic as he was his first day
on the job.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Yeah, he definitely was.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
He uh, he kind of had that a little bit
of confidence in himself that you know, maybe cocky confidence,
if you want to call it that. But he seems
like he's still you know, he's still riding that high
of obviously the honeymoon. He's got his full coaching staff
ready to go that was announced last week, and we
just know everyone who's going to be there, and I,
you know, I I don't doubt it because it seems
(02:36):
like he's really kind of putting in the work and
kind of putting in the foundation of you know what
he wants this you know, team to look like.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
And obviously the biggest step was getting.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
The the coaches down and now he's you know, getting
you know, getting his you know, he's working with Ryan
Poles and trying to figure out, you know what, what's
our plan for all the different things we want to
talk about.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
He mentioned.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
I think both him and Poles kind of mentioned how that,
you know, kind of reiterated the point where they talked
about how they're going to have a good relationship with
each other.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
You know, Ben will contribute.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
I thought it was interesting that Ryan Poles has said that,
you know, it's not gonna be any different than it
was before with Maddiebriflues, Like he's going to have the
same amount of say as Maddie Reflues did. So I
don't know whether that's a good thing or bad things
for Bears fans, but it was just interesting where you know,
Ryan Poles is gonna start looking and trying to mold
this roster into the way that Ben Johnson and Dennis
(03:28):
Allen and Richard high Tower and Decklan Doyle wanted right Like,
they're gonna look for the type of offense that Ben
Johnson wants to run.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Is that involving a switch or running back? Is that?
Speaker 2 (03:38):
And you know, what type of linemen are you going
to have and what you do at wide receiver? And
you know, they didn't give us any specifics, and I
don't think they're going to until they finally, you know,
get started here with free agency, but it was good
to get some insight into you know, how they're gonna
go do this. I don't know if we got to
or what, but I do think that we got a
(04:00):
little bit of the how.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Yeah, I think any obviously, any any good organization, you
gotta have the head coach and the GM in lockstep
and and moving together toward towards when you're looking at
roster construction and how to build that. We we knew
that that Ben Johnson wasn't just going to come in
here and be an x's and o's guy. Obviously he
knows what he's doing on the offensive end in that regard,
but uh, he's gonna have thoughts on on who he
(04:25):
wants to bring in. And it sounds like from from
what Ryan said, Ben has a very clear vision of
what he wants for every single position. Uh, you know,
we we don't necessarily have all the details on on
what that means, you know, for a running back, what
that means for a defensive end or what whatnot, but uh,
they have a pretty clear vision. And that is is
like the first step. That is a really good a
(04:47):
good place to come to attack the offseason from. And
that's where like that's that's what sold Ryan Poles and
and the rest of the Bears organ organization on Ben
Johnson is just that that that clear vision that he
had from the very beginning of what he wants this
to look like. And so now you come to the
combine where there's three hundred and twenty nine prospects, you
(05:07):
have a lot of a lot of people to sift through,
a lot of a lot of football players at various
positions all across the board, and you got to start
filling filling out your board and thinking about who fits
those roles. You know, Ryan also said you're not going
to find the prototypical player in every one of those positions,
Like you're not going to be able to do that.
You're certainly not going to be able to do that
(05:28):
in one offseason. So yeah, there might be a position
or two or three or whatever where you just have
to make the you know, your best your best guy
work and maybe it's not the perfect long term fit,
but that's uh, that's the goal. That's the goal you
walk into this thing with. And it's not going to
be a one year fix unfortunately, like this is going
(05:48):
to take time and hopefully that these guys can start
filling some of those needs with with the type the
types of players that they're looking for.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Yeah, And I thought it was interesting that, you know
when I feel like both Ryan Polls and you know,
Ben Johnson were asked, you know, do you do that?
Do you prefer doing that in free agency or do
you prefer doing that in the draft, And I think
both of them answered, like they were both pretty clear, like,
you know different you are going to handle different things
in different places, right, Like when it came to the
(06:18):
defensive line, I think Ryan Poles said, like, listen, if.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
We sign a high caliber player and.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
There's still one available in the draft, like that's not
going to preclude them from adding on to that defensive
line group, right because you clearly saw like what injuries
can do on both sides of the line. So I
thought that was kind of interesting too, just kind of
how they're you know, it's not going to be a
one off season fix. It's not gonna be a one
player fix, and it's not even going to be a
(06:44):
clear you know, we're going to handle this all in
the draft. We're just gonna throw a bunch of money
at it, and we're gonna solve it.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Obviously.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
You know, we learned like an hour ago that Trey
Smith is not going to be on the free agent market,
so that obviously forces them to kind of change things up.
But it's definitely something that is going to take some time.
It's definitely something that won't be resolved by the first
end of the first couple of days of free agency
or the first few days of the draft. I think
(07:10):
it's definitely going to be a full effort that's going
to require, you know, mixing and matching different types of
experiences and different types of styles.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Yeah, the the big nuggets of news that came out
today were, like you said, Trey Smith is going to
expect it to be franchise tagged. You know, the deadline's
not for a few more days, but uh, that sounds
like that's where that's going and they're going to try
to work out an extension with him. Obviously that them
being the Kansas City Chiefs, Obviously that was everybody's top
(07:41):
guard on the free expected to hit the free agent market,
and you know, this is this is just the reality
of the NFL. Is is Uh, Situations like this happened
every single year where you you look at your your
free agent list in February and you have to remember, uh,
those last three or four weeks before you get to March.
How many of those guys are go get franchise tagged,
how many of those guys are going to sign extensions.
(08:03):
There's probably going to be a few of those before
free agency on March twelfth, and and that's going to
take some of those top guys off the market. So,
I know, Bears fans were excited about the potential of
a Trey Smith or type player, or you know Trey
Smith's specifically potentially fitting into their offensive line. This is
there's a lot of moving parts. And when you talk
(08:23):
about a highly sought after guy like that, he was
gonna have a lot of students anyway, there's no guarantee
you were going to get him if he hit the
free agent market. But yeah, he's he's not going to
get that chance. He's going to get franchise tagged and
they're going to try to work out a long term
deal with him in Kansas City. There were a couple
other nuggets of news Bears wise, and you know the
(08:43):
other one I was I was gonna mention too, you know,
league wide, is that they did set the salary cap.
I think they settled in they had given a range
like a week ago, and they settled right in the
middle there. So that's that's really no surprise. But then
the Bears news that we didn't really get to touch
on yet on the show Michael, was that that DeMarcus
Walker and Gerald Everett were cut. They saved about ten
(09:04):
million dollars for next year. So the Bears, I mean,
you're looking at seventy nine million dollars to spend this offseason.
That is fourth among NFL teams.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Yeah, they're gonna, you know, they're gonna have a lot
of room. And part of that is also, you know,
you're gonna kind of, you know, re sign your guys
right like, you're gonna you're probably working on a deal
with Kyler Gordon, right like, you're trying to get your
guys extended, and you're reworking some of those contracts. So
that'll play a little bit of a role into it.
But yeah, I mean, listen, this team has a lot
of cap space, and I think you know is going
(09:37):
to be willing to try to fix a lot of
its holes right now. And I thought that was kind
of kind of segmating to kind of you know that,
and the offensive line, I thought that was interesting. You
know when Ben Johnson was asked, well, you know, can
you fully revamp? Can you fully revamp an offensive line
this quickly? Like is it gonna be like a one
or two piece thing? And he talked about Carolina last
(09:59):
year and what did Carolina during the off season? You know,
they threw a bunch of money and they signed a
bunch of guys and you know, redid I think it
was like, wasn't it like two or three of their
offensive linemens. So, you know, it seems like this is
something that Ben Johnson and Ryan Poles are kind of
agreeing upon where they want they're going to be aggressive
about fixing it then, whether that's free agency, whether that's
(10:20):
a draft with or it's a combo. It seems like
this team is going to be more aggressive, I would say,
than they have in the past and maybe not relying
as much in what they have right. I think they're
going to be much more open to looking around and
seeing what can they add to this team as opposed
to maybe fully relying on, hey, let's look at our
(10:41):
guys and let's see what they can do.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Rick in the comments, thanks for joining us this afternoon,
Rick said, Washington did that also, Yeah, you know, Washington
really did revamp that line. They signed Nick Alagretti, Lincoln
Way East guy like myself. And it's I don't know
if it's funny, it's I find it interesting saying that
that Ben points to the to a five win Panthers
teams as the one that comes to mind. I don't
(11:06):
know if if that's the comparison you want to be making,
But I get what he's saying, Like it can be done.
There's good players out there in free agency, there's good
players available. You can't build an offensive line, but I
that way. But it's still it's challenging, Like, that's really hard.
You're gonna replace all three of those guys in the middle. Uh,
that's really tough. And when you start talking about potentially
(11:27):
replacing all three of those guys in the middle and
maybe looking the upgrade left tackle, I mean, that is
a lot of change for one offensive line in one offseason.
I have a hard time seeing how that's gonna gonna.
I would think if you do that, it's gonna take
a little time for those guys to gel like like
into the season.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
I would I would imagine and.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
I think it's not even just those five guys, right,
Like I think Ben Johnson talked about it, how we're
gonna have They're gonna have to rely on nine guys,
ten guys. Like you see how injuries go in this league,
especially on the offensive line. I mean the Bear saw
obviously a lot last year, so that was a big
thing for him also where he was just kind of
emphasizing the importance of you know, it's going to take
(12:07):
more than five guys. It's not find the five perfect guys,
and so it'll be interesting who they decide to keep,
who they decide to bring on. Because sure, you can
have a perfect plan and be like, well, this is
our starting five and this is what we're gonna do.
I you might still bring back, you know, guys like
mentioned like Ryan Bates, you might you know, have Shelton
in there.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
You might bring back.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Prior on a on a team friendly contract, and you know,
draft and sign free agents. Right where you're just going
to have to bring in a big bunch of guys
who can kind of contribute and you know, if someone
goes down, is going to be able to kind of
come in and you know, act like nothing really happened.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Yeah, Ryan Bates is under contract for another year. He's
still under under the Bears control. I don't know if
you want to go into the season with him circled
as a starter. Maybe you do, maybe you don't. I
don't know if that would be at center. I don't
know if that would be at guard. Coleman Shelton is
a free agent. You know, we'll see what happens there.
I think he's another guy who you could look to
(13:08):
bring back, but he's you know, he's a starting center
in the NFL. He he might have options.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
And then I.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Agree with what you said about Matt Pryor. I mean,
he's a guy who's probably not gonna get more than
a one year deal. Maybe it makes the most sense
for him to come back to Chicago, where you know,
he started the year. On paper, he was he was
supposed to be one of your your top backups and
was pretty quickly forced into a starting role there at
the right guard spot. And and really, I mean, given
(13:35):
that situation played played fairly well, uh, considering that you
weren't really expecting him to be your starter all year?
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Yeah, for sure. And then you also just don't know,
what are you? What are you gonna do with left
left tackle right like Braxton Jones. Like you know, Ryan
Poles said that he's in a good spot right now
with his rehab and that kind of stuff, but even him, like,
you're not exactly sure where he's going to be at
that point when we get to like mini camp and
and training camp. So yeah, I mean you could set
(14:05):
you can have a good group of five and expect
them to be your starters, but you you need to
add on and bring in a different mix. And I
think that's going to be important. And I think that
that seems to be something that the Bears are going
to be aggressive and when they start free agents here
in a couple of weeks.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
James Williams, thanks for joining the show. James has has
a thought about Caleb Williams. He says that he was
energized listening to Poles talk about Caleb Williams and and
just the fact that they're getting this coaching staff in there,
and uh, you know his his thought here is what
I don't get is how Poles watched what was happening
last year and did nothing. You know, that's uh, I
(14:41):
don't know if if that's necessarily fair, Like you what
are you supposed to do after you hire your staff.
You know, you got to let those guys, You got
to let that thing play out. And it didn't work, obviously.
But the the thing that that your comment James brought
to mind for me is, I don't know if you
guys saw the p I'm sure you did see the
pfw A play survey and the the last place grade
(15:04):
that Matti Eberfluse got among thirty two NFL head coaches
last year. You know, it's kind of brutal to see
that at this point in February when the man was
fired like three months ago, four months ago, however long ago.
Just a little kick on the way out, you know,
kick out the door. But yeah, I think I think
that pretty much encapsulated what we sort of saw and
(15:25):
felt like towards the end of the season in November
in certainly after Flus was gone, like the players were
frustrated and didn't feel like they were being they didn't
feel like their their concerns were being heard.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
No, they weren't. And that's I mean that kind that's
that surprising. I guess if you kind of look at
the Bear season and what was happening it, Yeah, I mean,
I think it was the worst rating of all the
head coaches in the league.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Obviously he was fired.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
I think this is obviously done throughout the year, right
or like toward the end of the year, so he
probably was still around.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
But yeah, I think they do those things from a
really wide time range, like from April to November or something.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Okay, so it's not even just like a certain period.
So so that's even interesting, right, Like you you could
have had these comments in April. You could have had
these comments like over the summer. It's like, what are
we doing here? But yeah, that was interesting and that
was tough. But yeah, I agree with you. In any
in any walk of life, you need to just let
(16:24):
your people do their jobs right. Like you need to
trust that you did your process right and you hire
them and you made sure that they're doing the right thing.
So I don't know if I you know, I think
you can give Ryan Pulls a hard time obviously, And
what was the decision making and hiring Maddie reflused.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
In the right They probably hired the wrong table.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Yeah, like that's the process that I would look into.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
But yeah, I mean it's like it's stunk and We've
talked about it a million times. You put Caleb Williams
in a bad situation in this rookie year when you
have the number one overall pick, and I think at
this point you're hoping that Ben Johnson can come in
there and fix that. And it seems that they've already
started working on building that relationship based on what we've
(17:06):
heard from both Ryan Poles and Ben Johnson, where they're
setting the groundwork, they're doing the basics right now. That
seems to be something that they'll be doing for the
entire team, not even just Caleb.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Yeah, and overall, the Bears finished fourteenth out of the
thirty two teams in that survey, ownership got a pretty
good grand I think it was what an as they
were like thirteenth overall. I mean that's that's if you're
in the top half, you're doing something right. So I
think I think that was was, you know, a good
endorsement from the Bears players that they feel like they're
(17:38):
being supported by ownership, and that's I know that's always
been a question. I mean it's not a question, but
like it's going.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
To be more so.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
A question mark moving forward of you know, what's the
McCaskey family gonna do with the team as of now.
I mean, the players seem fairly happy with with what
ownership is doing to support them.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Yeah, it seems like they're mostly happy with everything. I
know there were maybe some lower score is when it
came to like family stuff for other things. But the
training facility obviously is really good. The nutrition was fine.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
If I remember correctly, I think it was like a
B plus or something like that.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
But a lot of those things are good, and ownership
was good, just obviously the most important stuff the coaching,
which didn't really come to fruition that obviously. I felt
like the C whatever was C C minus. I think
that that was kind of a generous score.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Yeah, the grades on those things were like you look
at at pretty much any category, most of the grades
are A A minus, B plus and does anyone got
enough anything? There were some f's I did flip through
some of the other teams, but anything anything C and
below is pretty bad. You know. That's the players are
are not out here being like so harsh.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
You know.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
The the A f's were rare unless you're some of
those teams that finished at the bottom of the survey.
But but you know, kind of steering us back to
to football. They cut to Marcus Walker. That was a
guy who started seventeen games at edge rusher for you.
And obviously when you cut veterans like that, I know
(19:10):
why they did it. I understand like the the cap
implications and freeing up some space and maybe they don't
quite fit what the new coaching staff wants to do.
And obviously Gerald Everett didn't really do anything last year,
so I don't know why you would keep him around anyway.
But you look at Dee Walk in the defensive end spot.
That only becomes a bigger need now.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
Michael, No, it definitely does.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
And it kind of goes back to I think Ryan
wrote when Ryan Pols was asked about whether his views
on the defensive line has evolved, and he said, you know.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
He's been It's been consistent. You need someone to.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Puncture the pocket from the interior for the exterior to
be really successful and productive. And I thought that was
interesting where I feel like it would have been really interesting.
It would have been very easy to say, we need
to see more production from the other side. Opposite of
montest wet right, unique guy, unique guys who can work
off of Sweat, who can you know, win Montes, what
is being double team to take advantage of those situations,
(20:06):
and you you you saw that sometimes with Walker with Taylor,
But I thought it was interesting for him to point
out the interior, right like, obviously he's drafted Dravon Dexter,
he's drafted Zach Pickens with you know, top three round picks,
and Dravon Dexter has done well.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Pickens hasn't kind of come to the to the to
the level that we've expected.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
But I thought that was really interesting for him to
kind of shout out the interior of the line as
opposed to the to the to the outside, where you
could have easily been like, I'm going, I think we
need to find that guy who's going to work opposite
of Sweat and Billings and Dexter are fine, but he
made it a point to say, if we're not getting
that production from the middle of the line, it's hard
for the outside to do well. And I thought that
(20:48):
was interesting. It kind of gives you a glimpse into maybe,
you know, is this team going to add more in
the middle. Are they going to look for more middle
threats since they haven't been able to really do it,
you know much of the year.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Yeah, we were saying this last episode or maybe the
time before that. You know, Andrew Billings and Andra von
Dexter are really great starters for you in there when
when they're both healthy and when they were playing with Manta,
when those two in Monta Sweat were playing together, the
d line looked really, really good and Billings goes down,
and you wonder if the Bears want to find, you know,
(21:24):
want to try to clone Andrew Billings so to speak,
but you know in the form of a twenty two
year old that you just drafted, because you know, like
you said, like Zach Pickens, you still have some questions there.
He's more of a rotational guy. Do you want you know,
Andrew Billings? He might only have one more year on
his contract anyway, Like, do you want to find the
(21:45):
next guy who's going to fill in and do that
that spot for you while while you get one more
year with Andrew Billings in the lineup. That could be
a potential. I do wonder. I want to get your thoughts, Michael, Like,
so you cut one of your starting starting edge rushers. Obviously,
we know the Bears needs along the offensive line. Uh,
from what everyone seems to be saying. Everyone seems to
(22:08):
be thinking edge rusher is one of those positions that's
really really strong in this draft? Does does do all
those things combined? Does that make you consider with that
number ten pick? I mean, is is offensive line such
a shoe in like or or could it be a
situation where you you look at at trying to get
one of those those top pass rushers when there's a
(22:29):
bunch of guys at the top who you feel like
could be really really good.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
I don't think it's a shoe And I think, you
know what, obviously this all depends on what they're gonna
do in free agency and what they add, and but
I I I don't think it's a shoeing. Like if
Mason Graham is down there, you like run to the
phone and you say, I'm drafting Mason Graham. You know,
like he there, there are there's a lot of good talent,
and I don't. I don't think this is you know,
it's kind of interesting because I feel like the philosophy
(22:54):
for Ryan Poles the first couple of years has been bet,
you know, draft the best player available, right, it doesn't
matter what we we're building this roster, we're trying to
figure things out, and when it comes to both the
offense and the defensive line, I feel like that's kind
of kind of a similar thing where Okay, sure you
need you Let's say they don't add anyone free agent
(23:15):
wise that you're really impressive with. On the offensive line,
you need two guards in a center. Maybe I don't
think you overdraft at number ten for a guard that
maybe doesn't deserve to be at number ten. Maybe you consider, okay,
I'm going to draft down. I'm gonna get more picks
and get you know, quantity. But I also think that
you know, if you have someone that's graded highly on
(23:36):
the on the defensive line at number ten, that you
think that should either whether it's Mason Graham, whether it's
you know, other guys that we talked to on Wednesday.
I wouldn't be surprised if they went for an edge
rusher or for a for a tackle, honestly, because I
think for both sides of the line, you're just trying
to add the you know, the best player at that position.
And I based on what Ben Johnson and Ryan Pole said,
(24:00):
it doesn't seem like they are putting a number as
to how many bodies there's too many bodies.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
No, it doesn't. And and Ryan was asked about, you know,
just this question like free agency versus the draft, where
do you want to get your your top defensive lineman,
And he said he's not against doing it both. You know,
he's okay if even if he goes out and spends
some money on an edge rusher on March twelfth, he
is okay with also spending a high draft pick on
(24:25):
an edge rusher, Like you cannot have enough of those guys.
That is just so evident when you watch a team
like the Philadelphia Eagles, we all know what that defensive
line looks like. And even even you know there's there's
some different guys on that line than there was just
a couple of years ago when they were in the
Super Bowl and lost, like they they have constantly replaced
(24:46):
and replenished some of those guys, some of those uh
you know, maybe guys in the rotation or at the
back end of the rotation like those you gotta keep.
You just gotta keep refilling those spots because you're gonna lose.
And so yeah, like the defensive line is a spot
where you cannot have too many good football players. I'm
(25:07):
I'm I'm with you, Like, I think that that's absolutely
a potential, a possibility there at number ten. If they're
I whether you're talking tackle, whether you're talking edge rusher, like,
if the best player on the board is either one
of those positions, you go for it. I obviously you
still have concerns on on the other side, but that's
why this is not going to be like a one
year fix. You you got to fix. Like we said
(25:30):
the earlier, you got three you're missing three starters in
the interior on the offensive line. Maybe you want to
upgrade left tackle. I really, I know Ben Jonson's confident.
I don't know if you can do that in one offseason.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
No, you probably can't. And you know, maybe they'll prove
us wrong or whatever. But I think you you will
probably have one or two, maybe a couple stop gap players,
right like, some guys that will transition you. Maybe guys
that you can kind of have come in for a
year or two kind of get you going, and then
you plug it in next year and then you figure
(26:00):
out that.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
Spot, right, I don't I think it'll be I think it's.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
A lot to try to fill in let's say four
positions right now, let's just go with what we have
been saying, Darnold Wright to right tackle. Everyone else kind
of needs to figure out what the other force parts are.
But yeah, I agree, and I think a lot of
this also goes with what happens with the first nine picks,
right like, obviously is this going to be this, This isn't.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
The quarterback class that it was last year.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Our team's gonna get, you know, really interested in drafting
up for some guys. What happens happens with Abdul Carter?
Does Abdall Carter drop to number ten with the Bears?
And I don't think you think he would with the
with the foot injury. At some point, I think someone
just takes a chance and kind of goes with him.
But all of this just kind of goes into the
(26:47):
array of not knowing what is going to happen and
how the how the thing might unfold, because there might
be a defensive tackle, there might be an thatg rusher
that you didn't expect to be there that you might
be like, all right, I'm gonna take them. And I
think that you know, within the first few ten picks
of the second round. I think we can get roughly
the same amount of equivalent talent when it comes to
(27:07):
the offensive guard center position, or even maybe a left tackle.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Yeah. That's that's the big news out of the combine
last night that Abdul Carter has has some sort of
foot injury. There's some debate whether he will or won't
need surgery on it. My gut, just in following this
news the last not even twenty four hours, my gut
tells me, if he drops, he's not dropping very far.
(27:33):
I don't see him dropping past five, you know, like
it have to be something that's that's a lot worse
than than maybe we really initially realized. Especially if he
doesn't need surgery. I don't see him dropping that far.
And even if he does, I mean, some team is
gonna gonna take this dude.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
He is. He is a beast.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
I see some some thoughts, some comments in the chat
about Khalil Mack who is is going to be a
free agent or is a free agent? I really shoot,
I can't find that. Oh Rick, here's here's the comment
from Rick watch Mac go to Philly with with Vic Fangio.
I feel like that as soon as I saw that
comments like that, that that something's clicking for me there.
(28:16):
I'm like, yeah, that, you know what, that makes a
ton of sense. I do think Buffalo also makes a
ton of sense, especially if if they find some way
to get out of that von Miller contract, they they
could be looking to add a guy like Khalil Mack.
I don't know if, I mean, at this point in
his career, Khalil Mack is kind of like doing the
von Miller thing all over again. But I would be
(28:37):
surprised if he winds up back in Chicago. I just
don't think. I just don't think he probably doesn't want
to come back here. I mean, yeah, I think he
wants to go to somewhere where you're a Super Bowl contender.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
Yeah, I mean, Khalil Mack kind of feels like a
Packers signing, doesn't it, Like, I, you know, somewhere they
I mean, he came close to going there the first time, right,
And I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up going there.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
You know, they've got.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
A more stable situation than the Bears do. I think
there's obviously no history there. They are there. He hasn't
played for the team, so I wouldn't be surprised if
he went there. I saw I saw Rick before booing me, Uh,
talk about Bosa, he would be interesting, I think I
think the production wasn't there as much as it has
(29:22):
been before, right, Like, obviously he's getting older, but that
that could also be an interesting move if you want
to bring him in, because there are gonna be guys
that are gonna get cut, right Like, there are some
people that were not expecting who might get cut because
of the because of the salary cap. The Chargers are
obviously in a really tough situation. So that could be
a really interesting thing. Where do you want to put
(29:42):
Bosa on the opposite side of sweat and then focus
on the interior of the line there.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Yeah, that's certainly an interesting one. Obviously a big name, uh,
and there's you want you want the the play on
the field to uh, you know, be equivalent the big
name you know, and and so obviously, like you think
about some of these these older guys, I know, Deebo
Samuel's name has been out there too as a potential
(30:07):
trade target across the league. Like, yes, those are big names,
but but you got to think about the the cost
of what it would take to get a big name
like that, and and is that the right thing for
your team at this time? And you know, one more
we got a few more minutes here before we get
out of here. If you guys have any other Bears thoughts, comments, questions,
(30:29):
throw them in the chat will hit them. One other
thought that from from Ryan Poles on Tuesday that that
we've you know, kind of touched on here. But he
was asked at the very end about Braxon jones a
about health wise, how's he doing. He had an ankle
injury right at the end of the season that needed surgery.
It sounds like that's that's on track. But he also
(30:51):
pretty clearly said there's gonna be competition at left tackle.
And I don't think anybody's like surprised by that. I
don't think that's something that that blew any of us way.
But what he didn't say was was Braxton is our
left tackle?
Speaker 3 (31:06):
No, he didn't, And I think you would probably lose
your mind.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Because you obviously drafted a Kiana mccatchi last year with
the high pick, and I know there's a swing tackle there,
so maybe you eventually envisioned him being in a guard position.
But it shouldn't be open, right Like, but there are
a lot of sundays where you and I were just saying,
look at Braxton Jones get bull rushed and it wasn't
anything special. It was just he was just getting dominated
at some point. So yeah, I if you're Ryan Poles,
(31:33):
why would you say that he should be the starter?
Speaker 3 (31:35):
Right? Like? He needs to earn it.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
I think there needs I think there's a lot of
stuff on this team where a lot of guys are
going to have to earn their spots, right I think
a lot of it is going to be Listen, like,
things maybe got a little bit last last year. We
need to kind of get the intensity going we got.
Ben Johnson talked about working on the basics. He talked about,
you know, making sure that the guys are doing the
(31:57):
fundamentals the right way. And I think that might you
know that that's going to cause a lot of guys
to maybe you know, have to work a little bit
harder than they have in the past. And I think
that kind of goes into the whole thing with Braxton Jones,
where if Braxton Jones is healthy, I don't think you
can make him a starter just because he was a
starter before. I think you make that an open competition
with whoever you bring in, whether it's free agency, whether
(32:18):
it's draft, whether it's Karan, you make that an open competition.
Speaker 3 (32:22):
They were.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
There are a lot of open competitions, and a lot
of guys are going to have to compete for their
spots on this team.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Another comment here from Rick says, uh, he's asking about
when when Ben Johnson compared Darnell Wright to to Panay Sewel.
I I don't recall that, Michael. Maybe that was on
one of his other interview circuits. Rick, where Michael, do
you remember him saying that?
Speaker 3 (32:45):
I haven't. I didn't. I didn't see that.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
But my initial thoughts on that are it's hard to
compare anybody to pay school.
Speaker 3 (32:51):
I mean, that's that thin.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
It is like one of one.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
You know.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
I think Darnell Wright's a really talented player, and I
think he's shown you a lot of good stuff. I
don't I don't know if we're there yet. I think, yeah,
it might take a little bit.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
It might take a little bit. Yes, Okay, yeah, big Cat.
Uh apparently that happened with Big Cat. Okay, No, I
you know, it's funny because like Ben Johnson has been
on the you know, he was on the interview circuit
the other day. He was all over the price. I
couldn't keep up with it. I gotta go back and
watch some of that. I'm sure there's a lot of
(33:23):
nuggets in there that that that we have follow up
questions on that we want to want to touch on.
But I gotta go back. It's been so busy here. Uh,
you know, with the combine, there's a lot of stuff
going on. We're talking to coaches and players, We're talking
to the prospects and everything. It's it's crazy week. It's fun.
But yes, there's there's a lot in the news and
there's a lot that that we missed. But you know what,
(33:44):
I think that's great that the head coach of the
Chicago Bears is going around doing doing the media stuff.
Obviously he's a little bit more comfortable than than his
predecessor in that regard.
Speaker 3 (33:52):
Yeah, he definitely. I think, Uh, what wasn't the thing?
Speaker 2 (33:56):
It wasn't the thing you know about him that he's
kind of like he's like the lack of a better term,
like offensive geek and like you're kind of like, well,
how is he gonna you know, how is he how
he's getting more of an introvert in that kind of stuff.
And I haven't gotten man the first few times that
we've heard from him. Obviously, I didn't know much attention
to him when he was the offensive coordinator with the Lions.
(34:16):
And maybe you see some snippets or something like that,
but listen, he's going to tell you what he wants
to tell you, and he's going he's got a lot
of character.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
I thought I thought was interesting.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
I think this was a perfect encapsulation of who Ben
ben Johnson is. Where I think he was asked about
Declan Doyle and I forget who was who he was
talking to.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
John Morton, who has taken over for him as the OC.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
And Detroit and he did he call him like he's
like the future Ben Johnson. I thought that was just
a funny thing to kind of include in there and
just be like, oh, you're right, and like that's a
reason why you would want to hire him, right, Like
that's the reason why you want to bring him in.
I thought, I think that's kind of like a good
example as to who Ben Johnson is, where he's confident,
he knows that he's really good he's going to put
a lot of effort into it, and you've seen that already,
(35:00):
and you know, does that lead to wins on the field.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
Who knows.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
I guess we'll find out here and in half a
year once we kind of get into the fault. But
for the time being, the honeymoon period is going well.
He's doing well on the media circuits and obviously I
think a lot of people are saying that the Bears
got the best hire and it'll be interesting to see,
you know, whether that continues in free agency, the draft,
mini camp, and the training camp.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
That's a that's a great place to end at, Michael,
And you're right, like, it's it's uh, it's the honeymoon period.
Speaker 3 (35:31):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
And now pretty soon in a couple of weeks there
with free agency, you start having to put some action
behind some of the words and and get the right
players in here. And and we're gonna see what this
what the Bears can build, uh with this momentum that
they've got from Hire and Ben And you know just
where this thing has had in free agency in the draft,
I do I see James had one more thought here
(35:53):
before we get going, and it's I I was I
was almost gonna bring this up myself. James said, what's
your opinion on Ben saying he didn't hire his friends? Yeah,
that's that's like.
Speaker 3 (36:04):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
Dan Campbell had a really great quote yesterday or I
forget all the days are running together. It might have
been two days ago. He had a really great quote
where he said, if you can hire your if your
if your friends are qualified for the job, and you
can hire your friends, Like, good for you, man, Like
that's great. But in the NFL, uh, you gotta have
a variety of old coaches, young coaches. You know, guys
(36:28):
from X y Z background, guys from totally different backgrounds.
You look at some of the I really think you
look at the coaching experiences on this staff, on Ben
Johnson's staff, and you've got guys from all across the board.
The linebackers coach has been been coaching for forever, and
you got some former players in there sprinkled, and you
got a young guy like Declan Doyle, who's a quote
(36:49):
unquote you know, the next Ben Johnson at twenty eight
years old. You know, Ben was basically seemed like he
was looking for for somebody who was basically like a
carbon copy of himself at twenty eight years old and
just grinding away and doing some of the stuff that
Ben won't be able to get to when he's doing
head coaching stuff. I think, uh, I think he did. Actually,
(37:12):
it's really interesting how none of the coordinators he's worked
with before, he's done a really good job of not
just hiring the people he knows.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
Yeah, and I think he is leaning on what he
doesn't though, right, And I think that's something you have
to do as a first time coach. He brought in
Dennis Allen, who is a head coach has twice, has
the experience. He's bringing in a guy and Declinoya, who
maybe he doesn't know how well but he's heard, has
good you know, it has maybe some of the same
styles and some of the same things that he did
(37:41):
as a as a young coach. Like you're you're bringing
in the enemy. Obviously he's got a bunch of experience
as an as an OC obviously that was under you know,
coach Andy Reid. But you know, you're bringing a lot
of different guys who've done a lot of different things,
who've won a different places. And I think that's the
biggest thing where I think Ben Johnson is realizing, you know,
(38:04):
there are different ways of doing it, and there are
different ways of succeeding. And he's trying to find the
right way with the Bears as opposed to just taking
a carbon copy from the Lions, putting it over here,
taking from what the carbon copy from the from the
Dolphins and bringing it to the Bears. Like he's trying
to build a coaching staff, trying to build a roster,
trying to build a scheme that fits what the Bears are.
And I think that's the biggest thing where you're seeing
(38:26):
him adjust and kind of learn, as opposed to some
coaches are like this is my style, this is what
I'm going to do, and this is what you guys
need to do. And I think that's a big thing
and I think that's something that will help Ben really
succeed in Chicago.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
And like the narrative out there on on a guy
like Eric the enemy is like, you know, why hasn't
he had a head coaching opportunity? You know, always is
he hard to work with or whatever? And like I
like that Ben is just like, no, give me, give
me the experienced guy. You know, if he is hard
to work with, we'll figure it out. You know, that's
(38:59):
I'm saying that. He didn't say that, But he's not
shying away from any of that. You know, he's bringing
in good experience coaches, he's bringing in the people that
he thinks are gonna do really good for the Chicago Bears.
All Right, we got to get out of here. Thank
you guys for joining us one more time. If you're
live here on YouTube, hit the thumbs up. That's a
great way to support the show. Hey, there's the thumb
I don't know why I couldn't get that on the
screen earlier. Head to shaw Local dot com read all
(39:21):
of our stuff there. We have lots of Bears stuff
going up there. We'll have lots of stuff from the Combine,
from the Prospects over the next couple of days as well.
If you're listening on Spotify or Apple, leave us a
five star review. Check out our Twitter pages. We'll let
you know when we're gonna go live. This has been
the Shaw Local Bears Insider podcast. He's Michael Dwojack. You
can find him at Mdwojack ninety four. I'm Sean Hammond.
(39:44):
You can find me at Sean Underscore Hammond once again,
this is the Bears Insider podcast from Shaw Local. Thanks
for joining us everybody, and have a great rest of
your week.
Hello, and welcome back to the Shaw Local Bears Insider podcast.
We are live from Indianapolis, joining you guys here on
YouTube to talk some Bears football. We got to hear
from Ben Johnson, we got to hear from Ryan Pool today.
We are not in our usual setups here, as you
can see if you're with us live on YouTube. We're
we're making it work here with the with the backgrounds
(00:23):
we have, so we appreciate you joining if you're if
you're live with us, Michael, how you doing today from
Indy Good?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Enjoying another day in Indianapolis and joined the weather. I
walked out for five minutes, so that's been that's been good.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
But it's good.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Indianapolis is always fun because I feel like you get
to see a lot of different people, a lot of
different things, and it's a lot to see in this week.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Yeah, it's warm, warm ish here. I hear it's warm
ish back home in Chicago too.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Guys.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Let us know in the in the comments if you're
getting any feedback audio feedback from us.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
I know we're not.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
We don't have our normal setups, so we're trying to
make it work here. But it is officially draft season
and the combine is here. The draft. You know, it's
still two months away, but it feels like it's it's
officially here. Once we get down here and we get
to to hear from the coaches, from the gms, and
of course from from a bunch of prospects. We've heard
(01:15):
about half the group already. We got a couple more
days of prospects coming through to media the media room
and talking about what they're expecting here, what they're going
through in this process. If you're watching us live on YouTube,
do us a favor and hit the thumbs up. That's
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(01:36):
Spotify or Apple, please leave us a five star review.
That's a great way to support the show. And as always,
head to shaw Local dot com. That is the number
one best place to find our work and support us.
So yeah, we heard from Ben Johnson and Ryan Pols
on Tuesday, you know, kind of kind of vibes check Michael, like,
what what what stood out to you from from sort
(01:58):
of what they were saying. I thought it was kind
of like what we we've grown used to with Ryan Poles,
especially obviously they're not going to be sharing a whole
lot of details. But I thought that Ben Johnson was
was just as energetic as he was his first day
on the job.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Yeah, he definitely was.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
He uh, he kind of had that a little bit
of confidence in himself that you know, maybe cocky confidence,
if you want to call it that. But he seems
like he's still you know, he's still riding that high
of obviously the honeymoon. He's got his full coaching staff
ready to go that was announced last week, and we
just know everyone who's going to be there, and I,
you know, I I don't doubt it because it seems
(02:36):
like he's really kind of putting in the work and
kind of putting in the foundation of you know what
he wants this you know, team to look like.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
And obviously the biggest step was getting.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
The the coaches down and now he's you know, getting
you know, getting his you know, he's working with Ryan
Poles and trying to figure out, you know what, what's
our plan for all the different things we want to
talk about.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
He mentioned.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
I think both him and Poles kind of mentioned how that,
you know, kind of reiterated the point where they talked
about how they're going to have a good relationship with
each other.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
You know, Ben will contribute.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
I thought it was interesting that Ryan Poles has said that,
you know, it's not gonna be any different than it
was before with Maddiebriflues, Like he's going to have the
same amount of say as Maddie Reflues did. So I
don't know whether that's a good thing or bad things
for Bears fans, but it was just interesting where you know,
Ryan Poles is gonna start looking and trying to mold
this roster into the way that Ben Johnson and Dennis
(03:28):
Allen and Richard high Tower and Decklan Doyle wanted right Like,
they're gonna look for the type of offense that Ben
Johnson wants to run.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Is that involving a switch or running back? Is that?
Speaker 2 (03:38):
And you know, what type of linemen are you going
to have and what you do at wide receiver? And
you know, they didn't give us any specifics, and I
don't think they're going to until they finally, you know,
get started here with free agency, but it was good
to get some insight into you know, how they're gonna
go do this. I don't know if we got to
or what, but I do think that we got a
(04:00):
little bit of the how.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Yeah, I think any obviously, any any good organization, you
gotta have the head coach and the GM in lockstep
and and moving together toward towards when you're looking at
roster construction and how to build that. We we knew
that that Ben Johnson wasn't just going to come in
here and be an x's and o's guy. Obviously he
knows what he's doing on the offensive end in that regard,
but uh, he's gonna have thoughts on on who he
(04:25):
wants to bring in. And it sounds like from from
what Ryan said, Ben has a very clear vision of
what he wants for every single position. Uh, you know,
we we don't necessarily have all the details on on
what that means, you know, for a running back, what
that means for a defensive end or what whatnot, but uh,
they have a pretty clear vision. And that is is
like the first step. That is a really good a
(04:47):
good place to come to attack the offseason from. And
that's where like that's that's what sold Ryan Poles and
and the rest of the Bears organ organization on Ben
Johnson is just that that that clear vision that he
had from the very beginning of what he wants this
to look like. And so now you come to the
combine where there's three hundred and twenty nine prospects, you
(05:07):
have a lot of a lot of people to sift through,
a lot of a lot of football players at various
positions all across the board, and you got to start
filling filling out your board and thinking about who fits
those roles. You know, Ryan also said you're not going
to find the prototypical player in every one of those positions,
Like you're not going to be able to do that.
You're certainly not going to be able to do that
(05:28):
in one offseason. So yeah, there might be a position
or two or three or whatever where you just have
to make the you know, your best your best guy
work and maybe it's not the perfect long term fit,
but that's uh, that's the goal. That's the goal you
walk into this thing with. And it's not going to
be a one year fix unfortunately, like this is going
(05:48):
to take time and hopefully that these guys can start
filling some of those needs with with the type the
types of players that they're looking for.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Yeah, And I thought it was interesting that, you know
when I feel like both Ryan Polls and you know,
Ben Johnson were asked, you know, do you do that?
Do you prefer doing that in free agency or do
you prefer doing that in the draft, And I think
both of them answered, like they were both pretty clear, like,
you know different you are going to handle different things
in different places, right, Like when it came to the
(06:18):
defensive line, I think Ryan Poles said, like, listen, if.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
We sign a high caliber player and.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
There's still one available in the draft, like that's not
going to preclude them from adding on to that defensive
line group, right because you clearly saw like what injuries
can do on both sides of the line. So I
thought that was kind of interesting too, just kind of
how they're you know, it's not going to be a
one off season fix. It's not gonna be a one
player fix, and it's not even going to be a
(06:44):
clear you know, we're going to handle this all in
the draft. We're just gonna throw a bunch of money
at it, and we're gonna solve it.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Obviously.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
You know, we learned like an hour ago that Trey
Smith is not going to be on the free agent market,
so that obviously forces them to kind of change things up.
But it's definitely something that is going to take some time.
It's definitely something that won't be resolved by the first
end of the first couple of days of free agency
or the first few days of the draft. I think
(07:10):
it's definitely going to be a full effort that's going
to require, you know, mixing and matching different types of
experiences and different types of styles.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Yeah, the the big nuggets of news that came out
today were, like you said, Trey Smith is going to
expect it to be franchise tagged. You know, the deadline's
not for a few more days, but uh, that sounds
like that's where that's going and they're going to try
to work out an extension with him. Obviously that them
being the Kansas City Chiefs, Obviously that was everybody's top
(07:41):
guard on the free expected to hit the free agent market,
and you know, this is this is just the reality
of the NFL. Is is Uh, Situations like this happened
every single year where you you look at your your
free agent list in February and you have to remember, uh,
those last three or four weeks before you get to March.
How many of those guys are go get franchise tagged,
how many of those guys are going to sign extensions.
(08:03):
There's probably going to be a few of those before
free agency on March twelfth, and and that's going to
take some of those top guys off the market. So,
I know, Bears fans were excited about the potential of
a Trey Smith or type player, or you know Trey
Smith's specifically potentially fitting into their offensive line. This is
there's a lot of moving parts. And when you talk
(08:23):
about a highly sought after guy like that, he was
gonna have a lot of students anyway, there's no guarantee
you were going to get him if he hit the
free agent market. But yeah, he's he's not going to
get that chance. He's going to get franchise tagged and
they're going to try to work out a long term
deal with him in Kansas City. There were a couple
other nuggets of news Bears wise, and you know the
(08:43):
other one I was I was gonna mention too, you know,
league wide, is that they did set the salary cap.
I think they settled in they had given a range
like a week ago, and they settled right in the
middle there. So that's that's really no surprise. But then
the Bears news that we didn't really get to touch
on yet on the show Michael, was that that DeMarcus
Walker and Gerald Everett were cut. They saved about ten
(09:04):
million dollars for next year. So the Bears, I mean,
you're looking at seventy nine million dollars to spend this offseason.
That is fourth among NFL teams.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Yeah, they're gonna, you know, they're gonna have a lot
of room. And part of that is also, you know,
you're gonna kind of, you know, re sign your guys
right like, you're gonna you're probably working on a deal
with Kyler Gordon, right like, you're trying to get your
guys extended, and you're reworking some of those contracts. So
that'll play a little bit of a role into it.
But yeah, I mean, listen, this team has a lot
of cap space, and I think you know is going
(09:37):
to be willing to try to fix a lot of
its holes right now. And I thought that was kind
of kind of segmating to kind of you know that,
and the offensive line, I thought that was interesting. You
know when Ben Johnson was asked, well, you know, can
you fully revamp? Can you fully revamp an offensive line
this quickly? Like is it gonna be like a one
or two piece thing? And he talked about Carolina last
(09:59):
year and what did Carolina during the off season? You know,
they threw a bunch of money and they signed a
bunch of guys and you know, redid I think it
was like, wasn't it like two or three of their
offensive linemens. So, you know, it seems like this is
something that Ben Johnson and Ryan Poles are kind of
agreeing upon where they want they're going to be aggressive
about fixing it then, whether that's free agency, whether that's
(10:20):
a draft with or it's a combo. It seems like
this team is going to be more aggressive, I would say,
than they have in the past and maybe not relying
as much in what they have right. I think they're
going to be much more open to looking around and
seeing what can they add to this team as opposed
to maybe fully relying on, hey, let's look at our
(10:41):
guys and let's see what they can do.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Rick in the comments, thanks for joining us this afternoon,
Rick said, Washington did that also, Yeah, you know, Washington
really did revamp that line. They signed Nick Alagretti, Lincoln
Way East guy like myself. And it's I don't know
if it's funny, it's I find it interesting saying that
that Ben points to the to a five win Panthers
teams as the one that comes to mind. I don't
(11:06):
know if if that's the comparison you want to be making,
But I get what he's saying, Like it can be done.
There's good players out there in free agency, there's good
players available. You can't build an offensive line, but I
that way. But it's still it's challenging, Like, that's really hard.
You're gonna replace all three of those guys in the middle. Uh,
that's really tough. And when you start talking about potentially
(11:27):
replacing all three of those guys in the middle and
maybe looking the upgrade left tackle, I mean, that is
a lot of change for one offensive line in one offseason.
I have a hard time seeing how that's gonna gonna.
I would think if you do that, it's gonna take
a little time for those guys to gel like like
into the season.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
I would I would imagine and.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
I think it's not even just those five guys, right,
Like I think Ben Johnson talked about it, how we're
gonna have They're gonna have to rely on nine guys,
ten guys. Like you see how injuries go in this league,
especially on the offensive line. I mean the Bear saw
obviously a lot last year, so that was a big
thing for him also where he was just kind of
emphasizing the importance of you know, it's going to take
(12:07):
more than five guys. It's not find the five perfect guys,
and so it'll be interesting who they decide to keep,
who they decide to bring on. Because sure, you can
have a perfect plan and be like, well, this is
our starting five and this is what we're gonna do.
I you might still bring back, you know, guys like
mentioned like Ryan Bates, you might you know, have Shelton
in there.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
You might bring back.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Prior on a on a team friendly contract, and you know,
draft and sign free agents. Right where you're just going
to have to bring in a big bunch of guys
who can kind of contribute and you know, if someone
goes down, is going to be able to kind of
come in and you know, act like nothing really happened.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Yeah, Ryan Bates is under contract for another year. He's
still under under the Bears control. I don't know if
you want to go into the season with him circled
as a starter. Maybe you do, maybe you don't. I
don't know if that would be at center. I don't
know if that would be at guard. Coleman Shelton is
a free agent. You know, we'll see what happens there.
I think he's another guy who you could look to
(13:08):
bring back, but he's you know, he's a starting center
in the NFL. He he might have options.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
And then I.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Agree with what you said about Matt Pryor. I mean,
he's a guy who's probably not gonna get more than
a one year deal. Maybe it makes the most sense
for him to come back to Chicago, where you know,
he started the year. On paper, he was he was
supposed to be one of your your top backups and
was pretty quickly forced into a starting role there at
the right guard spot. And and really, I mean, given
(13:35):
that situation played played fairly well, uh, considering that you
weren't really expecting him to be your starter all year?
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Yeah, for sure. And then you also just don't know,
what are you? What are you gonna do with left
left tackle right like Braxton Jones. Like you know, Ryan
Poles said that he's in a good spot right now
with his rehab and that kind of stuff, but even him, like,
you're not exactly sure where he's going to be at
that point when we get to like mini camp and
and training camp. So yeah, I mean you could set
(14:05):
you can have a good group of five and expect
them to be your starters, but you you need to
add on and bring in a different mix. And I
think that's going to be important. And I think that
that seems to be something that the Bears are going
to be aggressive and when they start free agents here
in a couple of weeks.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
James Williams, thanks for joining the show. James has has
a thought about Caleb Williams. He says that he was
energized listening to Poles talk about Caleb Williams and and
just the fact that they're getting this coaching staff in there,
and uh, you know his his thought here is what
I don't get is how Poles watched what was happening
last year and did nothing. You know, that's uh, I
(14:41):
don't know if if that's necessarily fair, Like you what
are you supposed to do after you hire your staff.
You know, you got to let those guys, You got
to let that thing play out. And it didn't work, obviously.
But the the thing that that your comment James brought
to mind for me is, I don't know if you
guys saw the p I'm sure you did see the
pfw A play survey and the the last place grade
(15:04):
that Matti Eberfluse got among thirty two NFL head coaches
last year. You know, it's kind of brutal to see
that at this point in February when the man was
fired like three months ago, four months ago, however long ago.
Just a little kick on the way out, you know,
kick out the door. But yeah, I think I think
that pretty much encapsulated what we sort of saw and
(15:25):
felt like towards the end of the season in November
in certainly after Flus was gone, like the players were
frustrated and didn't feel like they were being they didn't
feel like their their concerns were being heard.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
No, they weren't. And that's I mean that kind that's
that surprising. I guess if you kind of look at
the Bear season and what was happening it, Yeah, I mean,
I think it was the worst rating of all the
head coaches in the league.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Obviously he was fired.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
I think this is obviously done throughout the year, right
or like toward the end of the year, so he
probably was still around.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
But yeah, I think they do those things from a
really wide time range, like from April to November or something.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Okay, so it's not even just like a certain period.
So so that's even interesting, right, Like you you could
have had these comments in April. You could have had
these comments like over the summer. It's like, what are
we doing here? But yeah, that was interesting and that
was tough. But yeah, I agree with you. In any
in any walk of life, you need to just let
(16:24):
your people do their jobs right. Like you need to
trust that you did your process right and you hire
them and you made sure that they're doing the right thing.
So I don't know if I you know, I think
you can give Ryan Pulls a hard time obviously, And
what was the decision making and hiring Maddie reflused.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
In the right They probably hired the wrong table.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Yeah, like that's the process that I would look into.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
But yeah, I mean it's like it's stunk and We've
talked about it a million times. You put Caleb Williams
in a bad situation in this rookie year when you
have the number one overall pick, and I think at
this point you're hoping that Ben Johnson can come in
there and fix that. And it seems that they've already
started working on building that relationship based on what we've
(17:06):
heard from both Ryan Poles and Ben Johnson, where they're
setting the groundwork, they're doing the basics right now. That
seems to be something that they'll be doing for the
entire team, not even just Caleb.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Yeah, and overall, the Bears finished fourteenth out of the
thirty two teams in that survey, ownership got a pretty
good grand I think it was what an as they
were like thirteenth overall. I mean that's that's if you're
in the top half, you're doing something right. So I
think I think that was was, you know, a good
endorsement from the Bears players that they feel like they're
(17:38):
being supported by ownership, and that's I know that's always
been a question. I mean it's not a question, but
like it's going.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
To be more so.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
A question mark moving forward of you know, what's the
McCaskey family gonna do with the team as of now.
I mean, the players seem fairly happy with with what
ownership is doing to support them.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Yeah, it seems like they're mostly happy with everything. I
know there were maybe some lower score is when it
came to like family stuff for other things. But the
training facility obviously is really good. The nutrition was fine.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
If I remember correctly, I think it was like a
B plus or something like that.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
But a lot of those things are good, and ownership
was good, just obviously the most important stuff the coaching,
which didn't really come to fruition that obviously. I felt
like the C whatever was C C minus. I think
that that was kind of a generous score.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Yeah, the grades on those things were like you look
at at pretty much any category, most of the grades
are A A minus, B plus and does anyone got
enough anything? There were some f's I did flip through
some of the other teams, but anything anything C and
below is pretty bad. You know. That's the players are
are not out here being like so harsh.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
You know.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
The the A f's were rare unless you're some of
those teams that finished at the bottom of the survey.
But but you know, kind of steering us back to
to football. They cut to Marcus Walker. That was a
guy who started seventeen games at edge rusher for you.
And obviously when you cut veterans like that, I know
(19:10):
why they did it. I understand like the the cap
implications and freeing up some space and maybe they don't
quite fit what the new coaching staff wants to do.
And obviously Gerald Everett didn't really do anything last year,
so I don't know why you would keep him around anyway.
But you look at Dee Walk in the defensive end spot.
That only becomes a bigger need now.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
Michael, No, it definitely does.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
And it kind of goes back to I think Ryan
wrote when Ryan Pols was asked about whether his views
on the defensive line has evolved, and he said, you know.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
He's been It's been consistent. You need someone to.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Puncture the pocket from the interior for the exterior to
be really successful and productive. And I thought that was
interesting where I feel like it would have been really interesting.
It would have been very easy to say, we need
to see more production from the other side. Opposite of
montest wet right, unique guy, unique guys who can work
off of Sweat, who can you know, win Montes, what
is being double team to take advantage of those situations,
(20:06):
and you you you saw that sometimes with Walker with Taylor,
But I thought it was interesting for him to point
out the interior, right like, obviously he's drafted Dravon Dexter,
he's drafted Zach Pickens with you know, top three round picks,
and Dravon Dexter has done well.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Pickens hasn't kind of come to the to the to
the level that we've expected.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
But I thought that was really interesting for him to
kind of shout out the interior of the line as
opposed to the to the to the outside, where you
could have easily been like, I'm going, I think we
need to find that guy who's going to work opposite
of Sweat and Billings and Dexter are fine, but he
made it a point to say, if we're not getting
that production from the middle of the line, it's hard
for the outside to do well. And I thought that
(20:48):
was interesting. It kind of gives you a glimpse into maybe,
you know, is this team going to add more in
the middle. Are they going to look for more middle
threats since they haven't been able to really do it,
you know much of the year.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Yeah, we were saying this last episode or maybe the
time before that. You know, Andrew Billings and Andra von
Dexter are really great starters for you in there when
when they're both healthy and when they were playing with Manta,
when those two in Monta Sweat were playing together, the
d line looked really, really good and Billings goes down,
and you wonder if the Bears want to find, you know,
(21:24):
want to try to clone Andrew Billings so to speak,
but you know in the form of a twenty two
year old that you just drafted, because you know, like
you said, like Zach Pickens, you still have some questions there.
He's more of a rotational guy. Do you want you know,
Andrew Billings? He might only have one more year on
his contract anyway, Like, do you want to find the
(21:45):
next guy who's going to fill in and do that
that spot for you while while you get one more
year with Andrew Billings in the lineup. That could be
a potential. I do wonder. I want to get your thoughts, Michael, Like,
so you cut one of your starting starting edge rushers. Obviously,
we know the Bears needs along the offensive line. Uh,
from what everyone seems to be saying. Everyone seems to
(22:08):
be thinking edge rusher is one of those positions that's
really really strong in this draft? Does does do all
those things combined? Does that make you consider with that
number ten pick? I mean, is is offensive line such
a shoe in like or or could it be a
situation where you you look at at trying to get
one of those those top pass rushers when there's a
(22:29):
bunch of guys at the top who you feel like
could be really really good.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
I don't think it's a shoe And I think, you
know what, obviously this all depends on what they're gonna
do in free agency and what they add, and but
I I I don't think it's a shoeing. Like if
Mason Graham is down there, you like run to the
phone and you say, I'm drafting Mason Graham. You know,
like he there, there are there's a lot of good talent,
and I don't. I don't think this is you know,
it's kind of interesting because I feel like the philosophy
(22:54):
for Ryan Poles the first couple of years has been bet,
you know, draft the best player available, right, it doesn't
matter what we we're building this roster, we're trying to
figure things out, and when it comes to both the
offense and the defensive line, I feel like that's kind
of kind of a similar thing where Okay, sure you
need you Let's say they don't add anyone free agent
(23:15):
wise that you're really impressive with. On the offensive line,
you need two guards in a center. Maybe I don't
think you overdraft at number ten for a guard that
maybe doesn't deserve to be at number ten. Maybe you consider, okay,
I'm going to draft down. I'm gonna get more picks
and get you know, quantity. But I also think that
you know, if you have someone that's graded highly on
(23:36):
the on the defensive line at number ten, that you
think that should either whether it's Mason Graham, whether it's
you know, other guys that we talked to on Wednesday.
I wouldn't be surprised if they went for an edge
rusher or for a for a tackle, honestly, because I
think for both sides of the line, you're just trying
to add the you know, the best player at that position.
And I based on what Ben Johnson and Ryan Pole said,
(24:00):
it doesn't seem like they are putting a number as
to how many bodies there's too many bodies.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
No, it doesn't. And and Ryan was asked about, you know,
just this question like free agency versus the draft, where
do you want to get your your top defensive lineman,
And he said he's not against doing it both. You know,
he's okay if even if he goes out and spends
some money on an edge rusher on March twelfth, he
is okay with also spending a high draft pick on
(24:25):
an edge rusher, Like you cannot have enough of those guys.
That is just so evident when you watch a team
like the Philadelphia Eagles, we all know what that defensive
line looks like. And even even you know there's there's
some different guys on that line than there was just
a couple of years ago when they were in the
Super Bowl and lost, like they they have constantly replaced
(24:46):
and replenished some of those guys, some of those uh
you know, maybe guys in the rotation or at the
back end of the rotation like those you gotta keep.
You just gotta keep refilling those spots because you're gonna lose.
And so yeah, like the defensive line is a spot
where you cannot have too many good football players. I'm
(25:07):
I'm I'm with you, Like, I think that that's absolutely
a potential, a possibility there at number ten. If they're
I whether you're talking tackle, whether you're talking edge rusher, like,
if the best player on the board is either one
of those positions, you go for it. I obviously you
still have concerns on on the other side, but that's
why this is not going to be like a one
year fix. You you got to fix. Like we said
(25:30):
the earlier, you got three you're missing three starters in
the interior on the offensive line. Maybe you want to
upgrade left tackle. I really, I know Ben Jonson's confident.
I don't know if you can do that in one offseason.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
No, you probably can't. And you know, maybe they'll prove
us wrong or whatever. But I think you you will
probably have one or two, maybe a couple stop gap players,
right like, some guys that will transition you. Maybe guys
that you can kind of have come in for a
year or two kind of get you going, and then
you plug it in next year and then you figure
(26:00):
out that.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
Spot, right, I don't I think it'll be I think it's.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
A lot to try to fill in let's say four
positions right now, let's just go with what we have
been saying, Darnold Wright to right tackle. Everyone else kind
of needs to figure out what the other force parts are.
But yeah, I agree, and I think a lot of
this also goes with what happens with the first nine picks,
right like, obviously is this going to be this, This isn't.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
The quarterback class that it was last year.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
Our team's gonna get, you know, really interested in drafting
up for some guys. What happens happens with Abdul Carter?
Does Abdall Carter drop to number ten with the Bears?
And I don't think you think he would with the
with the foot injury. At some point, I think someone
just takes a chance and kind of goes with him.
But all of this just kind of goes into the
(26:47):
array of not knowing what is going to happen and
how the how the thing might unfold, because there might
be a defensive tackle, there might be an thatg rusher
that you didn't expect to be there that you might
be like, all right, I'm gonna take them. And I
think that you know, within the first few ten picks
of the second round. I think we can get roughly
the same amount of equivalent talent when it comes to
(27:07):
the offensive guard center position, or even maybe a left tackle.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Yeah. That's that's the big news out of the combine
last night that Abdul Carter has has some sort of
foot injury. There's some debate whether he will or won't
need surgery on it. My gut, just in following this
news the last not even twenty four hours, my gut
tells me, if he drops, he's not dropping very far.
(27:33):
I don't see him dropping past five, you know, like
it have to be something that's that's a lot worse
than than maybe we really initially realized. Especially if he
doesn't need surgery. I don't see him dropping that far.
And even if he does, I mean, some team is
gonna gonna take this dude.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
He is. He is a beast.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
I see some some thoughts, some comments in the chat
about Khalil Mack who is is going to be a
free agent or is a free agent? I really shoot,
I can't find that. Oh Rick, here's here's the comment
from Rick watch Mac go to Philly with with Vic Fangio.
I feel like that as soon as I saw that
comments like that, that that something's clicking for me there.
(28:16):
I'm like, yeah, that, you know what, that makes a
ton of sense. I do think Buffalo also makes a
ton of sense, especially if if they find some way
to get out of that von Miller contract, they they
could be looking to add a guy like Khalil Mack.
I don't know if, I mean, at this point in
his career, Khalil Mack is kind of like doing the
von Miller thing all over again. But I would be
(28:37):
surprised if he winds up back in Chicago. I just
don't think. I just don't think he probably doesn't want
to come back here. I mean, yeah, I think he
wants to go to somewhere where you're a Super Bowl contender.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
Yeah, I mean, Khalil Mack kind of feels like a
Packers signing, doesn't it, Like, I, you know, somewhere they
I mean, he came close to going there the first time, right,
And I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up going there.
Speaker 3 (28:57):
You know, they've got.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
A more stable situation than the Bears do. I think
there's obviously no history there. They are there. He hasn't
played for the team, so I wouldn't be surprised if
he went there. I saw I saw Rick before booing me, Uh,
talk about Bosa, he would be interesting, I think I
think the production wasn't there as much as it has
(29:22):
been before, right, Like, obviously he's getting older, but that
that could also be an interesting move if you want
to bring him in, because there are gonna be guys
that are gonna get cut, right Like, there are some
people that were not expecting who might get cut because
of the because of the salary cap. The Chargers are
obviously in a really tough situation. So that could be
a really interesting thing. Where do you want to put
(29:42):
Bosa on the opposite side of sweat and then focus
on the interior of the line there.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Yeah, that's certainly an interesting one. Obviously a big name, uh,
and there's you want you want the the play on
the field to uh, you know, be equivalent the big
name you know, and and so obviously, like you think
about some of these these older guys, I know, Deebo
Samuel's name has been out there too as a potential
(30:07):
trade target across the league. Like, yes, those are big names,
but but you got to think about the the cost
of what it would take to get a big name
like that, and and is that the right thing for
your team at this time? And you know, one more
we got a few more minutes here before we get
out of here. If you guys have any other Bears thoughts, comments, questions,
(30:29):
throw them in the chat will hit them. One other
thought that from from Ryan Poles on Tuesday that that
we've you know, kind of touched on here. But he
was asked at the very end about Braxon jones a
about health wise, how's he doing. He had an ankle
injury right at the end of the season that needed surgery.
It sounds like that's that's on track. But he also
(30:51):
pretty clearly said there's gonna be competition at left tackle.
And I don't think anybody's like surprised by that. I
don't think that's something that that blew any of us way.
But what he didn't say was was Braxton is our
left tackle?
Speaker 3 (31:06):
No, he didn't, And I think you would probably lose
your mind.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Because you obviously drafted a Kiana mccatchi last year with
the high pick, and I know there's a swing tackle there,
so maybe you eventually envisioned him being in a guard position.
But it shouldn't be open, right Like, but there are
a lot of sundays where you and I were just saying,
look at Braxton Jones get bull rushed and it wasn't
anything special. It was just he was just getting dominated
at some point. So yeah, I if you're Ryan Poles,
(31:33):
why would you say that he should be the starter?
Speaker 3 (31:35):
Right? Like? He needs to earn it.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
I think there needs I think there's a lot of
stuff on this team where a lot of guys are
going to have to earn their spots, right I think
a lot of it is going to be Listen, like,
things maybe got a little bit last last year. We
need to kind of get the intensity going we got.
Ben Johnson talked about working on the basics. He talked about,
you know, making sure that the guys are doing the
(31:57):
fundamentals the right way. And I think that might you
know that that's going to cause a lot of guys
to maybe you know, have to work a little bit
harder than they have in the past. And I think
that kind of goes into the whole thing with Braxton Jones,
where if Braxton Jones is healthy, I don't think you
can make him a starter just because he was a
starter before. I think you make that an open competition
with whoever you bring in, whether it's free agency, whether
(32:18):
it's draft, whether it's Karan, you make that an open competition.
Speaker 3 (32:22):
They were.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
There are a lot of open competitions, and a lot
of guys are going to have to compete for their
spots on this team.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Another comment here from Rick says, uh, he's asking about
when when Ben Johnson compared Darnell Wright to to Panay Sewel.
I I don't recall that, Michael. Maybe that was on
one of his other interview circuits. Rick, where Michael, do
you remember him saying that?
Speaker 3 (32:45):
I haven't. I didn't. I didn't see that.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
But my initial thoughts on that are it's hard to
compare anybody to pay school.
Speaker 3 (32:51):
I mean, that's that thin.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
It is like one of one.
Speaker 3 (32:53):
You know.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
I think Darnell Wright's a really talented player, and I
think he's shown you a lot of good stuff. I
don't I don't know if we're there yet. I think, yeah,
it might take a little bit.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
It might take a little bit. Yes, Okay, yeah, big Cat.
Uh apparently that happened with Big Cat. Okay, No, I
you know, it's funny because like Ben Johnson has been
on the you know, he was on the interview circuit
the other day. He was all over the price. I
couldn't keep up with it. I gotta go back and
watch some of that. I'm sure there's a lot of
(33:23):
nuggets in there that that that we have follow up
questions on that we want to want to touch on.
But I gotta go back. It's been so busy here. Uh,
you know, with the combine, there's a lot of stuff
going on. We're talking to coaches and players, We're talking
to the prospects and everything. It's it's crazy week. It's fun.
But yes, there's there's a lot in the news and
there's a lot that that we missed. But you know what,
(33:44):
I think that's great that the head coach of the
Chicago Bears is going around doing doing the media stuff.
Obviously he's a little bit more comfortable than than his
predecessor in that regard.
Speaker 3 (33:52):
Yeah, he definitely. I think, Uh, what wasn't the thing?
Speaker 2 (33:56):
It wasn't the thing you know about him that he's
kind of like he's like the lack of a better term,
like offensive geek and like you're kind of like, well,
how is he gonna you know, how is he how
he's getting more of an introvert in that kind of stuff.
And I haven't gotten man the first few times that
we've heard from him. Obviously, I didn't know much attention
to him when he was the offensive coordinator with the Lions.
(34:16):
And maybe you see some snippets or something like that,
but listen, he's going to tell you what he wants
to tell you, and he's going he's got a lot
of character.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
I thought I thought was interesting.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
I think this was a perfect encapsulation of who Ben
ben Johnson is. Where I think he was asked about
Declan Doyle and I forget who was who he was
talking to.
Speaker 1 (34:36):
John Morton, who has taken over for him as the OC.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
And Detroit and he did he call him like he's
like the future Ben Johnson. I thought that was just
a funny thing to kind of include in there and
just be like, oh, you're right, and like that's a
reason why you would want to hire him, right, Like
that's the reason why you want to bring him in.
I thought, I think that's kind of like a good
example as to who Ben Johnson is, where he's confident,
he knows that he's really good he's going to put
a lot of effort into it, and you've seen that already,
(35:00):
and you know, does that lead to wins on the field.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
Who knows.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
I guess we'll find out here and in half a
year once we kind of get into the fault. But
for the time being, the honeymoon period is going well.
He's doing well on the media circuits and obviously I
think a lot of people are saying that the Bears
got the best hire and it'll be interesting to see,
you know, whether that continues in free agency, the draft,
mini camp, and the training camp.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
That's a that's a great place to end at, Michael,
And you're right, like, it's it's uh, it's the honeymoon period.
Speaker 3 (35:31):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
And now pretty soon in a couple of weeks there
with free agency, you start having to put some action
behind some of the words and and get the right
players in here. And and we're gonna see what this
what the Bears can build, uh with this momentum that
they've got from Hire and Ben And you know just
where this thing has had in free agency in the draft,
I do I see James had one more thought here
(35:53):
before we get going, and it's I I was I
was almost gonna bring this up myself. James said, what's
your opinion on Ben saying he didn't hire his friends? Yeah,
that's that's like.
Speaker 3 (36:04):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
Dan Campbell had a really great quote yesterday or I
forget all the days are running together. It might have
been two days ago. He had a really great quote
where he said, if you can hire your if your
if your friends are qualified for the job, and you
can hire your friends, Like, good for you, man, Like
that's great. But in the NFL, uh, you gotta have
a variety of old coaches, young coaches. You know, guys
(36:28):
from X y Z background, guys from totally different backgrounds.
You look at some of the I really think you
look at the coaching experiences on this staff, on Ben
Johnson's staff, and you've got guys from all across the board.
The linebackers coach has been been coaching for forever, and
you got some former players in there sprinkled, and you
got a young guy like Declan Doyle, who's a quote
(36:49):
unquote you know, the next Ben Johnson at twenty eight
years old. You know, Ben was basically seemed like he
was looking for for somebody who was basically like a
carbon copy of himself at twenty eight years old and
just grinding away and doing some of the stuff that
Ben won't be able to get to when he's doing
head coaching stuff. I think, uh, I think he did. Actually,
(37:12):
it's really interesting how none of the coordinators he's worked
with before, he's done a really good job of not
just hiring the people he knows.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
Yeah, and I think he is leaning on what he
doesn't though, right, And I think that's something you have
to do as a first time coach. He brought in
Dennis Allen, who is a head coach has twice, has
the experience. He's bringing in a guy and Declinoya, who
maybe he doesn't know how well but he's heard, has
good you know, it has maybe some of the same
styles and some of the same things that he did
(37:41):
as a as a young coach. Like you're you're bringing
in the enemy. Obviously he's got a bunch of experience
as an as an OC obviously that was under you know,
coach Andy Reid. But you know, you're bringing a lot
of different guys who've done a lot of different things,
who've won a different places. And I think that's the
biggest thing where I think Ben Johnson is realizing, you know,
(38:04):
there are different ways of doing it, and there are
different ways of succeeding. And he's trying to find the
right way with the Bears as opposed to just taking
a carbon copy from the Lions, putting it over here,
taking from what the carbon copy from the from the
Dolphins and bringing it to the Bears. Like he's trying
to build a coaching staff, trying to build a roster,
trying to build a scheme that fits what the Bears are.
And I think that's the biggest thing where you're seeing
(38:26):
him adjust and kind of learn, as opposed to some
coaches are like this is my style, this is what
I'm going to do, and this is what you guys
need to do. And I think that's a big thing
and I think that's something that will help Ben really
succeed in Chicago.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
And like the narrative out there on on a guy
like Eric the enemy is like, you know, why hasn't
he had a head coaching opportunity? You know, always is
he hard to work with or whatever? And like I
like that Ben is just like, no, give me, give
me the experienced guy. You know, if he is hard
to work with, we'll figure it out. You know, that's
(38:59):
I'm saying that. He didn't say that, But he's not
shying away from any of that. You know, he's bringing
in good experience coaches, he's bringing in the people that
he thinks are gonna do really good for the Chicago Bears.
All Right, we got to get out of here. Thank
you guys for joining us one more time. If you're
live here on YouTube, hit the thumbs up. That's a
great way to support the show. Hey, there's the thumb
I don't know why I couldn't get that on the
screen earlier. Head to shaw Local dot com read all
(39:21):
of our stuff there. We have lots of Bears stuff
going up there. We'll have lots of stuff from the Combine,
from the Prospects over the next couple of days as well.
If you're listening on Spotify or Apple, leave us a
five star review. Check out our Twitter pages. We'll let
you know when we're gonna go live. This has been
the Shaw Local Bears Insider podcast. He's Michael Dwojack. You
can find him at Mdwojack ninety four. I'm Sean Hammond.
(39:44):
You can find me at Sean Underscore Hammond once again,
this is the Bears Insider podcast from Shaw Local. Thanks
for joining us everybody, and have a great rest of
your week.
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