July 31, 2025 • 43 mins
The Chicago Bears are over a week into their first training camp under new head coach Ben Johnson. Shaw Local's Michal Dwojak and Joe Aguilar break down the first part of training camp and what they've learned so far.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, and welcome to Shaw Locals Bears Insider. We are
back here a week in the training camp. I'm Shaw
Local Bears Reporter Michael Duo Jake here with the Northwest
Heroags Joe Aguilar. We are roughly a little over a
week into training camp and we've got a lot to
talk about. A lot of different things have kind of
taken place here over the past week.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Whether that be obviously.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
The offense and it's slow start that's gone people are
really really excited and really debatable about, or whether it's
you know, Ben Johnson, there's obviously a lot of stuff
to talk about a week into things, so we'll break
it all down for you folks. Thanks so much to
everyone who's joined us on YouTube. Make sure you guys
are keeping up with us. You know when we're gonna
(00:45):
be announcing these so you can join the live streaming
and obviously you can join the live stream, you can
obviously listen to the podcast and we'll we'll break it
all down there too.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
But Joe, a week into things.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Obviously, last Tuesday, the Bears Reporter we heard from Ben
Johnson and Ryan Poles and Caleb and over the past
week we've kind of been going through practices. There have
been viral moments, non viral moments and that sort of stuff.
But just based on what you've kind of seen here
in the past week, what what would you say is
kind of the biggest thing you've noticed a week into
(01:17):
training camp?
Speaker 3 (01:19):
You know, I know everyone wants to focus on the
quarterback and including us, and we will and uh but
besides that, and we can get into that, but to me,
the pleasant thing that you know I've seen in read
is is your two first round or your first round
picking your second round pick the wide receiver, Luther Burden,
the third and of course Colston Lovelin. But on the
(01:41):
field and so far, I know, it's what we keep
saying this, it's all it's early, it's one weekend, it's
two weeks in, it's three weeks in. But they've looked
good and they've made an impression. You can see why
they've were drafted in the first and second rounds.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Yeah, I think that that that is definitely something that
you kind of helped me. And yes, obvious, the health
is the most important thing. Coaston Lovelin was ready to
go at the beginning of practice and the at the
beginning of training camp, I should say took a couple
of days obviously to ramp up into football shape, and
now he's back out there and making impressive plays. Same
with Luther Burden. He didn't start off a training camp,
(02:17):
but he came back on Monday, and you know, he
had a day where it was kind of like, okay, like,
you know, we'll see how quickly he can get back
involved in the things after only doing like warm ups
with the with the team, and then the next day
on Tuesday, he was doing team drills and everything. And
then obviously he's been making impressive catches here and there.
So yeah, the two rookies are obviously there. Ozzie Trapillo's
(02:39):
obviously involved in in that battle for left tackle, and
the third third second round pick that the Bears Hatchamar Turner,
unfortunately hurt his ankle on the first day of camp
and he's been out since then. That's kind of been
the major injury that we've kind of talked about. But
the biggest injury is obviously Jalen Johnson. The Bears announced
(03:00):
that at the beginning of training camp he suffered an
injury away from the team during the off season. The
leg injury he is going to be. Originally last week,
it was going to be three weeks or I guess
I should say a few weeks. Obviously a lot of
people have interpreted a few very differently, so I don't
want to put a specific number on it. But Ryan
(03:20):
Pole said a few weeks. And then today we talked
to Ben Johnson and he said, you know, in the
best case scenario, week one, I don't know if that's
you know, he's saying that Jalen Johnson's doing everything to
get back out there. But that update didn't seem too good. Obviously,
you're hoping for the best, and you're hoping that he'll
(03:41):
be very ready for week one, but Joe, it does
seem like they're maybe maybe planning on not having him
ready at all for training camp. And I think that's
going to be really interesting to watch how the rest
of that cornerback room kind of comes together.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Yeah, that's a little more concerning, I think didting Ryan Poles,
You know that the introductory press conference is what two
weeks now or last week whenever it was, that they
were not overly concerned if I'm quoting correctly about Jalen Johnson,
And well, you assumed to me, that meant like, Okay,
he'll be fine, he'll be ready for Week one. Well,
(04:17):
Week one happened to be the Vikings and justin Jefferson
and Jordan Addison and you need him. I mean, he's
the best player. You hope it's Caleb Williams will be
saying that in six you know, in six weeks or
the end of the year, you Caleb Williams is the
best player. But right now, you know Jalen Johnson is
your best football player and you're going against you know,
(04:38):
I hate to say it's a musk game out of
week one when you got seventeen left, but man, it's
kind of a musk game to get off to a
good start and playing a division rival that you know
you hope you'd finish ahead of because you know, I
haven't seen all the prognostications and there are one hundreds
you can find, but I'm sure a lot of people
are picking the Bears for last place again. And you know,
(05:00):
if you're if you're gonna get on the cellar some year,
it'd be nice that you gotta beat the Vikings. You
gotta beat the Packers, and but you know, the Vikings
are a team with the rookie quarterback. You know, that's
a little concerning to me. Let's hope he's ready for
a week one Jalen Johnson if you're the Bears, because
then you're looking at Tyreek Stevenson. You can talk more
to this. The kind of campies have it. Then who's
(05:21):
the other course? Is it Trell Smith?
Speaker 1 (05:23):
It's not gonna be a rookie right, Well, you know
it's interesting and I you know, I didn't have starting
off cornerback talking to talk the podcast. That's what we
are going to be talking about. But listen, I'm in
for it. But yeah, you know, it's interesting. We talked
to Dennis Allen the other day and he said that,
you know, obviously, if Jalen Johnson's ready to go, he's
going to be your starting quarterback, like there's no doubt
(05:45):
about it, Like you obviously paid him the money to
do that. But it does seem like everything else is
a toss up at this point in urnms of that position,
like Tyreek Stevenson. Like you know, Dennis Allen said that
it's completely up for grabs, so obviously he's going to
be working. Naseean Wright has really impressed the coaching staff.
So far, he's got that tall, lankiness that Dennis Allen
obviously likes in his sticky man de man coverage, and
(06:08):
he's performed fairly well so far in a week in
the camp. I know, the first couple of days we're
just you know, shells and that sort of stuff. But
I think they've been in proud. McLeod has obviously done
a good job as well. So you know, Dennis Allen
mentioned the other day that he he feels as if
you know, the he feels much better about the depth
that cornerback than he did maybe during the springtime. He's
(06:30):
you know, both Ben and Dennis have both said that
the secondary in the cornerbacks are much stickier, and you
you see that when you're watching practice. They're on top
of these wide receivers on the tight ends. They're everywhere.
They're making sure that you know, nothing is really getting pasted.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
You know.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
You know, Ja Kwon, Brisker, Calier Gordon are also getting
involved in the action there as well. Caler Gordon obviously
this lot corner position there. But yeah, I mean, you
know it's not good. You obviously don't want Jalen Johnson
to be out for any game time, because he's a
he's a major part of your defense and the man
the man press coverage that you want to run. But
it does seem like the Bears are more confident in
(07:07):
what they have here in their depth and who you know,
some Naseean Wright obviously, like I mentioned earlier, Terrell Smith
has obviously shown that he can do it before. So
so they're good. They're there are guys there that I
think they can make a difference. But like we said, Joe,
like you paid Jalen Johnson a year, go to be
you know, your top corner one of the top corners
in the in the in the NFL. You want him
(07:30):
to be ready when they start the season in Week one.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Yeah, I mean, and he's earned the money, you know.
I mean, he did not disappoint last year, you know.
So no, this is a real good cornerback. And especially
like you said, they're gonna be playing pressed man with
Dennis Allen. I mean, I just keep thinking jettas jettas
you know, and Jordan Andison. So uh, you just don't
want to get well, I'll tell you one way you
can solve it is if the offense hangs down to
(07:54):
the football and isn't going through it, you know, you know,
stay on the field and keep your defense off the field.
That's that's one way to help your defense. That's one
way to make up for the loss of whether it's
Jalen Johnson or someone else in the defense, is if
your offense can control the football. So that's one way
around it. But glad to hear that. The corners because
I mean, you never have enough depth really at any
position in the NFL, but certainly at corner. You have
(08:15):
teams go through corners, especially with so many teams playing
nickel now, so you need corners, you need good ones.
And let's hope that's not a concern. And you know,
if I'm overreacting, of course i am, because it's that's
what we do. We overreact everything. But that's the way
it goes. So hopefully he gets better quickly though Jalen Johnson.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Yeah, you hope he obviously heals up like good to
see Sports Sports Chicago Style joining us more reps for
other guys with jj OT, I agree, obviously the other
guys are gonna get a lot of opportunities and they
made the most of it so far. And you know,
it's just interesting, you know Joe, you know, heading into
the season, obviously you had Jalen Johnson and then you
had you know, Tyreek Stevens, and you know, obviously everything
(08:54):
that happened last year, he kind of like, is he
gonna regroup? Is he gonna you know, is he gonna
be back from last year? How are they going to
handle him? And is he going to live up to
the hype? And you know, it could have been very
easy for this coaching staff, for Dennis Allen to just say,
you know, Tyreek Stevenson, you know, he's obviously going to
be here. He's done in the last two years, He's
going to perform at a really good level, so obviously
(09:15):
you want to see him back out there. But the
coaching staff was pretty much, you know, it's it's a
complete you know, it's completely up for grabs.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
You don't know what's going to happen.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
And I think that's interesting, and you know, it'll be
we'll see more with with all of this when it
comes to the Bears, will see much more once they
take part in the you know, that first joint practice
against the Dolphins on next Friday, and then obviously that
preseason game.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
But a lot of a lot of what we're.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Gonna learn is going to happen during those joint practices,
and I assume that's going to happen with the cornerbacks
as well. All right, let's talk about, you know, one
of the two big things that I feel like that
has kind of happened here in the past week. Let's
talk about the quarterback. Obviously, number one, Caleb Williams. He
spoke to the media twice already in this past week,
(10:07):
and you know, the whole Caleb conversation has been really
interesting to me because, you know, to be quite honest,
you know, it had it didn't look good at the beginning, right,
It obviously hasn't looked good. A lot of people have
seen obviously the whole you know, Jay Ben Johnson taking
the first team off the field because they weren't set
up the right way and wanted to keep the droll
(10:27):
moving and all that sort of stuff, and Caleb, you know,
missing on throws, and you know, a lot has been
made about that over the first couple of days. And
then you know, I think the biggest thing that we
can say about Caleb is that he does look more
comfortable with what he's doing compared to what even a
week ago, and then especially over the spring, you I
(10:49):
think we've seen a guy who is more comfortable going
through the process of getting the call and telling it
to his you know, his teammates, getting everyone said up,
making going through the motions like that all seems more
comfortable to him, even a week in the training camp.
And you you know, you saw he talked about this
on Wednesday, about how he feels more comfortable in those things.
(11:13):
He feels more comfortable going through the process. He feels
more comfortable moving people out, you know, in and out
of the motion, and you know, getting set up in situations.
So you know, you know, it's not perfect by any means.
You know, he's not you know, hitting on every single
thrill right now. There's still misses, there's still miscommunication, even
(11:34):
on Thursday. But I do think that there's growth happening
right now. And I think that's the biggest thing that
you can ask for Bears fans. And I think that's
a big thing that we wanted to you know, that's
the big thing that we wanted to talk about at
training camp. You knew from day one to day seven
you weren't going to see a four thousand, you know
yard passer who's going to you know, complete everything, make
(11:57):
impressive throws the entire time. That's not what the expectation
was at the start a training camp, right like you
wanted to see some incremental progress, and I think you're
seeing that from Caleb right now.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Joe.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Good to see you back there. I've just been talking
about Caleb and you know, getting him. You know, it's
not perfect by any means, but it is looking more
natural to him, the process of going through the process,
getting the communication and all that sort of stuff. And
I think that's obviously what we wanted to see, right
like you, from day one to day seven, you wanted
to see him to make that progress. And he's made
(12:29):
that incremental progress of hearing the play, getting everyone set up,
and going down the field, and I think that's that's
an important first step for him in this training camp.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Joking, hear us, I lost you, Michael.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Yes, I was just saying, you know, we were looking for,
you know, progress for him, you know, in the first week,
from day one to day seven, and he's obviously seeing
him more being able to to kind of go through
the process of going through and getting different people involved,
and I think that's what we were kind of looking at.
Obviously we didn't want you you would love the big
plays and the big connections and this sort of stuff.
(13:10):
But I think it's important to note that the process
has looked better from day one to day seven. Hope,
we lost Joe again, so we'll see what the deal
with Joe is and maybe we can get him on
a better connection here. But like I said, guys, if
you guys have any questions, you know, if you guys
want to get involved more, obviously send some questions and
happy to answer here. But yeah, I think that's the
(13:33):
biggest thing from right now. You've seen the progress, and
you've seen him being more comfortable moving up and down
the line and becoming more comfortable, you know, calling out
the plays, telling someone where he needs to be, you know,
getting ready into motion and all the different sort of stuff.
So it's definitely it's definitely a progress that we're seeing.
And even today on Thursday we're recording this. On Thursday,
(13:56):
you saw progress. You probably saw the offense have its
best day now, you know, was it perfect?
Speaker 2 (14:04):
No, it was not.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
You had the offense, you know, get down the field
in the red zone, and then there was an incompletion,
a delay of game or incompletion, and then you had
a intentional grounding which can't happen on third down, which
forces you to lose it down so that that stuff
can't happen. The two men the drill that they did
(14:27):
today where you know they were able to pick down,
pick up a first down, then they had a sack,
a couple incompletions, a deep pass to to DJ Moore,
but then you know, you don't pick up the another
first down to move the ball down the field. So
it's not perfect by any means like that. That's not
what I'm here to tell you. But you know, Caleb
(14:47):
does complete a couple of nice passes to Luther Burden,
especially a you know, a beautiful dime down the sideline
to Luther. You do see him completing a nice play
to Olimai Zakias, so you know, you're seeing that progress
that you Bears fans want from him, and I think
that's kind of what you want to see at this point.
I don't think you were going to have him, you know,
(15:09):
blow up and you know, make incredible plays time in
and time out, like the incompletions and the miscommunication still happening,
but I do think you're seeing progress A weekend to
practice here, Joe.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Yeah, and I can hear you now. I think I
lost you there for a little bit. But regarding Caleb Williams,
I heard most of what I what you were saying there.
I think you know. The way I look at it,
Michael is look, I mean, it is training camp for
a reason, especially with a newly installed offense here, they're
gonna be growing pains. Hopefully most of them are out
of the way by week one or certainly by you know,
(15:42):
week two, week three. But I mean we just, you know, again,
we overreact about everything. In the first two days of practice.
It was everyone's like, oh my gosh, Caleb Williams doesn't
look good and this is gonna be you know, a
row and more growing pains than it could be the
whole year. And you know, I think it was our
guy Sylvie who writes a column for us as Shaw Local,
was trying to make like the comparison with you know,
(16:06):
THEO and we took over the Cubs, And I mean
it is not this. I mean, I mean Sylvia is
great and he does great work in print too for
us besides being on radio. But I don't think that
comparison is fair like in the NFL. I mean, you know,
it's not like MLB or the National Hockey League, where
rebuilding it does take three four five years sometimes because
(16:27):
guys come in young, they got to spend two or
three years of the minors before you kind of know
what you have not not here. So I mean, I
do think there's there's pressure to get this right. We
can't be going through the whole year with Caleb and
not knowing if Caleb Williams is the answer going into
twenty twenty six, not to totally forget twenty twenty five,
but we got to figure out. Bears need to figure
(16:47):
out this year is he the guy, because then that's
imagine if he's not the guy, Imagine if he's just
going to be okay, and like, oh my gosh. You know,
this was the number one pick overall and that's scary,
and that's something we're kind of getting used to unfortunately
in Chicago. But the prospects of that are really kind
of scary. But you know, again, I don't want to
(17:09):
ro over it's not real. Overreact and then you had
a good practice the other day and it was okay. Today,
I think it's okay. You know, I look at it like, man, Michael,
if someone saw, you know, one of my stories that
I was working on before I you know, send it
to be edited, they'd be like this, this guy is
absolutely horrible. I mean it's you know, this sentence doesn't
make sense and this should be there and the lead
(17:31):
doesn't make sense. Our type like, well, yeah, I'm working
on it, you know that. I'll it's not a finished
product yet. Wait till I hit file and edit and
you know, someone can look at it and then it
runs in print and online. So I mean, you know,
sometimes let's just we we want to look. We want
to see, you know, reporters like yourself where they're at
hallis Hall watching, But we just have to take everything,
(17:55):
just have to chill a little bit. I know, you
know that, but but that's just the way it is.
So so I just want to see healthy bodies, right
we just That's what I every time I hear a
bears report or I re something by you, I just
don't want to hear like, oh, guess who you know
had a bad injury now is gonna miss the whole
year six months or you know, is gonna miss the
first few weeks of the season. That's the stuff you
(18:16):
don't want to hear. So we haven't knock on wood.
We haven't heard any of that yet other than the
Jalen Johnson situation. Hopefully he's ready again, as we said
by week one. But that's what I'm looking for, and
just a little more. We talked about it the last
time we did a podcast, But just be a little
more organized in the huddles, in and out of things. No
false starts to me, the left tackle, you know, and
whether who gets the job there, the guy who commits
(18:38):
the few is false starts. Because we can't start the
season here, we go first and ten from the twenty
you're twenty five, and then there's a false start and
we're looking at first in fifteen. How many times we've
seen that in the last several years, not only under
you know, you know last year and before that, you know,
going back to Mitch and a lot of Bears teams.
So we can't see that. So I don't know, I
(18:58):
just don't get hurt.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Yeah, I mean, obviously that's the biggest thing, right And
you know, these types they don't do they don't do
too many live periods anymore. They did a live period
the other day, which is kind of good, just trying
to you know, you got to get into football shape.
Obviously you can't, you know, get go into week one
without taking contact or anything like that, or even the
first preseason game. But yeah, I think I agree mostly
with your entire point on Caleb. I think I think
(19:22):
it goes back to, you know, like with everything, you know,
you need context. Like we've asked been a couple of
times now, like how much do you are you know,
how much does Caleb take from last year and how
much does he get to apply into this year? And
you know, he's essentially said, you know, he hasn't called
him a rookie by any means, but essentially it kind
of feels like we're building this thing from the ground up,
(19:43):
like we are. I don't think there's really much you know, Yes,
you know, Caleb knows what it's like to go through
an NFL week, right Like he knows what it's like
to go through the week. He knows what it's like
to go through a season. He gets all that point.
But you know, other than that stuff, it doesn't seem
like there's much that can be taken from week one
in terms of you know, scheme, you know that sort
(20:04):
of stuff, like he's reworked his footwork, he's obviously learning
a new playbook. He's working much more under center. And
I think that's important context when you see at the
beginning of camp that it looks bad, like, well, this
is a guy and everyone else who's learning a new,
completely new system. And I'm not trying to be an
apologist by any means, Like there are miss throws, there's
a lot of miscommunication like that that happens, right, But
(20:26):
I think with this whole argument, it's important to have
the conversation and the context of, yes, this is the
number one pick. You want him to look great, you
want him to look like Jayden Daniels and bo Nix
and all that sort of stuff, But then you also
have to have the context of last year was not good.
He's learning a completely new system this year, completely like
new styles, new terminology and all that sort of stuff.
(20:49):
So I don't think it's crazy for it to not
look perfect the first week of training camp.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Yeah, And I mean you could say, look, I mean,
even if everything goes right for them, what are the
odds of them getting to the Super Bowl. We're playing
in the NFC Championship Game. But that's what the Commanders
did last year with the rookie, so you know, they
got to the NFC Championship Game. So crazy. So I
do think they could if it goes right, if it
goes like and they're gonna be I just I refuse
(21:16):
to believe they're gonna be worse or just like last year.
I don't see how it can't be better after that
train wreck last season with firing coaches and fire you know,
another head coach, and you know the Jalen Johnson, the
failed to marry, all all that stuff. How many how
many heartbreaking losses did they have there? Not that they
(21:38):
were playing playoff caliber football in some of those games,
but there was that was just horrible. And I think
Caleb came out okay. So I think they're going to
be better. Is that going to translate to ten or
eleven wins? I don't know. I think we'll know early though.
I think we'll know early where they're at. I mean,
you know, the first preseason game is coming up here,
what like ten days, Yeah, next to day, Michael, next Sunday, right, so,
(22:04):
and I don't Caleb, I'm guessing's not gonna play, But
I don't know, And I don't know if Ben Johnson
has talked. I mean, I'm sure he has to ten
days away how much the starters are gonna play, But
we need to I'll start reacting more like negatively or
positively after I see the offense on the field for
more than just like one series. I think we need
to see what this looks like under the guy who's
(22:27):
gonna be the starting quarterback on opening night.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Yeah, you know, Ben Johnson was kind of asked about
it at the start of training camp, and it's it's
very clear that that he and his coaching staff is
going to put a lot of intel, a lot of observations,
a lot of decision making from those joint practices against
the Dolphins and the Bills. That's going to be happening
the next uh, not tomorrow, but the next two fridays
they'll be going against the Dolphins and then the Bills.
(22:52):
It seems like like he'll determine later on how much
you're going to actually play in the games and all
that sort of stuff that hasn't been determined yet, but
it's very clear like that. A lot of these competitions,
whether it's left tackle, whether it's a third linebacker, whether
it's any of the cornerback spots, you know, wide receivers, snaps,
any of it, all of a lot of that could
be decided or influenced by what happens during those joint practices.
(23:15):
So that'll be really interesting to watch, just you know,
once you're finally able to go against someone else who
you know isn't your teammate, uniting against the same people,
I think that'll be really interesting and telling.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
I see a lot of good.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Questions in the chat, and I'll get to them, or
we'll get to them here in a minute. But Joey
wanted to hit on on on Ben Jonson, and you know,
obviously the whole off season we were talking about, you know,
the different culture he's bringing here to Hell's Hall, how
he's being more accountable, and how he's you know, holding
guys more accountable. He's getting on people, the coaching staff
(23:48):
is getting on people. It's not just him then, it's
Allen Eric p Enemy. You don't have to be too
far away from him to hear him and his in
his coaching and Antoine Randall, L. L. Harris, all these
different guys are you know, on players, supporting them, getting
on them if they make a mistake, you know, pulling
them if they're not ready to go, and that that
has translated here to training camp. You saw Ben Johnson,
(24:08):
you know he doesn't you know, he didn't take it
personally or you know, wasn't offended by calling it, you know,
taking the first team off the field. But that's essentially
what happened when they weren't ready to go. He wanted
to keep it going. You only got so much time
to practice. You can't be going out there if you're
not ready to go. He's you know, for how good
Luther Burden has looked a couple last couple of days.
He got kicked out on a play one of the
(24:29):
first days he was back because he wasn't aligned the
right way. Like this has been happening the entire weekend
during the spring, where this coaching staff is holding you accountable.
If you're not ready to go, if you're not on
the details, you're not gonna be part of the player
and you're not going to get a chance to play.
And I think that's obviously very different from what we've
seen here in the past, you know, three years with
the previous coaching staff. But I think it's been received
(24:52):
well so far, and I think it kind of leads
to a different style you know of training camp than
maybe we've had here in the past.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Yeah, you know, I mean how many people have said,
you know, players like to be coached, they want to
be coached, and if they don't, they they shouldn't be
here and they probably won't be here when all said
and you know, all said and done come the start
of the season. So yeah, they should be held accountable.
There's and I don't want to put words in your mouth,
but it kind of seems like there's what you're basically saying,
(25:21):
like what he's Ben Jonson is saying, is there's a
sense of urgency to get things right because you know,
you think you've got time, but you don't. So yeah,
every rep is im important. I think you see that
in high school high school practices, you know. But if
it's tough, love, so be it again. Not that you
can treat every single year. They've got to learn too.
(25:42):
I mentioned this is one of our podcasts in the
back and in the past. I mean, you've got to
figure out which guys respond to what because some guys
are just gonna beat them up, eat them up. Well
they're gonna they're gonna die, and the dog's gonna quit
on you. And you know, some guys you gotta treat
people are all. All people are different, right everyone. You
can't coach every in the same way. So they know
(26:03):
better than me. They know better than all of us.
You know, they've done it at the NFL level, the
coaches that is, So I hope they figure it out,
and I you know, I hope, I just hope we
can see some guys who embrace this and they respond
to it and then are and they carry that and
are prorective on the football field, whether it's off and
sewer defense.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Yeah, Joe, you mentioned that urgency. That's one of the
first things, you know, Ben Johnson talked about. He called
it the training camp like a race, Like, yes, you
have six weeks to get ready for the season opener,
but you know, listen, those six weeks go quick, like
you you get a limited amount of time obviously that's
been negotiated with the NFLPA. Each day like you're getting
more and more every day, like today was the longest practice.
(26:46):
But yeah, like it's a race. Like there's a lot
of work to do. There's a lot of stuff that
needs to get done, and this coaching staff is like
detail oriented and is making sure that like listen, like
if you're not ready to go, you're not ready to go,
We're not going.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
To like stop for you.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Like we need to keep this thing going because we
got to be as ready as possible and have whoever's
ready as you know, whoever is ready to go in
week one based on what what they've been seeing. All right,
let's go to a couple of these questions I wanted
to answer. Here's first one from Sports Chicago Style for
the backup quarterbacks, has how has Tyson Baigent look? Has
(27:21):
he developed in Keenum? Does he look physically capable?
Speaker 2 (27:26):
You know?
Speaker 1 (27:26):
I I will say, you know, the number two quarterback
isn't set right now. That's a competition. Both Pagent and
Keenum had been switching you know, second team reps every
other day. It's kind of what they've been doing with
the left tackle competition as well. I will say, you know,
Tyson Beaijen looks very comfortable in the offense, and I
think that's been really impressive. Like you watch him go
(27:48):
through his progressions and you'll see him like he'll just
hit a guy in stride, like down the middle, like
exactly what you're supposed to do.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Keenum.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
You know, obviously he's got the experience. He's been there before.
You say that, and maybe not that he's doing anything
poorly by any means, But I for Tyson Baigent, I've
just been really impressed with, you know, how on top
of things he seems to be.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
It seems like he.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Not that the other quarterbacks don't know the offense or
haven't been studying or anything like that. But you know,
for Tyson, it just seems like he's really on top
of it. He knows where the ball is supposed to go,
and I.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Think that's going to be really important.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
You know, obviously you want the physical talent, you want
the guy who has the experience. Obviously case Keenum has
that experience. But listen for right now, like it seems
like Tyson really has things where they were supposed to be.
He's going through the process, he's going through his checks,
he's going he's managing the huddle. Well, it just looks
(28:43):
good with him right now, and that could obviously change
as the weeks kind of go on, but for right now,
I would say things just look good under Tyson Pagent
and it seems like he's really ready to go. And
I think that's kind of been one of the most
interesting things so far, where, yes, obviously Caleb looks good,
he's making impressive throws, he's developing true case, you know,
(29:03):
but that's definitely been one thing that I've really been
impressed with Tyson Page in so far A weekend.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Yeah, and I you know, and basically what you're saying
is what we saw in twenty twenty three from him
when he had to fill in what was those four
games for Justin Fields when Justin Fields was injured and
what the Bears I think went two and two in
those four games. But yeah, I mean he gets rid
of the wall quickly. He's on time. That you know,
the I guess the question I would have watching him
or to the coaches with him, is his arm any stronger?
(29:30):
Because that was eventually exposed, you know in twenty twenty
three when he when he saw some extended playing time
at quarterback. Because I mean, you don't have to have
a misshole mean, Tom Brady didn't I mean, you don't
have to have an arm like Jay Cutler or you know,
John Elway, but you got to be able to throw it.
And he he doesn't have the arm strength and but
can be uh you know, I hate to use the
(29:50):
word game manager, but can he be a little better
than that? Maybe? But if he's going to be your quarterback,
if Caleb gets hurt, you know, then then your defense
is going to be really keeping you in the ballgame,
you know, because you're probably not gonna put up thirty
points with with Tyson Beagen, But you can get a
guy in there that can run the offense, manage the offense,
and you know, in the field goal position, and you know,
(30:14):
get some key third down pickups. You know that that
could work. But boy, I hope we're not talking about
Tyson Beaijen a lot this year because if we are,
man that's not gonna be good.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
No.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
I agree with you. Obviously, you don't get hurt. You
don't want that to be a solution a thing at all.
But if you do run into the situation, I do
think that you would be comfortable with Tyson as your backup, right.
I do think that he's a serviceable backup. Who can
make throws. He knows the offense well and sure can
you I you know, does is he going to be
(30:48):
able to shoot it for a seventy yard pass? You know,
I don't know, but I do know that he will
effectively run the offense. And I think Ben Johnson is
a good enough play color where he would adjust quickly
and put Tyson Baje in situations to succeed.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
So obviously don't.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
Want that to happen, but if it does happen, I
would say that the Bears are in a pretty good
spot with their two backups that they have. Talking about
some camp darlings, obviously, we talked about Camp Darling's last
week when we were previewing that JP Richardson was one
of the first wide receivers who kind of stole the show,
at least after the couple of days. Uh Sports Chicago style.
(31:23):
Has has wide receiver JP done anything in pads hasn't
been too noticeable in pads. He he has made some
impressive catches and shells the first couple of days of practice,
but that's kind of died down here the last couple
of days. So maybe we'll see him get a little
bit more involved here as the offense kind of comes
more together. He also asks about hip Lite, does he
(31:45):
look overwhelmed or like a possible gem. I you know,
obviously we're a week into things, Rubin hipp Right now,
it's been Tremaine Edmunds, t J. Edwards, and Noah Sulla
as a three linebacker for the most part, with the
third with the first team. Obviously, you know, they get
rid of that third linebacker sometimes to put Kyler Gordon
(32:07):
in a lot of situations. But Swell has been that third,
that third linebacker so far. But I will say, Ruben Hippolyte,
that speed, that speed is real, and it's been impressive
so far just to watch him and coverage, like catch
up on a guy that maybe he was supposed to
cover or wasn't supposed to cover, Like he can make
(32:27):
up coverage and break up a pass. And I think
that's going to be huge. Like maybe you don't see
Ruben start off this season as a starter, but you're
going to need him eventually, You're right, Like, you're gonna
need him if an injury pops up when you're going
through rotations, and it's gonna take some time. Obviously it's
only training camp. You're going against your own guys. We'll
see how it looks against the Dolphins, Bills, and probably
(32:49):
the Chiefs too.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
He'd get a good run there too.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
But for right now, I've been really impressed with Ruben Hippolyte,
and that'd be big Joe if they really hit on
that fourth round pick. Because speed, you know, speed is
amazing in this Tennesseellan defense. I mean, you can't have
too much of it, especially with his with Ruben hippo
Let's length.
Speaker 3 (33:08):
Yeah, No, that'd be great if he could show up,
you know, you know, if he's got the instinct, you know,
if you can combine him his speed with Jack Sanborn's
instincts and tathing ability, you probably have an all Pro linebacker,
right So hopefully he's got some smarts there where you
can figure out the game. But speed is everything, you know, Michael,
every level you go up, high school, college, pro or
(33:29):
you know, you know, you know, high school, junior, college,
D D two, uh, you know, D one pro, it's
all about speed, you know. You got to have that element,
especially at that position where you could be chasing a lot,
you know, whether it's downhill or you're you're chasing receiver
out of the backfield, whether it's running back or a
wide receiver or whatever. So but boy, if Hippo I
(33:50):
can show up and like, well that guy's you know,
bet a productive player for us or you know is
during the course of the season, that'd be a huge
bonus because again, that's a guy who a lot of
people thought the Bears reached for uh when they drafted him.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
So but he wasn't. He wasn't. Yeah, he wasn't.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
He wasn't invited to the combine like no, like no
one expected him. And then look again, it's a weekend,
Like we're not going to know overblow, you know, Caleb stuff,
Like we're not gonna start saying that Rubin hit boy
is the next Brian or Lacker by any means. But
I have been impressed by what we've seen so far,
and I'm curious to see how it kind of continues
as we kind of move forward. One last thing I
(34:28):
want to talk about here last couple of minutes before
we say goodbye, folks. Something I want to talk about
deals with both of Rick's questions, are you guys seeing
Gordon playing safety? And then also has Jaquan been hitting
tackling at all, Yes, he has.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Jaquan is back at full strength. He's doing everything. He's hitting,
he is making his presence known. He's very loud like
he's always been. And and and the interesting thing with
both Kyler and Jaquan is just you know how Dennis
Allen is going to use them. Both of them said
that they can be versatile and Dennis Allen's defense, they
(35:06):
can play up on the line, they can play back
in coverage, they can play out in corner outside you know,
wide corner slot. And that's going to make things difficult
for opposing offenses, right because you know, I think a
lot of opposing quarterbacks are going to be like they
see Kyler Gordon out there, and they're gonna be like, Okay,
how's he going to play this? Is he going to
(35:28):
come pressure the quarterback? Is he going to drop back?
Is like it's it's you know, that's obviously why the
Bears decided to extend Kyler this offseason, right, because of
the versatility that he brings. You've seen him a lot
already in the first week here, come up with a
lot of nice pass breakups, like he's everywhere on that field,
and I think that's going to be such a you know,
(35:49):
both him and Jakwan will be such versatile weapons where
you know, Dennis Allen can put them at different points
of this defense. Obviously they play on the opposite sides
of the defense, but still you can have one out back,
you can have one up on the line, both up
on the line, both back, Like, there's a lot that
you can do with them, and that's gonna make it.
You know, I don't know if that's gonna make or
(36:10):
break a play a lot of times, but that does
put something in the mind of the quarterback, just being like, huh,
what is that guy doing back there?
Speaker 2 (36:17):
Is he going to be playing this or is he
going to be playing like?
Speaker 1 (36:19):
That just adds more doubt to the quarterback, which is
obviously what you want to do, and I think that's
really important. That's going to be really key for this
defense to succeed. We talked about how sticky the quarterbacks
have been. If Jakwan Brisker obviously can stay healthy and
him and Kyler Gordon can bring their versatility, I think
that's going to make it really hard for offenses to
pick up what Dennis Allen is doing here.
Speaker 3 (36:41):
Well, I gotta I gotta comment that I have a
question for you, Michael. First of all, you know, at
started the show I mentioned Jalen Johnson being their best player,
and he is. But the guy who might be their
second best player in that defense other than maybe Monteste
What is Kyler Gordon? I mean, he's really good. Now,
you really don't want your nickel necessarily to be your
best player on your defense. I mean, you got other
got bigger issues. But no, he's really good. I'm curious
(37:03):
to see how Dennis Allen uses him and will he
gets some action at safety. Again, I just don't trust
Jakwan Brister being healthy with the concussion issues he has. Well,
if he plays seventeen games, I'll be thrilled to death,
but I'm just not very confident that's what's gonna happen.
I'm curious too, though, for it is you can tell
me Jakwan Brister, is he wearing the Guardian caps.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
That there are not?
Speaker 1 (37:28):
There are a lot of I will say, you know,
based on what I've noticed from last year, and obviously
I had limited exposure at times and that sort of stuff,
but from what I've seen a good chunk of players
are wearing the Guardian caps, but Jawan Brisker is not.
We talked to him last week. He said that he
never thought about wearing the Guardian cap. That's obviously his decision.
(37:48):
He did change his helmet and said that the helmet
had to match his face mask, which you can obviously
take for for what it is. But I mean, I
I he's not wearing the cap. A lot of players are, though,
and I think that's interesting. I think a lot of players,
you know, players like Roshawan Johnson, a lot of the
old linemen, d linemen are wearing the Guardian camps because
(38:08):
if you can make yourself you know, my mindset, as
someone who's never played football, is if you can make
yourself healthier, keep yourself on the field not have head injuries,
like why would you not take that extra Like I
don't think it really takes them much more to put
on a Guardian cap. But maybe the hitting is different
and maybe it feels different. I'm not sure, but I
do think that the Guardian caps have become more popular
(38:31):
with the players. They become you know, a lot of
players are wearing them, and hopefully it is making a difference,
because obviously you want people to not have brain injuries
in general, but then you obviously want to prolong people's
careers and not have effects after, you know, after their
football careers are done.
Speaker 3 (38:49):
Yeah. No, I think I maybe saw a couple guys
in NFL games. Not any Bears guys were wearing them
last year. Maybe a couple of old linemen if I recall.
But if you ever picked up an NFL helmet a
speed flex, they're heavy. I mean it's you pick one
up and realize and these guys run around the field
at crazy speeds with this amount of weight on their head.
(39:10):
I'm not an athlete and I'm old, but that's to me,
that's amazing that they can do that because ed of all,
humblets are heavy, and then you put that Guardian cap
on and I know it's not like it's ten pounds,
but it is heavy, and I'm sure it's it's cumbersome,
but I you know, I could see maybe wearing it
more in practice, and maybe if they're not hitting or
just telling them, hey, look, jakwand in his case, don't
(39:33):
hit anybody. I mean, you got to play football. But
you know, discretion is a better part of valor. That
kind of thing. Uh, with with him because I mean
that's just uh, scares of me. And you know, a
head injuries, we've we've seen it too many times, not
only with athletes in Chicago with with concussions everywhere, with
with with players at the high school level. You don't
want to mess with the brain, you know what I mean.
(39:55):
It's like someone mentioned that Mike Didko once like that
coaching you limp and stuff. He's like, so what you
so what, I've had some injuries. I got a bad knee,
bad hip, so what you know, I can get around,
But the head that scares you. I mean you know,
like you can talk an hour on Tua with his
concussion issues. You know, but you just want Jaquan Brisker
(40:15):
to be healthy, right, I mean, he'll forever be a
fans love Jaquan Brisker everything, you know. You know, you
you know people like Jaquan Brisker and he'll be an
expert like everyone's an expair someday. But you want him
to be healthy.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (40:29):
And uh, you know, if you can play great football,
that's great. But man, just just hate to sound like
a parent, but I mean, gosh, just just be careful
and yeah, because you don't want him messed up for
the rest of his life.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
No, you obviously don't.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
And obviously it's bigger than just the game, right, but
you obviously want him on the field as well, like
you want him to be around there. He's a talented
guy who's you know, playing for a contract, right, Like
you need to be on the field if you want
to get that contract and secure yourself. So obviously, hopefully
he said, he's not leaning in with head, you know,
with a helmet, tackles or anything like that, and hopefully
(41:04):
he's able to stay on the field for as long
as possible. All right, that is every all right, We've
got one more thing. But before we say goodbye, Rick
wants me to give Triple R the trip. The Tyler
Scott Update. I've noticed Tyler Scott a couple of times,
like he's made a couple of catches. He's on the
roster still, and I think that's good for this Tyler
Scott podcast because if this podcast loves anyone else more,
(41:27):
it's Tyler Scott. But you know he's there, He's made
made a couple of nice catches. He actually made a
nice catch today, I think with the third team for
for a first down during eleven on eleven, so he's
still there. And you know, that wide receiver room is
so interesting, right because you know, obviously you've got TJ. Moore,
you got Roma Dunes, so, you got Luther Burden, You've
(41:48):
got Olamide's a kas who I think could be a
sneaky threat and who's actually going to make a big
impact in this offense. You've got Devin DuVernay. Obviously you
know you brought him in for punt return, but I
think he can make an impact in the passing game
as well. So it's a crewdit wide receiver room. And
I think you know, Miles Boykin is you know, obviously
(42:08):
a local guy, Providence grad, Notre Dame guy. He's made
a couple of nice catches as well, so you know,
it's a crowded room, especially if you got you know,
Coase to Loveland and Cole Kamen involved. So it'll be
interesting to see if Tyler Scott can kind of make
himself a little bit more more well known here as
we kind of progress through training camp. But that's everything
(42:28):
that we got for this week's episode. Thank you so
much for joining Thanking to everyone who joined us with
in the live stream with their questions. I'm good to
get the chat going here on a Thursday afternoon. I
know we're usually used to mornings, but we're just gonna
have to play training camp by year at this point,
and we're just gonna have to see whenever Joe and
mind schedules are kind of open, but we'll make sure
(42:49):
to at least give you guys a twenty four hour
notice before we're gonna be doing live stream. And if
you can't join us during the live stream, make sure
you joined us for the podcast. So make sure following
Joe on next Twitter, whatever you want to call it
at this day, Joe Aguilar sixty four, he's got you
going on with some Beare stuff, but also obviously a
lot of prep football is happening here as we are
(43:11):
getting closer to the season, so make sure you follow
him for all that sort of stuff, and make sure
you're following all my daily training camp updates and features.
Speaker 2 (43:18):
I've got it all coming out on my social media's
at m DWO Jack ninety four.
Speaker 1 (43:22):
So thanks so much for joining us this time, guys,
and we will talk to you guys down the road.
Hello, and welcome to Shaw Locals Bears Insider. We are
back here a week in the training camp. I'm Shaw
Local Bears Reporter Michael Duo Jake here with the Northwest
Heroags Joe Aguilar. We are roughly a little over a
week into training camp and we've got a lot to
talk about. A lot of different things have kind of
taken place here over the past week.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Whether that be obviously.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
The offense and it's slow start that's gone people are
really really excited and really debatable about, or whether it's
you know, Ben Johnson, there's obviously a lot of stuff
to talk about a week into things, so we'll break
it all down for you folks. Thanks so much to
everyone who's joined us on YouTube. Make sure you guys
are keeping up with us. You know when we're gonna
(00:45):
be announcing these so you can join the live streaming
and obviously you can join the live stream, you can
obviously listen to the podcast and we'll we'll break it
all down there too.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
But Joe, a week into things.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Obviously, last Tuesday, the Bears Reporter we heard from Ben
Johnson and Ryan Poles and Caleb and over the past
week we've kind of been going through practices. There have
been viral moments, non viral moments and that sort of stuff.
But just based on what you've kind of seen here
in the past week, what what would you say is
kind of the biggest thing you've noticed a week into
(01:17):
training camp?
Speaker 3 (01:19):
You know, I know everyone wants to focus on the
quarterback and including us, and we will and uh but
besides that, and we can get into that, but to me,
the pleasant thing that you know I've seen in read
is is your two first round or your first round
picking your second round pick the wide receiver, Luther Burden,
the third and of course Colston Lovelin. But on the
(01:41):
field and so far, I know, it's what we keep
saying this, it's all it's early, it's one weekend, it's
two weeks in, it's three weeks in. But they've looked
good and they've made an impression. You can see why
they've were drafted in the first and second rounds.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Yeah, I think that that that is definitely something that
you kind of helped me. And yes, obvious, the health
is the most important thing. Coaston Lovelin was ready to
go at the beginning of practice and the at the
beginning of training camp, I should say took a couple
of days obviously to ramp up into football shape, and
now he's back out there and making impressive plays. Same
with Luther Burden. He didn't start off a training camp,
(02:17):
but he came back on Monday, and you know, he
had a day where it was kind of like, okay, like,
you know, we'll see how quickly he can get back
involved in the things after only doing like warm ups
with the with the team, and then the next day
on Tuesday, he was doing team drills and everything. And
then obviously he's been making impressive catches here and there.
So yeah, the two rookies are obviously there. Ozzie Trapillo's
(02:39):
obviously involved in in that battle for left tackle, and
the third third second round pick that the Bears Hatchamar Turner,
unfortunately hurt his ankle on the first day of camp
and he's been out since then. That's kind of been
the major injury that we've kind of talked about. But
the biggest injury is obviously Jalen Johnson. The Bears announced
(03:00):
that at the beginning of training camp he suffered an
injury away from the team during the off season. The
leg injury he is going to be. Originally last week,
it was going to be three weeks or I guess
I should say a few weeks. Obviously a lot of
people have interpreted a few very differently, so I don't
want to put a specific number on it. But Ryan
(03:20):
Pole said a few weeks. And then today we talked
to Ben Johnson and he said, you know, in the
best case scenario, week one, I don't know if that's
you know, he's saying that Jalen Johnson's doing everything to
get back out there. But that update didn't seem too good. Obviously,
you're hoping for the best, and you're hoping that he'll
(03:41):
be very ready for week one, but Joe, it does
seem like they're maybe maybe planning on not having him
ready at all for training camp. And I think that's
going to be really interesting to watch how the rest
of that cornerback room kind of comes together.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Yeah, that's a little more concerning, I think didting Ryan Poles,
You know that the introductory press conference is what two
weeks now or last week whenever it was, that they
were not overly concerned if I'm quoting correctly about Jalen Johnson,
And well, you assumed to me, that meant like, Okay,
he'll be fine, he'll be ready for Week one. Well,
(04:17):
Week one happened to be the Vikings and justin Jefferson
and Jordan Addison and you need him. I mean, he's
the best player. You hope it's Caleb Williams will be
saying that in six you know, in six weeks or
the end of the year, you Caleb Williams is the
best player. But right now, you know Jalen Johnson is
your best football player and you're going against you know,
(04:38):
I hate to say it's a musk game out of
week one when you got seventeen left, but man, it's
kind of a musk game to get off to a
good start and playing a division rival that you know
you hope you'd finish ahead of because you know, I
haven't seen all the prognostications and there are one hundreds
you can find, but I'm sure a lot of people
are picking the Bears for last place again. And you know,
(05:00):
if you're if you're gonna get on the cellar some year,
it'd be nice that you gotta beat the Vikings. You
gotta beat the Packers, and but you know, the Vikings
are a team with the rookie quarterback. You know, that's
a little concerning to me. Let's hope he's ready for
a week one Jalen Johnson if you're the Bears, because
then you're looking at Tyreek Stevenson. You can talk more
to this. The kind of campies have it. Then who's
(05:21):
the other course? Is it Trell Smith?
Speaker 1 (05:23):
It's not gonna be a rookie right, Well, you know
it's interesting and I you know, I didn't have starting
off cornerback talking to talk the podcast. That's what we
are going to be talking about. But listen, I'm in
for it. But yeah, you know, it's interesting. We talked
to Dennis Allen the other day and he said that,
you know, obviously, if Jalen Johnson's ready to go, he's
going to be your starting quarterback, like there's no doubt
(05:45):
about it, Like you obviously paid him the money to
do that. But it does seem like everything else is
a toss up at this point in urnms of that position,
like Tyreek Stevenson. Like you know, Dennis Allen said that
it's completely up for grabs, so obviously he's going to
be working. Naseean Wright has really impressed the coaching staff.
So far, he's got that tall, lankiness that Dennis Allen
obviously likes in his sticky man de man coverage, and
(06:08):
he's performed fairly well so far in a week in
the camp. I know, the first couple of days we're
just you know, shells and that sort of stuff. But
I think they've been in proud. McLeod has obviously done
a good job as well. So you know, Dennis Allen
mentioned the other day that he he feels as if
you know, the he feels much better about the depth
that cornerback than he did maybe during the springtime. He's
(06:30):
you know, both Ben and Dennis have both said that
the secondary in the cornerbacks are much stickier, and you
you see that when you're watching practice. They're on top
of these wide receivers on the tight ends. They're everywhere.
They're making sure that you know, nothing is really getting pasted.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
You know.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
You know, Ja Kwon, Brisker, Calier Gordon are also getting
involved in the action there as well. Caler Gordon obviously
this lot corner position there. But yeah, I mean, you
know it's not good. You obviously don't want Jalen Johnson
to be out for any game time, because he's a
he's a major part of your defense and the man
the man press coverage that you want to run. But
it does seem like the Bears are more confident in
(07:07):
what they have here in their depth and who you know,
some Naseean Wright obviously, like I mentioned earlier, Terrell Smith
has obviously shown that he can do it before. So
so they're good. They're there are guys there that I
think they can make a difference. But like we said, Joe,
like you paid Jalen Johnson a year, go to be
you know, your top corner one of the top corners
in the in the in the NFL. You want him
(07:30):
to be ready when they start the season in Week one.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Yeah, I mean, and he's earned the money, you know.
I mean, he did not disappoint last year, you know.
So no, this is a real good cornerback. And especially
like you said, they're gonna be playing pressed man with
Dennis Allen. I mean, I just keep thinking jettas jettas
you know, and Jordan Andison. So uh, you just don't
want to get well, I'll tell you one way you
can solve it is if the offense hangs down to
(07:54):
the football and isn't going through it, you know, you know,
stay on the field and keep your defense off the field.
That's that's one way to help your defense. That's one
way to make up for the loss of whether it's
Jalen Johnson or someone else in the defense, is if
your offense can control the football. So that's one way
around it. But glad to hear that. The corners because
I mean, you never have enough depth really at any
position in the NFL, but certainly at corner. You have
(08:15):
teams go through corners, especially with so many teams playing
nickel now, so you need corners, you need good ones.
And let's hope that's not a concern. And you know,
if I'm overreacting, of course i am, because it's that's
what we do. We overreact everything. But that's the way
it goes. So hopefully he gets better quickly though Jalen Johnson.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Yeah, you hope he obviously heals up like good to
see Sports Sports Chicago Style joining us more reps for
other guys with jj OT, I agree, obviously the other
guys are gonna get a lot of opportunities and they
made the most of it so far. And you know,
it's just interesting, you know Joe, you know, heading into
the season, obviously you had Jalen Johnson and then you
had you know, Tyreek Stevens, and you know, obviously everything
(08:54):
that happened last year, he kind of like, is he
gonna regroup? Is he gonna you know, is he gonna
be back from last year? How are they going to
handle him? And is he going to live up to
the hype? And you know, it could have been very
easy for this coaching staff, for Dennis Allen to just say,
you know, Tyreek Stevenson, you know, he's obviously going to
be here. He's done in the last two years, He's
going to perform at a really good level, so obviously
(09:15):
you want to see him back out there. But the
coaching staff was pretty much, you know, it's it's a
complete you know, it's completely up for grabs.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
You don't know what's going to happen.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
And I think that's interesting, and you know, it'll be
we'll see more with with all of this when it
comes to the Bears, will see much more once they
take part in the you know, that first joint practice
against the Dolphins on next Friday, and then obviously that
preseason game.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
But a lot of a lot of what we're.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Gonna learn is going to happen during those joint practices,
and I assume that's going to happen with the cornerbacks
as well. All right, let's talk about, you know, one
of the two big things that I feel like that
has kind of happened here in the past week. Let's
talk about the quarterback. Obviously, number one, Caleb Williams. He
spoke to the media twice already in this past week,
(10:07):
and you know, the whole Caleb conversation has been really
interesting to me because, you know, to be quite honest,
you know, it had it didn't look good at the beginning, right,
It obviously hasn't looked good. A lot of people have
seen obviously the whole you know, Jay Ben Johnson taking
the first team off the field because they weren't set
up the right way and wanted to keep the droll
(10:27):
moving and all that sort of stuff, and Caleb, you know,
missing on throws, and you know, a lot has been
made about that over the first couple of days. And
then you know, I think the biggest thing that we
can say about Caleb is that he does look more
comfortable with what he's doing compared to what even a
week ago, and then especially over the spring, you I
(10:49):
think we've seen a guy who is more comfortable going
through the process of getting the call and telling it
to his you know, his teammates, getting everyone said up,
making going through the motions like that all seems more
comfortable to him, even a week in the training camp.
And you you know, you saw he talked about this
on Wednesday, about how he feels more comfortable in those things.
(11:13):
He feels more comfortable going through the process. He feels
more comfortable moving people out, you know, in and out
of the motion, and you know, getting set up in situations.
So you know, you know, it's not perfect by any means.
You know, he's not you know, hitting on every single
thrill right now. There's still misses, there's still miscommunication, even
(11:34):
on Thursday. But I do think that there's growth happening
right now. And I think that's the biggest thing that
you can ask for Bears fans. And I think that's
a big thing that we wanted to you know, that's
the big thing that we wanted to talk about at
training camp. You knew from day one to day seven
you weren't going to see a four thousand, you know
yard passer who's going to you know, complete everything, make
(11:57):
impressive throws the entire time. That's not what the expectation
was at the start a training camp, right like you
wanted to see some incremental progress, and I think you're
seeing that from Caleb right now.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Joe.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Good to see you back there. I've just been talking
about Caleb and you know, getting him. You know, it's
not perfect by any means, but it is looking more
natural to him, the process of going through the process,
getting the communication and all that sort of stuff. And
I think that's obviously what we wanted to see, right
like you, from day one to day seven, you wanted
to see him to make that progress. And he's made
(12:29):
that incremental progress of hearing the play, getting everyone set up,
and going down the field, and I think that's that's
an important first step for him in this training camp.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Joking, hear us, I lost you, Michael.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Yes, I was just saying, you know, we were looking for,
you know, progress for him, you know, in the first week,
from day one to day seven, and he's obviously seeing
him more being able to to kind of go through
the process of going through and getting different people involved,
and I think that's what we were kind of looking at.
Obviously we didn't want you you would love the big
plays and the big connections and this sort of stuff.
(13:10):
But I think it's important to note that the process
has looked better from day one to day seven. Hope,
we lost Joe again, so we'll see what the deal
with Joe is and maybe we can get him on
a better connection here. But like I said, guys, if
you guys have any questions, you know, if you guys
want to get involved more, obviously send some questions and
happy to answer here. But yeah, I think that's the
(13:33):
biggest thing from right now. You've seen the progress, and
you've seen him being more comfortable moving up and down
the line and becoming more comfortable, you know, calling out
the plays, telling someone where he needs to be, you know,
getting ready into motion and all the different sort of stuff.
So it's definitely it's definitely a progress that we're seeing.
And even today on Thursday we're recording this. On Thursday,
(13:56):
you saw progress. You probably saw the offense have its
best day now, you know, was it perfect?
Speaker 2 (14:04):
No, it was not.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
You had the offense, you know, get down the field
in the red zone, and then there was an incompletion,
a delay of game or incompletion, and then you had
a intentional grounding which can't happen on third down, which
forces you to lose it down so that that stuff
can't happen. The two men the drill that they did
(14:27):
today where you know they were able to pick down,
pick up a first down, then they had a sack,
a couple incompletions, a deep pass to to DJ Moore,
but then you know, you don't pick up the another
first down to move the ball down the field. So
it's not perfect by any means like that. That's not
what I'm here to tell you. But you know, Caleb
(14:47):
does complete a couple of nice passes to Luther Burden,
especially a you know, a beautiful dime down the sideline
to Luther. You do see him completing a nice play
to Olimai Zakias, so you know, you're seeing that progress
that you Bears fans want from him, and I think
that's kind of what you want to see at this point.
I don't think you were going to have him, you know,
(15:09):
blow up and you know, make incredible plays time in
and time out, like the incompletions and the miscommunication still happening,
but I do think you're seeing progress A weekend to
practice here, Joe.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
Yeah, and I can hear you now. I think I
lost you there for a little bit. But regarding Caleb Williams,
I heard most of what I what you were saying there.
I think you know. The way I look at it,
Michael is look, I mean, it is training camp for
a reason, especially with a newly installed offense here, they're
gonna be growing pains. Hopefully most of them are out
of the way by week one or certainly by you know,
(15:42):
week two, week three. But I mean we just, you know, again,
we overreact about everything. In the first two days of practice.
It was everyone's like, oh my gosh, Caleb Williams doesn't
look good and this is gonna be you know, a
row and more growing pains than it could be the
whole year. And you know, I think it was our
guy Sylvie who writes a column for us as Shaw Local,
was trying to make like the comparison with you know,
(16:06):
THEO and we took over the Cubs, And I mean
it is not this. I mean, I mean Sylvia is
great and he does great work in print too for
us besides being on radio. But I don't think that
comparison is fair like in the NFL. I mean, you know,
it's not like MLB or the National Hockey League, where
rebuilding it does take three four five years sometimes because
(16:27):
guys come in young, they got to spend two or
three years of the minors before you kind of know
what you have not not here. So I mean, I
do think there's there's pressure to get this right. We
can't be going through the whole year with Caleb and
not knowing if Caleb Williams is the answer going into
twenty twenty six, not to totally forget twenty twenty five,
but we got to figure out. Bears need to figure
(16:47):
out this year is he the guy, because then that's
imagine if he's not the guy, Imagine if he's just
going to be okay, and like, oh my gosh. You know,
this was the number one pick overall and that's scary,
and that's something we're kind of getting used to unfortunately
in Chicago. But the prospects of that are really kind
of scary. But you know, again, I don't want to
(17:09):
ro over it's not real. Overreact and then you had
a good practice the other day and it was okay. Today,
I think it's okay. You know, I look at it like, man, Michael,
if someone saw, you know, one of my stories that
I was working on before I you know, send it
to be edited, they'd be like this, this guy is
absolutely horrible. I mean it's you know, this sentence doesn't
make sense and this should be there and the lead
(17:31):
doesn't make sense. Our type like, well, yeah, I'm working
on it, you know that. I'll it's not a finished
product yet. Wait till I hit file and edit and
you know, someone can look at it and then it
runs in print and online. So I mean, you know,
sometimes let's just we we want to look. We want
to see, you know, reporters like yourself where they're at
hallis Hall watching, But we just have to take everything,
(17:55):
just have to chill a little bit. I know, you
know that, but but that's just the way it is.
So so I just want to see healthy bodies, right
we just That's what I every time I hear a
bears report or I re something by you, I just
don't want to hear like, oh, guess who you know
had a bad injury now is gonna miss the whole
year six months or you know, is gonna miss the
first few weeks of the season. That's the stuff you
(18:16):
don't want to hear. So we haven't knock on wood.
We haven't heard any of that yet other than the
Jalen Johnson situation. Hopefully he's ready again, as we said
by week one. But that's what I'm looking for, and
just a little more. We talked about it the last
time we did a podcast, But just be a little
more organized in the huddles, in and out of things. No
false starts to me, the left tackle, you know, and
whether who gets the job there, the guy who commits
(18:38):
the few is false starts. Because we can't start the
season here, we go first and ten from the twenty
you're twenty five, and then there's a false start and
we're looking at first in fifteen. How many times we've
seen that in the last several years, not only under
you know, you know last year and before that, you know,
going back to Mitch and a lot of Bears teams.
So we can't see that. So I don't know, I
(18:58):
just don't get hurt.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Yeah, I mean, obviously that's the biggest thing, right And
you know, these types they don't do they don't do
too many live periods anymore. They did a live period
the other day, which is kind of good, just trying
to you know, you got to get into football shape.
Obviously you can't, you know, get go into week one
without taking contact or anything like that, or even the
first preseason game. But yeah, I think I agree mostly
with your entire point on Caleb. I think I think
(19:22):
it goes back to, you know, like with everything, you know,
you need context. Like we've asked been a couple of
times now, like how much do you are you know,
how much does Caleb take from last year and how
much does he get to apply into this year? And
you know, he's essentially said, you know, he hasn't called
him a rookie by any means, but essentially it kind
of feels like we're building this thing from the ground up,
(19:43):
like we are. I don't think there's really much you know, Yes,
you know, Caleb knows what it's like to go through
an NFL week, right Like he knows what it's like
to go through the week. He knows what it's like
to go through a season. He gets all that point.
But you know, other than that stuff, it doesn't seem
like there's much that can be taken from week one
in terms of you know, scheme, you know that sort
(20:04):
of stuff, like he's reworked his footwork, he's obviously learning
a new playbook. He's working much more under center. And
I think that's important context when you see at the
beginning of camp that it looks bad, like, well, this
is a guy and everyone else who's learning a new,
completely new system. And I'm not trying to be an
apologist by any means, Like there are miss throws, there's
a lot of miscommunication like that that happens, right, But
(20:26):
I think with this whole argument, it's important to have
the conversation and the context of, yes, this is the
number one pick. You want him to look great, you
want him to look like Jayden Daniels and bo Nix
and all that sort of stuff, But then you also
have to have the context of last year was not good.
He's learning a completely new system this year, completely like
new styles, new terminology and all that sort of stuff.
(20:49):
So I don't think it's crazy for it to not
look perfect the first week of training camp.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Yeah, And I mean you could say, look, I mean,
even if everything goes right for them, what are the
odds of them getting to the Super Bowl. We're playing
in the NFC Championship Game. But that's what the Commanders
did last year with the rookie, so you know, they
got to the NFC Championship Game. So crazy. So I
do think they could if it goes right, if it
goes like and they're gonna be I just I refuse
(21:16):
to believe they're gonna be worse or just like last year.
I don't see how it can't be better after that
train wreck last season with firing coaches and fire you know,
another head coach, and you know the Jalen Johnson, the
failed to marry, all all that stuff. How many how
many heartbreaking losses did they have there? Not that they
(21:38):
were playing playoff caliber football in some of those games,
but there was that was just horrible. And I think
Caleb came out okay. So I think they're going to
be better. Is that going to translate to ten or
eleven wins? I don't know. I think we'll know early though.
I think we'll know early where they're at. I mean,
you know, the first preseason game is coming up here,
what like ten days, Yeah, next to day, Michael, next Sunday, right, so,
(22:04):
and I don't Caleb, I'm guessing's not gonna play, But
I don't know, And I don't know if Ben Johnson
has talked. I mean, I'm sure he has to ten
days away how much the starters are gonna play, But
we need to I'll start reacting more like negatively or
positively after I see the offense on the field for
more than just like one series. I think we need
to see what this looks like under the guy who's
(22:27):
gonna be the starting quarterback on opening night.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Yeah, you know, Ben Johnson was kind of asked about
it at the start of training camp, and it's it's
very clear that that he and his coaching staff is
going to put a lot of intel, a lot of observations,
a lot of decision making from those joint practices against
the Dolphins and the Bills. That's going to be happening
the next uh, not tomorrow, but the next two fridays
they'll be going against the Dolphins and then the Bills.
(22:52):
It seems like like he'll determine later on how much
you're going to actually play in the games and all
that sort of stuff that hasn't been determined yet, but
it's very clear like that. A lot of these competitions,
whether it's left tackle, whether it's a third linebacker, whether
it's any of the cornerback spots, you know, wide receivers, snaps,
any of it, all of a lot of that could
be decided or influenced by what happens during those joint practices.
(23:15):
So that'll be really interesting to watch, just you know,
once you're finally able to go against someone else who
you know isn't your teammate, uniting against the same people,
I think that'll be really interesting and telling.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
I see a lot of good.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Questions in the chat, and I'll get to them, or
we'll get to them here in a minute. But Joey
wanted to hit on on on Ben Jonson, and you know,
obviously the whole off season we were talking about, you know,
the different culture he's bringing here to Hell's Hall, how
he's being more accountable, and how he's you know, holding
guys more accountable. He's getting on people, the coaching staff
(23:48):
is getting on people. It's not just him then, it's
Allen Eric p Enemy. You don't have to be too
far away from him to hear him and his in
his coaching and Antoine Randall, L. L. Harris, all these
different guys are you know, on players, supporting them, getting
on them if they make a mistake, you know, pulling
them if they're not ready to go, and that that
has translated here to training camp. You saw Ben Johnson,
(24:08):
you know he doesn't you know, he didn't take it
personally or you know, wasn't offended by calling it, you know,
taking the first team off the field. But that's essentially
what happened when they weren't ready to go. He wanted
to keep it going. You only got so much time
to practice. You can't be going out there if you're
not ready to go. He's you know, for how good
Luther Burden has looked a couple last couple of days.
He got kicked out on a play one of the
(24:29):
first days he was back because he wasn't aligned the
right way. Like this has been happening the entire weekend
during the spring, where this coaching staff is holding you accountable.
If you're not ready to go, if you're not on
the details, you're not gonna be part of the player
and you're not going to get a chance to play.
And I think that's obviously very different from what we've
seen here in the past, you know, three years with
the previous coaching staff. But I think it's been received
(24:52):
well so far, and I think it kind of leads
to a different style you know of training camp than
maybe we've had here in the past.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Yeah, you know, I mean how many people have said,
you know, players like to be coached, they want to
be coached, and if they don't, they they shouldn't be
here and they probably won't be here when all said
and you know, all said and done come the start
of the season. So yeah, they should be held accountable.
There's and I don't want to put words in your mouth,
but it kind of seems like there's what you're basically saying,
(25:21):
like what he's Ben Jonson is saying, is there's a
sense of urgency to get things right because you know,
you think you've got time, but you don't. So yeah,
every rep is im important. I think you see that
in high school high school practices, you know. But if
it's tough, love, so be it again. Not that you
can treat every single year. They've got to learn too.
(25:42):
I mentioned this is one of our podcasts in the
back and in the past. I mean, you've got to
figure out which guys respond to what because some guys
are just gonna beat them up, eat them up. Well
they're gonna they're gonna die, and the dog's gonna quit
on you. And you know, some guys you gotta treat
people are all. All people are different, right everyone. You
can't coach every in the same way. So they know
(26:03):
better than me. They know better than all of us.
You know, they've done it at the NFL level, the
coaches that is, So I hope they figure it out,
and I you know, I hope, I just hope we
can see some guys who embrace this and they respond
to it and then are and they carry that and
are prorective on the football field, whether it's off and
sewer defense.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Yeah, Joe, you mentioned that urgency. That's one of the
first things, you know, Ben Johnson talked about. He called
it the training camp like a race, Like, yes, you
have six weeks to get ready for the season opener,
but you know, listen, those six weeks go quick, like
you you get a limited amount of time obviously that's
been negotiated with the NFLPA. Each day like you're getting
more and more every day, like today was the longest practice.
(26:46):
But yeah, like it's a race. Like there's a lot
of work to do. There's a lot of stuff that
needs to get done, and this coaching staff is like
detail oriented and is making sure that like listen, like
if you're not ready to go, you're not ready to go,
We're not going.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
To like stop for you.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Like we need to keep this thing going because we
got to be as ready as possible and have whoever's
ready as you know, whoever is ready to go in
week one based on what what they've been seeing. All right,
let's go to a couple of these questions I wanted
to answer. Here's first one from Sports Chicago Style for
the backup quarterbacks, has how has Tyson Baigent look? Has
(27:21):
he developed in Keenum? Does he look physically capable?
Speaker 2 (27:26):
You know?
Speaker 1 (27:26):
I I will say, you know, the number two quarterback
isn't set right now. That's a competition. Both Pagent and
Keenum had been switching you know, second team reps every
other day. It's kind of what they've been doing with
the left tackle competition as well. I will say, you know,
Tyson Beaijen looks very comfortable in the offense, and I
think that's been really impressive. Like you watch him go
(27:48):
through his progressions and you'll see him like he'll just
hit a guy in stride, like down the middle, like
exactly what you're supposed to do.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Keenum.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
You know, obviously he's got the experience. He's been there before.
You say that, and maybe not that he's doing anything
poorly by any means, But I for Tyson Baigent, I've
just been really impressed with, you know, how on top
of things he seems to be.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
It seems like he.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Not that the other quarterbacks don't know the offense or
haven't been studying or anything like that. But you know,
for Tyson, it just seems like he's really on top
of it. He knows where the ball is supposed to go,
and I.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Think that's going to be really important.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
You know, obviously you want the physical talent, you want
the guy who has the experience. Obviously case Keenum has
that experience. But listen for right now, like it seems
like Tyson really has things where they were supposed to be.
He's going through the process, he's going through his checks,
he's going he's managing the huddle. Well, it just looks
(28:43):
good with him right now, and that could obviously change
as the weeks kind of go on, but for right now,
I would say things just look good under Tyson Pagent
and it seems like he's really ready to go. And
I think that's kind of been one of the most
interesting things so far, where, yes, obviously Caleb looks good,
he's making impressive throws, he's developing true case, you know,
(29:03):
but that's definitely been one thing that I've really been
impressed with Tyson Page in so far A weekend.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Yeah, and I you know, and basically what you're saying
is what we saw in twenty twenty three from him
when he had to fill in what was those four
games for Justin Fields when Justin Fields was injured and
what the Bears I think went two and two in
those four games. But yeah, I mean he gets rid
of the wall quickly. He's on time. That you know,
the I guess the question I would have watching him
or to the coaches with him, is his arm any stronger?
(29:30):
Because that was eventually exposed, you know in twenty twenty
three when he when he saw some extended playing time
at quarterback. Because I mean, you don't have to have
a misshole mean, Tom Brady didn't I mean, you don't
have to have an arm like Jay Cutler or you know,
John Elway, but you got to be able to throw it.
And he he doesn't have the arm strength and but
can be uh you know, I hate to use the
(29:50):
word game manager, but can he be a little better
than that? Maybe? But if he's going to be your quarterback,
if Caleb gets hurt, you know, then then your defense
is going to be really keeping you in the ballgame,
you know, because you're probably not gonna put up thirty
points with with Tyson Beagen, But you can get a
guy in there that can run the offense, manage the offense,
and you know, in the field goal position, and you know,
(30:14):
get some key third down pickups. You know that that
could work. But boy, I hope we're not talking about
Tyson Beaijen a lot this year because if we are,
man that's not gonna be good.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
No.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
I agree with you. Obviously, you don't get hurt. You
don't want that to be a solution a thing at all.
But if you do run into the situation, I do
think that you would be comfortable with Tyson as your backup, right.
I do think that he's a serviceable backup. Who can
make throws. He knows the offense well and sure can
you I you know, does is he going to be
(30:48):
able to shoot it for a seventy yard pass? You know,
I don't know, but I do know that he will
effectively run the offense. And I think Ben Johnson is
a good enough play color where he would adjust quickly
and put Tyson Baje in situations to succeed.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
So obviously don't.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
Want that to happen, but if it does happen, I
would say that the Bears are in a pretty good
spot with their two backups that they have. Talking about
some camp darlings, obviously, we talked about Camp Darling's last
week when we were previewing that JP Richardson was one
of the first wide receivers who kind of stole the show,
at least after the couple of days. Uh Sports Chicago style.
(31:23):
Has has wide receiver JP done anything in pads hasn't
been too noticeable in pads. He he has made some
impressive catches and shells the first couple of days of practice,
but that's kind of died down here the last couple
of days. So maybe we'll see him get a little
bit more involved here as the offense kind of comes
more together. He also asks about hip Lite, does he
(31:45):
look overwhelmed or like a possible gem. I you know,
obviously we're a week into things, Rubin hipp Right now,
it's been Tremaine Edmunds, t J. Edwards, and Noah Sulla
as a three linebacker for the most part, with the
third with the first team. Obviously, you know, they get
rid of that third linebacker sometimes to put Kyler Gordon
(32:07):
in a lot of situations. But Swell has been that third,
that third linebacker so far. But I will say, Ruben Hippolyte,
that speed, that speed is real, and it's been impressive
so far just to watch him and coverage, like catch
up on a guy that maybe he was supposed to
cover or wasn't supposed to cover, Like he can make
(32:27):
up coverage and break up a pass. And I think
that's going to be huge. Like maybe you don't see
Ruben start off this season as a starter, but you're
going to need him eventually, You're right, Like, you're gonna
need him if an injury pops up when you're going
through rotations, and it's gonna take some time. Obviously it's
only training camp. You're going against your own guys. We'll
see how it looks against the Dolphins, Bills, and probably
(32:49):
the Chiefs too.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
He'd get a good run there too.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
But for right now, I've been really impressed with Ruben Hippolyte,
and that'd be big Joe if they really hit on
that fourth round pick. Because speed, you know, speed is
amazing in this Tennesseellan defense. I mean, you can't have
too much of it, especially with his with Ruben hippo
Let's length.
Speaker 3 (33:08):
Yeah, No, that'd be great if he could show up,
you know, you know, if he's got the instinct, you know,
if you can combine him his speed with Jack Sanborn's
instincts and tathing ability, you probably have an all Pro linebacker,
right So hopefully he's got some smarts there where you
can figure out the game. But speed is everything, you know, Michael,
every level you go up, high school, college, pro or
(33:29):
you know, you know, you know, high school, junior, college,
D D two, uh, you know, D one pro, it's
all about speed, you know. You got to have that element,
especially at that position where you could be chasing a lot,
you know, whether it's downhill or you're you're chasing receiver
out of the backfield, whether it's running back or a
wide receiver or whatever. So but boy, if Hippo I
(33:50):
can show up and like, well that guy's you know,
bet a productive player for us or you know is
during the course of the season, that'd be a huge
bonus because again, that's a guy who a lot of
people thought the Bears reached for uh when they drafted him.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
So but he wasn't. He wasn't. Yeah, he wasn't.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
He wasn't invited to the combine like no, like no
one expected him. And then look again, it's a weekend,
Like we're not going to know overblow, you know, Caleb stuff,
Like we're not gonna start saying that Rubin hit boy
is the next Brian or Lacker by any means. But
I have been impressed by what we've seen so far,
and I'm curious to see how it kind of continues
as we kind of move forward. One last thing I
(34:28):
want to talk about here last couple of minutes before
we say goodbye, folks. Something I want to talk about
deals with both of Rick's questions, are you guys seeing
Gordon playing safety? And then also has Jaquan been hitting
tackling at all, Yes, he has.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Jaquan is back at full strength. He's doing everything. He's hitting,
he is making his presence known. He's very loud like
he's always been. And and and the interesting thing with
both Kyler and Jaquan is just you know how Dennis
Allen is going to use them. Both of them said
that they can be versatile and Dennis Allen's defense, they
(35:06):
can play up on the line, they can play back
in coverage, they can play out in corner outside you know,
wide corner slot. And that's going to make things difficult
for opposing offenses, right because you know, I think a
lot of opposing quarterbacks are going to be like they
see Kyler Gordon out there, and they're gonna be like, Okay,
how's he going to play this? Is he going to
(35:28):
come pressure the quarterback? Is he going to drop back?
Is like it's it's you know, that's obviously why the
Bears decided to extend Kyler this offseason, right, because of
the versatility that he brings. You've seen him a lot
already in the first week here, come up with a
lot of nice pass breakups, like he's everywhere on that field,
and I think that's going to be such a you know,
(35:49):
both him and Jakwan will be such versatile weapons where
you know, Dennis Allen can put them at different points
of this defense. Obviously they play on the opposite sides
of the defense, but still you can have one out back,
you can have one up on the line, both up
on the line, both back, Like, there's a lot that
you can do with them, and that's gonna make it.
You know, I don't know if that's gonna make or
(36:10):
break a play a lot of times, but that does
put something in the mind of the quarterback, just being like, huh,
what is that guy doing back there?
Speaker 2 (36:17):
Is he going to be playing this or is he
going to be playing like?
Speaker 1 (36:19):
That just adds more doubt to the quarterback, which is
obviously what you want to do, and I think that's
really important. That's going to be really key for this
defense to succeed. We talked about how sticky the quarterbacks
have been. If Jakwan Brisker obviously can stay healthy and
him and Kyler Gordon can bring their versatility, I think
that's going to make it really hard for offenses to
pick up what Dennis Allen is doing here.
Speaker 3 (36:41):
Well, I gotta I gotta comment that I have a
question for you, Michael. First of all, you know, at
started the show I mentioned Jalen Johnson being their best player,
and he is. But the guy who might be their
second best player in that defense other than maybe Monteste
What is Kyler Gordon? I mean, he's really good. Now,
you really don't want your nickel necessarily to be your
best player on your defense. I mean, you got other
got bigger issues. But no, he's really good. I'm curious
(37:03):
to see how Dennis Allen uses him and will he
gets some action at safety. Again, I just don't trust
Jakwan Brister being healthy with the concussion issues he has. Well,
if he plays seventeen games, I'll be thrilled to death,
but I'm just not very confident that's what's gonna happen.
I'm curious too, though, for it is you can tell
me Jakwan Brister, is he wearing the Guardian caps.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
That there are not?
Speaker 1 (37:28):
There are a lot of I will say, you know,
based on what I've noticed from last year, and obviously
I had limited exposure at times and that sort of stuff,
but from what I've seen a good chunk of players
are wearing the Guardian caps, but Jawan Brisker is not.
We talked to him last week. He said that he
never thought about wearing the Guardian cap. That's obviously his decision.
(37:48):
He did change his helmet and said that the helmet
had to match his face mask, which you can obviously
take for for what it is. But I mean, I
I he's not wearing the cap. A lot of players are, though,
and I think that's interesting. I think a lot of players,
you know, players like Roshawan Johnson, a lot of the
old linemen, d linemen are wearing the Guardian camps because
(38:08):
if you can make yourself you know, my mindset, as
someone who's never played football, is if you can make
yourself healthier, keep yourself on the field not have head injuries,
like why would you not take that extra Like I
don't think it really takes them much more to put
on a Guardian cap. But maybe the hitting is different
and maybe it feels different. I'm not sure, but I
do think that the Guardian caps have become more popular
(38:31):
with the players. They become you know, a lot of
players are wearing them, and hopefully it is making a difference,
because obviously you want people to not have brain injuries
in general, but then you obviously want to prolong people's
careers and not have effects after, you know, after their
football careers are done.
Speaker 3 (38:49):
Yeah. No, I think I maybe saw a couple guys
in NFL games. Not any Bears guys were wearing them
last year. Maybe a couple of old linemen if I recall.
But if you ever picked up an NFL helmet a
speed flex, they're heavy. I mean it's you pick one
up and realize and these guys run around the field
at crazy speeds with this amount of weight on their head.
(39:10):
I'm not an athlete and I'm old, but that's to me,
that's amazing that they can do that because ed of all,
humblets are heavy, and then you put that Guardian cap
on and I know it's not like it's ten pounds,
but it is heavy, and I'm sure it's it's cumbersome,
but I you know, I could see maybe wearing it
more in practice, and maybe if they're not hitting or
just telling them, hey, look, jakwand in his case, don't
(39:33):
hit anybody. I mean, you got to play football. But
you know, discretion is a better part of valor. That
kind of thing. Uh, with with him because I mean
that's just uh, scares of me. And you know, a
head injuries, we've we've seen it too many times, not
only with athletes in Chicago with with concussions everywhere, with
with with players at the high school level. You don't
want to mess with the brain, you know what I mean.
(39:55):
It's like someone mentioned that Mike Didko once like that
coaching you limp and stuff. He's like, so what you
so what, I've had some injuries. I got a bad knee,
bad hip, so what you know, I can get around,
But the head that scares you. I mean you know,
like you can talk an hour on Tua with his
concussion issues. You know, but you just want Jaquan Brisker
(40:15):
to be healthy, right, I mean, he'll forever be a
fans love Jaquan Brisker everything, you know. You know, you
you know people like Jaquan Brisker and he'll be an
expert like everyone's an expair someday. But you want him
to be healthy.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (40:29):
And uh, you know, if you can play great football,
that's great. But man, just just hate to sound like
a parent, but I mean, gosh, just just be careful
and yeah, because you don't want him messed up for
the rest of his life.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
No, you obviously don't.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
And obviously it's bigger than just the game, right, but
you obviously want him on the field as well, like
you want him to be around there. He's a talented
guy who's you know, playing for a contract, right, Like
you need to be on the field if you want
to get that contract and secure yourself. So obviously, hopefully
he said, he's not leaning in with head, you know,
with a helmet, tackles or anything like that, and hopefully
(41:04):
he's able to stay on the field for as long
as possible. All right, that is every all right, We've
got one more thing. But before we say goodbye, Rick
wants me to give Triple R the trip. The Tyler
Scott Update. I've noticed Tyler Scott a couple of times,
like he's made a couple of catches. He's on the
roster still, and I think that's good for this Tyler
Scott podcast because if this podcast loves anyone else more,
(41:27):
it's Tyler Scott. But you know he's there, He's made
made a couple of nice catches. He actually made a
nice catch today, I think with the third team for
for a first down during eleven on eleven, so he's
still there. And you know, that wide receiver room is
so interesting, right because you know, obviously you've got TJ. Moore,
you got Roma Dunes, so, you got Luther Burden, You've
(41:48):
got Olamide's a kas who I think could be a
sneaky threat and who's actually going to make a big
impact in this offense. You've got Devin DuVernay. Obviously you
know you brought him in for punt return, but I
think he can make an impact in the passing game
as well. So it's a crewdit wide receiver room. And
I think you know, Miles Boykin is you know, obviously
(42:08):
a local guy, Providence grad, Notre Dame guy. He's made
a couple of nice catches as well, so you know,
it's a crowded room, especially if you got you know,
Coase to Loveland and Cole Kamen involved. So it'll be
interesting to see if Tyler Scott can kind of make
himself a little bit more more well known here as
we kind of progress through training camp. But that's everything
(42:28):
that we got for this week's episode. Thank you so
much for joining Thanking to everyone who joined us with
in the live stream with their questions. I'm good to
get the chat going here on a Thursday afternoon. I
know we're usually used to mornings, but we're just gonna
have to play training camp by year at this point,
and we're just gonna have to see whenever Joe and
mind schedules are kind of open, but we'll make sure
(42:49):
to at least give you guys a twenty four hour
notice before we're gonna be doing live stream. And if
you can't join us during the live stream, make sure
you joined us for the podcast. So make sure following
Joe on next Twitter, whatever you want to call it
at this day, Joe Aguilar sixty four, he's got you
going on with some Beare stuff, but also obviously a
lot of prep football is happening here as we are
(43:11):
getting closer to the season, so make sure you follow
him for all that sort of stuff, and make sure
you're following all my daily training camp updates and features.
Speaker 2 (43:18):
I've got it all coming out on my social media's
at m DWO Jack ninety four.
Speaker 1 (43:22):
So thanks so much for joining us this time, guys,
and we will talk to you guys down the road.
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