Latest / 2nd City Gridiron / Bears Banter Ep. 240: CBS' Charles Davis examines the Bears Draft!

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Bears Banter Ep. 240: CBS' Charles Davis examines the Bears Draft! · 2nd City Gridiron

• 0:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
• 0:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: Banner is back for another off season edition.
• 0:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: This one, of course, to wrap up the 2026 NFL draft and what the bears did and didn't do with those selections.
• 0:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: We've got a great guest coming up for you today.
• 0:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: The great Charles Davis from CBS.
• 0:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, the head.
• 0:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now he is the head.
• 0:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: college football analyst for CVS, and of course he's worked for NFL network for a long time.
• 0:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: He knows this draft inside and out.
• 1:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: He knows these players inside and out.
• 1:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: He joined us last year.
• 1:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: And last year, if you go back and listen, he was on the money.
• 1:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: He told you 7th round pit Kyle Monangai was going to be making an impact.
• 1:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: In year one, he told you that burden and if a burden and if a light burden and lovelin We're gonna be making impacts in year one.
• 1:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: He really liked what the bears did last year and was on target with a lot of what he had to say So happy to have him back this year to talk about that Chicago bear's draft but
• 1:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: Before we get to Charles got to put up with me for a little bit.
• 1:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to talk about the pros and cons from my viewpoint of this NFL draft.
• 1:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: And in the moment on Friday night did I piss off bears fans because when it was clear,
• 1:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: that the Chicago Bears were not going to be addressing the defensive line except maybe some day three flyers.
• 1:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: I took to social media and bears fans did not want to hear negativity in the moment.
• 2:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: A few of them, a few of them agreed.
• 2:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: A lot of you can
• 2:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: Hey, Matt me and that is what I love about social media.
• 2:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's a fun back and forth.
• 2:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, it's a successful but if you pick and choose and ignore some of the certain stuff and have fun with some of the other stuff, it can be a fun place to be.
• 2:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: So we're going to get into all of it.
• 2:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: So let's dive in with this draft and let's start with the Dylan Thineman pick and how things went in round one.
• 2:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: And of course, I did a live stream at the, for the first round.
• 2:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can still check it out on the second city grid iron podcast, a second city grid iron YouTube page.
• 2:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm sorry, we didn't upload it as a podcast as it's, it's obviously it's a three plus hour length broadcast.
• 2:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it was very dated, but you can still check that out on the YouTube page.
• 2:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can skip ahead to when the bears were selected.
• 2:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: And of course, all are analysis after that.
• 2:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you're interested, you can check that out.
• 3:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: the live stream when oh and there are my dogs sound like I am broadcasting from a canal we're just gonna march right through at ladies and gentlemen the live stream everyone before because I have rotating people coming on with me
• 3:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: Everyone's like, well, Dylan Thineman's not gonna be there.
• 3:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: Dylan Thineman's not gonna be there, but it would be great if the bears could get a safety.
• 3:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I was on with Taylor Dow when the Vikings and Panthers picked.
• 3:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: And when those picks went down,
• 3:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: Both of our ears perked up because we got to number 20, and we both said, well, Dylan Theneman's right there.
• 3:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if you listen to my podcast that I did with our attempt, and a few days before the draft, what did I say?
• 3:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: I said, if Dylan Theneman is there at 25, is that the name that the bears just run in?
• 3:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: No questions asked, just don't even hesitate.
• 3:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: And as it turns out, that is exactly what the case was.
• 3:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it broke perfectly for the Chicago Bears because you can argue that that was based on your talent regardless of position, the best player available at that moment at pic 25 you can also clearly see.
• 4:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: that that was a position of need for the Chicago Bears and arguably in terms of when you isolate things and look at everything individually was the biggest need because of all the people they left that that they lost in free agency and we've gone over this the the last few podcasts but all of me days the key is leaves, Khalif Raymond comes in.
• 4:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Lotta, lot of tip for tats, right?
• 4:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: You'll lose Drew Dalman.
• 4:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: You bring in Garrett Bradbury.
• 4:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: You'll lose Tramaine Edmunds.
• 4:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: You bring in Devon Smith.
• 4:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: We saw them do this.
• 4:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: And obviously, it's safety.
• 4:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: Kobe Bryant in for Kevin Byrd.
• 4:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: But what we did not see them do.
• 4:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: is replaced, Jekwann Brisker.
• 4:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: So it was very clear that the bears had plans to find a safety and start them as a rookie in the defensive secondary.
• 5:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: So when Thineman is on the board in round one, it becomes an absolute no-brainer.
• 5:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: And as someone who has been screaming from the mountain tops,
• 5:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: that the Chicago Bears need to address the defensive line.
• 5:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: I looked at that and said, that is a no-brainer pick, that is a great pick, that is a playmaker, that guy has flexibility, he can play multiple aspects of the secondary and how Dennis Allen likes to utilize his guys, he is not of true free safety, he is not a true box safety, he is a guy that you can move around on the defense, do the things that Dennis Allen wants to do,
• 5:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think the end of it is going to be a playmaker at the next level, which is something that bears desperately need on that defense.
• 5:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can argue they don't have any playmakers right now.
• 5:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: Hopefully Kobe Bryant or Devon Bush can become those guys, but they don't have playmakers as good as Jalen Johnson is.
• 5:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: He can be a shut down corner.
• 5:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's not necessarily a playmaker, right?
• 6:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's not the splashy guy who's going to get a ton of picks sixes and anything like that.
• 6:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Tyreek Stevenson, you could even argue, might be a bigger playmaker.
• 6:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: then Jalen Johnson, now Jalen Johnson's like 70 years above Tyrex Stevenson and instead of quality corners, sometimes you can't have that trade off, but at the same time, the bears don't have that guy that can flip an offensive drive on its head, stall it out and get the ball back.
• 6:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: to the offense.
• 6:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: They just really don't have a lot of those guys.
• 6:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think the Neman has the potential to be one of those guys.
• 6:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, we've all seen the interception he had against Penn State.
• 6:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: Great play there.
• 6:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like this is the type of guy that can really excel in Dennis Allen's defense.
• 6:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: So, and
• 6:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: As a guy, who was expecting the mayor to probably go defensive line, although if you would listen to my podcast, I was not shutting out the secondary.
• 6:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: My main thing about the safety is I actually thought all three of the big name safety's were gonna be off the board, shocking to me that Emmanuel McNeill Warren did not only did not go until the second round.
• 7:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: He went late in the second round and I believe he was the fourth safety, taking not even the third safety.
• 7:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: That surprised me quite a bit, but regardless, as we had talked about,
• 7:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Neil Warren was going to be the perfect fit for what Dennis Allen wanted to do, but Thenomen was, right?
• 7:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thenomen was honestly a better fit than Caleb Downs.
• 7:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now, if they're both there at 25, and obviously Caleb Downs was never going to be there at 25, if they're both there at 25, you take Caleb Downs, but I'm just saying in terms of perfect scheme fit, Thenomen was better there for the Chicago Bears.
• 7:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: So an excellent selection there,
• 7:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: And this is where the controversy sets in about the Chicago Bears and they're lack of addressing the defensive line.
• 7:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, Gabe Yakis was a guy that I like the Illinois edge.
• 7:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think I'm saying it right.
• 7:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think that Jay is silent.
• 7:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yakis.
• 7:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: I liked a lot of the tape he put on.
• 7:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: I thought he was a pretty good fit for what Dennis Allen wants and I think he could have developed into that.
• 8:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now obviously, I bring that name up because he went shortly before the bear selection and when the bears got on the clock at 57.
• 8:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: I would agree there weren't really any edges jumping off the page where I would say, oh, this would be a good selection here for the bears.
• 8:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: The question then becomes the bears moving up.
• 8:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now, when you hear some of the things that Ryan Poles said in press conferences, he talked about how the bears were going to have to pay a significant price to move up.
• 8:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I even heard things floated that it was going to be the pick number 60 and a future second round pick for them to move up.
• 8:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know where they were trying to move up, but if you look at both scales, the rich hill trade chart and the Jimmy Johnson trade chart.
• 8:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think largely because of how weak this draft class was,
• 8:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: they were going either at price or below price.
• 8:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: So the cost of moving up had proven to be cheaper almost across the board for the entire draft.
• 9:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if the bears had just given pick 60 from pick 57, that should have launched them late into the first round.
• 9:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: that that's how much value those two picks have.
• 9:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I think Ryan Paul's is bsing in that regard.
• 9:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think the bears absolutely could have moved up and around two if they wanted.
• 9:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I wonder if it was limited in terms of the defensive ends and they thought they needed to get.
• 9:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: into the 30s.
• 9:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now still, they could have done an eye not blaming them for not wanting to give up pick 60.
• 9:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I think the bears absolutely could have used their fourth round pick, moved up about five or six spots.
• 9:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you look at the charts, that's about accurate there.
• 9:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think they even could have traded down from their third round pick maybe into the early fourth and not lost to pick at all.
• 9:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then still moved up even further into the high mid second round.
• 9:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: to get that edge player.
• 9:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think there was maneuverability to be had, but the bears decided they want to stand pat.
• 10:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: So when they take Logan Jones, I got a little upset that they took Logan Jones a 57 and then traded down at 60.
• 10:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: In the moment, I'm upset because at that moment, edge edge is gone.
• 10:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Right?
• 10:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: They might take a day three flyer at that point, but the bears will not be getting any help at edge.
• 10:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: They will not be getting a rotational edge that can play in 2026 at that point.
• 10:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Once you're into the thick of round three, once you're there,
• 10:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's over, right?
• 10:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: You're not going to find any kind of edge players.
• 10:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: You really need to find those players in round one.
• 10:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if not in round one, they have to come in round two.
• 10:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's why I was upset.
• 10:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: And yes, I'm a fan of Logan Jones.
• 10:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I certainly did not make that clear in my tweets, because I was complaining, you know, you're you're taking a, because I think someone like Sam Hackton, who he fell far, the Kansas State Center,
• 10:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not sure if there's something going on there that NFL teams know about maybe there's an injury, something like that.
• 10:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: Be curious.
• 11:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: If something like that comes out because he tumbled in the day three.
• 11:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: And he was a guy I thought was a really smart player kind of the kind of guy that can be a leader on the offensive line.
• 11:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: I felt the kind of guy that should be able to make the line calls the debt, the data sound.
• 11:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: that Ben Johnson wants his center to make, I thought he made a lot of sense for the Chicago Bears.
• 11:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I thought, okay, late day, late third round, that pick makes sense.
• 11:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: Obviously, the Bears wanted to go Logan Jones.
• 11:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: Logan Jones probably the best center in college football last year.
• 11:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: Logan Jones 25 years old and you heard E.J.
• 11:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: Snyder talk about how he heard someone say that that Logan Jones plays like he's got a wife, kids, and a mortgage, you know, that kind of thing.
• 11:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like he's ready to step in and play and do what he needs to do.
• 11:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that makes it interesting because if there's a chance he could start over Garrett
• 12:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it's kind of be kind of interesting to see how the bear's navigate this.
• 12:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: If it's close, I think you've got to go Logan Jones out of the gate because Bradbury is not a great player.
• 12:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we've said that from the get-go.
• 12:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's a veteran.
• 12:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's not going to embarrass the offensive line.
• 12:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's not going to wreck the offensive line.
• 12:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's not going to elevate the offensive line either.
• 12:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: Logan Jones is the type of guy who can improve and you want to get him more snaps.
• 12:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: But this is also the center position.
• 12:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is also chemistry with Caleb Williams with your quarterback.
• 12:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: rollout, Garrett Bradbury for two games, go to Logan Jones for a couple of games, realize maybe he's not ready.
• 12:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: Go back to Garrett Bradbury and have musical chairs at center.
• 12:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's not what you want to do to Caleb Williams.
• 12:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: So if you're going to do Garrett Bradbury, if he does not get hurt, if he gets hurt and you transition to Logan Jones and he stays with a job fine with Garrett Bradbury.
• 12:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: He starts until you know Logan Jones is ready for the job and you make that change once during the season and that's it possibly you don't make the season at all now when you draft an older player like Logan Jones who's 25.
• 13:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't think you said him for a year.
• 13:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think that's a bad process to wait and only have three years with him at that age.
• 13:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're suddenly when you need to pay him, he's 29 years old.
• 13:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like, and only in you only got three seasons out of him.
• 13:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I think Logan Jones, if he proves he's ready, needs to play sooner rather than later.
• 13:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now, I was not upset with the player.
• 13:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: I thought Logan Jones was going to be available later.
• 13:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: But at the same time, I saw some quotes from Eric to Costa, that they were interested in the center.
• 13:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: Obviously, Tyler Lindervom went to the Raiders.
• 13:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: And both guys that they were interested in Logan Jones was one of them went off the board sooner than they expected.
• 13:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: So perhaps if the Bears had waited in the third round, they wouldn't have been able to get their guy.
• 13:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that is fair argument to have.
• 13:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: So if you're the bears and you have the defensive line, the way it's currently constituted, you come into this draft.
• 14:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: Clearly, you had a couple defensive linemen you liked and then for the most part, clearly the Chicago Bears did not think that what very highly of this defensive line, especially when we hear the news coming out that
• 14:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: Jeremy Fowler had that our own, you know, Chicago Bears beat guy, Zach Pearson elevated and confirmed that if Phenomen was gone, the Bears pick a 25 probably would have been Colton Hood.
• 14:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now that's the name you heard on this podcast as well, really good man, press guy, really good fit for Dennis Allen scheme.
• 14:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: He went early in the second round.
• 14:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: and that hood probably would have been the pick for the bears at 25.
• 14:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now that gets fascinating because then what are you saying?
• 14:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: You're saying the bears were almost certainly, and who knows?
• 14:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe Mesodore and one of these other edges.
• 14:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe there was another guy they liked and it just went off the board.
• 14:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: If Ruben Bane is sitting there at 25, the bears are probably striking.
• 15:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: He fell.
• 15:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think that was a great value.
• 15:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: The Saints got for bear.
• 15:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: No, that's not the Saints.
• 15:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: The bucks.
• 15:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: The bucks got for Bane there.
• 15:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: I thought there was a great value for them.
• 15:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: So, obviously he wasn't gonna fall that far, but I'm saying if the right edge is there, I think the Bears would have jumped, but odds are there wasn't an edge the Bears wanted when you hear that Theneman was their guy, maybe a manual, a manual, Warren would have been their guy, you know, Colton Hood.
• 15:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: Certainly sounded like secondary was going to be the direction.
• 15:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: The Chicago Bears were gonna go with that first pick.
• 15:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Again, not a complaint about Theneman, but
• 15:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: Here's where it comes down to with the defensive line.
• 15:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you didn't like this class, and you knew you weren't going to find rotational players who were gonna be able to play as a rookie, what the hell were you doing in free agency?
• 15:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: And Baris fans who keep coming at me, who would you have wanted?
• 15:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: Who would you have taken?
• 15:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: Guys, get creative.
• 15:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Don't just sit there looking to listen for the agents go, I don't like these guys, I don't wanna pay them.
• 16:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: All right, John of Ingrinard went to the Eagles for two third round picks make calls find out who's available find prices make trades if you have to get creative because we keep talking about it I don't know I think some of you agree with me and I think some of you disagree with me and
• 16:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: whatever, but this Chicago Bears Defensive Line is not good enough for them to win a Super Bowl.
• 16:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: Period end of story, this awful, you know what, I need to curse because it's how much I hate this defensive line.
• 16:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: This defensive line is shit.
• 16:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's what it is.
• 16:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: It is a bad defensive line.
• 16:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: Period.
• 16:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if it's the worst events of line.
• 16:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't have to sit there and look in his definitely in the bottom third probably in the bottom five possibly bottom three and and potentially the worst defensive line in the league.
• 16:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's how bad this line is I can't be well.
• 16:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's pretty good.
• 16:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to get some developmental players now.
• 16:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: No, they don't have a lot of guys that can develop on this defensive line like who are the young guys you think are going to develop.
• 17:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Shamar Turner, okay, maybe.
• 17:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: But he did not look good last year.
• 17:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: Bears wanted to move them inside.
• 17:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: It couldn't even move back outside.
• 17:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: They don't know what position he is.
• 17:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now he gets hurt.
• 17:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now he's coming off an injury.
• 17:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: Turner, of course you can't write off Shamar Turner this early in his career, but not off to the right start.
• 17:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: Awesome, Booker looks pretty good.
• 17:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: His awesome Booker gonna turn into an elite defensive end probably not.
• 17:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: He could improve this year.
• 17:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: Okay, great.
• 17:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: Who else?
• 17:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, dang those coming off a major injury.
• 17:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's going to regret.
• 17:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: Montez sweat is of the age.
• 17:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's not improving at this point.
• 17:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: He is who he is.
• 17:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's a good player.
• 17:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: Geron Dexter, he has kind of hit his ceiling.
• 17:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's a pretty good defensive tackle.
• 17:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think Geron Dexter would be an excellent rotational third defensive tackle that I think you could play at one tech and three tech, but he should not be starting.
• 17:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's my opinion.
• 17:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think some people think Geron Dexter is good enough to be kind of your D.T.
• 18:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: too.
• 18:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: But Geron Dexter right now is arguably their best offensive tackle.
• 18:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's terrible.
• 18:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: Grady Jared looked awful.
• 18:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: awful for most of the last year.
• 18:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now he was hurt.
• 18:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe that's what was impacting it.
• 18:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: But Grady Jared the last couple of years had not looked that good either.
• 18:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: You're not getting Grady Jared 2022.
• 18:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: He is on his last legs.
• 18:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now maybe maybe they can squeeze little more juice out of that lemon.
• 18:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I don't know what they're going to get out of greedy Jared.
• 18:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: So you're sitting here with a defensive line that is not only sub-har, but is very limited in terms of their growth.
• 18:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the Chicago Bears clearly, and this is what happens when you have an owner who doesn't pay up a lot of cash in George McCaskey.
• 18:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: Chicago Bears paid diet, Anglo, they paid gradie, Jared, they've paid Montes, sweat, they said we're not doing any more investment until 2027.
• 19:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's what happened.
• 19:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: 100% what happened.
• 19:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, I'm not saying George said you cannot sign defensive ends or defensive tackles, but clearly all this played into it.
• 19:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: and the Chicago Bears decided they have done very little to kick anything into the future.
• 19:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the way the cap is accelerating, we don't need to go into all this.
• 19:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: The Bears can absolutely convert some salary, create cap space and do what they need to do.
• 19:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: But they are not doing it.
• 19:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: They are just scraping by, they'll convert a little money here or there to sign their rookies, and that's all they're doing.
• 19:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now,
• 19:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: Bears can still go out and get someone like Janavian County or Cam Jordan.
• 19:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: Cam Jordan's the guy I've talked about multiple times.
• 19:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: He knows Dennis Allen.
• 19:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: He understands the scheme.
• 19:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: He knows the scheme.
• 19:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: He could come in and start right away.
• 19:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if
• 19:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you have Cam Jordan, that elevates everyone else.
• 19:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I know Cam Jordan's not the same plenary was five years ago, but he still has the capability to get double digits, sacks.
• 20:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: He still has the capability to impact games.
• 20:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: He still has the capability to make plays to, you know, that are negative plays for the offense that can stall drives and the bears just don't have guys like that.
• 20:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: So if you put Cam Jordan with Montez Sweat,
• 20:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: you suddenly change things.
• 20:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now, what are the barriers going to do that?
• 20:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
• 20:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know how Ryan Pauls can look at this defense of line and think it's OK, and we'll see what we can do in 2027 because here's the other issue when you look at this defense of line.
• 20:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm not, I promise.
• 20:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: I am not going to spend all off season.
• 20:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: beating on this defensive line.
• 20:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: I have a feeling they're going to be doing things that make it easy to do it in the regular season.
• 20:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: I would love to be wrong.
• 20:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: Don't get me wrong.
• 20:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: I would love to be wrong on this, and I would love to eat cross September, October, November, December, because the defensive line is good enough.
• 20:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: The bears can get pressure with four, and the bears can compete for a super bowl.
• 20:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: I would love to be wrong.
• 20:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: I just don't think I am.
• 20:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: So,
• 20:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: I will not beat this dead horse all off season and into training camp, but you have to understand where I'm at right now, because not only did the bears fail to address the defensive line issues, this season to improve the defensive line this season, but let's look at the defensive line for 2027.
• 21:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: Shall we?
• 21:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: Because Montess what'll be in these final year of his contract, we would certainly expect Montess what to still be here.
• 21:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: Grady Jarrett will most certainly be released unless he has a huge bounce back season.
• 21:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: Grady Jarrett's going to be released.
• 21:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Dio Dengbo, I don't see any universe where he's on this team for the money he's making in 2027.
• 21:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think he's going to be released.
• 21:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't think Jarron Dexter is getting a new contract.
• 21:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think he's gone as well.
• 21:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: So now you've got
• 21:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: Montez Sweat, you've got Neville Gallimore, you've got Schmartur, who's gonna be entering year three of his rookie deal, and you're gonna have Austin Booker entering year four of his rookie deal.
• 21:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's your entire defensive line.
• 21:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: So what you've done as the Chicago Bears is you've put yourself in a situation where you have to sign a bunch of veterans to improve that defensive line or trade for them.
• 22:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: and you need to commit to guys in the draft because you didn't get the guys this year to develop behind your starting veterans.
• 22:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: And as we know, most offensive linemen do not make impacts as rookies.
• 22:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: They are at best rotational players,
• 22:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: and can develop into impact offensive linemen's in year two and year three, especially if we expect the bearers to be good, which we all do, the bearers picking in the 20s and not at seven where some elite edge is going to potentially be sitting there for them to pick.
• 22:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: So the Chicago Bears with this approach have made it.
• 22:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: So not only is there defensive line going to be bad this year, it's going to be very hard for them to develop and have a sustainable defensive line for 2027 and moving forward.
• 22:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: The Chicago Bears have not made the investments.
• 22:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: They need to make it across the defensive line and the investments they have made have largely failed.
• 23:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: Zach Pickins, Diode, Eng Bo, etc.
• 23:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: So the defensive line is a major problem and the bears just basically cover their eyes and are going to sit there and cross their fingers and hope that it's good enough and I just don't see how that's possible.
• 23:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now, here's the thing, and some of you may be rolling your eyes, they got Ben Johnson, they got Caleb Williams, they've got Burton and the Dunesay, they got Lovelin and that offense is going to cook and they'll be okay.
• 23:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, the bears will be okay with this defense of line.
• 23:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: But for me, the bar of success has changed.
• 23:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if you're still happy and I do not fault you if you are, I want to stress that.
• 23:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you are still happy that the bears have the right coach, have the right quarterback are relevant again and should be at worse, no worse than good.
• 23:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you're happy with that, enjoy it.
• 24:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: Enjoy the bears go in 10 and 7, 11 and 6 this year.
• 24:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: Enjoy the making the playoffs again.
• 24:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: Enjoy seeing Caleb Williams crack 4,000 yards and being the first Chicago bear quarterback to do it, presuming he stays healthy, that should happen.
• 24:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's great.
• 24:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: If that's all you want out of this season, I think the bears are gonna deliver it for you and you'll be very happy.
• 24:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's all I wanted last year.
• 24:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: So when I left that season, if you go back and listen to my podcast after the bears lost to the Rams,
• 24:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was flying high.
• 24:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: I said, what a season.
• 24:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: It happens.
• 24:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's okay.
• 24:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was upset with DJ Moore because the Bears had that game as a chance to win it, but overall you sit there and say Bravo Ben Johnson, Bravo Chicago Bears, what a start to the Ben Johnson era.
• 24:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now that we're there for me.
• 24:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: time the up the bar, a level of his success, go from mad and rookie level to starter level.
• 24:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's where we're at for the Chicago Bears because now the Chicago Bears are going to be on this podcast and in my writing, measured against Super Bowl contenders.
• 25:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: Because that's what is next for the Chicago Bears is to be a true Super Bowl contender.
• 25:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: And they were an eyelash away from being one of the final four teams in the NFL, but they worked.
• 25:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that defensive line is potentially a reason why it's not going to happen again this year because here's the thing, the defensive line, they can win a game against good teams with that defensive line in the regular season.
• 25:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's going to happen.
• 25:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: They are going to beat teams with a winning record.
• 25:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: They are going to beat playoff caliber teams because the bears are good and they have a good coach.
• 25:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: But what it comes down to it is, this is not a regular season where you play two teams for the losing record one team with a winning record.
• 25:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: One team with a losing record, two teams with a winning record, three teams with a losing record, you bounce back and forth.
• 25:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: For the playoffs, there's something about consistency, where you're going to have to win.
• 25:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you're going to win the Super Bowl, you have to win three, but most likely four games in a row against good competition to do it.
• 26:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: And for me,
• 26:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: When most of the 14 teams that make the playoffs are going to have a good quarterback, maybe one that's not as good as Caleb Williams, but a good quarterback at minimum of Sam Darnl, right?
• 26:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: A Drake May.
• 26:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: These are the type of quarterbacks.
• 26:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: And obviously, the great ones, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, Matthew Stafford.
• 26:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: Those guys are also going to be in the playoffs.
• 26:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: So you're going to have most likely, sure, you might get a team with a bad quarterback that made it for whatever reason.
• 26:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: Bears are gonna have to play a good quarterback, multiple times, probably all four times, with a defensive line that cannot get pressure with four, which means Dennis Allen is gonna have to get creative.
• 26:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you can't blitz every play.
• 26:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can't get creative every play.
• 26:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if you gotta play against the math, you Stafford, and you can't get pressure with four,
• 26:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: he's going to hurt you.
• 27:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: And maybe you make enough plays and you get around not pressuring a quarterback and you win a game.
• 27:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: Bears be Jordan love and have a great comeback to do it, but they beat Jordan love who is a good quarterback.
• 27:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: May not be a great quarterback, but he is certainly a good quarterback.
• 27:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: Eventually, those quarterbacks that you're gonna be facing, they're gonna beat you.
• 27:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's what happened with the Chicago Bears, and that's what's going to keep continuing to happen.
• 27:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: If they don't improve this defense of line and go look at the seahawks, like look at the teams that have won Superbowls and gotten to Superbowls lately, they have defensive lines.
• 27:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: They get pressure on the quarterback interior pressure, you know, pressure from the outside.
• 27:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's what they do.
• 27:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: You have to pressure the quarterback.
• 27:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's a quarterback league.
• 27:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you're glad the quarterback, B.J.
• 27:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: he's gonna beat you.
• 27:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: So that's my problem with the Chicago Bears defensive line is where they are at with.
• 27:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: with with this this personnel and I just don't think they're going to be able to get it done and I think it's going to bite him in the ass and that's why myself and some others are very frustrated with what they did this entire off season with completely ignoring this defense of life.
• 28:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: But like I said, we're not going to spend the entire off season on it if they sign cam Jordan you will have a very happy podcaster who will do a podcast about it and we will talk about it, but until then.
• 28:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: like when we do our training camp preview, when we do some of these podcasts, we'll talk about it a little bit.
• 28:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: We'll talk about what we're seeing, but we're not gonna make an a giant focal point for the rest of the off-season.
• 28:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's what this is for, where the Chicago Bears had a bad defensive line, and I said, the Bears need to fix their defensive line, and everyone goes, no crap.
• 28:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: The Bears know that, too.
• 28:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: I said, okay, fine.
• 28:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: Then I hit free agency, they didn't do anything, and I said, where are the defensive line moves?
• 28:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: A lot of people said,
• 28:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: relax.
• 28:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: The draft happens and I'm sitting there going, no defensive line moves.
• 28:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Relax.
• 28:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: They could still get jadavian clowning.
• 29:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: They could still get cam Jordan.
• 29:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I'm just going to keep relaxing as bears fans want me to do.
• 29:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: No, I'm not until they do something to help this defensive line.
• 29:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if they don't, if this is the who they're going to go to battle within week one, there's going to be a lot of bumps along the way here in terms of the bears pressuring
• 29:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: Let's talk a little bit about the rest of these draft picks.
• 29:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not going to spend an obscene amount of time on it, because when I look at, when I analyze drafts, right?
• 29:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: I look at,
• 29:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: Um, the, the high end guys.
• 29:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: First round, second round guys.
• 29:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: I am not a Jacob in Fontainee, Jason Snyder, Charles Davis, who's looking at these, you know, day three guys on a regular basis.
• 29:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: But once the bear's sign them, I take a look at them.
• 29:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: I talk to people.
• 29:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: So let me go through these guys just for about five minutes or so.
• 29:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: We'll start with the tight end Sam Rausch.
• 29:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: I like this pick.
• 29:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was told before the draft and I think I even mentioned it.
• 29:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if it was on the stream or on the Temkin podcast that Ben Johnson was interested in Kenyan Sadik if he slipped and got to about 20.
• 30:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: The bears might even trade up for him and that Ben Johnson was going to be adding a tight end.
• 30:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I believe I had mentioned that I did not expect it to be in round three, but I does not shock me.
• 30:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: that the bear selected Sam Rausch.
• 30:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: And this is a guy who's a very good blocking tight end.
• 30:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: He can catch the ball decently.
• 30:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't think he has necessarily the physical attributes.
• 30:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: He become a really good pass catcher.
• 30:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: But Kenny become a decent one because obviously Colston Lovelin is going to be the great pass catcher coming out of the tight end position.
• 30:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: Rausch is going to be their third tight end.
• 30:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: So he's going to be in 13 person now and a couple years
• 30:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: Is he the type of guy that can take over for Cole Comet when the bear is eventually decide to move on from Cole Comet?
• 30:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't think this impacts Cole Comet.
• 30:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think he's Durham's smithe with the hope that he becomes better than Durham's smithe moving forward and can be a legitimate threat in the passing game as well.
• 31:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I do not have a problem with the Roush pick.
• 31:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's a little weird picking a blocking tight end that early in the draft,
• 31:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: I get it.
• 31:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: I know how Ben Johnson is going to utilize his personnel, so that one doesn't surprise me and I'm okay with it.
• 31:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: Xavier and Thomas Pick is weird.
• 31:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: I understand everyone's pile and on.
• 31:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: We can talk about the consensus board and it valve teams by the way getting sensitive about the consensus board is just being sensitive to the fact that fans are getting more information to make better assessments as to how they did.
• 31:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: Because 20 years ago, nothing like that existed in the barrister Xavier on Thomas and maybe Mel Kyber goes, oh, that's a surprise.
• 31:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: I had them further down the board.
• 31:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: Bears coaches and press conferences gas them up and all the barrister fans are going to be on Thomas.
• 31:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: What a pick.
• 31:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's 20 years ago.
• 32:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's not the case anymore.
• 32:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now with the amount of draft content that's out there.
• 32:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: and NFL teams who just want to ignore the people who are putting together these consensus boards.
• 32:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: These consensus boards are not from draft guru.net and it's a no-name person.
• 32:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: These are legitimate guys.
• 32:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: These are the Charles Davis's and Daniel Jeremiah's and Todd McShaze.
• 32:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: that know what they're doing and are putting together boards and even the guys, and I don't know everyone that's utilized on these consensus boards, but you listen to this podcast, you listen to this podcast network, you tell me Jacob, I'm not saying Jacob and Vonte is going to be a GM of an NFL team, but are you telling me that you don't trust Jacob and Vonte's valuations, you tell me you don't trust Brett Coleman or E.J.
• 32:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: Snyder's valuations, these guys live and breathe the draft.
• 32:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: They know what they're looking at.
• 32:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: So a consensus board isn't perfect and there's going to be plenty of picks that end up stinking who were in the top 10 or top 20 on a consensus board.
• 32:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: But the idea that NFL teams are ah, who cares?
• 33:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: We got our own board because that's a sport.
• 33:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't don't listen to it anymore.
• 33:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: They're just upset that there's more information out there for fans to use to determine how they do it their job because they don't want to be criticized.
• 33:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: So Xavier on Thomas,
• 33:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: who was way over drafted and field yates can say that he wasn't and that's fine field yates talks to people and I know he said that on ESPN that's fine but Xavier Thomas on the consensus board and if you look at historically the last five six years since the consensus board has been a thing and you can find them and look at them consensus board when a player is over drafted it shows that most likely that player is going to fail.
• 33:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: Right?
• 33:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like when a player falls, a lot of times he falls for a reason, and sometimes those steals, so to speak, still work out, because the consensus board says they are a steal.
• 33:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: But when a player like Xavier on Thomas goes in round three, when some people thought UDFA, round seven kind of guy, some people like maybe a round five type guy, but he was overdrafted based on the consensus board.
• 34:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: So most likely he's not going to work out.
• 34:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now,
• 34:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: if he ends up being a good special teams player, great for the Chicago Bears.
• 34:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: They got a special team.
• 34:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: They got a return guy.
• 34:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's got a make an offensive impact for the Chicago Bears for this to work as it using a round three pick.
• 34:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: And with that, you just have to go in Ben, we trust.
• 34:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: Ben is an offensive guru.
• 34:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: Ben watch the tape.
• 34:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure, yeah, Ryan Paul says the GM, but this is Ben Johnson's pick, as his Sam Rausch, as his Logan Jones.
• 34:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is Ben Johnson's offense.
• 34:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: Is he totally involved in Dylan Theoneman and Malik Muhammad, maybe I don't know exactly what everything's happening behind closed doors at House Hall, but you bet your ass that Ben Johnson is making determinations on who is going to be a part of his offense.
• 34:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: And he clearly thinks they be on Thomas.
• 35:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: has the speed to take the top off the defense, maybe use him at running back, he clearly thinks he's going to be more of a turn guy.
• 35:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if he's going to be more of a return guy this year, but he sees something in him.
• 35:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: So in that case, we just have to trust him.
• 35:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: Excuse me here.
• 35:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now, the day-free picks, I really like the day-free picks.
• 35:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: Does
• 35:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: But Malik, I see this guy as a solid corner.
• 35:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if he has the ceiling to be some incredible shut-down corner.
• 35:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I do think he has the ceiling to be a solid corner back who can play opposite Jalen Johnson or a CB1 and hold his own.
• 35:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if he's going to do that right out of the gate, but the opportunities there because the bears don't really have a great corner back opposite Jalen Johnson.
• 35:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: I assume it's going to be Tyrex Stevenson, but they're clearly not big Tyrex Stevenson fans.
• 35:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: And he will most likely be off the team after this year, which leaves an opportunity for Malik Muhammad if he doesn't start this year to be a starting corner next year.
• 36:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's in a great opportunity.
• 36:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Guys, a baller.
• 36:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: I made plays at Texas.
• 36:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: I like him.
• 36:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think he's going to be an impact guy.
• 36:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think at worst.
• 36:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think Malik Muhammad ends up being the bear's main backup corner, kind of like Terrell Smith was the last couple years before he got hurt, and I think that'd be a great move with a fourth round pick.
• 36:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: Kishan Elliott, a linebacker from Arizona State, this is another guy that I like this potential here in the fifth round.
• 36:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think Elliott has a chance to potentially be one of the bear starting to linebackers in 2027.
• 36:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not sure if he's going to be there.
• 36:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's not going to start this year between Jackson and Bush and Edwards.
• 36:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: They have that cover there.
• 36:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: But again, Noah's soul, he's coming off that Achilles injury.
• 36:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't even know if he's going to be on the team this year.
• 36:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: Jack Sandborns on a one year deal with zero guaranteed money.
• 36:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think they see Sandborn as a guy who's going to contribute on special teams, not necessarily as a guy who's going to be contributing on the defensive side of the football.
• 37:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: group and hip-alight showed very little last year.
• 37:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if you want to say, Ari's only a rookie, with the Bears chose to make him a healthy scratch a lot.
• 37:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that tells you what the Bears coaching staff thought of him as one of the guys on the Act of 53.
• 37:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: one of the worst players on the roster is that what that is when you're a healthy scratch over and over again, it's just you're not comfortable moving him to the practice squad because you'd like to hold on to him.
• 37:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: So you just end up being a healthy scratch most weeks.
• 37:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: That was Rubin Hippolytes rookie year.
• 37:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Rubin Hippolyte maybe comes and becomes a special teams guy, but to me right now and I'm not writing him off after one year.
• 37:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: very unlikely this guy becomes a consistent starter on the defensive side of the football.
• 37:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: TJ Edwards two years left on his deal.
• 37:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think TJ Edwards has gone after this year.
• 37:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think if you had Ryan Polls and you gave him some truth serum, he would have said they never should have signed him to that contract extension.
• 37:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's just kind of stuck.
• 38:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: So they've got Devon Bush.
• 38:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's going to be the starter unless he gets injured or complete completely collapses.
• 38:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's going to be one of the starting line backers.
• 38:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: Then you've got, I think next year, you're going to have for that other second spot.
• 38:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: You're going to have Demarco Jackson and Kishan Elliott fighting out for that other second linebacker spot.
• 38:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the winner is going to be the starting linebacker.
• 38:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the third is going to be the, you know, linebacker three Sam, whatever you want to talk about in the base packages.
• 38:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's what they're going to be looking at.
• 38:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Jordan Vandenberg, let's be honest, probably not going to make it, you know, probably not going to be a big time impact player.
• 38:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: But if you're going to pick a day-free defensive lineman and say, let's, you know, throw a dart and see if we can find a guy who turns into something, how about like one of the best testing athletes that the NFL has ever seen.
• 38:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: in the history of the combines as they've been tracking numbers.
• 39:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: Second best ever.
• 39:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: His rad score is raw athletic score.
• 39:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: When you take it all those accountate, they turn them into a scale 1 to 10.
• 39:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: 10.0.
• 39:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's only a person who's got a modicum, I don't know who's one all the time, but if he got a, you know, whatever, a 482 in the 40, this guy got like a 481, or a 479, and they both ended up with a 10.0 on the scale, but slightly better, so this guy guess it.
• 39:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: So van and Berg, second best defensive tackle tested athletic testing ever in the history of the NFL drafts since they've been tracking the numbers.
• 39:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'll take a risk on that for two days, seven picks.
• 39:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm sorry, two round seven picks.
• 39:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: I will take that and just see if it works out.
• 39:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if it does, it becomes an outstanding defensive tackle great job Ryan polls.
• 39:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: If he becomes a rotational defensive tackle, if he becomes a DT3 or even a DT4, getting 20 to 30% of the snaps of game, great job by Ryan polls and this staff, if that's what he becomes.
• 40:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if it doesn't work out, and he's a borderline practice squad player, it's a dart throwing round six.
• 40:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's okay.
• 40:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: So that's how I look at this, this draft overall.
• 40:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: I like these players.
• 40:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is more when it comes down to, when it came down to when I got all upset on Friday night, it comes down to this approach to the defensive line, this entire off season.
• 40:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: wasn't good enough, and I still don't think it was good enough, and I think it's gonna cost the bears.
• 40:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: So when I'm complaining about all the investments they've made in the center, and when I'm complaining about other things they did in the moment, it's because I am seeing the defensive line not getting addressed and knowing how that in my eyes, how that's gonna impact the team for this entire season, and potentially for 2027 as well.
• 40:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: We'll see if Charles Davis can talk me off the ledge about the defensive line and we will get his thoughts about everything the bears did in the NFL draft.
• 41:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: He joins me next.
• 41:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is Bill Zimmerman, Bearsmanter.
• 41:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: We'll be right back.
• 41:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome back into the podcast.
• 41:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: I am excited to do this.
• 41:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was kind enough to do this last year going through the draft class and he nailed last year's draft class, talking about how much of a steel, Kyle Mnongai was, thought, lovelin and burden were gonna be able to make impacts in year one.
• 41:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: And he is back, he is CBS's Charles Davis, knows this draft inside and out and you're gonna be able to hear him Saturdays in the fall.
• 41:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: doing CBS college football and he joins me now.
• 41:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: Charles, Bill Zimmerman, how you doing?
• 41:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm doing great, Bill.
• 41:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's good to talk with you again.
• 41:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I'm excited to talk to you.
• 41:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: And before we get into the specifics of the players, let me just kind of talk to you about the overview of this team going into the draft, because
• 41:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: Free agency, you know, they added a few guys, but for the most part, it was like replacing guys where termade admins goes out dev and bush comes in might be some better scheme fits for what they were trying to do, but they didn't make any significant ads.
• 42:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: So that's where a lot of bear's fans were looking to the draft and I think
• 42:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think it's interesting for bears fans trying to build on a winner because Charles, if we're being honest about this franchise, they had three, four years in a row where they had winning records with Lovey Smith, but other than that, just that blip in 2018, where they regress significantly in 2019, I think with the coach and the quarterback bears fans are excited for this season and excited for the future.
• 42:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: for a team that hasn't built on success for almost two decades now.
• 42:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: What are the keys when you have a winning team entering the draft and making sure you continue to build that roster and stay competitive?
• 42:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, a great question, Bill, and I think all the people who are involved in this great game that we love so much, they've all been trying to crack that code for a long time.
• 42:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: And that
• 43:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: We look at with envy and it's funny how their own fan bases at times don't look at it with envy Pittsburgh right year in year out a contender But when you don't win playoff games people get restless and Mike Tomman finally decided he'd had enough and and off he goes and We'll see what happens from there green bay right Really 30 years of quarterbacks right in a row They win them they win a super bowl under one they win a super bowl under two
• 43:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: still waiting for more.
• 43:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: I thought they would have won more along the way, but the rest of us are going, look at that every year they got a chance, not too many dips along the way.
• 43:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: So everyone trying to crack that code, everyone trying to get there.
• 43:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: If I'm a bearers fan, I have a lot of optimism because
• 43:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: I love to see continuity when things have gone well, same GM is in place, head coach going into year two, kept his defensive coordinator, you see where I'm going with this, that continuity of staff continuity of people at the top is a big big thing and was great for the bears, even though it may not be exactly what this person wants, I don't know the Dennis Allen's going to be a candidate to be a head coach again.
• 44:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: So that was fair to believe that, hey, if everything continues to go, well, we've got chance to keep this guy around and he could be, you know, our guy for a long time because Dennis has had two bites at the apple, not likely to get a third, hopefully he does, because I love Dennis Allen, great person, but you know how that works in this league bill is rare that you're going to get three shots at it.
• 44:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: and he can stay around and Ben Johnson's there.
• 44:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: I just didn't continuity's terrific.
• 44:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: And oh yeah, there's a quarterback going into his third year, was the first overall pick and really started to play that way last year.
• 44:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I love that.
• 44:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: And what I have compared that to, and obviously they aren't there.
• 45:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: And this is a very high ceiling.
• 45:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: But it's what the chiefs have, right, with Andy Reed and Patrick Mahomes and Steve Spagnola there because he had bites at the apple at that head coach.
• 45:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: It didn't work out and he has been a long time defensive coordinator and you're talking about that continuity and I think that's what teams like the Bears are trying to build for is to become the Kansas City Chiefs.
• 45:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think you nailed it.
• 45:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's a great example right there and we'll take you one other step, General Manager Brent Beach, ascended to that top chair and he and Andy Reed work in Lockstep.
• 45:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm putting that team together.
• 45:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: So you don't have a general manager with one view of something.
• 45:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: And the head coach with another Seattle had that with Pete Carroll and John Schneider for many years.
• 45:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: And now, John Schneider runs the show, but he's also doing in lockstep with his head coach Mike McDonald and they want a Super Bowl in year two.
• 45:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, 100% well, let's get into some of these picks here because I think some of these picks are are really interesting from, you know, from a fit perspective, but also some of the decisions the bears decided to do.
• 46:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'd love to get your opinions on those as well, but let's start at the top with the safety 25th pick Dylan Thineman, lot of high praise for this one, and it was a position it worked out really well because it's a position of need and arguably the best player on the board.
• 46:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: you know at 25 regardless of position at that point worked out really well that was the one position the bears really didn't get to fill in free agency was jacquan brisker who who left in free agency and they still had that hole there.
• 46:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: Dylan theonman looks like he's going to be a day one starter.
• 46:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: I would agree with you totally and truthfully.
• 46:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: I was surprised he lasted as long as he did.
• 46:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Fantastic for the bears.
• 46:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, for Dylan Thineman to get all the way to 25, and they didn't have to make a move to go get him, right in after trade anything, and after change capital, none of that.
• 46:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: He comes to you at 25 because I'll be honest with you.
• 46:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: I thought the bidding might start for him, maybe even at
• 47:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: 1112, Miami, like if Miami and stayed where they were to 11, depending on what happened with Downs ahead of time, he could have been in the bidding there if Downs had gone earlier.
• 47:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: Because you remember there was some rumors that came up Downs from a house day, could very well be plucked by the giants at five, right?
• 47:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: We had gotten to that stage as we got deeper into the draft process.
• 47:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: So being a minute, 11, if Miami had stayed there, definitely 12 with Dallas, then going on down, I thought 18 with Minnesota was like central casting.
• 47:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: Dylan, being a man replaces Harrison Smith.
• 47:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, we're done here.
• 47:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: Minnesota doesn't go in that direction.
• 47:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, Carolina, 19, perfect fit for that.
• 47:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Nope, they go in another direction.
• 47:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: Dallas had already taken downs when they made the moves up, so they didn't need them at 20.
• 47:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: And there he is, right there for the bears at 25.
• 47:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: And can't get any better.
• 47:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: I love his instincts.
• 48:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: He's got great athletic ability.
• 48:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Many people didn't know before.
• 48:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: So it works out really, really well for them.
• 48:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it it really did.
• 48:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was when I was actually doing a live stream.
• 48:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: We were kind of doing a bear centric NFL draft coverage of that first round and it was just like all right here comes the name and here comes the event and then all of a sudden it's picked 20 and I'm talking to the co-hosts and going hey.
• 48:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: that there's a chance here now when you look at who's picking 20 to 24 and certainly it did happen for the bears that worked out really well.
• 48:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'd love for you to talk a little bit about not that's so much about the phenomenon specifically about Dennis Allen and where NFL defenses are going because you know you were defensive back you know that that position really well and for bears fans for for us I mean there has been a lot of
• 48:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: free safety strong safety throughout the year starting back with like Dave Durson back in the eighties and I recently with with Jekwan Brisker and Adrian Amos bears have always really had like that box safety that you know goes around and kind of thumps thumps players and and Jekago loves that kind of thing.
• 49:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: But that's not really, you know, Dennis Allen, and he likes versatility and flexibility with Kobe Bryant and Theneman.
• 49:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it looks like he's going to be able to do a lot about a lot with those two.
• 49:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: So you can kind of explain where defensive has have gone with safety and kind of becoming that interchangeable position rather than what they were.
• 49:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you laid it out very well, Bill.
• 49:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think I can be fairly from me as a think on this, but a lot more of what we call mirrors, where the safety is the safety.
• 49:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: So in the old days, if we changed formation strength and you were a strong safety versus free safety, the strong safety use you went to the formation strength.
• 49:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: You would cross from one side to the other and take care of your duties that way that free safety would go back.
• 49:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: Typically as you point it out, that's wrong safety is near the line of scrimmage, thumping people of all deal.
• 49:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: Free safety is more of a center field type of a player you roam, you clean things up if it got to you, you made plays on the football.
• 50:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now so that you don't have to do a lot of changing.
• 50:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: You will take the responsibilities of both.
• 50:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: So formation, position, formation, strength changes.
• 50:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: One safety who was down will come back.
• 50:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: The other safety who was back will come down.
• 50:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: You get the idea there.
• 50:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: And Thineman has the ability to play back what we call deep and opposed.
• 50:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: But he has great ability to do the line of scrimmage, knows for the football tackling, taking the ball away.
• 50:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I think his signature play last season was the great interception over time against Penn State, and what the nitty lines and what at that time was a big monster game early in the season.
• 50:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, no, he, he absolutely had that back the bears have a great video of him breaking down the play.
• 50:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: Uh, you know, so if you haven't seen that bears fans on social media, I recommend you check that out.
• 50:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: So rather than go first round second round here, let's stay in the secondary Charles and let's talk about Malik Muhammad who, you know, I know there was some controversy about consensus board and and everything this year, but he was much higher up on he was
• 51:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: So a good value there if you're a consensus board kind of guy and the bears kind of interesting at corner.
• 51:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: We know Kyler Gordon said it nickel.
• 51:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: We know obviously Jalen Johnson's on the one outside corner.
• 51:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: Hopefully he recovers from his injuries and returns to what he was a couple of years ago.
• 51:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: but that second corner position pretty wide open.
• 51:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if you can expect a day three corner to come in and start, but Tyrex Stevenson's head is opportunities and the bears continue to seem to kind of look elsewhere, Terrell Smith has been heard, Zay Fraser, Mrs. and Tyrex rookie season.
• 51:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: So, looks like there could be some a possibility for some open competition and maybe if my home it gets gets a hot August, maybe he could even start although Stevenson probably
• 51:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think you're right about all of that and you need someone to press people when you're trying to get better and you're trying to take that next step, right play off team last year, can you take the next step deeper in the playoffs content for the Super Bowl, that's why you're always drafting and yes it can these guys can come from lower in the in the draft order.
• 52:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think Kwame Lasseter, the second corner for Houston opposite Darrell Sting, Derek Stingley.
• 52:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: And he's a fourth round pick out of Georgia.
• 52:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: That worked out pretty well.
• 52:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think he looked at Tarheem still right out and out with Los Angeles Charges.
• 52:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: He's a fifth round guy who's been a nice starter for that.
• 52:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: So we go on and on with these guys.
• 52:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: We can get him deeper in the draft and he never would have come from.
• 52:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: But Richard Sherman might be the patron saying of it always a fifth round pick is going to go to the Hall of Fame.
• 52:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: All right, so, you know, we, we, we see it out there.
• 52:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: I love Muhammad.
• 52:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: I love the attitude.
• 52:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: I love the smarts.
• 52:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: I love the toughness that you get out of him.
• 52:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: He will contend out there.
• 52:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: And if Tyrex demons is not on his game, this is a type of kid who can come in and you can find him very dependable.
• 53:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm telling you dependable at the corner position is not a word that NFL teams take lightly.
• 53:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's for sure.
• 53:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, absolutely.
• 53:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, one weakness that a lot of analysts continue to bring up with him was play strength.
• 53:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: That was, is that something where bears, you know, the bear staff just kind of needs to get him in the weight room and get him bulking up or is that something about his playstyle that needs to change a little?
• 53:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's two, two things.
• 53:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: One is, you know, he'll spend more time in the weight room now, obviously, because this is truly your job at this point, right?
• 53:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's gotten close to that in college football for some of your job full-time.
• 53:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: We used to talk about, well, you know, I got spend time in the classroom.
• 53:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: I can't be in the way, Ro.
• 53:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: I can't remember last time we talked about a kid in the college classroom.
• 53:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: So that's a home of a ball game, right?
• 53:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: But that will come and just natural maturity as you grow.
• 53:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: Leonard Williams, the great defensive lineman for Seattle, he told me two seasons ago, I finally have my grown man strength.
• 54:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: he was 30 at the time.
• 54:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Wow.
• 54:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, you don't want to wait that long, obviously, and I'm sure that really wasn't as long.
• 54:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: But he said, grown man's strength is change.
• 54:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: What I do when you're totally in tune with your body, know how you operate.
• 54:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: He will grow into that as well.
• 54:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: So sure, we can see that and we can say that with a lot of these corners because a lot of them are not
• 54:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: the biggest person you've ever seen in your life, but I also keep telling people, yeah, but let's remember, most people aren't playing with 215 pound corners.
• 54:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: We act like, you know, these monster corners just proliferating, they're really not.
• 54:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: Most corners are gonna be in the 190 pound range, 190 to 200 pound range.
• 54:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: So let's just let him grow a little bit, spend that time, full time detail on it, and off we go.
• 54:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: sounds good and let me ask you while we're talking about day three picks I also want to ask you about the the linebacker from Arizona state they took Kishon Elliott another guy that you know when you look at consensus board good value there bears did tweet the linebacker room a little bit to bring an in-depth and bush for tremendous admins you know
• 55:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: Jack Sandborn a big fan favorite.
• 55:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if he's going to do more of the special teams but he's back.
• 55:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: But Kishon Elliott looks like a guy after Ruben Hippolyte spent most of his rookie season kind of a healthy scratch didn't get a lot of playing time.
• 55:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: Kishon Elliott looks like an opportunity maybe not to get into that, you know, starting spotter that Sam spot in year one, but maybe even by year two.
• 55:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, absolutely, and I think you've identified where his opportunity is.
• 55:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: We'll start it on special teams like all players have that opportunity early, right?
• 55:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Unless you are a true special quarterback, you know, runner, you know, number one, receive that sort of a thing.
• 55:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: Rookie come in, play special teams all deal.
• 55:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: The thing I liked about Elliott when he turned on the tape,
• 55:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: was he did what he was supposed to do he's a linebacker he tackles people who carry the ball he tackles people who come in his area he makes a lot of plays I love that because that should job description you're a linebacker tackle people that's what you do and to watch him grow during his time multiple schools to get where he is and by the way everyone's multiple schools down you and I know that now you you bill you remember when we used to see a
• 56:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: I worry about that.
• 56:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: Third school now, it just means you got better off for somewhere else and off he goes.
• 56:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it is certainly a changing landscape in college sports and every year you're curious what's going to change from year to year and certainly jumping schools is now the norm and not anything unique.
• 56:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: All right, let's switch over to the offensive side of the ball because when Drew Dahlman gave the bears a surprise retirement earlier this off season, you knew especially with Ben Johnson's offense that that was going to be a focal point so they go out and
• 56:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: they get Garrett Bradbury to get that make sure they get a veteran in there that can hold the fork down but they did not waste any time with their first dead two second round picks with that first pick they go get Logan Jones uh the center from Iowa who I love the comment I don't remember which scout had it but the comment that this guy plays like he's already got a wife kids in a mortgage like
• 57:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is this is just like the kind of guy you almost feel like you know Ben Johnson that centers important form But if anyone could start as a rookie in Ben Johnson's offense, I feel like it might be Logan Jones.
• 57:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: I love that comment That's one of the most ones I've heard in a long time
• 57:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: But that's another way of saying you're trapped in a pro already, you're trapped in a mature person already because I remember coming out of school someone telling me a long time ago, hey, you thought the hitting was fierce in college for you guys playing just for scholarships.
• 57:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now this is years ago, this is in now, right?
• 57:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: But years ago, hey, you're playing for your scholarship.
• 57:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: way to you get up there and that guy's plan to pay for his wife is kids tuition, prices, private school, all other stuff.
• 57:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's exactly what we're talking about here.
• 57:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: And what I like about Logan Jones is, look, he's coming from a school that just practices off into linemen.
• 58:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: like Coca-Cola company puts out the Coca-Cola classics.
• 58:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is what they do.
• 58:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: They're head coaches and old line guy.
• 58:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: You spend an old line coaching in the NFL.
• 58:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you go to an Iowa practice, 90% of the time the head coaches would be offensive linemen.
• 58:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: So that factory of what they're doing and how well they're taught, how there's coach, how there's skills, it's real.
• 58:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: Interesting thing is, as you said, getting breadberry
• 58:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: But Jones is your future, and a future may be soon or rather than later.
• 58:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thing I like about Jones, a little stouter, if someone is on his nose, as opposed to Brad Berry, who's much more of a mover in terms of the center position.
• 58:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Let me ask you with Jones and he's not alone in this because we're seeing with NIL and some of the things that have changed and I know some of this ties ties into COVID still a little bit.
• 58:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: But we're seeing older rookies and Logan Jones, older rookie 25 years old, you know, we saw it with mezzodore this year.
• 59:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like is this something that you think NFL team should be concerned about?
• 59:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: I know you have more of a, you know, a grown man so to speak more ready to play guy, but it is a couple years less potentially
• 59:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's a very good discussion too, Bill, because
• 59:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: I've seen general managers now talk about this era we're in.
• 59:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: It really started with COVID, right?
• 59:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: So we were given everybody the extra year and understand the police cell.
• 59:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Then we got to the open transfer.
• 59:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Then we got to have you were a junior college guy.
• 59:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: We don't want to ding you with that year.
• 59:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: So you get an extra year if you're a junior college guy.
• 59:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so we're getting guys who are playing six years in college.
• 59:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then coming in and being as you noted a little bit older.
• 59:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: The pro is exactly what you said, they played more ball, they've been in more practice sessions, multiple schools, so they know how to adapt and change systems if they have to, have been coached by a lot of people, so they know how to work through that.
• 1:00:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: The downside is, are we taking years off of their NFL career?
• 1:00:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: Is there more wear and tear on them?
• 1:00:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: Will they not get the second contract now?
• 1:00:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: That remains to be seen.
• 1:00:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: I do think that we're gonna move back closer to,
• 1:00:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: the old model because we're getting out of the covid years.
• 1:00:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think there'll be less years granted in the open transfer things at that nature.
• 1:00:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: But for right now it's a legitimate concern.
• 1:00:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: But let's take the pros.
• 1:00:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: He knows how to play right now.
• 1:00:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: And he knows how to practice.
• 1:00:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: He knows what he's been doing.
• 1:00:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: We'll worry about how many years he plays in his career down the road.
• 1:00:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: 100% especially at that center position when you've got to be making calls and doing all the uh... you know but in certain right away and play and i think local johns is one of those guys who couldn't serve right away and play if indeed they decide to move off of redberry
• 1:00:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it'll it'll be interesting this August for sure.
• 1:00:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: Let me kind of ask you about these next two guys in tandem.
• 1:00:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, obviously different players, but offensive skill position players, which I think surprised a lot of bears fans.
• 1:01:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: They really were expecting going down on with with defense and defensive line here on on day two, but Sam Raussian Xavier on Thomas get get added the tight end and the wide receiver.
• 1:01:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think bears adding tight end makes a lot of spends, especially a guy who's considered a very good blocking tight end.
• 1:01:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: We saw how much Ben Johnson likes to use 13 personnel and even, you know, guys like McVay and everything.
• 1:01:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: Kind of seems to be trending in that direction to try and kind of offset what defenses are are doing right now.
• 1:01:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I do think that position makes sense even if it might be a little of a reach, you know, meet me personally that the Thomas pick is a little bit of a head scratcher for me.
• 1:01:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: I understand he's blazing fast.
• 1:01:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: might be a very good returner, just maybe not necessarily the pick I would have made if I was the bears, but curious what you think about these two prospects.
• 1:01:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'll start with Roush because you really identify where the league is going, right?
• 1:01:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: With this 13-person now, it's sweeping the whole NFL and you mentioned Sean McVay.
• 1:02:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Remember when he was running 11-person now, and that's what everyone else started running as well?
• 1:02:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's what the offense has changed.
• 1:02:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: So he makes the move to 13-person now.
• 1:02:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: I also think it's an answer to what we're doing in college football.
• 1:02:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: With all the spread-off fences, smaller people running around on the field,
• 1:02:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: So now you go to the 13th personnel, you want to play small.
• 1:02:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, trying to deal with these bigger guys, leaning on you and blocking on you.
• 1:02:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: Let's see what you can do with that.
• 1:02:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I do think there is an element of that and that makes sense with Roush.
• 1:02:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: There's a big, strong physical blocking type of a tight end who can catch the ball as well.
• 1:02:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: So it all works out.
• 1:02:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: Xavier Thomas, when you mentioned head scratcher, maybe not the pick I would have made.
• 1:02:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think you speak for a lot of people, Bill.
• 1:02:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think a lot of us looked at it and went,
• 1:02:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: Huh, I don't know what that had in me here, but this again comes back to something you'd mentioned earlier, consensus board, whatever the consensus board is, there's 32 teams that have their own boards.
• 1:03:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Right.
• 1:03:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: And that's how they're ranking guys.
• 1:03:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's how they're looking at and that's where they're going with it.
• 1:03:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: And to me, Xavier on Thomas looks like a special
• 1:03:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: He's got special things that he wants to do with Xavier on top because of that speed.
• 1:03:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: And he can envision that and his offense and how he's going to do it and how he's going to play it.
• 1:03:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: Other people wouldn't be able to do that with Xavier on top is that wouldn't be their vision at all.
• 1:03:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: But for Ben Johnson, he sees something.
• 1:03:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's what this pick tells me.
• 1:03:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: He sees something that I say, hey, I can insert this into my offense.
• 1:03:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think I can do these things with this guy to help our team win.
• 1:03:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: So every time I hear about consensus board and where we should have gone and the whole thing, I keep writing myself a note.
• 1:03:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: 32 teams, 32 boards, 32 different ways.
• 1:03:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's kind of how this whole thing works.
• 1:03:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: I did not have Xavier on Thomas anywhere near this draft position.
• 1:03:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: But I did also wasn't envisioning him doing X, Y, and Z, which is what I believe Ben Johnson was telling us by this selection.
• 1:04:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and that's the thing, and I'm just saying I'm pretty sure Ryan pulls us listening what Ben Johnson is telling him and why they would go at this time frame to go get this player.
• 1:04:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: Sure, and that's, and that's I think where, where Barris fans are, but this where we're kind of going, I don't know but at the same time we're going, the way they've got an offensive genius running this, this team, and you have to trust that he's seeing something and we'll see if he's right.
• 1:04:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: We all try to build up capital and whatever it is that we do in our world, Ben Johnson's rookie season in Chicago, built up some pretty good capital, so what are we doing as fans and people?
• 1:04:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: He must know what he's doing on this one.
• 1:04:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, let's move on.
• 1:04:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's kind of how this one works.
• 1:04:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely.
• 1:04:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: I save this player for last one because he's the last pick on the board, but too, because I kind of wanted to have a discussion with you to wrap up about the Bears Defense of Line, because when I talk about head scratching, that's another one for me.
• 1:05:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: So before we get specifically in a Jordan van and Berg, I want to ask you about this Bears Defense of Line, because we see how important defensive line play is for Super Bowl Contention.
• 1:05:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: I look no further than the Seahawks last season and the importance of being able to bring
• 1:05:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: The bears defensive line, I don't know where people want to rank it in terms of across the league, but it's not a, it's the weakest position group on the team.
• 1:05:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I certainly have concerns, and I've been talking about it all off season, that if this team is to make a jump from the good team that they were in 2025 to a great team, to a true Super Bowl contender in 2026,
• 1:05:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: they're going to need better play out of the defensive line.
• 1:05:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the bears for the most part are running this back with the same guys they had last season.
• 1:05:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: That concerns me, not from holding the bears back from winning 10-11, maybe even 12 games, but to really compete with the creme day lacrem of the league and beating three or four excellent teams in a row come January and February, that's where I have concerns about this defensive line.
• 1:06:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it makes sense because everybody's trying to find those records, right?
• 1:06:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: You're trying to do that.
• 1:06:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: Plus, let's be honest about it.
• 1:06:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: They'll tell me if I'm wrong.
• 1:06:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: How often did we talk about interior defensive line in this draft that the bears were really seeking it, right?
• 1:06:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: Right.
• 1:06:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: The way of running up through it.
• 1:06:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Didn't matter whether it was me or any of the 875 other people look like you and me that we're talking about the draft.
• 1:06:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: And interior defensive line with something that was discussed frequently in
• 1:06:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'll find going into the draft the interior defensive line when shocked me if we didn't get into the 20s before the first one was taken and we got kind of close didn't because I think Caleb Banks went off 18 to Minnesota and people were surprised.
• 1:06:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: That was a surprise when that happened because he's come off the back-to-back foot fractures.
• 1:06:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: But this is not a draft where the interior defense of line guys are upfield records who are just destroying backfields.
• 1:07:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: They're much more a line of scrimmage type defenders.
• 1:07:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not saying that they can't become better past rushers because at some schools, they're asked to hold the line and maybe they'll be turned loose in the NFL with certain teams.
• 1:07:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: But for the most part, we weren't evaluating guys that we were saying eight, 10, sex, a year, six, that sort of a deal.
• 1:07:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: that might have played into it a little bit plus.
• 1:07:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: Deetem and getting down to 25, you can't turn them down.
• 1:07:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: right.
• 1:07:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: And when you're saying, my value with theme and inverses an interior defensive alignment, that's where you do it there.
• 1:07:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then this thing's went on.
• 1:07:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: You kept wondering where they're going to where they're going to.
• 1:07:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: And by the time you end up into the six round, you're kind of surprised you thought they might have gone earlier.
• 1:07:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think the Xavier Thomas pick in the third round was a place I thought we would see a defensive interior guy
• 1:08:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Have you seen his testing numbers?
• 1:08:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's the thing, guys, if you're gonna bet on a six round guy, how about a guy with like the highest ran score you can possibly have?
• 1:08:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: Right?
• 1:08:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you have bet on a six round pick, this guy, and I have a friend who works in that area and talked to him about it, I mean, he's like, look, he's a lot better than he's gonna come rolling off the board and he's going to continue to get better.
• 1:08:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, he's South African by birth and the whole deal coming over, learning out of play,
• 1:08:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: And his, they think that he kept getting better in tech.
• 1:08:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: He has that chance to keep getting better in Chicago.
• 1:08:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I hope that he can be one of those guys and we can talk about build down the road and go, well, how about that six round fit?
• 1:08:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Look at what you got here, but I think you expressed it really well.
• 1:08:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: Those testing numbers, the build that he has to get him in the six round that makes a lot of sense.
• 1:08:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think we're all a little, let's just say we're all.
• 1:08:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: But it does feel like there's a little bit of surprise that they didn't go into your defense a while, a little bit earlier in the draft as well, but again, when you have the season that you, they had, it buys you a lot of capital, we just have to visit back and go, yeah, they probably know what they're doing.
• 1:09:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: All right, last one for you when we talk about that defensive line, it's not impossible if the bears want to move some money around and open up some cap space, not impossible that they can't still improve the defensive line with someone like Judevian, Clownie or Cam Jordan, both available obviously Jordan has the Denis Allen familiarity there.
• 1:09:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: Is that something that you think makes sense for the bears to do here between now and week one?
• 1:09:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: He played really well down the stretch last year with New Orleans.
• 1:09:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: That whole team, he kind of mirrored that whole team and what they went through last season.
• 1:09:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: Beginning of the season was not very good.
• 1:09:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: I remember I was on a broadcast team, we were up in Seattle, and they had a kickoff return against them in that game.
• 1:09:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: They had a pump return against them in that game.
• 1:10:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think they had one blocked in that game.
• 1:10:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: It was just bad all the way around.
• 1:10:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: They got off the deck and played better at Buffalo the next week, but had a chance to really put it on Buffalo early and ran a trick play.
• 1:10:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: They got picked off right before they happened, then they kind of went away.
• 1:10:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: But in the season, Kevin went on and they kept getting better and came Jordan down the stretch.
• 1:10:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: All of a sudden the sack started to come.
• 1:10:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: The pressure started to get back to being came Jordan.
• 1:10:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think there's something in the tank if he still wants to go out here and do this and I do believe that he does have been talked to him a little bit in the off season.
• 1:10:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: He has to come to grips with the idea he would be somewhere other than New Orleans where he's been his entire career.
• 1:10:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: But Chicago, Cam Jordan, playoff team, could be the big difference in a playoff run with him going
• 1:10:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: It makes sense by name is an excellent run defender.
• 1:11:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: He's not the past, Russia, Kim Jordan is even at any stage of their careers, let alone where they are now.
• 1:11:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: Remember, Cloudy's never gotten to 10 Sacks in the season, okay?
• 1:11:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: He is a better run defender than he's ever gotten credit for.
• 1:11:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: But I think you want to go.
• 1:11:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: I can record a quarterback, record pass game right now.
• 1:11:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you're the NFL, to me it has Kim Jordan.
• 1:11:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: All right.
• 1:11:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, there he is.
• 1:11:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Charles Davis of CBS.
• 1:11:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: You're going to hear from every Saturday do in college football for CBS.
• 1:11:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: And of course, knows this draft.
• 1:11:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you didn't, if you didn't know before this interview, you certainly do now.
• 1:11:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: He knows this draft inside and out.
• 1:11:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: Charles, thanks for so much time.
• 1:11:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: Really appreciate it.
• 1:11:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: Love the insight.
• 1:11:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we'll talk to you down the line.
• 1:11:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: I look forward to a bill.
• 1:11:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: You take care of yourself.
• 1:11:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: Looking forward to a great year.
• 1:11:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: There he is, Charles Davis, everybody.
• 1:11:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: How good of an interview was that?
• 1:11:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like, you are draft content, and I love E.J.
• 1:11:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: I love Jacob, I love Daniel Jeremiah and all these guys.
• 1:12:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: How good was Charles Davis?
• 1:12:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: That was the best breakdown of the Bears players.
• 1:12:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: and this bears team.
• 1:12:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: I thought that was just outstanding work from Charles.
• 1:12:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: So really great interview there.
• 1:12:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: But you guys came in with some mailbag questions.
• 1:12:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: Let's get to some mailbag questions.
• 1:12:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'll try not to go too long.
• 1:12:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: We've gone pretty long already with this podcast.
• 1:12:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to start pushing to pass an hour and a half.
• 1:12:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: So we'll get through these here.
• 1:12:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: Let's start with the
• 1:12:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I crazy to think that everyone's blowing the D-line concerns out of proportion, they'll be about average with better health and reasonable growth from the young guys.
• 1:12:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I won't spend a ton of time on it to press bears fan because I spent a lot of it time of it at the start of the podcast before we got Charles on.
• 1:12:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't think we're blowing this out of proportion.
• 1:12:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think it's a major problem.
• 1:12:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think average for this bare defensive line is a pipe dream.
• 1:12:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think the one thing you're missing here is who's the impact guy?
• 1:13:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Who's the guy who can split a double team get in the back field and get a TFL or a sack?
• 1:13:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: Who's the guy?
• 1:13:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's not Montes wet.
• 1:13:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: Montes wet can absorb a double team.
• 1:13:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: Montes wet can set the edge.
• 1:13:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: Montes sweat is an outstanding second defensive end.
• 1:13:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: Montes wet is not a great top of your defensive line guy.
• 1:13:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Great second guy to have on your defensive line.
• 1:13:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: Not a great top end guy.
• 1:13:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: Who's their
• 1:13:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: At this point, who else is a legitimate starting player across the defensive line?
• 1:13:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: As I've said, I think Dexter is a third defensive tackle.
• 1:13:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think he's a great third defensive tackle, but I think that's what he is.
• 1:13:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Grady Jarrett has shown no ability that he still should be considered as starting defensive tackle.
• 1:13:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: Austin Booker maybe can improve again and become a starting defensive end, you know, second edge, so to speak.
• 1:14:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: But he's out there yet, right now he's a third edge.
• 1:14:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: The bears have Montez sweat in a bunch of backups.
• 1:14:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: They got a couple name value guys.
• 1:14:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: Dayo Dango, he didn't play like he should be starting at the NFL level.
• 1:14:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: None of these guys did, except Montez sweat.
• 1:14:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: Sweats the legitimate starter, rest of over backups.
• 1:14:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: They don't have an impact guy.
• 1:14:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now they go out and do something splashy.
• 1:14:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, you suddenly, let's play this out.
• 1:14:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: Let's say the bear's trade for Max Crosby.
• 1:14:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we'll say they're going to do it.
• 1:14:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: prize me is your top guy, prize me is your game record, suddenly Montez Sweat is your second best player, right?
• 1:14:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: On the defensive line, suddenly like we talked about, Montez Sweat is a great second defensive player.
• 1:14:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now your defensive tackle room is still a little weak, but when you got that much coming off the edge, then suddenly pressure comes off Grady Jared, he's never gonna see a double team.
• 1:14:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: Javan Daxter never going to see a double team, and these guys can win occasionally on single blocks.
• 1:15:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: So now suddenly you've improved them as well, because your focal points are always going to be on the outside from the offensive line perspective.
• 1:15:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if they can funnel everything inside because they're set in the edge well and doing things because Crosby can defend the run as well.
• 1:15:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: opens up all sorts of things.
• 1:15:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: Elevates everyone and multipliers makes everyone around them better.
• 1:15:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's what happens if the bear squat and get one impact offensive lineman.
• 1:15:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: They haven't done it.
• 1:15:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: And Cam Jordan can help, but Cam Jordan still isn't that level of a player.
• 1:15:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: So the bear's most likely aren't going to do this.
• 1:15:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: And like I said, I think it's going to prevent them from winning the Super Bowl.
• 1:15:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: Duncan Pinter Hughes, who is your Chicago Bears Mount Rushmore of Players since the year 2000?
• 1:15:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: All right, let's see what we can do here with this.
• 1:15:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think this is interesting.
• 1:16:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, there's a lot of different directions you can go.
• 1:16:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think since 2000, like Brian or locker, has to be on there, Devin Hester has to be on there.
• 1:16:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: Those two guys aren't arguable, Hall of Fame players.
• 1:16:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: After that, it gets interesting.
• 1:16:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, let's look at the candidates.
• 1:16:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: We've got Charles Tillman.
• 1:16:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: We've got Matt Fortay.
• 1:16:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: uh... brand and martial i guess has to be in the mix uh... who else old and crutes would have to be in the mix uh...
• 1:16:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't think anyone on the current bears, like obviously Caleb and loveland and burden and these guys have the chance.
• 1:16:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Joe Tuney, if he sticks around for four or five years, I don't think he will.
• 1:16:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: They all have the chance to be on that Mount Rushmore level, but they're not there yet.
• 1:16:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: They haven't done enough.
• 1:16:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Go to the 28 to Eddie Jackson.
• 1:17:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't think you can argue at a jacks and overpeen at tellman.
• 1:17:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Then you got the edges.
• 1:17:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: You got Alex Brown.
• 1:17:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: I wouldn't put Alex Brown there.
• 1:17:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: You got Julius peppers.
• 1:17:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: You got Khalil Mack.
• 1:17:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I think peanut tellman has to be on there.
• 1:17:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think Olin crew, it's probably has to be on there.
• 1:17:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I think that would be my group.
• 1:17:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think we're gonna go in Earl Acre, we're going in Hester, we're going tellman, we're going crutes, going to the two Hall of Famers and the two borderline Hall of Famers.
• 1:17:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: I love Khalil Mack.
• 1:17:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: He wasn't here long enough.
• 1:17:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: He got hurt a bunch.
• 1:17:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: I love Julius Pappers.
• 1:17:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: Same thing.
• 1:17:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think those are the four guys you have to put on the mount.
• 1:17:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: Rush more Billy kid.
• 1:17:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm no draft expert, but seeing so-called draft experts, draft slot for Xavier and Thomas, it seems like the bears could have gotten him way later than round three.
• 1:17:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: Why use a high third round pick on him, does Ben Johnson, who we know probably made this pick, knows something we don't tell.
• 1:18:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: We don't know.
• 1:18:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Billy, that's 100% what it is.
• 1:18:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: Ben Johnson is running this team.
• 1:18:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: Ben Johnson makes the decisions over Ryan Polls.
• 1:18:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: not saying he doesn't acquiesce.
• 1:18:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: And again, I don't know how it works, but I'm not saying Ben Johnson goes, all right, we're taking Kishan Elliott here.
• 1:18:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure it's a collective.
• 1:18:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure Jeff King has to say, I'm sure the scouts have to say Ryan polls, Ben Johnson, Dennis Allen, they're all making these decisions together.
• 1:18:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: They make their boards together.
• 1:18:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: But at the end of the day,
• 1:18:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: Ben Johnson is going to make these calls and a Ben Johnson wants a guy now Ben Johnson be like, all right Ryan, make your pick here, you know, across, you know, corner, you know, he makes it there.
• 1:18:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, we should take my home and before we take Elliot, these kind of things.
• 1:18:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, those conversations were Ben can be involved, but I'm guessing he's not Ben's not watching tape a 500 guys and making sure he knows about what day three cornerbacks the bear should be looking at.
• 1:18:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't have time to do all that.
• 1:18:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: See, absolutely scouting the
• 1:19:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: He saw Xavier on Thomas.
• 1:19:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: He really likes Xavier on Thomas.
• 1:19:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: He thought he had enough knowledge to know that there were other teams that might come up and take him and maybe round four.
• 1:19:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: He didn't want to wait around and find out.
• 1:19:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: He didn't want to risk it.
• 1:19:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: He sees something this guy.
• 1:19:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: He wants him.
• 1:19:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if Ben's right, then Kudos to Ben, that's why he's a genius with football.
• 1:19:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's why we are not on the sidelines of NFL stadiums.
• 1:19:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: If Ben's wrong, yeah, we get to shredder shoulders and say, I told you so and unfortunately, the bear should have picked someone else.
• 1:19:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: We will see, usually, I think GMs, and I'm gonna count Ben Johnson as a GM because he's making these kind of decisions.
• 1:19:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: They have one, I'm smarter than everyone else, draft pick that they think is gonna be awesome, and he's not even though everyone else kind of goes, what was that pick about?
• 1:19:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then they realize that they are not that much smarter than the rest of the league.
• 1:20:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then when the rest of the league, season is a round five at best, possibly UDFA level player.
• 1:20:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's probably what he is.
• 1:20:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Ben thinks he's going to get something out of him.
• 1:20:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to see if Ben's right and hopefully Ben is right and that is, that's that's all we have to hope for is that that Ben knows what he's doing.
• 1:20:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: See something knows how to utilize him and he's going to work in this offense.
• 1:20:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: Hopefully he's right.
• 1:20:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: We will see Billy.
• 1:20:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: We will see.
• 1:20:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: We've got one more here from Stacia Cox, Stasha Cox.
• 1:20:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not sure.
• 1:20:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: She wants to say, I see that you have a funny line in your profile that you hit willem defoe with your car.
• 1:20:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: What is that story all about?
• 1:20:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
• 1:20:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: So when you look at my Twitter profile, my one little kicker at the end is I once hit willem defoe with my car.
• 1:20:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: That is 100% true.
• 1:20:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think it's a line that works better.
• 1:21:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: on print in a profile, then it does as a story, but here you go, I was in New York City, I was in Manhattan, I was going into a parking garage down by NYU.
• 1:21:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: So that's about I think about fourth street, fifth street about about that first.
• 1:21:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: So not all the way downtown, but you know, well past further
• 1:21:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I was there, I'm trying to get a new garage.
• 1:21:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you know, all of you know this from busy cities.
• 1:21:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you're in the Chicago area, try and pull into a parking garage.
• 1:21:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: And there's dozens of people walking back and forth on the sidewalk, and it's tough to get in.
• 1:21:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: So
• 1:21:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: Hang on, excuse me, I didn't hit mute, so I apologize for that one.
• 1:21:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: All right, so I'm trying to get into the parking garage and there are just floods of people, floods of people.
• 1:21:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the way it was, this was a skinny Manhattan road, so I'm blocking traffic.
• 1:21:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: People cannot get around me, there's cars, double park, no one can get around me.
• 1:22:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: I got my signal on, I am trying to pull into this parking garage.
• 1:22:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: People, people, people, people, people, people.
• 1:22:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, and you get enough people where you can't move.
• 1:22:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: You got cars honking behind you.
• 1:22:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: You're getting more antsy, right?
• 1:22:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: You're trying to go trying to go trying to go.
• 1:22:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: Finally, I look and I think I've got space.
• 1:22:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: I got it pretty good to try and get into this parking garage.
• 1:22:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: And all the sudden this guy with a black hoodie pulled over his head is in front of the car and I struck him pretty good kind of like on his thigh and his hip I was driving an SUV can I'm pretty good right there and
• 1:22:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: And this guy is pissed, I slam on the brakes, he doesn't get knocked over, he gets knocked back a couple steps.
• 1:22:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: And he takes his two fists, he didn't dent the car, but he slammed them on my hood.
• 1:22:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was furious.
• 1:22:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I look at him and he looks at me.
• 1:23:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if you know what Willem Dafoe looks like, very unique looking individual, very succinct features distinct, I should say features, it was very clearly him.
• 1:23:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I'll tell you what, when you hit someone with the car and they're pissed and they're looking at you and you know he wants to just MF me all over the place but he also knows he's Willem Dafoe and he probably shouldn't do that in public.
• 1:23:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: And he has rage in his eyes and I look at him and within a second, I figure out who it is.
• 1:23:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: I get like this big happy smile on my face, my eyes go big and I let point like, hey, like I know who you are, that I'm sure did not help his food.
• 1:23:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like, oh, this more on hits me with his car and then it's just like, hey, look, it's William Defoe.
• 1:23:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: So yes, that is my, I once hit
• 1:23:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: with my car.
• 1:23:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: That is going to do it for bears banter.
• 1:24:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: So for the next few weeks here, if we ever get a really good guest, you know, I talk to people all the time, if I can make something work, we may do a pop-up bears banter.
• 1:24:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: But
• 1:24:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: what we will do, what we always do, we will do a podcast again.
• 1:24:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if we'll do another one in May, if I can get some players on or a draft prospect on or something, we'll give you something who, if the bears have news, maybe with the stadium, we'll try and do something, but we will absolutely do a podcast at the end.
• 1:24:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: of OTAs and many camps to kind of get that off season, work out, wrap up, kind of see how everything looked in OTAs.
• 1:24:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: We will do that with someone from the Bears beat.
• 1:24:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: We will do our massive two-part training camp preview.
• 1:24:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is usually about a two-hour podcast that we break
• 1:24:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: in the two segments, the offense on one, the defense on the other.
• 1:24:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: We did it with Robert Schmitz for years.
• 1:24:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: Last year we did it with Zach Pearson.
• 1:25:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: We'll see if Zach wants to do it again.
• 1:25:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: This year he'll get right of first refusal.
• 1:25:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, it's like a two and a half hour commitment.
• 1:25:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: So it's a big commitment from someone.
• 1:25:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: We will absolutely do that.
• 1:25:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: And of course, we'll do a couple podcasts during training camp.
• 1:25:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: and preseason.
• 1:25:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's going to be the minimum that you're going to get.
• 1:25:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: You'll get a couple during preseason.
• 1:25:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: You'll get the training camp preview.
• 1:25:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: You'll get the OTA wrap up.
• 1:25:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: But of course, I will hope to bring you more content throughout the off season when it happens.
• 1:25:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: I just don't know exactly when things will be scheduled.
• 1:25:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: but you'll get the OTA wrap up.
• 1:25:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: You'll get the training camp preview.
• 1:25:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: You'll get a couple of preseason pods.
• 1:25:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: Then, and I'm sure he'll do it.
• 1:25:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: We will do the Aaron lemon big season preview that we always do as the preseason wraps up.
• 1:25:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then we'll get into weekly Bears podcast throughout the year with the usual cast of characters from Chicago Media and something from the National as well.
• 1:25:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's going to do it from Bear's Vanchor for Bear's Vanchor.
• 1:25:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: We will talk to you again soon.
• 1:25:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: Bear it out, everybody.
• 1:26:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Adios.