Ben Johnson Speaks Out | New Favorite Mock Draft Target for Bears

0:00I'm going to take the North and never get it back. So that's a good pick. You get the quarter. I got to go. Right? I got to go for this. Oh yeah. She's got some nice. Welcome back to the unbearable sports podcast. I'm who's Brad makes sure to like it. Subscribe if you got there on YouTube and also read the show five stars everywhere that you get your podcast. What is going on? Bears fans. Today we're going to break down some news because we heard from Ben Johnson. There's some really good nuggets that kind of have been pointing the way that we've kind of been talking about on this show and also to we'll be breaking down the latest of who's been mocked to the Chicago Bears the most and also just overall thoughts on that. Also make sure that you stay tuned to because I'll probably be dropping the the first iteration of the draft guide this week just so that we get that out there and then I'll just continuously add more and more and more stuff to it. So make sure you just bookmark the link and other things like that and just follow the

1:00show. I'll have the link down below in the description. Once we release that draft guide, but also just a big shout out to our friends at Fandall who sponsored this show. So thank you as always where you can go out to Fandall right now and place a bet on the Align Eye to win versus Connecticut right now Illinois two and a half point favorites over the Yukon Huskies. So if you believe in them, don't believe in them and go out there to our friends at Fandall and place a wager out there. And so thank you as always to our friends at Fandall. So I got was kind of teasing before the Chicago Bears. We had our head coach Ben Johnson kind of talk to the media ish. You know, whatever I hear of talk to the media, I think a big podiums and stuff like that. So we got to hear him talk, you know, first time in quite some time. And yet a lot to say and Courtney Cronin, one of the best Chicago Bears beat reporters that's out there right now had a really, really good right up on Twitter.

2:01Just this giant, giant list. So the people out there on on YouTube can actually read all these, but I want to talk about a couple little key takeaways. So one of the first ones that I really want to talk about is the left tackle position. I know that this is a big one that a lot of us bear spans are worried about. So first off, he didn't make us feel a lot nicer because he talked about there. You know, he's very straightforward. And usually when someone's getting interviewed, I always take it with the grain of salt, but Ben Johnson, it seems like he still doesn't have that true filter yet. He'll kind of tell it like it is in a lot of senses. And I really appreciate it because he also referred to the Trapila at injury as quote, quote, pretty serious injury because it's a patella tendon. And I know last time we heard anything about it, it was very kind of like, okay, everything's good, but I don't think we should panic. I don't think anything like that. We just know that this is a serious injury because it's a patella tendon injury. We already knew that now it just is a matter of time with if he's going to be able to come back

3:06or not and said there's a lot of uncertainty there with him potentially returning in 2026. But the positive side on the left tackle spot, Braxton Jones. And where Braxton Jones, Ben Johnson referred to him as he looked yoked at 310. And this is something that I kind of talked about. And I know that like motivated, Iowa Dengbo is a meme and everything like that. And then now there's Braxton Jones motivated as well, right? But the big thing with Braxton Jones, and I want to kind of call I call the attention to this one, we resigned them. Braxton Jones was injured coming off of a, um, a leg injury last year. And so really didn't have a lot of time to actually put on the weight that the team wanted him to put on. And also Ben Johnson, a further, um, a larger quote that was pulled from Ben Johnson, was I don't think we have, um, I don't think, wait, let me pull this over here. I don't think what he put on tape early last season was reflective of what he's capable of,

4:09especially coming off that injury. We felt like there was more there than what we saw. I'm excited about where he's at. He came in when he signed the contract and he looked like a brand new man. He looks yoked up. I know he's very determined to get his career trajectory back to where it was before. And I think that's very telling for what Ben Johnson thinks about him. And yet again, the fact that they brought him back after getting benched, I think also calls a lot of attention to what they do think about this player. And the other piece too is we all know. And even Ben Johnson knows Ben Johnson called him out last year for it. And we knew it in the off season where he said that, like, basically calling, calling it like he sees with Braxton Jones with him essentially getting pushed back. We all know that he needs to be doing the hit in the squat rack. We know that he needs to be stronger so that he's not being walked back. If he's able to do that and understand the offense, I think that he could be really good at that left tackle spot.

5:10Same thing with Jedrick Will's coming off of an injury that the more that more medical people start talking about it, it makes sense that he took an extra year off. You have two players like that that are very motivated and have a coming off of an injury. They want to prove themselves and they have time to prove them, prove themselves. And then you have Diabena that obviously going to be trying to fight for that position. So even though that the Aussie stuff might be bad, I still feel optimistic with what the Bears do have at that left tackle spot. Then there's some soldier field things and at family fast where he was reflecting on just how sloppy everything was. But I also thought that it was interesting that he kind of called out the wider Sievers for not getting open enough and emphasize the fundamentals of catching the football. But I agree. When you have that level of wider Sievers with Rome, with DJ, with Luther Burden, and they're not getting open, they're not making catches. You have this excellent

6:14receiver receiving crew. And a lot of times you have Caleb Williams having to do too much. And so yeah, the like, I don't think he needed to do that. But he ends up calling him up a little bit, a little bit too. And the other thing that I want to kind of call out Kobe Bryant with the Holy cow it factor that he was talking about. Absolutely loved that with from the leadership perspective. And a lot of people think he's going to be replacing Kevin Byard in that leadership role. But then also Johnson noting how challenging it was to form relationships with Jalen Johnson and Kyler Gordon, since they were both injured at that time. Because like he said, quote, we're starting over completely this spring. And that's the big piece with it too. We've talked about this from the defensive side with not having Kyler Gordon, with not having Jalen Johnson, with them being up. And then like we said, Braxton Jones being banged up that wasn't able to kind of get that full off season in with the team. Optimism for going into next season. So speaking

7:16of optimism, if you're optimistic about the Illinois ally and I to win the national championship and place a bet for them to win the national championship at plus for 50 lots of love for Arizona and Michigan with their them being the favorites plus 185 for Michigan plus 150 for Michigan plus 150 for Michigan plus 185 for Arizona. And thanks as always to our friends at Fandall for sponsoring today's show. But now next, what we'll be talking about, let's talk a little bit draft, a little bit of the draft. And then I actually got to get back to making more draft profiles. So with the draft, I always like to kind of look at this. Where are people going and who are being mocked to the Chicago Bears? And last time that we were talking about this, Peter Woods was the number one player that was mocked to the Bears by a pretty favorable margin. And then other was off the charts. And now when we look at it, a manual McNeil Warren is currently being mocked to them the most at 15 times

8:20and then you have Kate and McDonald at 14 times. And then your next highest is Peter Woods at eight Zion Young at four. And then other all the way up at 10. And this is mock drafts that the mock draft database has kind of pulled it in together over the last week. So these are from pros that are doing this and posting this out to the public. And I want to just kind of pause and look at this because I think a couple things. I think we're first off seeing how low other is. I think we're starting to see just the overall shape of the draft and kind of how the draft might work. But still, the draft is very similar to March madness where people always predict we get so familiar with where someone's going. And then all of a sudden, it changes. It's not very, very easy to predict. The first couple picks might be but then everything else changes as soon as someone goes that you weren't really expecting because then the dominoes fall and everything else ensues. But I want to just kind of call attention to this because I do think and if I'm looking at this

9:24right now and just the more that I grind the tape and everything right now, I'm doing defensive tackles and defensive ends. And I got to say, Zion Young is good. The more I watch Zion Young, the more I like Zion Young and the more that I think that he, I think Dennis Allen would really like Zion Young. And when I'm looking at this, my take still, there's that stat that Dennis Allen has never taken a defensive tackle over 300 pounds in like the first six rounds of the NFL draft. I'd be, I would be shocked out of all these people. I'd be shocked about Caden Macdonald because the manual McNeil Warren makes a lot of sense because you need a safety. You really need a safety. So draft them, right? And then Peter Woods makes a lot of sense because Peter Woods is like the reason why I think Peter Woods makes a lot of sense is because you know, same reason why you draft Caden Macdonald. You would draft Caden Macdonald because your run defense is really bad. Peter Woods

10:27is one of the best run defenders at the defensive tackle position. Same thing with Caden Macdonald, but then Peter Woods more, you know, more aggressive penetrative style that someone like a, and also to kind of the high potential athletic upside traits, which we know the bears like to draft. And then Zion Young, I think it's just a perfect scheme. So those three are probably the most likely I think that the bears would draft. I think Caden Macdonald the big reason why he's getting drafted is because we are so darn bad at defending the run last year and we don't have Andrew Billings anymore. Now do you want a big fat boy? I'd be down for that, but I don't think that I just don't think that the bears necessarily would, but I mean, if you disagree or let me know who you would like the bears to draft with their with the pick number 25. So now I want to talk a little bit about Matt Miller's NFL draft, his mock draft that he released because Matt Miller is someone that's

11:29very, very plugged in. And so rather than doing my own mock draft, I was like, I'm going to bring this up. Now I'm going to ignore day three because actually right before this, I was looking at a couple mock drafts and it was kind of funny just how irrelevant a lot of the day three picks are. So round four, they have them going Wisconsin edge, Madison Mason Ryger, and then also two, and our two seventh round picks Kentucky D tackle David Gusta, and then BYU linebacker Jack Kelly. Let's talk about round days one and two. I mean, yeah, day one and day two. So in round one, he has the bears going Peter Woods. And yet again, I still think that this is a very good fit for what the bears are trying to do just because of the, he can play all over the line. And also, I finally found out the perfect what I really like and what I really think he plays like, he reminds me a little bit of Rashon Gary, one of Rashon Gary was coming out where he, I think that he's got better moves than Rashon Gary. I think that he's been, he's been

12:32significantly more productive than Rashon Gary was in college. But Rashon Gary was the defensive tackle, one of the best five star recruits I was coming out, highly athletic. And yet again, as a coach, you go, I can maybe get something out of them. Peter Woods is not 100% like Gary, where Gary was truly a bull in the China shop, like he just was smacking in things and not really just playing pinball, but not actually doing any moves. Peter Woods, I do think that he's got more repertoire than I think a lot of people give him credit for. I still think that that's his biggest weakness. But seriously, this guy is phenomenal against the run. And yes, shorter arms and things like that. So it's hard for him to kind of like space somebody out with the strength that he does play with. There's a lot of upside there. And I think that for him to go outside of the first round, I think it's very rich. I don't think he's a top 10 player. But I do think that he's a round one grade. So you getting him in the, with the 25th pick, don't mind that at all. So that Miller

13:35suggested that for the Bears. But then next, we have AJ Halsey, the safety out of LSU. And we just talked about him during the safety episode. This is someone who I don't think is necessarily what Dennis Allen might like. But I said this before, he's probably the best safety prospect, like the best pure safety prospect this year outside of, you know, downs, because downs, down checks all the boxes. But Halsey truly, like the versatility, like the man coverage, the slot coverage, that's not his game. But if you're purely asking this guy to play zone, and you just want him to play zone in the slot zone, deep, AJ Halsey, safety out of LSU is that guy weighed in six, one, two, 15 hammer hitter. He can smack you, but also he can take the ball away. He can do, he can do all that. He's great at playing the safety position. And that's why I think that's what I kind of crazy to say that he's the 50, the consensus 57th best player. And he's so

14:39darn talented. So I'd love him if you, I would love him if he's on the Bears, because that means that they have a idea at least that, hey, we should probably let the safety play safety. And that have him man up on all these people, because he's darn good. But then some of the other people that I just want to kind of talk a little bit about, because you know, there were a little surprising was cornerback Malik Muhammad out of Texas. Now a little bit smaller and weight, but a three year starter for the Long Horns. And as a Long Horns fan, I remember Muhammad when he was a true freshman and he started and he's always just been solid. You can look at his PFF grades freshman year, 78.5. And I remember him kind of coming out to the scene looking real good, then after that, nothing too great. But we saw the passer rating go down from an 86.4 to a 77.8 to a 57.8. I just think that he's got good upside to be a potential starter. And obviously you

15:40drafting him in the second round. I like that. But the Bears have also been trying to get, um, have been searching for a lot of different corners. We'll see if they believe in a Tiberic Stevenson, but seems like more of an insurance play. So maybe Matt Miller knows that the Bears like some sort of corner. But then next Bears going wide receiver Skyler Bell with their third round pick and Skyler Bell is a, um, is a red shirt senior out of Connecticut. And quite frankly, just quick little watches. I haven't done my official tape review of this guy, but got a lot of yards in the screen. 257, which is good for ninth highest. So it was able to break some tackles. But just initially I saw one cop of him being kind of like Michael Gallup. And I agree with that, where I don't think he wows you with incredible speed or anything like that. But just fluid mover, smooth mover as a, uh, route runner. And just kind of a seems like a good kind of how Michael Gallup, good wide receiver three, but also to some pretty good, uh, contested catch abilities.

16:45The percentage 65% contested catch rate, which is phenomenal, but really just was able to go up and get the ball, um, at Yukon. So some little interesting mock draft that they ended up having. Let me know what you think. Would you be happy with a mock draft like that? I think that with this, I think that the main key takeaways, the main key takeaways that I have with this is really in those in, in the idea that hey, corner might be something that the bears are definitely looking at a little bit more, especially if Matt Miller's kind of popping something out like that. Just we might have to do a little bit more research on some corners and don't worry. We'll be covering corners in, in this show as well. But also to with just the Peter Woods piece, it doesn't mean every single thing that Matt Miller puts out is going to happen. But I just think that it kind of highlights the point that I know some people don't think he's a good fit. I think he's a good fit in the system. And, um, and so I think that's where you're going to potentially see the potential of like a

17:49Peter Woods and definitely since kind of that Rashon Gary comp that I gave out. This guy can play all over the line. I like Rashon Gary, who eventually played out at the outside edge, not saying Peter Woods should be a defensive end, but he's got a lot of potential that, but still has a good level of production. He's not like a Kendrick Falk, who is just somebody that is endless potential, endless potential, but not a lot of production out there on the field. So what do you think? And then also to a wide receiver, just want to throw that out there too. And then we all know that they're going to go safety sometime, because there's really no other safeties out there. But that's the show. I'm going to go back and start doing a little bit more, uh, you know, draft profiles for us, continuing. I was going to do defensive tackles. And then I'm like, oh man, defense events are a little bit too much fun. So defense events have, you know, 10 plus that I was able to get done the other day. So cranking these out. So stay tuned. Make sure to like,

18:50button, subscribe, hit the notification bell, because I do think this week that draft guide will officially be coming out just a good chunk of that. So there'll be like 50 plus different ones. And then I'll just get more and more and more. So appreciate you all so much. And with that unbearable sports podcast, we are out. If you liked the show, please take a moment to rate, review, and subscribe. It really does help the show to grow. Thank you for listening.