Training Camp awards & Season Preview

0:00A one, a two, a one, two, three. It's the charter charter. The charter podcast, the charter podcast with Ruthie and Cliff. What's up everyone welcome back to the charter podcast brought to you my seat savior university. I'm Ruthie Polinsky back with Clay Harbor. Clay I just got off the phone with my father-in-law. He's a big listener of the charter podcast and he said not a fan of the not a fan of the jingle. I was so sorry he loves everything I do but he doesn't love our jingle. Well give him the number and me and home will have a talk. We'll talk about this you know maybe we'll change it up a little bit but it's not going anywhere for now. We see your guys comments. Some you love it. Some you hate it. Ruthie just did it in prompt to Acapella. This girl can actually sing so it's pretty impressive. I got a funny story at some point. I don't if I should start off with it or um real quickly while we're on the subject of my father-in-law and

1:02my in-laws and my other family that I've married into. Got to let everyone know. My brother-in-law Jared Fried is a standard comedian and he just put out a special on Netflix and it's his second comedy special and it's called the family plan. So highly encourage everyone to go listen to it, watch it. It's all about his family but it's also really about your family because everyone's family in so many ways are the same. Very I think for people who have the millennial boomer parent-kid relationship like you're just going to relate to this and laugh and it's just so so so so good. We're so proud of him and we're so excited. Yeah I'm going to watch that tonight but you're not a millennial. You're too young for that. I'm a millennial. I'm a millennial. She's barely a millennial. I'm in the heart of millennial. You're a millennial. As a 40-year-old but uh are you ready for mine? Yeah I'm ready for your story. This is kind of football related but I'm in the gym a couple days ago

2:02and um you know I do my treadmill workout. It's uh I do four minutes forward one minute backwards uphill 18 inclined 3.3 miles per hour. Best workout you can do I do that for 20 or 30 minutes if you're looking at the hot weight build strength try it out Ruthie does a lot too. So I'm doing my forward um starting off my forward treadmill. I flip around and you know I start doing my backwards and I just notice this huge person on the stair master like behind me it gets weird sometimes when you're facing backwards and these people are facing front but like corner by I am just like that's a big human that's going pretty hard on the stair master and um I look at his jaden loving. He's in on the beers off day just makes the football team he's on the stair master right behind me. I told David Hall on the score today and David goes you didn't say hi to him or anything. I'm like no I don't want to bug the guy he's like getting his workout and he's like dripping sweat and I thought that was really cool. A guy is off day in lifetime fitness getting extra workout and

3:04I know they have a great facility at house hall but for some reason whatever I'm gonna work out in lifetime and I asked my other buddy um that's a trainer there shout out to Josh good trainer at lifetime if you're in lifetime River North, ask for Josh if you want a trainer and I go dude he's a huge bearer's fan by the way always talks about your off about bears and sometimes I'm like bro I'm trying to work out. I hope he's not watching um love you Josh but I go hey I go is that he's like yeah that's jaden loving and I go no freaking way man so big loving gotta give I am loving the fact that he is getting extra work in on his off day. We might be talking about him a little bit today Clay that's cool I wonder maybe he was just spending his off day like in the city and wanted to get a workout in you know yeah yeah yeah I probably got some talent to get the workout in yeah so cool yeah I love that you should have said hi I should have said hi I should have a picture you know for the gram for the gram he should want a picture with you for his exactly exactly you're the one washed up I'm washed up he's the guy is playing now you know

4:06your big TV star now though okay yeah reality TV the bachelor no crazy yeah okay let's get into it Clay we have so much to get to obviously a lot has happened since our last episode um obviously the roster is now down to 53 players there's a practice squad there was a trade there's a player who's unavailable but posting workout videos um we're gonna give out camp awards um we're also gonna talk about I think jalen johnson deserves a like in-depth conversation today because we haven't really talked about him a lot this off season and I think that's our fault like we need to talk about jalen johnson and you got a lot of credit for him as defense of coordinator and then well also at the end of the episode Clay well let's give a little season preview a little check-in what do we think is gonna happen this year with the bears and um what's that record gonna look like at the end of the year when the schedule came out Clay why I think what did I say so the bears go with 13 games 13 Ruthie peace of 13 games that was before the Kobe Bryant injury

5:09yeah and the Kyler Gordon drama um but i'll adjust but maybe not too much you'll have to watch till the end of the episode to find out okay Clay let's start with well we could even just tie a bow I guess on that final preseason game your biggest takeaways we all know that my biggest takeaway is that Tyson Baygent is a starting quarterback in this league and um will be one day not yet we're not ready for you to do that yet Tyson because we need you here in Chicago but um I loved watching him be 15 to 16 or 16 to 17 in the first half and um show up in the way that I know he wanted to I know it it killed him and ate him alive that he wasn't able to play in that second preseason game but want to give Tyson his flowers he um reminded everyone that he's the real deal yeah I think Tyson played incredible not only on time operating the offense can everybody set up but he showed the wheels trucking the guy and then he gets uh pressure on his face he spins out to his left

6:09against his grain and that's a tough throw for quarterbacks those are dot to dot eight walker to showing his full repertoire of what he can do in this league but for me I know we love Tyson but we expect that from Tyson Ruthy we're big Tyson people at CBSN the charter and the big profile show we love us some Tyson Baygent he's one of the best backup quarterbacks in the league I will fight you if you think differently I won't really but I'll say that you're wrong my guy was probably Xavier and Thomas and he came into camp looking like a gadget player he left looking like a weapon five catches 140 yards a TD 97 yard touchdown plus a 39 yard putt return so I think this guy has shown and obviously to deep receive room Luther Rome Cleafram and I don't know where he gets a snap from Johnny Walker too I think he's a number two receiver on this league for somebody if this if he wasn't on such a deep room Johnny had a hell of a camp heck of a camp but Xavier and Thomas made a big push to show that he is not just a gadget guy

7:10he can be a part of the offense and he's going to be immediately showing some dividends for the team offensively and a special team so shout out to Xavier and Thomas the reach the bears reached for him in the draft maybe start time by time we start trusting Ben Johnson when it comes to drafting offensive players yeah I'm excited to see what he's going to be able to do because if you remember like I think you talk about a clay like he's just got to earn the trust continue to earn the trust from the coaching staff prove that he can get lined up correctly and learn the playbook and run the routes and the right you know and the with the exact precision that Ben Johnson wants him to run it with and I just want to remind everyone that like we were saying that same thing about Luther bird in this time last year and I think that's something to remember that you know these guys are rookies it takes them a minute and I don't see any reason why if Xavier and Thomas I don't see any reason why Xavier and Thomas can't be an impactful player by the end of the year so that's really exciting they have a plethora it's not your word plethora of options what are the day calendar

8:17and I got to mention we already talked about them but Ruthie loving in that game obviously Van Berg was just disrupting stuff all over the place but loving obviously we've seen him pop and camp he's had some good preseason games but he looked really good and it got me look at it his his numbers look like Van in Berg's numbers so you know the Razz the relative athletic scores they put together for all the combine he didn't make the combine he was a he's a pro day guy but at this pro day if you put it with all the combine invite he's a defensive tackle over 2300 players that they've they've recorded he would have had the 17th best overall combine in NFL history Jordan Van Berg number two all this goes into weight all that Jordan Davis sewing guy above Jordan Van in Berg barely but that's because Jordan Davis was like 360 pounds and still doing some crazy stuff so great um all right so the bears have the worst day of the year for a lot of the coaches in front office

9:17people and that's cut down day clay I know you're all too familiar but you were still able to have a nine-year career and so we love that about you what stood out to you about the 53 man roster and were there any surprises I'll say there's a couple surprises I got my list right here well firstly James Lynch and Jack Sanborn release but now they're back to the active roster so you know that doesn't really count um I would say four undrafted rookies making the roster we got bowgardener Hayden-large who ended up getting put on IR Jordan Loving Scather Thomas who like quietly had a really good camp in the Bears like him a lot another surprise would be Jamry Kroema I mean he's a guy that you coming into the season who gave him a shot to make the roster this guy's been in the practice squad for two three years hasn't really done much he changes body he lost weight put on muscle and he came back as a as a real player he's relentless I'm not saying he's the most athletic guy I've ever seen but he is a guy that you put on the film and you say

10:19man I'm gonna have to buckle my chin strap make sure that helmets extra tight tell the equipment guy to come in you know can you tighten up this you tighten up because he's gonna bring it on every single snap and I think what you notice about the guys at the Bears kept is they're all the same type of guys guys that love football play extremely hard and that is how you can raise the floor of a roster with just guys that are solid they're okay they're not the freakiest most freak athletes but they're guys at play hard are gonna do whatever it takes to get to the ball to win so for me I think that's the the overall take as far as like surprises go but they all they want the same type of guy yeah and that's really was the takeaway from Dennis Allen's press conference on Wednesday um and just talking about how those high effort guys are that's what they're looking for that's literally the criteria and that sort of gets us into the Dervant extra trade right because when you think about this defensive line and you talk about

11:21the guys that you know surprised you and we're able to have an impact in the preseason and of course Vandenberg I know what's drafted but kind of you can put them in that group of somebody who started as what like the sixth guy on and line and now all the sudden he's getting reps with the ones that to me tells you that does it this coaching staff doesn't care where you were drafted who you are what your status was with the last regime like they want guys that are gonna fit their mold and guys like Jordan Vandenberg fit that mold better than a guy like Dervant extra dead and so they shipped him off got a fifth round pick in exchange as along with Clark Phillips quarterback or defensive back so it'll be interesting to see how he will be used but Clay what was your reaction to Dexter getting traded I mean it's surprising because he is only 24 and he's a guy that can give you some some real good pass rush he's a long-lanky guy though that's what you got to realize he's six foot six and he's not good against the run and when you're that tall at defensive tackle you

12:25got to have really good pad levers you'll be able to hold up against the run and just watching the tape this preseason well this guy can't take on a double team right now and his pad level he's still laid off the ball and I think he's got a lot of talent and he's good in the past rush but overall there was guys better than him against the run I was I told the stat David not stats pff but he had a 44 overall pf run grade he was ranked 108 out of 133 total interior defensive tackles when it came to start the run just to give a little context there but I think Dennis Allen realizes when you're giving up five yards of carry 134.5 yards of game against the run you got to have some run stuffers in there and what I saw from everywhere from Neville Gala Moore to ContaV street to Manon Berger to loving even James Lynch like these guys are guys that know how to leverage and take on double teams Lynch very versatile he can line up from nine technique all the way to nose loving is just a big boy a freak athlete Vayne and Berg I mean we saw him he can take on two through a

13:28six hundred pound double team two a center on a guard that way over six hundred pounds and they're not moving up like that's some crazy strength and then ContaV street obviously this guy's a journeyman he's been a bunch of places but when you let the tape do the talking let the play do the talking and just decide from there and then just try to leave all your preconceived notions at the door these this is the right group and especially when Dexter you put the the contract in there he wants a big contract you're probably not going to sign them next year so I want to get some back for him you get Phillips I know he's not a slot corner back he hasn't played there but Dennis Alan say you might try him there because he's got a short area of quickness hasn't played there on the NFL played in college they said I'm still skeptical about a guy that hasn't played position the NFL playing a position in the NFL for the first time a little bit different but you get you to draft pick two and you got a bunch of guys you could be able to send waves the defensive tackles out there and I think great Jared's going to bounce back and have a big year as well I love it um

14:29you know I think Clay it comes down to Dexter you know obviously not being quite the scheme fit that Dennis Alan's looking for but also just the fact that like he probably was looking for a contract extension and the Bears just weren't going to do it um and so they want and got something for him in exchange and he was happy to be the odd man out and probably the player that they could get the most value for that you know that was expendable in their eyes and I get you know they're very durable started all 19 games last season and somebody who showed up in did his job to an extent was he a game record was he a game changer I wouldn't say he was but um he was somebody that was very dependable and I think that's a great quality to have and it's hard to like let that walk out the door but you do feel better having her Dennis Alan say yesterday that this is he feels really confident in that D line group and their ability to sort of especially hold their own in that interior it's an impressive group I know it doesn't

15:29got a bunch of big names but coming into the season it was one of my biggest questions I'm questioning whether they have enough talent there and then they end up trading one of those pieces away because they have too much talent but it just goes to the competitiveness of this training camp some camps aren't that competitive you don't get the periods to really show what you can do and that's why you got love Ben Johnson he lets you have your opportunity to make your case to make the team if you're guy that can play you don't care that you're an undrafted free agent you think it looks good when Brian Pulse trades away at number two second round pick no they don't want to do that when you have these guys show show show that they can do it they can get it done you let the tape do the talking and from there you say hey we got guys that we believe in we trust we've seen how they work in the meeting rooms we see how they work in the wait room we see how they work on the field we see the effort they get give and Dennis Alan said giving efforts a talent and that's a talent that every one of these defensive tackles that they have in the roster have that's effort I love it um we got to talk to unfortunately about the Kyler Gordon situation

16:36Clay and that was an interesting one and it sort of evolved over the course of the week because Brian Pulse spoke to the media and essentially said that there's a disconnect he admitted that there's disconnect between the player and the team we don't know he says he wish yeah he just kept saying I wish I had more I wish I knew um and he basically said there comes a time and rehab and football that you have to push through discomfort and it doesn't sound like Kyler Gordon's doing that so is David Haas said on our show and I'll quote him so it doesn't necessarily come out of my mouth but like that's as close as you can get a general manager to publicly calling a player soft and I think that's about as forward facing as Brian Pulse will be in and sort of as transparent as he'll be and that was very telling to hear that from him then the next day there's a video that goes out from foot doctor Mo of Kyler Gordon running around looking healthy in the backyard of

17:37of um I don't know where he was I don't know what back yard that's collar around nice back weights doing squats lunges sprints um and it was it felt intentional the timing and I'm not sure what that intent was trying to accomplish necessarily but I have a lot of thoughts I'd like to get yours to start us off I mean I'm at a loss at this point Ruthie I you know we analyze this team having played before I feel like I can usually give some good context on a lot of things but this one has me uh miffed so to speak I'm just I don't know you know so the the Kyler Gordon workout video obviously Pulse was asked I think it was uh pretty to ask him if he's gonna play for you again Ryan says we don't know we hope you'll play for us again not this year not in the next after the four public said again he says I don't know that's huge statement for a guy that you got on

18:38contract for another year after this one obviously the guaranteed money runs out but pretty telling comment right there of how frustrated they are with Kyler Gordon especially a guy that the first thing Dennis Allen got hired we go back to that press conference said hey I've watched the tape of this team and I really think this this slot nickel corner Kyler Gordon it's going to be able to give us a lot and Ruthie you know you know me you know I love posting a good workout video I post workout videos all the time I do some sponsorships we'll see we get some of these sponsors to sponsor our podcasts because we do talk a little bit of health and wellness here maybe a little bit and um how can we do big workout guy but to post a video I know he's Ruthie's locked in by the way guys Ruthie's locked she's locked she turned the dial she's locked but to post that video right after the statements come out from your GM head coach all these guys talking about you you're sending a message there you know my message is usually yeah look I'm fit you want to get fit let's let's do it

19:40these workouts self Kyler's message is probably I'm working I want to play I don't know and there is a disconnect there he's trying to get back and you know there's I like I said I'm if I want to get your take on this because like I said usually I feel like I can from my inside experience in the training rooms in the locker rooms talking to these DMs having 10 surgeries in the league I've been through a ton of recoveries done had a torn calf you know I've been some similar to this and it is a touchy injury but like they said at some point you got to go out there and you got to give it a go and I think here nowadays guys have their teams right they have like their health team and then there's the teams medical staff so it used to be like you put all your treatment in the hands of the team and it seems to me like Kyler's going outside getting different opinions on what he should do and whatnot and the team's like hey you've gone through the protocol you have steps to take okay this is the first week this is what we want to in the second stage this is the

20:44third stage four stage we're ramping up you're in practice we're slowly we're not going to throw you out there until you full goal but you're going to have to do something to show us when you're ready to go because you're not just going to say hey I'm healthy I'm ready to play so that's how typically goes when you go outside it's a little bit different so for me I think there's just as much as I wish I could give more there's just a big disconnect and how healthy he is and what he needs to what how how healthy he needs to be to perform on Sunday so this is a complicated situation because Kyler Gordon was the first player that Ryan Poles ever drafted as a general manager Kyler Gordon was the first player that Ryan Poles drafted and then extended and that was a big moment for him I'm sure to say I drafted a guy who's a very good player and I want him here for a long time and I'm going to make him one of the highest paid at his

21:48position in the league and that's a big accomplishment for a general manager in any situation unfortunately since that contract we haven't seen the best version of Kyler Gordon so there's a lot of like layers to the emotional part of this connection I think probably I'm assuming for Ryan Poles someone that he feels very connected to and is rooting for and wants to succeed I also think it's worth noting that the Bears internally like when you talk to Ryan Poles like when we heard from Ryan Poles and I know we don't hear from him a ton but when we do hear from him and then when I when we hear from Ben Johnson who's frequently asked about Kyler Gordon or other players it doesn't feel like it's necessarily a distraction to them I think they have they don't talk about him I don't know how much they're really even seeing him it feels like they are moving on

22:48to 2026 with Kyler Gordon not in the plans and it is what it is and like that's that's the bottom line and we'll say one more thing Ruthie just because you're trying to jog my memory let me finish this off oh sorry what's okay because otherwise I'll forget oh I thought yeah my point here being is like when you then go post a video or your trainer then post a video that is a very obvious hey look at me everything's fine to try and get the attention of not just the media but maybe your teammates and your GM and your coach then now you're a distraction now you're hurting the team now you're creating a storyline and drama that it's about you it's about you and to me it seems like this is airing on the side of at what point and I know this is challenging with injuries but at what point and what evidence can you use to say this is conduct detrimental to the team

23:49we're paying you to be on the field and we're paying you to use every single ounce of your energy we're giving you the best resources in the world to get healthy and to get back on the field our team it sounds like is saying you're good to go dude time to take that next step and you're you got to push through some discomfort right and Kyler Gordon saying no no no no no like I have people telling me that that's not the case and it's like who's signing your paycheck so I don't know where this goes Clay maybe Kyler Gordon put that video out to say hey bears I'm all good here like send me to another ship me off to another team let me show another team that I'm healthy that was one of my thoughts and I'm just guessing and Jackson are here but yes Jackson value that's one thought the other thought is it's just a big like whatever you don't get the sense clay that this is somebody who is dying to get back on the football field he wants

24:52the attention and maybe the money that comes with playing football but everything that he's shown us the media the fans the front office the coaches is that he likes everything that comes with football but I don't know how badly he wants to be on the field playing football that's where I tie the bow I don't know where this goes I don't know how it ends but I don't think that Kyler Gordon plays another game for the bears wow I mean you tied the bow for me you hit all the points I was going to hit I was going to touch on like hey in the NFL we all want to be 100% when we step on the field trust me we want but you realize there's going to be a lot of games where you're at 80 we're here at 85 and you're still going to figure out a way to get the job done especially when you're Kyler Gordon when you're a guy that the team needs they need you out there you're you're not going to be 100% every honestly you're seldomly very seldomly 100% and if that's what it takes for you to be on a football field that's not the guy one on my team I want a guy it's going to fight in claw to do

25:55whatever takes down the field then you touch on it too I've seen guys that have had that mentality then you do get a little bit of mula you get some money and you say you look your bank counts wow I got 40 million in there I'm set up pretty good like why am I going to go out of here and play at 85% when I don't have to so I think you you touch on everything I don't think we need to say anything else I think you you put that perfectly and I think there's a good possibility of what you said release trade something you know I don't know if you play another game with the Bears I don't know how anyone wants that player right now like I don't know how you're going to get anything for Kyler Gordon and I don't know how why anyone would want to take that contract with this big unknown so I think it's going to be really hard to trade him yeah especially right now yeah but you know as season goes on and as you know people get injured maybe a team gets desperate um I don't know it's all very fascinating um and we will be monitoring it unfortunately until we're

27:00don't you know I did say this so clearly like other than the Kyler Gordon situation this bears offseason other than the injuries of course this bears offseason has been kind of just like chill like you're just sort of like some like at least we have a little drama you know exactly what is football without a little drama you know like the bachelor he needs some drama man to to bring the viewers in the drama the most dramatic season ever you need the girls like that get kicked off the show posting on their IG story like oh my god it's like the what their trainers you know that's the Kyler Gordon right but okay let's get into some camp awards clay I know you're big on this who would you say for training camp and we're not saying that this is necessarily going to be the MVP of the season right obviously who was your MVP on offense for training camp this is a tough one okay because I thought there was a lot of people that had good camps um I thought Colson

28:01Loveland excellent camp just took another step and you know um I don't want to give it to Loveland because everybody's been feeling oh guys no I clased at Colson Loveland again but he's I mean blocking watching his technique I think he took a step there receiving wise even when he's covered he's not he can go up and get the ball he had an excellent camp I thought Clevr Amin had a really good camp I mean he played extremely well caught a ton of passes blocking running routes just what the veteran leadership Zavion when he was healthy he was missed a little bit of time obviously showed up Luther when he's healthy showed up but I'm a little deandery swift and I know you can't tell a lot with without the tackling but this guy just showed up every day I feel like he's he's improved in his vision and what I mean by that is he's going more north and south than east and west than he used to so he's getting downhill and the movement around a lot this guy's motioning to the slot he's motioning outside and he's using him a lot in the past game so offensively

29:01I think deandery swift and you'll hear Ben Johnson talk about it too he's like Swifties ready for a big year and his versatility showed his hard running his vision improved caught everything good and blitz pickup so deandery swift contract year let's not forget that I think he has a big year he's only 27 he can get another deal and if you're in fantasy football I'm not I'm not a big fantasy guy all my friends text me about fantasy football my guys I've never done fantasy in my life like Clay can you tell me should I go for this guy I don't even know how to score I'm sorry I'm not a fantasy guy but I think Swift's gonna have a big year on the field and in fantasy okay I love that he might want the mula the mula at some point running back markets have really really exploded too with with some of these some of these checks that these guys are getting so he's got he's motivated you know he's got some reasons to to play well with a good offensive line in front of him as well okay I love that who would you say was your MVP of the defense another tough one a lot of

30:07guys missing you know a lot of camp obviously defensive backfield is tough right now with the safeties you know linebackers I thought Devon Bush showed up pretty well when t.j. was healthy he played well yeah it demarcled Jackson when he was playing preseason I thought he had an excellent camp defensive line we've already talked about how impressive they've been and I know this is gonna be a homer pick big Jordan vandenberg I'm sorry he was a guy that that really really impressed me I'm gonna go with vandenberg he was a mismatched problem he was a guy that you know six round pick I know everybody had high hopes like Kyle Monunguy last year but realistically in your head you're like okay why was he seventh round pick why was vandenberg a sixth round pick let me see this guy in the field he starts to pop a little bit then you saw him consistently getting better put him himself into a point where he's getting reps with the ones he's taken on double teams he's getting pressure so overall I would say vandenberg I think Jalen Johnson's got a case too he was there

31:10every day he was making plays but I'm gonna go with the iceberg Jordan vandenberg as my MVP Ruthy P that's something I was gonna say that maybe Jalen Johnson would would have been my MVP just because of the leadership that sort of he showed especially towards the end of camp just like bringing everyone in and saying like guys this isn't good enough really obviously always been a vocal leader and so I think that's probably where I lean I think in the secondary you sort of have this blow right at the beginning of camp where Kobe Bryant goes down and everything changes and you're like oh bleep you know like what how are we gonna be you know better than we were last year and I think the key to that is Jalen Johnson's healthy right that's gonna be how this defense is better obviously you gotta rush the passer and get to the quarterback but you have an elite corner back back there that is healthy Dennis Allen came out and said he's healthy um and I think that

32:14to me is really the biggest sign of progress for that defense and then of course you have Grady Jarrett you have you know we talked about the D line it's almost they went over quality over quality so they talk you know they have a lot of good pieces there rotational pieces maybe for different situations and you can also you know it you didn't go out and get the big D line man right you didn't go out and get dexter Lawrence you have a lot of guys that you can bring in and keep fresh which I think is important especially for you know maybe more of an older D line in some regards with you know the great Jarrett's the level ground level gal more yeah James Lynch so um so yeah to me Jalen Johnson and he's he's my defensive MVP but he's also my biggest key for the Bears success on defense because um I think obviously other than Monta Svet who you need to have a huge year but Jalen Johnson that's gonna be my answer Clay I like it um let's go

33:20most improved it's a little different than MVP right so let's go most improved on offense over the course of camp yeah so this is this was this was a tough one it's going most improved because I thought a lot of these a lot of these bear players you know um have had solid years when you talk about Colson Lovelin you talk about Clea Freeman you talk about you know Luther Burton like these guys Caleb you know but I am gonna stop there and I'm gonna say Caleb Williams and when I say Caleb I'm going for Caleb from last camp until we saw this camp Ruthie you were out there for both a lot and last camp we're like these guys are struggling to get out the huddle he's not hitting guys he's missing guys you know the the accuracy the targets um we were worried we were really concerned early in the year and we should have been and after that many by week that's when the bears really started picking things up last year so I go with Caleb just operationally the pre-snap the

34:22coverage recognition the leadership the type of leadership last year you know Ben said he was a little bit goofy you know when he said goofy it's not that's not until he's just like likes to have fun with his guys you know you go out there now he's he's locked in and that's something you could feel you could see from Caleb he really took a jump as a professional I thought that that Caleb is is so improved and I'm gonna give him my m.i.p also shout out to um for the beginning of camp Sam Roush I thought he he improved a lot too in a bright end position he uh it felt like he was struggling to pick up the playbook you know looked a little tense and by the end of the camp I feel like he's a guy that you can you can trust to put out there a 13 personnel and trust that he's gonna be a good blocker and be able to catch some balls as well that's great who's my most improved I mean we go Roushon you can go uh Johnny Walker you know Johnny Walker I love but like I've always

35:22loved Johnny like I think he's always had this sort of star power that is getting you know take into a new level which is really exciting um dare I say Braxton Jones no I know that's kind of I know that's kind of a stretch but to go from you know not and listen he missed some time right he got a little banged up here and there but for him to go into the season sort of knowing like and I you know we don't really know we're all sort of assuming that he's your day one starter they even like officially announced it right like there's they're kind of waiting till we go on who everyone who's it gonna be um okay a lot of competitive advantage there keeping that one close to the best um I think with Braxton like just the confidence maybe is huge and knowing that like right like you know that the O's not gonna be and you know Crown Amagaji and you know I don't know if Braxton

36:24necessarily maybe fell into the starting role or the other guys fell out of that starting role like I you know that I think that's sort of maybe where they're confusion lies for me but I think you know he took his job last year yes and his mindset is gonna be that I'm the guy and I think that's huge for him and now listen he could lose that starting job week five like you did last year I think he has a good year I'm with you I think he has a good year yeah okay that's great who is your most improved on defense are this one's a little bit tough because you know obviously the injuries you got everything going but I'm gonna I'm gonna say Contavia Street and I didn't know much about this guy coming in but you know veteran guy signs for a minimum deal don't know much about him and this just the consistency that this guy showed up with and right now if you had to ask me to pick who's gonna be starting next to Grady in that first game of the year probably Contavia Street so I mean he's he's shown me that he is an NFL defensive tackle he can

37:28stop the run he can be disruptive and I don't have a huge sample size if he was before that but he was on the last season he started off on a practice quad and got called up and now this is guys like wow this guy is an NFL football player he can get the job done so Contavia Street like you said this guy was on the street I had no idea who he was in the bar assigned to a minimum deals like I was a camp body who knows he makes a team kept showing up kept showing up getting better kept showing up getting better now he works his way up into the ones you trade your vandex sir now this guy looks like he's gonna be a starting defensive tackle after being on a practice quad last year Contavia Street hats off to you you know your MIP good work we need you this year I think he's gonna have a good year set himself up one year deal if he does what he didn't camp pre-season I think this guy could be a dude that think it's a decent little contract and I love stories like that veteran guys stick around hang around stick around hang around pops for them they get it big

38:31year and now they can sign a decent little deal love it my most improved on defense clay with is your MVP and that is Jordan band and work Jordan band and work I don't know why is that like that but like does it make his name I have to say like that yeah he was like I said a rookie getting last team reps and worked his way all the way up to the ones like that if that is to tell you that how it proves and the way the training the the coaching staff views a player like I don't know what to tell you that is really impressive and I am so excited like I love when a coach it describes a player is violent like I think that is of group just the ultimate compliment you know football so um in football not anywhere else no um on the field so I'm really excited about Van and Berg and we had him on our show and you know how I feel about guys great kid yeah I

39:35I want to ask you a question that really doesn't have anything to do with the bears it slightly has to do with football but I I'll just want to finish with that I don't know what else you got you got I think you'll think this is for me I'm sure you've seen it around but I'll let you I'll do it at the end oh at the end okay that's whoa that's a tea is clay I love that okay um real quickly heading into the I'm going to ask you what position group are you most confident in and what position group are you most concerned by I'm most concerned I would say safety nickel putting those two together um I think Molligmohamans going to have a great NFL career I think asking a guy to come from college where he played 95% of his snaps outside to slot I think it's going to be um getting take a lot of growth throughout this year and I think he's gotten better too he's a guy that you could think of as maybe most improved but he's still got a lot of

40:36worked a lot to work on there shows up really well in the run game he's more physical he's physical enough to play that position which you love I think the cover stuff inside it's so hard it's such a hard position and to just not have that experience level it's going to be tough and especially when you're going you're you're drawing some of the hardest hardest assignments in the NFL it's not because if they see a rookie slot defender it hasn't played it's not defender they're going to scheme ways these teams are going to scheme ways to get their best receiver in the slot especially you got to talk about Detroit the team that's favored all the betting sites to win the division this year I'm gonna not say Brown is a slot defender and you go to Green Bay Jane Reed he's probably one of their best receivers he's a slot receiver you you go to Minnesota you got Addison you obviously got Justin Jefferson and they bring in uh dude from 49ers and they got three really good receivers so he's going to be drive he's going to be having some tough tough cover assignments and then don't think him in I will say he's improved he's maybe on the list of

41:42my most improved early in camp I'm like man this is tough but you've seen his range his speed they they were talking about who gets the fastest GPS times on the team and he's one of the guys that consistently do it and it shows up on tape he can cover that center field he can cover ton of ground that gives your cornerbacks a ton of confidence that you know in a deep route that your safe he's going to be there to help you I think he's good in the run he's not afraid to throw his body around he maybe he doesn't deliver the biggest booms but the slot coverage when he gets asked to do that I think that's somewhere that he's got to improve he's um he's been going his colson level but even in the preseason he's been getting beat too often there in slot coverage so that'd probably be my most concerning group let me ask you this clay before we move move to your most confident the Clark Phillips acquisition and Dennis Allen sort of unprovoked mentioned that he could be in that slot nickel conversation what do you think of that I went back and I looked at

42:43the number of snaps he played in the NFL in slot it was under 10 and I know that he said hey played it in college but there's a big difference between playing somewhere in college in the NFL least he's a veteran right he's a veteran and he's five nine he's got great short area quickness like he's a burst he's a twitchy guy so he's got the ability to do it not asking him to come in on a week's notice and play I think it's a little bit dicey but it does give you another option there so that's interesting he could be a guy that that shows up and helps okay yeah that was just my that was my one follow up yeah what are you most confident in I would say this is this is tough drum roll because the Bears do got some good position groups um I would say past catchers I'm confident Luther burden Colson leveling I thought you were gonna say tight ends I'll give past catchers cold khmick consistent cold offensive line I'm confident in the offensive line like this is still a very deep group I'm confident in the linebackers TJ that

43:45last preseason game I'm like oh he's heard let's see how TJ like fast quick violent Ruthie looked violent as do you like to see Devin Bush uh Demarco Jackson when he's back healthy obviously Sanborn came back he's just consistent dude Keishan Ali they kept him on the roster haven't got to see him at all but past catchers I I 100% fully believe Colson's gonna have a big year if they all say healthy Luther burden I don't see how he doesn't um Rome I think shows that he's he's up to that building of that first round receiver this year and then you got Khalif Raymond who's a guy that is just consistently made plays throughout camp uh preseason and then Davian Thomas I mean we've seen since rookie mini camp Ruthie I go this guy this guy's we got some here this guy's got yeah burst he's got speed and he can catch he's got natural hand so past catchers most confident but there are a number of boosting groups I'm confident okay that makes me excited uh really quickly Clay because we don't have a ton of time here I want to get your updated season preview prediction how many games do the Chicago Bears win in

44:512026 I'm gonna go 10 games 10 and 7 I think uh the defense they're gonna have to win a lot of shootouts obviously they won seven come from behind victories in the last uh a couple minutes of a game last year had the most turnovers most takeaways and the fewest turnovers that's something that typically regresses the mean but you don't have to win the same way you won last year and I think this team is a better team than last year I don't think you're gonna find themselves in the position they were in like they did last year and I know you didn't play Joe burrow with the bangles you didn't play Lamar Jackson with the Ravens you didn't play I mean there was a number of guys who all to my missing there Joe burrow with the bang oh yeah yeah Joe burrow um oh Aaron erin Rogers with this so you miss a bunch of good quarterbacks there but 10 and 7 maybe second in the north make the playoffs think they can win a playoff game maybe more but I do think this is a playoff caliber team I do too Clay I I know that we we joked when I when the schedule came out I had the winning 13 games and that was aggressive I understand um and I'm just telling you I still think they're gonna win

45:5713 no I'm just kidding no I um I am really really high on this offense I'm very very very excited about what we're gonna get to see and it's gonna be a treat the problem is is in the fourth quarter when other teams are trying to come back can you stop them um and I think that's really where the biggest question for me lies I know everyone says you're not gonna be able to take them all the way the way you did last year but I also think maybe you will you know and and when you coach it maybe it is a part of your defense and that is still able something to be something that like you can carry in from your tier I know the numbers don't necessarily support that but why not have hopes and dreams that you can so with that being said um I think the Bears win 11 games and I think they're probably gonna lose some they're not supposed to lose and they're gonna win some are not supposed to win and I'm really excited about this team being on prime time and and big time slots on Christmas on Thanksgiving I know um for people at home if your you know families are upset that you're

47:00watching football is and that's that's the greatest gift of all eating eating her eating turkey while you're watching the Bears play football so I I am pumped for this season I think it's really important how they start the season unfortunately I think you got a win week one and we'll get into that next week's episode um we'll have a full sort of preview breakdown but um I'm really really really looking forward to 2026 and I love football so much yeah I think it's gonna be a fun year and you ready for my little uh yeah I just want to get your take on take on it okay have you seen the stuff going around social media about the kid that was the wide receiver NFL he was pretending to be an NFL wide receiver the wide deceiver the wide deceiver yes and he oh yeah he aimed like one and a half million dollar from women it's like the tip of windler to uh just for like investment stuff and listen we love women right on this podcast we love women and football let me teach you a little thing called Google search Google search find out if he's on the roster before you go out with him

48:08okay that's my okay yeah that's I just thought that was something funny that had a little bit of a whole thing clay I can't get enough of it I keep popping up my algorithm and I want to swipe away but for some reason now you got and I felt like he was not like the Kelsey's like the new new high-five laughing they were just laughing and like those other guys are like like ladies just look at his routes like you think that's an NFL football but it was it was hilarious and I can't get enough of this story for some reason I feel bad for the women I got to fraud it hopefully I can get their money back but like come on ladies you you gotta be able yeah the Google search like it's your best friend you know hi chat GPT ask him is this guy a real NFL football player should I invest my money with them how sick in the head does that man need to be in order to like scam all these people like I just hold a Netflix documentary someday I hope so oh boy that's so funny yeah wide deceiver he cracks me up Clay Harbor you crack me up I adore you thank you so much for your time and thank you to all of our listeners for their time this is the charter podcast

49:11brought to you by St. Xavier University enjoy labor day weekend everyone up week one is upon us real football starts and I can't wait it's gonna be the best time of year it's like feels like Christmas obviously that's all right have a great weekend everyone