0:00

First of all, you

0:03

gotta love the Bears fan base

0:05

and how passionate they are. Because if it was

0:08

at my son's baseball game,

0:10

people yelling from the field, like coaches on like

0:12

third base yelling to me, or literally

0:15

on a beach in Maui, I

0:17

was reminded that I need to sign a defensive

0:20

end. So finally got that

0:22

done. But we're excited about

0:24

Janick and Mercedes. Yanick's

0:27

going to bring leadership, energy and

0:29

his patch rush here, which

0:32

is just going to help our defense and help our team get better.

0:35

Also the ability to help our young guys

0:38

learn that craft and skill set to be able to

0:40

get home and be consistent and dependable

0:42

like he's been throughout his career. And then Mercedes

0:45

with such a young team, I thought it was critical

0:47

to get a pros pro, a leader,

0:50

someone the guys can lean on to again

0:53

understand how to be the ultimate pros and

0:55

win a lot of games in this league, how to stay

0:57

healthy and take care of their body, all of those little

0:59

things. So he's going to bring that as

1:01

well as help us in the run game and help us stay

1:04

balanced. It's incredible

1:06

at his age, his tape is still

1:08

good, his ability to win on the edge and help

1:11

us get on the perimeter and also get movement in the run

1:14

game, and that's going to be critical.

1:16

So we're really excited about both.

1:18

Guys, did

1:21

any part of signing now have what

1:24

you've seen so far at training camp or is that

1:26

completely irrelevant or did you see a defense that's

1:28

coming together, Like, hey, if I can atopiece, maybe

1:31

I really want to do this now.

1:33

I say both things are true. I mean, we've been in this

1:35

for a long time. Again,

1:38

there's a level of patience that you've got to have to

1:41

be a sound decision maker and make sound

1:43

decisions. Again, it comes back to that.

1:46

That's probably the biggest lesson over the last two years is

1:48

like patients and letting things happen.

1:50

Then there's times we're going to hit the gas and sometimes you

1:52

got hit the brake, but this one we want to be a patient

1:55

and make sure both sides felt comfortable

1:57

with what was going on. And

1:59

I say both are true because it's been really cool

2:01

to see our front and

2:03

our secondary making

2:05

a lot of plays, having energy, making

2:08

plays on the ball, Like you really

2:10

see that thing coming together and this

2:12

is going to enhance it.

2:13

Ran was in.

2:14

Gotu a guy that you would wanted for a

2:16

while. When you talk about patients, is the

2:18

poker game here trying to get a

2:21

one year deal that fits your financial

2:23

plans or was it evaluating other players?

2:26

Yes, we evaluate everybody, and

2:29

then in terms of the patients of both ide, Yeah, like

2:33

there's there's certain elements that we think

2:35

are going to be you know, based on our

2:37

analysis from history and

2:39

all that, like what makes sense for us

2:41

to do that is going to be a sound decision,

2:44

and that may not be what the player

2:46

wants initially, So you got to talk

2:49

back and forth to make sure that, you

2:51

know, years in conversation makes sense. So

2:54

that's where the level of patients had to come in.

2:56

When you hadn't drafted anyone and we were asking you about

2:58

we asked you about everyone, We asked about specific games, including

3:00

his ye back in April I think it

3:02

was. Was he at the top of your list

3:05

at that point And it's just a matter of money.

3:08

Yeah, it's it's really the you know, the contract

3:10

money, all of that, as well as

3:12

kind of prioritizing, you know, who was out there,

3:14

what the draft was going to look like. So we

3:18

had to navigate all of that to

3:20

finally come to this complete.

3:22

How do you look at this defense as a whole now when

3:24

you had a proven pass rusher like.

3:25

Jenny say that one we're talking about, how do.

3:27

You look at this this defense as all now when you had a

3:29

proven pass rusher.

3:30

Like you got put Yeah, I think you

3:32

know the balance of being able

3:34

to get home and also having a good

3:37

secondary. You know, you want to

3:39

be able to shorten that time and get the ball out. You

3:42

want your secondary to you know, which I see

3:44

right now being really good coverage, which is going to

3:46

buy the guys up front time

3:48

to get home. And they're like, that was

3:50

an emphasis that Flus and I have is be

3:53

able to get more pressure on the quarterback, create

3:55

more turnovers.

3:56

You've had some interior offensive

3:58

lineman out. Is there any concern about

4:01

depth at that position? I know it's early

4:04

in camp, but some of these guys that you

4:06

look at starters that there's some

4:08

time now here recently.

4:09

Yeah, we're not too concerned with

4:12

that. You don't want guys to be out of practice, But

4:16

over the years, I've actually gone from panicking

4:18

in those situations where it's like, you

4:20

know, guys aren't practicing, you kind of get frustrated

4:23

about it, whatever the circumstances.

4:26

But it's also a really cool opportunity to see what the

4:28

depth looks like and getting a ton of really good reps

4:31

for the for the guys that are on the second team

4:33

to insert, because again, you're gonna have injuries

4:35

during the season. Guys are gonna have to step up, so get

4:38

some quality reps right now in

4:40

those situations. And then

4:42

last thing, so he

4:45

rushed up here signed, he went

4:47

home to get all of his stuff and kind of close

4:49

up shop. So he'll be back up here anticipate

4:52

Sunday night or Monday. So if you don't see him out

4:54

there, there's no like panic.

4:56

Make a move to add Mercedes.

4:58

Yeah, so Chase end is gonna be waved

5:01

injured today,

5:03

so that will be the corresponding move.

5:05

Thanks,