Ben Johnson has high praise for Luther Burden during OTAs | Take The North

74.511 - 90.265 Mark Grody

Yeah, man, I'll take 60s for sure. And that's what the temps were in Chicago. And assuming the same thing, maybe a little warmer away from the lake in Lake Forest. However, however, boy, man, it is. I do think back.

90.245 - 116.339 Mark Grody

to this time last year and even in training camp when Ben Johnson is installing and I know that's like a dirty word because they install too much too much installation for the Chicago Bears last year but mostly on defense too much schematics I suppose but Last year at this time, it was like, are Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams going to be able to coexist?

116.639 - 139.573 Mark Grody

As a matter of fact, to the point where Ben Johnson today, when he was up at the lectern talking to you guys, said that there were times last year when we – and we know this, Dan, because we saw it with our own eyes – where we failed to break the huddle at times last year in the spring. And then he mentioned training camp as well. And then Ben said, today we didn't have that issue.

139.553 - 162.597 Mark Grody

There is some relief when I hear that from Ben Johnson. There's no question. They feel like they're further along here in the spring than they were really in the middle part of training camp last year where they sense that the operation is smoother. Caleb has a grasp of everything. He's handling the pre-snap process with command, with urgency, with the tempo that they desire.

163.238 - 175.975 Mark Grody

That's going to give their offense a chance to hopefully hit a little bit of a moving walkway, I think, when they get – through this period of the spring, and then obviously get through the minicamp and try to set yourself up for a high-speed runway into training camp.

247.908 - 265.393 Mark Grody

This has become something that they are talking about nonstop. Now is this ball placement? It's not enough just to complete a pass. You've got to give these very talented playmakers an opportunity to go make a play after they catch the ball. And so Ben said it very emphatically, like, look like these guys will be graded on that every day.

265.373 - 281.552 Mark Grody

There'll be a chart up in the room that shows their completion percentage from the previous practice. There'll be a chart in the room that gives them a good insight into where their ball placement is being graded. And what Ben said is it's his experience in his time in this league that you get what you emphasize.

281.672 - 294.047 Mark Grody

And so it's really nice to know what the coach is emphasizing because then it allows you to kind of train your microscope on it when you're watching practice. And I'll give you the one – there were three throws today from Caleb that were like –

294.027 - 320.575 Mark Grody

you know the the prerequisite make your jaw hit the grass type of throws two and seven on seven work one down the left sideline to xavian thomas really nice touch on the ball big gain wheel route to deandre swift on the other sideline and seven on seven but maybe the most impressive throw of the day is an extended play in team drills where caleb's really kind of an all-out sprint to his right and just launches deep and hits a big play to roman dunzey and so with the conversations that

320.555 - 338.025 Mark Grody

You and I have been having these last few weeks. You're like, well, yeah, great. You know, we know that he can make these magic plays. But then after practice, Luther Burton comes into the meeting room and he says, listen, the coaches have been harping on us to increase our production in the scramble drill. There's evidence in practice that we can get it done when we're all on the same page.

534.175 - 556.639 Dan Wiederer

Well, I think when we drafted him, we saw an explosive athlete who was really dangerous with the ball in his hands. The question was, how can we get it in his hands? The easy things to do are screens or short throws, but I think there's a lot more to his game that we've worked to unlock, and he's been really receptive to how we can get that done. He ran a route yesterday that

556.619 - 573.841 Dan Wiederer

It was the first time he had ran that route, and he ran it as well as I've been around. So things like that really get you excited as a coach. How have you seen his route running grow from the day he walked in here last year to when you saw him? Well, he looks like he's playing at a different speed right now. And you knew he had it in him.

573.861 - 578.847 Dan Wiederer

He's a 4-4 guy, and yet those time speeds don't always translate to –

578.827 - 599.35 Dan Wiederer

real speed football speed um the game tape and so uh i think i think we're starting to see that now he's playing he's not thinking as much uh he knows what we're trying to do and so you kind of see that with a number of these guys as i alluded to before that have been here for for a little bit of time now that the game's slowing down for them and it allows their abilities to come out

600.967 - 622.89 Mark Grody

There is Ben Johnson on Luther Burden. Bunch of things stood out to me, Dan, but I want to know what you thought of it first. What did you get out of Luther Burden, or Ben Johnson on Luther Burden? In my opinion, it's the news of the day, Thursday, because we know that Ben Johnson doesn't just throw around hollow praise. And so when you feel that enthusiasm from a guy who is renowned as a very...