Sharing our takeaways from Ben Johnson's comments before Bears minicamp (Hour 2)
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What insights did Ben Johnson share about rookie minicamp?
This hour is brought to you by Cars for Kids. This is Rahimi Harrison-Grody on 104.3 The Score. And believe it or not, there's football today. It's a lovely day when there's football. Bears rookie minicamp underway at Hallis Hall, scheduled for today and tomorrow. OTAs are next on May 27th through the 29th. That, according to the schedule, it is subject to change, and I think that's important for people to know. This is a fluid thing, the offseason program.
It is.
And even when you think you know the schedule, sometimes you don't.
That's true. And that's why I am part of a text thread that is always constantly being updated for those of us on the beat.
Yeah. And for everybody, for all the criticisms that we have levied on the Bears, I'm glad to see how well informed they keep you guys when it comes to this.
They really do. No, they do a great job about that. And it's important. It's important to them. It's important to us. And it's going to be an important couple of days out at the hall starting to going on right now and tomorrow. And, you know, one of the things about it is, Layla, last year's draft class was very fruitful. for what the Bears did last year. It was influential in the Cubs winning 11, excuse me, the Bears winning 11 games last year. I don't know if I can get four big contributors at this moment out of this rookie draft class. The only one that I can be exact with is Dylan Thienemann and that's it.
Well, I feel like there was a speculation that the Bears were essentially going to have to have the defensive draft class that they had out of the offense last year. that that was going to be the expectation or the hope, really the hope, based on how well the offensive part of the draft class performed last year, how it was able to contribute so quickly and effectively, and then given the holes in the defense right now and the lack of production, we've said it before, 22nd against the run, right? I think it was even worse, 27th. Yeah, 27th against the run, 22nd against the pass. But the point is the 20s are not where you want to be.
Doesn't matter which number it is in the 20s.
It's all bad. Seattle Seahawks. Let's just point out the elite defensive teams in the league and what they do. So that said, a lot of the discussion, too, about the Bears draft and the Bears' needs, especially in the secondary when we saw so many guys come and go, was... I felt like we got this a lot from people, Mark. Where was Zay Frazier going to be in this? And there was a hope there that he was going to be part of the secondary and he was going to be able to contribute this year because fifth round pick at a UTSA did not contribute last year, had personal issues, as we understand. We saw an Instagram story post saying he was cleared. He posted that himself. And so there was a hope there that he was going to be with the team.
Then we get the news that he has been waived. And fifth round, yes, I know. But I think we all hoped in some way, shape or form that he was going to be a part of the team moving forward. Al Harris, you know, we knew he spoke highly of him. So we were hoping that that was going to happen. Then they release him. So Ben Johnson talked about that today at Hollis Hall.
Zay's a guy we've had here for over a year, and it's just one of those things when we're looking at the roster, where he's at, where we're at, it was time to part ways. So appreciate everything that he contributed while he was here, and it opens up a roster spot and an opportunity to make this team.
It seemed like there was a lot of optimism about getting him on the field this year. What changed?
Yeah, we were hopeful and just wasn't going that direction. The trajectory was off, and so we decided to go a different direction.
At some point, I expected him to say, we wish him well in his future endeavors.
Yeah, I mean, appreciated his contribution. What exactly did he contribute to the team last year? But yeah, for people who don't know, I mean, Zae Frazier missed last year. due to a personal issue it's possible that that personal issue has persisted and it has become an untenable situation for the bears this year because physically physically unless there was something that i wasn't seeing or that they're not telling us about him out on the practice field um look he's got it he's got the he's got the size he's got the speed um all the stuff like to where you do wonder what happened here now i didn't
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What insights did Ben Johnson share about rookie minicamp?
0:01–5:00
2
Is rookie Logan Jones really competing for the starting center job?
5:00–9:00
3
How will the Bears utilize rookie tight end Sam Roush?
9:00–13:48
4
What is the status of Zay Frazier on the Bears roster?
13:48–16:38
5
How does the Bears' defensive needs compare to last year's draft class?
16:38–20:42
6
What role will Malik Muhammad play in the Bears' defense?
20:42–37:42
7
Can Logan Jones start from game one of the season?
37:42–39:55
Speakers
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