Shapiro's Studs: 2024 NFL Combine Edition

let's go on the beat presented by Chevy drivechicago.com we''ve got our Bears Rider Alex Shapiro here with us sir it's good to see you thanks for coming to hang out thanks for having me Lawrence well thank you let's talk about the Jaylen Johnson franchise tag I imagine this is not what Jaylen wanted maybe not even what the Bears wanted why wasn't a deal struck yeah you know it probably comes down to Jaylen Johnson betting on himself at the beginning of the season and that bet paying off you know

whether the years whether it's the money whether it's whatever we know Jaylen Johnson wants to probably be the highest paid quarterback in some area the birs have said hey we're strong in annual average value we're strong in total cash we're strong in terms well obviously something isn't adding up obviously there's something that he wants more uh so this gives them a little bit more time to come together I think they're maybe closer than they were earlier so why things didn't happen I couldn't

tell you but uh but Jaylen Johnson certainly looks like he's going to be Chicago Bear how do you think he's going to react to being tagged do you think it'll be a all right they're just doing this to give us more time to get a deal done or you like man I can't believe they Tagg me I don't think he's going to be that mad I mean obviously nobody wants to be tagged players don't like it obviously because hurts their negotiations like technically he can negotiate with teams but no team is going to t

rade two first- round picks for Jaylen Johnson we know that they gave him permission to trade you to seek a trade at the deadline nobody wanted to trade one first round pick so nobody's going to trade two first- round picks so yeah so it's the non-exclusive tag that he's on which means that he can go basically seek a deal and then if there is one and the Bears are like then they get two first round draft picks back correct correct which ain't going to happen so you know obviously he's going to b

e upset about that but you know I don't think he's gonna hold out I don't think Jaylen Johnson is that type of a guy he said yeah I understand I would play Under the tag he said that in the past so end of the day I believe Jaylen Johnson's going to be playing whether it's a one-year deal whether they come to together before the deadline in the middle of July he he's going to be a bear real quick before we move on to Ryan Bates what did you think was the best part of his season last year oh it's

got to be the takeaways right I mean that's the one thing that the Bears challenged him to do they said hey you're great as a coverage Corner we know that but can you take the football away and he really bought into what the coaches John hul were teaching what Matt Eber Matt ebra was preaching so he says all right I'm on board I'll do what you're asking me to do and he did it without without taking a step back as a coverage Corner okay the the Bears definitely have a need on the offensive line a

nd they move to help in that regard with the trade for Ryan Bates this is a guy that Ryan poles wanted a couple of years ago and they couldn't get him what do you know about Ryan Bates well he's a guy who has played all over the offensive line including Center where the Bears obviously need a center with Lucas Patrick not expected to come back uh but he's played primarily at Right Guard and last year he actually kind of went back to being a backup so could he compete for starting center snaps ma

ybe potentially but at the very least it seems like he's going to be kind of a depth piece which again we know the Bears need right injuries happen on the offensive line Kevin Jenkins has missed a lot of time Nate Davis has missed time and Tyreek Carter kind of wasn't getting it done Cody whitehair obviously took a step back so at the very least the Bears bolstered their depth on the interior of the offensive line and maybe he competes for a starting center job okay well the combine is come and

gone and we know that the Bears did some interesting things when it came to trying to get to know people so I'm going to invade your space a little bit because we are going to putt putt apparently we are we are going to pretend like we're in the hotel room with Ryan poles yeah and MD thanks thank you sir a see was nice very thank you very much okay so before we get into Shapiro's studs yes why don't we take some shots here now we're both terrible at golf you will you do the honors your honor I w

ould love to you know what here's here's your ball right here since one's already on the turf for me uh and I got the Lefty putter so we're going to find out if I'm a good Lefty putter today I'm not a lefty I'm a righty but here we go why didn't they you know you could just use this putter it's all right I maybe this is the key to unlocking my game it's just going Lefty here all right let's see what we got nope not a lefty all right that work it made it up there I think so do what would you have

said if any of these guys had decided that they were not going to participate in this I mean I think that's part of what Ryan P and Matt Eber right off the set we are definitely off the set right off the set okay here you got another shot you got another shot all right I'll try to be better this time so yeah Ryan P and Matt Eber flu bring this out and one way to like get them out of their shells a little bit right these interviews are awkward that was better just a little too spicy just a littl

e too spicy spicy all right one more one more for me that's also off the set never ever work with golf balls or animals that's one of the rules in television I don't know I think this is fantastic all this is me now yeah go for it I'm going to try to to make a putt and then we're going to start talking about who these studs are yes nope yeah I love it now now I'm like go go go get off the set I got to take hole in eight I found the Clover I found the Clover one more with the one more and then we

're going to then we're going to talk about your studs see how how this like really loosens people up exactly and then it also gave the Bears an insight about their competitive Spirit right it just rimmed out that could have been it money in the B that should have been the one so just like that you know are they getting jazzed about the darts are they getting Jazz about the P put well we're going to learn about their competitive Spirit doing this stuff all right talk to me about the studs who yo

u got yeah yes okay so number one we got romad dun this is a guy who you know when Marvin Harrison Jr wasn't participating Malik neighbors wasn't participating Roma dunesday comes and he does amazing and uh the one thing that stuck out is you know you saw him with Stacy Dales on the on the field where he stuck around for the three cone drill and wanted to get it right exactly he is just like I'm not happy with my time I'm going to keep doing this and doing this and doing this and he's shown that

competitive spirit that the Bears wanted to see and then you know you see him running the gauntlet drills and all that stuff he just looks real smooth so he's a guy where you know we talked about is he going to be there for the Bears to take at nine I wonder if after the combine he ain't going to be on the board at number nine just because again neighbors isn't there Marvin Harrison isn't there they didn't need to show what they do but but he got to steal the show all right I like that that he

counts who else is on your list all right after that we've got Cooper BBE now this is we just got talking about interior lineman and how the Bears need depth there this is a big- Time Raz gu so we know Ryan PS loves athletes you got to move you got to scoot to play offensive line in his scheme and look at this Raz 9.3 basically you just want to see green if you're seeing green on this board it means you an elite athlete relative to your position relative to what you're doing and he was moving he

was grooving and I've seen draft Boards out there that have him as a as a day three guy I don't think that's going to be the case I think he's going to be a day two guy so even though the Bears drafted or traded for Ryan Bates I still think Cooper BB's in play okay does he have enough mean is he got enough mean in his game they all got mean they all got nasty and yes he is a guy he's a people mover in addition to an athlete so yes I I think he could be that guy and it was honestly a big week fo

r a ton of offensive lineman there were a lot of guys who were really really impressive and and BB was one of them all right who else we got we have Jared verse uh defensive and end from Florida State now again there were a lot of really impressive defensive ends that were showing their stuff but for Jered verse we know he's a speed guy and the Bears probably want a speed rusher to go opposite montz sweat and look at all these numbers so Not only was he super duper fast these are his ranks among

Edge rushers he was also really strong he did the most bench pass reps so that's a pretty good combo uh fast and strong people have said you know 250 maybe not big enough but I think I think the Bears are probably okay with that I'm and having him opposite of Mont sweat I think could be could pay real dividends like with the type of player that he is yeah absolutely uh and then our fourth stud from the combine is Caleb Williams and I know that sounds kind of crazy wait a minute I don't know if

that's fair I know that sounds crazy he didn't participate in the drills but he didn't need to show any drills just like Marvin Harrison and Malik neighbors didn't need to show any drills what he need needed to do was show he can handle the media because there were questions about that because he didn't do much media with USC and that he wanted to be Chicago Bear so check out this this sound from him at the podium at the combine um I didn't feel the need to to go out and throw um I played around

30 something games I believe um go ahead and go watch real real live ball of me and uh see how I am as a competitor I I honestly love that quote because I I hate the combine for I mean especially when we're talking about a guy like this not a guy who's trying to up his stock from the fourth round to the third round and then it makes sense for this guy he's right go look at the tape what are you going to learn here you're not going to learn much other than the meet and greet precisely and what w

e needed to learn as I was saying is how is he on the podium he's looking awfully confident he answered that question pretty much perfectly and he managed that media really well the first question is like Are you a a coward why aren't you participating why don't you want to be put next to Jaden Daniels and Drake man he's just like what are you talking about so I thought he came off confident I thought he came off not cocky which was really important he understands how good he is he's super confi

dent and then he also put to rest all all of the the rumors that he won't play for the Bears he's like no the Bears are a great situation right they were seven and 10 most teams the first- round draft pick they're not very good look at what happened to Bryan exactly exactly so he's like no of course I would play for the Bears that would actually be a great situation for me before I let you go any concern at all that not only did he not do the Medicals down Indie but there was supposed to be a me

eting with the Bears now that meeting has been moved back a couple weeks uh no I am not concerned whatsoever I mean Caleb Williams to me is maybe a culture changer right when you think about what LeBron did for the NBA in terms of player empowerment like this is a guy who has made all this nil money he is different from any other Prospect the NFL has ever seen so he's probably thinking to himself why should the Kansas City City Chiefs have my medical why should the Baltimore Ravens have my medic

al information they're not drafted me it can't help me so the Bears when I meet with you you'll get my medical information the Washington commanders the New York Giants you have a chance to get me so you can get my medical information but it's not like every team's right and maybe he is right so I just see it as more of a culture changer I don't take it as like a bad thing at all you want to take one more shot sure I mean we got so close this one's got to be the one right this one have to be the

one big thanks to to our guy Alex Shapiro he's top notot look at this I'm Lefty I am a lefty putter nothing better than live television congrats you finished the video if you want to build on that success download the NBC Sports Chicago app it's got highlights exclusive insights and push alerts tailor to you everything you need to be a real Chicago sports fan download it now