The crowd of household and mates round Gervon Dexter was screaming so loudly when Matt Eberflus took over the Chicago Bears cellphone that it took a few tries to trade greetings.
Eventually Dexter, the Florida defensive deal with the Bears drafted within the second spherical Friday evening, delivered his message to his new coach.
“I’m ready, man,” Dexter stated within the dialog captured on video. “I promise, I’m ready.”
Eberflus replied: “I know you will be. That’s right. You’ve just got to get your track shoes on, brother.”
That final line has turn out to be an Eberflus chorus over the past 16 months as he greets new gamers and lets them know they have to be in form and able to go exhausting after they report for exercises.
For a bunch of recent gamers that features Dexter, that begins at rookie minicamp Friday and Saturday because the Bears have a look at their 10 draft picks and a slew of undrafted free brokers and tryout gamers.
For the final 4 months because the Bears completed the season 3-14 and secured the No. 1 draft decide, common supervisor Ryan Poles has been within the highlight.
He engineered the commerce of the highest decide to the Carolina Panthers for huge receiver DJ Moore and a number of picks. He signed a free-agent group that included linebackers Tremaine Edmunds and T.J. Edwards, guard Nate Davis and defensive finish DeMarcus Walker. And he put collectively a draft class headlined by Tennessee offensive deal with Darnell Wright with the No. 10 decide plus three Day 2 alternatives in Dexter, Miami cornerback Tyrique Stevenson and South Carolina defensive deal with Zacch Pickens.
Poles nonetheless has work to do. He provided a reminder Saturday evening, when requested concerning the lack of depth at defensive finish, that coaching camp is months away and he nonetheless has cash to spend.
But this weekend marks a type of passing of the baton from Poles to Eberflus and his teaching workers as they study the roster Poles has constructed and start making an attempt to form it into one thing higher than a three-win workforce.
That begins with a number of rookies who may have an opportunity for main taking part in time this yr, together with Wright, the presumptive starter at proper deal with, and Dexter and Pickens, who may very well be pushed right into a rotation on the line of defense. Eberflus confirmed final yr he’s prepared to play rookies with security Jaquan Brisker, cornerback Kyler Gordon and linebacker Jack Sanborn.
“That’s why I hired these coaches as teachers. They all have a heart of service and they love to teach and they’re good teachers,” Eberflus stated. “We pleasure ourselves on creating these younger guys, and we’re not afraid to place younger guys in there. If guys are adequate to begin, we’re going to place them in there and play them.
“We’re excited about the competition with the young guys and the guys we added last year. We’ll see where it goes. We’re going to play with the best guys.”
Eberflus spent the final 4 months aiding Poles and his workers in figuring out which gamers can be the fitting match for his workforce.
For among the offseason, Bears coaches devoted their mornings to soccer and spent their afternoons serving to the scouting division put together at no cost company and the draft. Eberflus tapped into his school scouting roots when he accompanied Poles to some professional days, not solely watching gamers however speaking to their coaches to get a greater really feel for whom the Bears can be drafting.
Poles and assistant GM Ian Cunningham stated their understanding of what the coaches wished when it comes to tradition and scheme suits helped them really feel snug through the pre-draft course of within the group’s second offseason collectively.
“When we met a couple years ago and we started to build our relationship, it was pretty evident early on that we coveted the same style,” Eberflus stated of working with Poles. “We coveted the same players. That’s a natural fit for him and (me). We’re just continuing that and continuing to grow together.”
That collaboration resulted within the Bears drafting seven defensive gamers, together with Dexter and Pickens, who each may slot in at three-technique — a key place in Eberflus’ protection — or nostril deal with. The Bears additionally picked Kennesaw State defensive deal with Travis Bell within the seventh spherical.
“Those guys are going to be dynamic,” Eberflus stated. “They’re huge, they’re lengthy, they’re quick, they’re athletic, so it’s thrilling so as to add these guys into the center of our protection.
“We really feel that’s a very important part to playing good run defense and also being able to push the pocket, dent the pocket inside. To have some big athletes in there, it’s certainly harder to throw around those guys, too, in the pass rush, so it’s exciting.”
Eberflus additionally has a pair of recent cornerbacks to guage in Stevenson and fifth-round decide Terell Smith from Minnesota. The Bears felt strongly sufficient about Stevenson that they traded a fifth-round decide to maneuver up 5 spots to get him at No. 56. Poles stated Stevenson possible will compete for a spot at exterior nook alongside Gordon, who performed exterior and at nickel as a rookie, and Jaylon Johnson.
“Physical” was the primary phrase Eberflus used to explain Stevenson and Smith.
“They like to hit,” he stated. “They’ve got quickness, instincts and strike. And they’re HITS principle guys. Ryan and his staff did an outstanding job … of really identifying that trait to bring those guys into the building.”
Eberflus’ first season as a head coach got here with an understanding that he was working with one of many worst rosters within the NFL regardless of having a promising younger quarterback in Justin Fields. So an enormous a part of the best way Eberflus evaluated his job final season was whether or not he and his teaching workers laid the muse for the fitting tradition, work ethic and elegance of play.
With upgrades at many positions, Eberflus and his workers now should construct upon that basis, from creating an extended checklist of fascinating younger gamers to determining learn how to put their new playmakers in positions to succeed.
“We have all these players now,” Eberflus stated earlier this spring on the NFL house owners conferences. “How can we put them in position in the critical moments?”
With a greater image of their roster and arranged workforce actions on the docket this month, Eberflus and his coaches now can dive into that work.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com