Kap & J. Hood
7/16 8 AM: Albert Breer
[Music] Good morning and welcome in to the Captain J. Hood Morning Show on ESPN 1000 and streaming on the ESPN Chicago app. With Chris Black and Percap, I am J. Hood. Thanks so much for being with us on this Tuesday morning. Now time for a shot or no shot. We're on to you bye. That would be ESPN Bet. Sign up today and new users get $100 in bonus bets with any sports book bet. We turned over to Kevin Too Sweet. Was he back Kevin? Good morning gentlemen. How are we today? Too sweet. Too sweet. I'm doing great. Can we six pack? Can we six pack? Yes. That is my new nickname. You're go the other day. I think forgot what Kevin's name is. I'm almost certain he forgot my first name. So he called him too sweet. Too sweet. Kenny six pack is is the other name. How about that? Too sweet and Kenny six pack. There you go. Listen. We're great. What's up? Any nickname you guys want to dole out? I can take it all right. I'll wear that. Is Caleb Williams signed yet? No and I'm glad you asked because that's where we're going to start today, Chris. It is a rookie day up at Hallis Hall as the Bears draft picks will be headed up their veterans report on Friday. But of course the big story is the contract status of Caleb Williams and also Roman Dunes. Of course, Caleb is the one getting most of the attention. But Dunes they not signed either. So the question is shot or no shot if Caleb Williams remains unsigned at the end of today. It is is it now officially a distraction? That is a no shot. Not for me. It is not a distraction for me. And the reason why is because I know that this is going to get done. That's him and a Dunes. As a matter of fact, it will get done. The last thing you want right now, all those those great things that people are saying about the Chicago Bears, all the positive storylines, even the stadium was a positive storyline because it's going in a certain direction, probably the right direction going on tonight's. What I'm saying is Chris is that I think it's going to be fine. It is not a distraction for me as a fan. That's a no shot. Will it be fine? I agree with you on that front. I think it could be a distraction if it doesn't happen in the next couple of days. You know, the first practice is Saturday. You know, we're here. Triane Cap is here. Yeah. rookies are reporting today. You will hear Matt Iberfluice and Ryan Paul speak to the media on Friday. The first practice is on Saturday. He's got to be in uniform for Saturday. They will be a distraction. If he's not there on Saturday for the first practice, this will be a distraction. Both he and Roma Dunes. Absolutely. Caleb Williams has said that he is not handling this contract. The Bears are negotiating with his people. That's a screeching headline right now for Mike Florio. Yeah, but he's also in a situation. And I heard Courtney Cronin earlier this morning hosting during unsportsmanlike explained the situation that he doesn't have an agent. So he has people who are not certified to actually negotiate with teams looking over things. They're lawyers. They're people that work for him. But the person that has to communicate with the Bears, it's Caleb's one of the people that has to negotiate because he doesn't have an actual agent who's certified by the the NFL PA. So that's what Courtney was saying this morning here on ESPN 1000. So yeah, the headline can say I'm not involved in it. But as she explained, he's involved in it because he doesn't have an agent. It'll be it's a shot. To me, it's a shot. If he's not there for the first practice, this will be a distraction. I'm as cool as a cucumber when it comes to this. Totally just fine. It'll be fine. Chris, don't worry about it. Let's get it done. Let's get it done today. I do find it interesting, though, because I mean, he's already made an IL money. So it's not like he needs any tag days. It's not like there's some athletes that are such myzers that they're like, no, I'm holding on to my money, right? Like, I don't need an agent. I'll just hold on. I don't have to give my agent 10%, 8%, whatever. In this situation, he actually needs someone because if he's the one that I come to the table, that's always problematic. Like for me, in my career, I've never come to the table. I've never gone to the table. I always have someone speaking on my behalf. Could you imagine me in there knowing how hard that we work or how many hours we put in, and someone's got a low ball? I couldn't do that. I'll send someone else to talk to Danny, not me. Because I like talking to Danny. No, I'm talking about when it comes to negotiations. You know exactly what I'm talking about. Oh, no, I talked to Danny. Yeah. And then, yeah, how's it going? You've got a nice show at night. Yeah. 638 when the White Sox don't play. Or if there's bears weekly. It's a great spot. Going that well, huh? I'm filling in here. Last two days. Great. You're welcome. This is a fun week. You're welcome. I'll start breaking. Yeah, of course. Going that well, huh? Here's Kevin. What's that look for, Kevin? Look. I didn't give a look. I'm enjoying my time here today. Look. I know you're enjoying it. We're glad to have you, although generally, and Abdullah did this when he was filling in last week. Generally, when there's a fill in, they bring donuts. Oh, I can get you food if you want food. Yeah. Is that a promise? Sure. Okay. We'll talk during the break. Okay. All right. You guys talked about these anytime you want to keep the show moving. I mean, my God, as long as Kenny six pack is fed. You guys were talking about the strength of the NFC North a little bit earlier during the five burning questions concerning the bears going into this season. Chris, I think you mentioned that all the teams are kind of projected in that eight or nine win range shot or no shot. The NFC North will have four teams over 500. Ah, that is a no shot. I say the two best divisions in football is the AF's AFC and NFC North, both of them. Yeah, I could see that are going to be fantastic. I think I think it's a no shot because I don't see both Minnesota and Chicago winning nine games because that's what it has to be to be over 500. You can't, the eight is no longer 500. So you'd have to get to nine. Can we just grade on a curve and just say eight, nine's 500? No, but it's not. I know it's not though. I know it's not. So I'm going to say no shot because I don't think I don't think they'll be that good. I think it's I think if you have a chance to have your bottom feeder of the division, be it eight wins, that's a really good division. Bear schedule is over your shoulder, by the way. Yeah, I know. Listen, we're talking about it. HEMBO, Nuno, Graziano, who else is on set there on get up there? They're all into it. I love it. Bear's content. It's great. Everyone's talking bears. Everyone's interested in seeing how this is all going to you know, what's the ceiling for the bears in 2024? Or Lofsky? There you go. So they're all talking about it. So I think it's a no shot, Kevin. And this is why I talked, you know, not extensively, but we did like an extra segment on the Minnesota Vikings because if you think that the Minnesota Vikings are going to be last in the AFC North, I think it's going to be very difficult for them to get there. Let's say they have a litany of injuries. I think that the Viking is going to have some fight in them. And so this is when it comes to the bears. When you look at the bears in their depth chart and you look at the difference makers, they have on defense, I think that they will be better than they were last year. But what's to say that the bears aren't the last team in the AFC North. I'm not predicting that. I'm just saying that the Vikings will have something to say about it and definitely Detroit. They might take a little bit of a step back, but I still see them in first place. In fact, they could be 11 when ball club and be in first place. I think that when these teams battle each other in AFC North, this is going to be a dogfight. It's going to be a struggle. And they think that the Vikings, because they could be in last place, are going to be pushovers. They won't be. They have more positives than actually negatives, I think, on that roster. But again, everything comes back to quarterback play, isn't it? Oh, yeah. All offense. And that's where the hope lies, right? Like if Caleb Williams actually turns out to be something, then the bears have a chance in this division because I think Jordan Love is going to be here for a long time. And Jared Goff is a very accomplished and successful quarterback. But I think we all look at it. And we remember back to when he was here with the Rams, and it was a cold December game, and he couldn't do anything, right? So like there, there's a perception that he's not a good quarterback, even though the stats and the longevity have backed up that he actually is a really good quarterback. There's a chance if Caleb works out, then we're going to be set. Kevin, do you think I'm not holding it to you? I'm not going to hold you to it now because it's July. But do you have this sinking feeling that the bears might be that team? That's it will be underwater? No, I don't think so. Actually, and it's not just because of Caleb and all the expectations and hype around him. I think it's what was already there foundationally with the defense playing so well last season. I think that's going to keep them at a certain level from anything going two sideways. And I think all of the additions on the offense, of course, the wide receivers and then the new center, you've got DeAndre Swift back there. I think polls has done a fantastic job to keep the the floor very high for this team. It's going to be compelling. That is for sure. I just think that the way the schedule lines up, as we just talked about, Chris, this whole thing of you're not taking on an NFC North opponent until week 11, that first 10 will tell the story of Caleb Williams and this team. That just Caleb Williams with the team being acclimated and getting used to one another and the rhythm and everything else. Yeah, that, I mean, all the games are important. When you get into the North and you want to be a playoff team, you got to knock off these teams. Yeah, Detroit is is tough. Green Bay would do a Jordan love. People don't want to believe it, but we saw it in real time. That guy is a difference maker is in the next year, this year, he could be even better than he was last year at the quarterback position. He wasn't even the finished product, but he showed some signs, didn't he? Oh, yeah, absolutely. You go on the road and win a playoff game. I mean, that's that's good stuff. I would also say, you know, leading into those games late in the season in the division week four is that's going to week four against the Rams at home. If you're expecting the Bears to try and make the wildcard this season, that game's going to go a long way to making the wildcard because the Rams are going to be right there in that situation. The Rams are not expected to win their division. They will be a playoff competing team. They have the 49ers in their division. They're expected to be a Super Bowl contender. So it'll be that week, week four, you're going to have a test right there. And I'm not overlooking Houston on the road in week two, but like you've got some tough games and you got to get off to a hot start to kind of allow yourself to get to that back into the schedule against the division to then have a chance, have a fighting chance in this. Yeah, as we continue to work together this week, Chris, we're going to talk about pressure and and how this pressure is different than the CJ Stroud pressure from last year. It's different. There was very little expectation in Houston with CJ Stroud and all of a sudden, it was one of the big surprises in the league, right? Everything worked together. Everything worked cohesively to the point where Houston got to the playoffs. That was a dumpster fire of his or of an organization from top to bottom. And then they got to the playoffs. Yeah, pressure is different here. Oh, for sure, pressure is different. You got to be the savior. This team played well at the end of last year. So they're expected to take another step forward. They want seven games last year. That's not your typical team that drafts number one overall, right? Like this isn't you or the worst team in football. So I mean, you're right, there's going to be a lot of pressure. And with that pressure means you can't go one in three in the first month has a number one overall pick a quarterback ever walked into a better situation. Yeah, we have to look at look at that. We have to look at Andrew Luck. Yeah, look at some of these other quarterbacks in the past and see how ready made those teams were. We have luck might be the only one. Yeah, it may be a deeper dive than that, but that's just the first name that came to mind. Yeah, outside of that, not really. I mean, in recent memory, you, I mean, think about how it works. The first pick goes to the worst team in the league. Coltsman 11 and five with luck is a rookie. What did they do the year before though? Because paid manning was hurt, right? Wasn't that did they go right from manning to luck? Two and 14 the year before they drafted him. And was manning on that team? Yeah, he was hurt all year and that's in the name and make the decision. And they knew they're going to move on from manning. And then that's how you and I mean, like, yeah, a lot of Curtis painter that year. Yeah, that's bad. That's how you get the first pick. Manning couldn't throw from me to you that arm. Yeah, neck that just it wasn't. He was done. He was done until he wasn't with the with the Broncos. That's true. He makes come back all the sudden. Can you sneak in one more before around the NFL? Yeah, absolutely. At this time last year, the Cubs were 43 and 49 went on to make a big run in July and August currently the Cubs 47 and 51 very similar spot, but playing a lot better going to the break here with the sweep of Baltimore split in St. Louis shot or no shot. The Cubs have another summer run in them. That is a no shot as far as a summer run. Now here I'm the guy that said in March that thought this was going to be a playoff team. I did not know that the Cubs would struggle like they have offensively. It's a strange team, Kevin, because the starting pitching despite the injuries have been good enough to keep them in ballgames. The starting pitching has been very good enough through six innings to be able to sustain itself. But the offense has just been lousy. I'm not sure if they can turn this around. I think that the all-star break comes at a really bad time for the Cubs because they were just turning things around. They split with the St. Louis Cardinals and played much better baseball. Why? Because they're offensively speaking, they're able to get into a rhythm and to a groove. So I'm not sure that summer turnaround is going to be there. You say three and a half games out of the wild card? Correct. Yeah. Three and a half games out of the wild card. Yeah. I mean, that's it's a lot of teams to climb. I'm just going to say at this point in time, no shot. I'm going to say shot only because of the three and a half games that they're back of the Mets right now in the wild card. I don't expect it to happen, but it's still a shot. And what you pointed to Jonathan is in the last week or so going six and two in the last couple of series, like they're playing better baseball. Yeah. The back end, the bullpen's going to have to hold it together. Seems like they're starting to get a little bit more pop with the bats. There's a shot. I'm not expecting it, but when you're only three and a half back in the wild card, there's still a chance. And I know there's a lot of teams in between there. So someone could also get hot like the Cubs have played in the last week, but you got the Reds, Giants, Pirates, Padres, Diamondbacks, all in between before you get to the Mets in that last spot. Are any of those team world beaters though? Are those teams significantly better than the Cubs? They're not. And that's why it's still a shot. You know, like they're hanging around. But I would say that some of those teams, Kevin, have better back of the bullpen, the seventh, eighth and ninth. That's the problem with this team. The relief pitching has not been consistent enough and the offense went away for a while here in the first half. You get the offense back. Now that could be the elixir to be able to mask some of the issues that you have when you're bullpen, because if you're out slugging teams, no matter who you put out there, you can get the outs that you need. But all that has to come together for the Cubs to be able to make a serious run. And don't forget in the second half, is it Diamondbacks? But also they took on the Brewers again. The Brewers in a series could bury the Cubs again. You can do it. For sure. But hats off to the Cubs for them sweeping one of the best teams in baseball and Baltimore and splitting with St. Louis. So they're hanging in there, but they just see it seems it seems. Let me see. It's eight and a half games back in last place in the central, but it seems so far away. Yeah, based on how they play at times. All right, coming up, we give you around the NFL, Albert Breyer from SI.com and Monday morning quarterback will join us at 835. Well, Chris Black, Jonathan Hood with you, Captain J. Hood on ESPN 1000 and also on our YouTube channel. Welcome back to Captain J. Hood. You're officially locked in. On Chicago's home for sports. ESPN. Chicago sucks. He sucks. I'm just a fan. I'm not a football about here. I love the Green Bay Packers. The guy is drunk, but there he goes. This is not Detroit, man. This is the Super Bowl. I will win it. He starts to come. This is a really thickly built guy. I mean, what's the answer you're looking for on these things here. It's time to go around the NFL right here on Captain J. Hood on ESPN 1000 and streaming on the ESPN Chicago. I will have Albert Breyer with us at 835 around the NFL. Here's Kevin Zpac. All right, fellas. Let's start with another Bears note here. I read on the athletic and NFL contract to watch for all 32 teams in the Chicago Bears. Their entry is DJ Moore. His contract goes through 2025, but he's currently 17th among receivers in terms of average salary coming off a massive year. You would expect him to do the same, if not better this season. What is the level of urgency to get DJ Moore locked into a new deal? Well, I'd like that. The reason why Roma Dunes was drafted is because you know, the Keenan Allen won't be here long term. I'm not pushing him out the door when I say that, by the way. I hope Keenan Allen has the best health he's ever had his career and he plays 18 games plus the playoffs, whatever, right? Yeah. I just know that as of late, you know, he's in the autumn of his career for sure. But DJ Moore is a guy that is should be a constant for this team moving forward. There should be an urgency to get him done and make sure that he's part of this team as well for the foreseeable future with a young quarterback and Caleb Williams, because that veteran is good for a young quarterback. Now, I know this piece was written and posted with the concept of rookies are going to sign their contracts, right? I don't know what you're doing there. Well, no, I'm just I'm just saying like the most important at this moment is getting a new contract signed. Perhaps there was an implication. Yeah, right. Yeah. So, let me say this. Here's how my mind worked with this. Okay. For the Bears. Yeah. Get DJ Moore signed now. For DJ Moore. Wait, sure, right? Because like DJ Moore has a great season with a quarterback who's competent, who's able to find him down the field consistently and allow him to thrive. He's going to be able to demand more money if he has a great season this year. And then on the flip side, the Bears, it would probably be smart to lock him in now because we're expecting him to have that quarterback to be able to allow him to have a great year. So you could lock him in at a price now before he has a great, great season this year. That's just good business on the D on DJ Morris part to just wait. Yeah. Like, am I I'm looking at this the right way, right? Like DJ Moore should wait, but the Bears should try and go to the table in this training camp and get something done long term, right? So the Bears can have their price, right? It's DJ Morris price. Right? Because we expect him to have a great season. He has that great season. Yeah, we've seen all the contracts ever signed this off season for wide receivers in the NFL. Crazy money, crazy money. And if you're Evan Cohen, you pay through the nose for a cold comment instead for a tight end. I was listening to that last week and I was like, what are we doing here? You're clearly a Patriots fan. Clearly a Patriots fan exposed to dinner. Yeah, you did. No one want to say it. And I said it. The reason why that you think that tight ends are more valuable than wide receivers because you saw it in New England. Yeah, you just put just any any hobo on a wide receiver and put him out there for a time ready to throw to. Meanwhile, Gronk was the guy, but that doesn't work that way for every NFL team. Every NFL team's not blessed to have like a, a, you know, a Hall of Fame tight end. And just know anybody out there, wide receiver. I also saw the Christian McCaffrey on the list. What are we doing? Come on, Evan. He did say pass catchers, but I know I know. McCaffrey also would not be in my top five of that either. Yeah, there's good wide receivers. It's great wide receivers that should be on the list. So if Evan was here, he'd say, don't sign DJ Moore. Give more money to Cole Comette. Here's Kevin Z-Pack, Kevin. Cole Comette is is no Robert Gronkowski. Luke Getzi was a maligned last season, of course. It wasn't all his fault. The personnel probably wasn't there at certain positions, but he was replaced, of course, with his Shane Waldron. First year for a new coordinator, there's going to be some hiccups, some growing pains, of course, along the way. But what signs do you guys think you would see to show you that Waldron is a better play caller than Luke Getzi was last season? What do you need to see to become more and more convinced? Okay, so at times last year, it felt as if Getzi had plays that were not connected. You'd have a big pass play, and then something that wasn't quick ready to go right off of that big pass play to keep the defense on their heels, or, you know, plays that set up something else within the four downs, so you can make sure you get to the first down. It felt very disjointed, some of the play calling that Getzi had, and then also being able to protect the quarterback in a situation where we know the quarterback is struggling and/or down in offense of starter linemen, something like that, right? There were times where there were plays that were called when you knew the offensive line was maybe at a disadvantage because a starter left the lineup, and then he would still call the same play that he would call. It's like, "Why don't you shade an extra tight end on that side, help some protect, and then keep it with the quarterback on a play action fake or something like that." Make it easier for the quarterback. I think if we see that stuff, then I think we'll notice a difference, and that's where yesterday I was asking you, Jonathan, what type of changes do we expect to see from Shane Waldron going from Seattle to Chicago? Well, I mean, I'm going to say the obvious, but it's something that has to be brought out. It's to timing when it comes to Caleb Williams, right? All these things can work when it comes to the offensive line, and you know, you were wowed by the weapons that he has at his disposal, but if he doesn't get the ball out, and if the clock doesn't go off in his head, that's going to be a sack, that's going to be a turnover. That's going to happen anyway, that happens any quarterback, but for Caleb Williams, you know, for Shane Waldron, it's just about timing. Get the ball out. The hope is, is that in year one for Caleb Williams, is that the struggle it was for Justin Fields, Kevin, meaning that, "Hey, man, you got to get the ball out." No, I'm athletic enough to be able to hold on to the ball and be able to run around and then try to find a ghost receiver that's not there. Make sense, Chris? You saw this a lot, right? No, you know what? I know it's supposed to get the ball out, but you know what, if I extend the play, I know I can get the ball down the field, but to whom? To double coverage? To a tight end that's covered? To a receiver that's, to a running back that's helping you block, you're helping the offensive line block or chip? And come on, man. So that's what I wanted to see from Caleb Williams, the understanding of, "Hey, man, you got to get the ball out quickly and take care of the football." Yeah, you did that in college, but the pros, it's a different story. I'm just telling you, Chris, I'm preparing you now that there's going to be some of those growing pains early. Hopefully, there's not so many that is a detriment to the bears. That's all I'm saying. Totally agree. He's squeezing one more because he's got Albert Breyer coming up. Yeah, here's a quick one. NFL executives, coaches, and scouts have ranked the top 10 quarterbacks in the league. This was on the ESPN.com yesterday. I assume no qualms with the top three Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Josh Allen. Okay, you guys okay with that? Yeah, all right. What I thought was notable on this list, Aaron Rogers, still the eighth ranked quarterback in league, and Brock Purdy was not on this list. Thoughts? I'm fine with that. That's fine. That's fine. And you know, who else is fine with it, Brock Purdy? He's fine with it. He likes to be under the... I think he's a guy that is part of this system, that is under the radar, and he's not dynamic. No, but he gets the job done. He does. Listen, I don't want to call him a system quarterback and do that whole thing today. That's all right. But he's better than a system quarterback, but we give a lot of credit to the system and the head coach and the weapons around Brock Purdy than necessarily the quarterback himself. They all are system quarterbacks. Yeah, it's all a system. Yeah, yeah, of course. Well, like, I think our whole system quarterback. A fun exercise is like if you swap Brock Purdy out with name on an average quarterback in the league. Ain't no Connell? No, no, he's bad. Okay, that's bad, but you have to charge his quarterback. Oh, yeah, with Justin Herbert, that's a Super Bowl winning team. You know, like that? Yes. That's where he accomplished a lot last season. He had a great year. Absolutely. But I'm not going to call Brock Purdy a top 10 quarterback. No matter how many times you quote me, his yardage or his touchdown thrown last season, I'm just not going to do it. Oh, you want to play this game by San Francisco? Sure. Deshawn Watson. Super Bowl or not? Yeah, I think I think so. I think so. Although he was he was bad last year. So Deshawn Watson with the 49ers. Super Bowl. Daniel Jones? No. He can't do what Brock Purdy did? No. Okay. All right. Then Brock Purdy's great. No. No, that's too far. So you took it too far? Right in the middle. Yeah. Yeah. See, right in the middle. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry, but you took it too far. Who's the perfect middle quarterback? Derek Carr? He's turning toward bad now. What about Baker? Baker's good. Trending up. I think Baker's good. I think the 49ers with Baker Mayfield. That team could get to the Super Bowl. Then you got a stew going. Yeah. I mean, I think Baker's good. You know, I can't find a lot of middle quarterbacks. It's tough, right? Oh, time to go. Oh, okay. All right. All right. Lights went on. Jay Moore turned the lights on. All right. Everyone go home. It's time to go. Can't stay here. Music ended. So the time to go, Jay Moore's putting his records away. He's what he's got. He's got the crates. Ready to go. Well, but I mean, it's okay. All right. Time to go. Can you look at who you're dancing with? Yeah. Oh, God. All right. Come on. I know there's there's got to be a restaurant someplace. Late night food. Yeah, golden nugget. All right. Let's go. Here we go. All right. We will hear from Albert Breyer. He's scheduled to be with us next on the cap and J Good morning show. Truth of the matter is you're listening to Captain Jay Hood on ESPN 1000 weekdays 7 to 10 a.m. But it'll last a lifetime. It may only be three hours a day, but it'll last you a lifetime. Hello football on ESPN 1000. Hello, Bert. Albert Breyer. Hey, Bert, senior NFL writer for SI.com joins Captain Jay Hood, Bert. What? You're at Bert on ESPN 1000. What do you mean? I'm good. We see, that's the game. I just tag you and you're in until you tag somebody else. Albert Breyer. No, no, I'm not playing a game. I'm reading and I'm not fit. Okay. On Chicago's home for sports. What bird is it? Albert Breyer with us every Tuesday at 835 right here on the Captain Jay Hood morning show with Chris Blecken from cap. I am Jay Hood and Albert Breyer is on the hotline. The car X tire and auto hotline. Rattle, rattle, thunder, bladder, boom, boom, boom. Good morning, Albert, how are you? Hey, how's it going? Albert, how you doing? We're doing fine. Thank you. Some of us are on Caleb Williams watch because Williams is not represented by NFL PA certified agent. Bearers aren't permitted to negotiate with anyone but Williams. I got a feeling this is going to get done, but it is an unusual circumstances is not. And I think it's like sort of what I said to you guys last week is that 99 times out of 100 now, like the stuff that they're fighting over is minutiae. And you know, what's interesting about it is that like in this case again, you know, because you know, he doesn't have a traditional agent, like we're, we're really not talking about setting precedent so the agent can go under a crew, but I'm sure, you know, he doesn't want to allow himself to get screwed over either. And at the same time, you know, the bears would be concerned about, you know, precedent that they might set for better employers. So just in fact, we have to have a traditional agent complicate things a little bit. Yes. Do I think that he's going to hold out into August? No. You know, like most of the time again, 99 times out of 100, you know, when we're talking about these things at this time of year, you know, with camp about to have been, the budget beater does happen, you know, in our exceptions, like, and again, we went over these last week. I, if Joey Bowlett, both in 2016, that was an exception. There have been exceptions over the years, but generally, especially with quarterbacks, when it needs to get done, it does get done. Albert, when we look at the OTAs and rookie mini camp, it seems like each hurdle, Caleb Williams passed with flying colors. What are you expecting to see from him as training camp gets started on Saturday with the first practice? I mean, I would expect a guy who's going to hit the ground running honestly. My, you know, the bears were able to approach this in a really unique way, where they were able to start to install the offense with him before they even drafted him and build relationships with him when he, you know, whether it was the players, the coaches, before he came into the building, you know, and so they've really set the substance where, you know, way where, you know, Caleb Williams would be in a position to really, really succeed come July and August. So it's going to be fascinating to see that manifest, you know, and part of that, too, was declaring him the starters early as they did, you know, informing the locker room that of that, like being able to get him all the reps with the ones, you know, all of that stuff was built towards right now and, you know, having a quarterback, the veterans on a team of believe in and having a quarterback who has an understanding of what you're trying to do offensively and then a coaching staff who's building an offense for that quarterback specifically. So, you know what I think we're going to see guys, I think we're going to see a steady stream of like those wow plays you see put on social media over the next few weeks. And while it might not, you know, mean a ton in September and October, I'm sure it's going to be exciting for bears fans to see all that unfold and kind of get a taste of what could be with, you know, a talent that a lot of people saw as generational over the last couple of years. Albert, we're talking about a conversation that we had on the show regarding the Minnesota Vikings. We're talking about the toughest divisions going into this season. I said the AFC and NFC North is going to be very difficult. I was going to ask you your thoughts about the Vikings in the NFC North. How good will they be with Sam Darnell's quarterback with McCarthy on the outside looking in at the quarterback spot? What I really don't know what they've done. You know what I mean is how, you know, quite a seeing Kevin there have like cleaned out the cap and have sort of reset themselves with the idea. Okay, like we're going to get younger and we're going to do a gradually. Put Albert Briar on hold. That means Kevin, you pick him up and then find out if he's okay. But I do want to follow up on what his thoughts about the Vikings. He says he started off by saying he likes some of the things that they've done. Yeah, absolutely. And they're kind of reshaping the roster while still trying not to bottom out, right? Yeah. And so, go ahead with your thoughts, Albert on that. You want to be like, so, I mean, I think what's really cool about it is you can see like how they're getting younger and key spots by kind of flipping players in and out, right? Like, so the new hunters, obviously a great player for them for a long time. They let him go and they bring in Jonathan Bernard, who I believe 12 sacks with Houston last year. And so they got four years younger there, right? They let Adam feel and go. They bring in Jordan Madison and got, I think, seven or eight years younger there. So, like, if you look across the Ross, you can see these moves that they've made where they've gotten younger. They've also, while all that's gone on, been able to clean out their salary cap. And, you know, I think the quarterback thing is probably the ultimate example of it, right? But it's part and parcel to so many different things they're doing. And look, man, like, I think if Sam Darnold is who they think that he is, like if that little snippet we saw and I'd encourage anybody to go back and look at the end of that Niners Ravens game, I know it was a blowout and I know it was garbage time. But Darnold played really well in the fourth quarter of that game, you know, and he's been able to build on, like, the things that he's learned the last couple of years, particularly last year, playing under Kyle Shanahan. They could have a really cool, like, hey, like Sam's playing well enough where we can give JJ a real red shirt year and get him up and running and ready to go for 2025. So, you know, I, I still think they're going to be like a middle of the tag team this year, but, you know, in the process, I think they're setting themselves up for sustained success. You know, Albert, here in town, there's been a lot of talk about HBO's hard knocks. They will be at Barry's training camp throughout this camp coming up starting this week. And there's a lot of concern from fans that this will be a distraction from those you talked to within the league, to people who work for teams, see it as a big distraction when hard knocks is filming their camp. Well, one thing that, like, one thing that helps, I think, is having a coach who just sort of went through it, you know, and Matt Everfluce, you know, his last year in Indianapolis, they were actually the first team to have the hard knocks in season, right? So, so Everfluce went through that and has seen what that looks like. So I think that that's a big plus, you know, like having, having gone through that before, you know, and Shane Waldron is coming up from Seattle and before that the Rams and when he was at the Rams, the Rams get a zillion of these sorts of things. So, you've got guys on the coaching staff. That guy's right. There's there's there's there's one side of it where it's like, are guys not going to be able to be themselves? Are they going to feel uncomfortable when the cameras are around? Are you going to be able to have the hard conversations you need to have with a player knowing like there's someone liking something, you know, that's one side of it. And I think a lot of that can get overblown at times. I feel like NFL films, they've done the at least the summer version of this so many times now that they know how to blend in with the furniture, you know, on the foot side of it. You know, I talked to Mike Tannenbaum about this a few weeks ago. And, you know, obviously he's part of that Jets team that did in 2010. And he got this advice from Aussie Newsom, who was part of the original hard knocks group there in Baltimore in 2000. And, you know, he said like one thing you get is like, there's a heightened sense of awareness. And so every guy on every rep knows there's a chance this gets on national TV. And so like it brings a certain intensity to training camp. So you can look at it both ways. You know, you can say, okay, like it kind of the big stage creates like a heightened sense of awareness for players where you're going to get their very best on a more consistent basis because they know that anything can get out there. The foot side, of course, is like, are you able to speak freely? Does everybody feel comfortable with the cameras and mics around? So that would be the downside to it. You know, the best part about Albert Breyer is that he travels to all these places and his travels and his travel stories. Like he gave us top five and bottom five airport to one point. Oh, here was on the bottom five, by the way. Was it? Yeah, no question. So what is the best? Easy. I'm a midway guy. So I don't travel here very often. I don't find no hair to be in that bad. You know what's funny about it, though, is like, I've, so I like the weird thing is I think you're always a bad judge of your home airport. That's fair. You know what I mean? That's fair. Really? I mean, because like, I'm obviously pulling through the airport in Boston a lot. And I always think it's pretty easy. But then I hear these nightmare stories about what it's like. Well, it's different when you have like your own car at the airport. You're not going through the rental car thing. Yeah. Like, you're, you know, the ins and outs of the place. Like, that's way different. That's a way different experience, isn't it? Yeah. So going into some place where, like, you don't have to, I feel like at your home airport, you don't have to jump through all the hoops you do when you go to someone else's airport, right? So we can all agree that LAX is bad. Huh? We can all agree. LAX is bad. LAX sucks. I mean, Philly is like, Philly is like, they, they stitched like five horrible airports together. Like, so Philly is really bad. Philly is really bad in like every possible way. Like, Philly is like, I mean, I, you feel like you're in like some sort of weird alternate universe there. The New York airport, like, what already has gotten better. It is. Like, the biggest problem in New York airports is you get stuck on the, on the, on the, on the tarmac sometimes for like an hour and a half or two hours. So, like, I would say those New York area airports, Philly, O'Hare, LAX are all really bad. I don't, I don't feel as strongly about Hartsfield as some other people. I think Hartsfield's actually okay for what it is. Um, so I don't know. What do you guys, like, what was the worst question for these? No, I went off on it. I'll just, I'll just wonder what was the best, the easiest in and out of some of these, um, cities that you go through, because you're going to all these camps. What's the best airport? Yeah, in and out for you. Okay. Okay. So the best airports, the smallest airports are the easiest, but that's not really fair to compare them. You know what I mean? Yeah. Green Bay, you just show up. Green Bay, you didn't show up to that airport 35 minutes before take off in your toe. It's fine, but it's not fair to compare like Green Bay against like, you know, Chicago or, you know, San Francisco. Um, I would say like the, the most efficient one, um, I, I really think Minneapolis and Detroit are the two that like those two are both, they're really big airports. They're hubs, obviously. Like Detroit, my only problem with Detroit, I think Detroit's the best, like just the building. I think Detroit, the problem with Detroit is the rental car situations old top, but other than that Detroit's excellent. I don't think anybody would complain about Detroit. I really like Minneapolis too. I think that's an underrated one. It's big, but it's relatively easy to get around. The rental car situation is easy. I've always had a good experience in Minneapolis, but it's flying through there, flying to there. Um, I think Minneapolis is a really good one too. Do you guys have an opinion on this? Yeah, I, I think that the ones that you named are all good. I think Denver is a tough one as well. I think any, any airport where you go through when you go through security and then you have to get on a tram to then get to your gate. That's always the worst. And the Denver airport's in like Nebraska too. That's the other one with you. It is so far. It is so far from actual Denver. Oh, you know what? Oh, here, maybe you guys can explain this to me. What is the problem with like, why is traffic always so bad at all here? Oh, brother. Albert, I mean, I mean, I think you guys in general are an underrated bad traffic city, right? Like I think you guys are like, you guys don't get the credit you deserve for having traffic as bad as you is there. But I don't know why like that area or here seems to be like the sever circles of hell. Sunday night, I did an airport pickup for my wife. Uh, Sunday evening, her flight landed at 635. I was still circling Oh, here at 815. Yeah, waiting to pick her up. Yeah. Think about that. I was in the car for over two hours to pick her up from the airport. If I could take Midway, I mean, I'm using 99% of room. I'm doing Midway because I know how brutal Oh, here can be the traffic itself. Albert was always, we appreciate it. Man, thanks so much for coming on the show. It's Albert Breyer with us on the hotline. Rattle, rattle, thunder, batter, boom, boom, boom. All right. Coming up, we will talk about the bears. Also, some thoughts about the bulls as well. Have you seen what's happened with the bulls as of late? There's optimism in the room will talk about it at nine o'clock right here on cap and jay hood