D'Andre Swift - Jaquan Brisker Press || Chicago Bears ||

how would you describe the progress you've seen from the off from the time you got here at the spr to where you guys are uh IID say it's n day um from when I first got here just the strides that we we've made um in a lot of different areas uh definitely improving every single day I would say so I feel like we on the right track the running game isn't something that you can often T full strength the month of August what gives you the most confidence in what you guys have done when when you when you go live on week one that that running game is going to be something you leaner uh the work that we get um when pads come on um especially been in Camp U Been a Long Camp good one um just the work that the defense gives us uh that type of thing when we get the pad on it's kind of like we going it's not Li to the ground but guys is practicing full speed full Tempo with th and the ball carrier so this the work that we get in practice bases kind of shows me how it'll be on Sundays if you guys have success on the ground on first and second down obviously that makes your rookie quarterback's life a lot easier yeah do you think that you know being able to lean on you and the other running backs is a good formula for for a guy who doesn't have a ton of experience uh early on yes it definitely could be um making sure we stay on track as an offense first and foremost um don't want to be in no third and Longs or anything like that or second and longs to make it kind of hard on Shane and uh and Caleb so as much as we can help as offense collectively to make it easier for the quarterback which we looking to do so who did you uh who do you study when it comes to Route running catching there a player or two that you watch film up um early when I got in the league it was other backs uh now was kind of I study my game myself but uh I got that's in Our receiver room um Keenan um especially with the choice routes and everything um how he's able to create Separation on almost any any route he runs so we kind of talk back and forth if I'm if I know I'm on a out kind of just asking him how that look bro like what you think about this um my releases stuff like that we kind of pick each other brain people always talk about how special he is at running routes yeah some of that is stuff you can teach it's not all god-given and is there one even if it's a real specific thing that you've learned from him in terms of something you can apply to yourself uh something easy so I'm going to keep it in house but something easy it's not really like you said he's got a lot of god-given ability but the um the thing that he has teached me taught me since he's been here that I I appreciate for sure PA was saying yesterday that Shane has a way of making installing things and making it stick for guys and it's not maybe something specific that he does but like his teaching style what have you observed or does that make sense to you that it's like sure that it sticks how does he get it across exactly that um the verbage the vocab he kind of like uh I'm not trying to put the offense out there but um he just does a good job of making it easy to remember things yeah I put it like that what are the things you've seen out of B since since he's joined the running back that maybe we don't notice that gives you guys confidence like oh there there might be something here as a running back it's another guy man um glad he's in the room he's probably the funniest guy on the team but that's outside of um football talents um his energy his energy is toughness um strong physical fast um so it's it's nothing to go and teach another position like that and it' be natural for a guy once he get the Playbook down and stuff like that and allow his uh his natural uh talents to show and I believe y'all saw a glimpse of that um sing's real high for him I love I love him love him how would you describe kind of what you see this offensive identity becoming this season say that one more time I'm sorry how you describe kind of what you see this offensive identity becoming this season uh a great balanced offense that's able to do everything run pass play action whatever we need to do to be successful that's how I see this offense going with that in M you're new here Shane is in his first year everyone's learning this offense you have a rookie quarterback how much of a curiosity factor or unknown is there for you as a player in this office about just what this offense will be in week one uh a lot of unknown I feel like it's unknown for everybody um we haven't played a full game yet as as collectively as a group yet know we will do that shortly in um in a week or so so um just really excited really excited with the work that we put in feel like everybody from top to bottom had a had a solid training camp um we was out here grinding every single day getting getting better so I'm excited to see how everything unfold with regard to to that just an anticipation is there anything about this offense you see now that differentiates from other Optimist optimism you've had with previous teams you've been or is it just pretty much the same or is there something about that you see in this offense that gives you even more that makes it more legit I guess more legit um I want to say more legit I'm just I'm just excited about the guys that I'm working with um working beside looking the Huddle you you got Caleb right there you got DJ Keenan the old line them guys um just the work that we put in I'm just exced about the mentality of of the guys that we have and um in this building I say first and foremost just just how everybody comes to work um for all for one common goal how would you describe why guys have responded to Caleb the way they have since you got here as far as what Ju Just in terms of of feeling confidence in him he's a rookie he's never played a game there seems to be this energy that he's created that you guys believe in him as a leader for sure for sure um we all know it's a lot on his plate just just how he stays calm with everything um just just his urge to get better I can't say that enough um yeah just you could tell he he wants to be great and that's that's what you look for there's going to be ups and downs throughout the season going to be adversity for sure um but uh he never gets too high never gets too low there's always a lot of moving Parts on the offensive line but what have you observed from that unit through camp and where's your comfortability level now heading into week one real comfortable Simo does a great job with them guys um you can interchange them however however you want to um next man of mentality if it has to be that but I'm real comfortable with everybody in that room um just just everybody works hard every single day so we're we real confident in that group what goals have you set for yourself individually um individually I'm a team success I feel like that's first and foremost we win and I'm going to be a big part of that in some way shape or form so uh yeah team success first you were playing for a different team in the division what was your perception of the bears from the outside and you know I'm sure you've heard people talk about the vibe being different here yeah kind of you weren't around before the previous U my perception was a team that always always plays hard that's kind of my perception was um but I feel like now it's it's it's a different mentality a different different Chicago Bears team um we going to see how it unfold for sure I'm excited I know team success is something like you said that's first and foremost for you but you get a big contract with this team they clearly see Great Value in you what do you want to prove what do you want to go out there and showcase individually um be exactly uh where I am and why they bought me here um continue to perform first and foremost continue to produce at a high level and uh put the league on notice thank you how are you feeling physically are you feeling ready for the regular season to start and all of that yeah I'm definitely feeling ready um first you know couple days got back made some plays on the ball so I definitely feel good was it challenging to be be out during such a pivotal preseason for you guys yeah definitely challenging to be out you know want to be out there with the guys want to get you know reps out there you know um just continue to create or chemistry and things like that but um couldn't be out there but did a lot of walk through reps and things like that so got my mental right for sure chemistry with second especially C been you both been in and out a little bit last the chemistry um it's great to be honest it's great you know guys getting turnovers guys are you know having a lot of energy out there so I'm not really too worried about the defensive chemistry or anything like that so I feel like we're right where we need to be we could continue to get better think Kevin did to kind of jump start that chemistry so you can hit the ground run week one say it again is there anything you and Kevin did to to jump start your Chemistry since this is your first time playing uh I'll say just in the beginning just me reaching out to him um and then his communication know in the me and room um his dialogue and things like that or back and forth know um with the coaches too know I feel like it's been great um relation is very tight and I feel like we're going to have a great year how have you noticed coach e flu evolved since you got here with him in 2022 just um just getting comfortable getting better you know as a coach um just overall um getting closer with the guys things like that and you know obviously him having more swag I'll say swag just with his um his say it again what do you like about the uh the EA flu make the fade gotta start off with the fade first um but um just his his swag defensive wise his his energy and things like that you can feel it um he's definitely getting comfortable but the chemistry is just growing overall and you can feel it in the room so it's great what ways do you see his kind of fingerprints on the defense right now and the things that he likes to do translating into what what you guys do well we just do a lot of different things I'll say um just a lot of different things which which works to our ability so I feel like um Everybody Eats in this defense so it's going to be good how do you how do you compare the feeling of this defense versus the one you step into as a rookie where you guys are giving up 30 points every single week you don't have you're having players that are being offloaded as the season goes M to this uh it's a huge difference on my first year I feel like I really didn't know too milon people at all um this year especially what we did in the off season know I know those guys um I know their backgrounds and things like that um and I know where they come from and we know each other's story which is you know why we could play for each other and plus we played with each other last year and then we added a couple pieces this year so it just makes it even more special so I feel like um this year you can feel you know that we got guys everywhere like you look at the left the right corner the the backers to dline like to safeties there's guys everywhere so compared to my first year last I mean to this year you know I know the guys and everybody Playmakers what about the same kind of question but about the secondary specifically coming from a situation where you walk in and jobs are there to take now I think you guys have players on the bench that could start on some other te for real um I agree with you just um my first year like you said you know we got guys everywhere left corn nickel to the right corn to you know safety so I feel like um we got a lot of Playmakers do you feel like you guys are going to be more aggressive this year felt like over the course of the summer we saw Blitz and from n Go from the safety linebackers I feel that yeah I feel like we'll be balanced but definitely aggressive we got that type of Defense especially with a Corners they could cover and then our safeties could cover also but they can make plays on the ball so um yeah I I feel it would be balanced do you have any individual goals for yourself this season individual goals um really make the playoffs that's my you know that's my goal and then everything else handle itself on my side so just make the playoffs and then um you know all pro pro ball things like that want to someone who considers himself a leader not just in the defense but everybody in the team what what kind of relationship you develop with Caleb have you got to know him better than you would you know somebody even on defense or do you get get any idea any insight to really what is make some tick or any kind of relationship you yeah definitely got to know him I'm texting him in the offseason things like that we always go back and forth um you know during text you know what he sees what I see and things like that and then on the field you know we're the competitor you know I'm trying to know get everything out of him even though he's not going to say anything too much but um just trying to you know get the fire out of him see you know um try to test them things like that but definitely building our relationship on and off the field yesterday we just got a handshake so stay tuned coming the first first game you talked a little bit this offseason about the goal to be top five defense one of those great defenses what kind of conversations you guys as teammates on defense have about those goals and where do you see this group in terms of that that progression yeah really just being where our feet are um every single day um just being where fed or you know guys just being consistent um we just got to continue to work hard and then where I see ourself today is really just know continue to know get better every single day you know we're not where we need to be but um you know we're going to get there and you know we're going to be a top five defense and we expect that this year um especially with the r quarterback you know we're going to have a lot of big shoulders so um every day is you know big for us what have you seen throughout the course of camp that leads you to believe you guys can be that top five unit um just you know our chemistry the way we're flying around the way we're making plays but really the preseason um even though we weren't all out there you could just see it um the preseason you know showed it we never look like that our first my first two years um I I remember my first two years years um when Mahomes came in here um Josh Allen came in here they drove down and scored the first touchdown you look at our first series it stops after stops you look at practice it stops after stops turnovers after turnovers so there's a difference in this defense and uh we're not there yet but we'll continue to get better how many how many different guys you got handshakes with now seems like a whole series of them sometimes yeah everybody on the defense and then I'm working my my office guys now I just got one with Caleb R yesterday I'm working on K I'm cooking some up for Kenan and the rest of those guys so stay tuned go study all these that's a lot of a lot to remember yeah we just got to keep it's a repetition thing we just got to keep remember it you know I mean it's a repetition thing so just trying to get it right I can't believe that's the question that I yielded to I'm sure great when when you have rookie quarterbacks a lot of times and you're in this position now as a more experienced players player you can you can trick them um there's stuff they haven't seen that you know that they don't know uh and I'm sure there's been a lot of that that you guys as a as an experienced defense have done to Caleb in training camp has there been a time or times where you feel like he got one by on you um definitely I'll would say um not with the disguise wise but definitely a good ball in a twom minute um earlier in Camp um I was he was rolling out to his right I thought he was going to throw a little back shorter but he actually led him you know to get open which was a touchdown so I'll say um that was a good play for him but other than that um you know n's doing what n does are you seeing that and thinking um you know oh he's not gonna be able to make that pass or I don't have to necessarily worry about that pass and then then he did it yeah to his right like um KB said earlier you know his accuracy goes up like 100 times more so um just me guessing anticipating well guessing which led to the touchdown Which messed me up but um you know really thinking he's going to throw the back short like he did the first practice but he end up leading the receiver cuz he trusted his receiver and the speed so um just you know him being smart and then him taking advantage of that play y thank you appreciate y'all have a good day