What I’m dubbing “Luis’ Summer of Musical Enlightenment” continues tonight with a trip to see The National.
Full disclosure: I’m pretty unfamiliar with The National. However, I’m looking forward to tonight’s show. Let’s expand my musical horizons!
I know there’s been some collaboration with Taylor Swift and I vibe with it. Over the weekend, one of my best friends (who loves The National) put a few songs on my radar that they thought I’d like. They were right. It’s almost as if my friends know me well.
Just gotta make it through the second-to-last Friday of May.
Behold! Our first look at what the Chicago Bears’ rookie draft picks look like in their new get-ups:
Kudos to the content creators who thrive while making photo edits of Bears prospects in their new uniforms. Those guys and gals deserve so much love for what they do. That said, nothing hits like seeing the rookies in their actual uniforms. No photoshops. No graphic edits. It’s the real thing. And it hits different.
Other than the obvious, who’s the rookie you’re looking forward to seeing the most? For me, the obvious candidates for your favorite Bears rookie are OL Darnell Wright, WR Tyler Scott, and RB Roschon Johnson. Given that as our baseline, I’m very much into seeing what defensive tackle Travis Bell gets into this summer. The Bears made Bell the first-ever Kennesaw State player drafted into the NFL. Even though he was the third of the three defensive tackles the Bears took in the draft, Bell has the most unique path to the league. Kevin Fishbain (The Athletic) unearths that Bell was working for a medical supplies company in addition to playing college football. If you read that last sentence and thought to yourself this is how a great rags-to-riches NFL story starts — just know that you’re not alone.
This is a good pull from NBC Sports Chicago’s Alex Shapiro, who unearths some quality quotes from Bears GM Ryan Poles in an interview on NFL+ with Cynthia Frelund explaining why they believe they can build on Gervon Dexter Sr.’s traits by whipping him into shape. Sometimes, we see college prospects who get their names called on draft days as finished products. But that is hardly ever the case. There is always room to grow both mentally and physically. You can’t teach traits, which is why the Bears snagged Dexter with the first of their two second-round picks. But you *CAN* re-shape a player’s body in an attempt to amplify said traits. Marrying skill and physique is one of those challenges that comes with taking the leap to the next level.
This look like the cover of what is going to be summer’s hottest mixtape:
It’s never too early to look ahead to the next NFL Draft. With that in mind, Max Chadwick (PFF) catches up with Kansas State’s Cooper Beebe, who tops Pro Football Focus’ list of top interior offensive linemen returning to college football for the 2023 season. Beebe is giving off first-round projection vibes. And considering our obsession with putting the best 5 blockers in front of Justin Fields, we’ll be keeping tabs on his future performance. I can’t front: PFF’s list of top IOL prospects has a bunch of names that make me go that’s a really strong offensive lineman name. Don’t get me wrong. Cooper Beebe is good. But Beaux Limmer (Arkansas), Zak Zinter (Michigan), Drake Nugent (another Michigan prospect), Tate Ratledge (Georgia), and Christian Mahogany (Boston College) are up there with the top dog.
Admittedly, I’m hesitant to look too far ahead into the future. The 2024 NFL Draft is 342 days away. However, since we’re on the topic (and I had this link bookmarked for eventual usage), David Kenyon (Bleacher Report) offers up a handful of former five-star recruits who could be future first-round picks. For Bears research purposes, defensive tackles Maason Smith (LSU) and Leonard Taylor III (Miami) stand out as possible Bears targets if they don’t find high-profile help at the position between now and when we start looking at the 2024 draft. On the other side of the line, Georgia offensive tackle Amarius Mims is described as “a prototypical blindside protector” and that sounds dandy. I’m rooting for Braxton Jones to take another leap in his development. But if that doesn’t shake out, at least the Bears could have draft-worthy options down the line.
Luis C. Medina, who you can find on Twitter at lcm1986, has been covering the Chicago Bears at Bleacher Nation since 2017. Since then, he has written about 3 head coaches, 5 play-callers, and 11 starting quarterbacks. Previously, Luis wrote about the Cubs and MLB at BN (2015-16) and worked in the Chicago Tribune sports department (2011-16). He also co-hosted a Cubs postgame show, Outside the Ivy, in 2019.
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