NFL Combine takeaways: T'Vondre Sweat, Bears zero in on safety prospects and Caleb Williams gets more praise
INDIANAPOLIS - T'was the day before the quarterbacks, and all through the Indiana Convention Center the Chicago Bears were busy scouting their next free safety.
Here are three takeaways from Day 3 of the NFL Combine.
The Bears' foray into the safety class
On Thursday, USC's Calen Bullock, TCU's Millard Bradford and Minnesota’s Tyler Nubin all said they met with the Bears.
All consider themselves versatile safeties that can play anywhere on the field.
That's a boon. The Bears need them at free safety. None of those players seemed to balk at that idea.
Bradford said he loved his meeting with the Bears. He prides himself on being mature with good leadership. Nubin, a St. Charles, Illinois, native said the same about his meeting with the Bears. Nubin doubled down on his physicality and versatile skills.
Nubin is 22 years old; Bradford is 24 years old.
Bullock is 20 years old, and was candid. He know he needs to get bigger. But, he knows he'll have the opportunity to do that at the next level.
"Being a safety, me being a skinny guy than most of the safeties, I know I have to go out there with that chip on my shoulder and show that I can do everything that these guys can do," Bullock said.
NFL Combine: Former NFL GM Rick Spielman takes FOX 32's Cassie Carlson into the mind of a general manager
The Bears have the No. 1 overall selection for the second-straight season. This time, there's a better chance they keep the pick instead of trading it. What goes into a high-profile decision like that? FOX 32's Cassie Carlson talks with former Minnesota Vikings GM Rick Spielman about how those decisions are made.
Former GM lauds Ryan Poles' decision-making
Former Minnesota Vikings GM Rick Spielman has seen plenty of the Bears in his tenure, but he knows when a team has had some good fortune.
Spielman chatted with FOX 32's Cassie Carlson on the combine floor, and Spielman offered some speculation as to what might be happening behind the scenes. He doesn't know for sure, but in the mind of a general manager, he can understand the process a bit.
One of the most interesting things that Spielman said was the Bears most likely have an idea of what they want to do. However, that idea can always be swayed by a trade that's too good to turn down.
If a team offers a "king's ransom," as Spielman put it, for No. 1 overall, that sets the Bears up for potentially more top-10 selections in the future.
"I also think he's being very smart," Spielman said of Poles. "If you have an opportunity to take a franchise-changing quarterback, that you're probably going to go with whoever that is."
Caleb Williams' teammates think highly of the QB
Whomever said Caleb Williams is a bad teammate should probably let his USC teammates have the floor.
Williams, somehow, was billed as a bad teammate because of perceived selfish play and attitude issues. Calen Bullock had this to say about his quarterback:
"Caleb, he's going to scramble a lot. He moves around a lot. He makes the smartest decision. He has a great ball, very great quarterback. He's going to make spectacular plays that you'll expect. Sometimes, he might try to do some tricky things. Might look one way, throw the ball the other way. But Caleb, it was really great playing against him in practice every day."
Would a bad teammate earn that praise? You be the judge.
T'Vondre Sweat is a massive human
The Texas defensive tackle weighed in at 366 pounds.
He ran the 40-yard dash in 5.27 seconds. That's very for a human that large.
His other drills were impressive, too. He had lateral quickness and great get-off at the start of each drill.
The Bears do need depth at defensive tackle.
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