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The crowd of family and friends around Gervon Dexter was screaming so loudly when Matt Eberflus took over the Chicago Bears cellphone that it took a couple of tries to exchange greetings.
Eventually Dexter, the Florida defensive tackle the Bears drafted in the second round Friday night, delivered his message to his new coach.
“I’m ready, man,” Dexter said in the conversation 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 last line has become an Eberflus refrain over the last 16 months as he greets new players and lets them know they need to be in shape and ready to go hard when they report for workouts.
For a group of new players that includes Dexter, that starts at rookie minicamp Friday and Saturday as the Bears look at their 10 draft picks and a slew of undrafted free agents and tryout players.
For the last four months since the Bears finished the season 3-14 and secured the No. 1 draft pick, general manager Ryan Poles has been in the spotlight.
He engineered the trade of the top pick to the Carolina Panthers for wide receiver DJ Moore and multiple picks. He signed a free-agent group that included linebackers Tremaine Edmunds and T.J. Edwards, guard Nate Davis and defensive end DeMarcus Walker. And he put together a draft class headlined by Tennessee offensive tackle Darnell Wright with the No. 10 pick plus three Day 2 selections in Dexter, Miami cornerback Tyrique Stevenson and South Carolina defensive tackle Zacch Pickens.
Poles still has work to do. He offered a reminder Saturday night, when asked about the lack of depth at defensive end, that training camp is months away and he still has money to spend.
But this weekend marks a sort of passing of the baton from Poles to Eberflus and his coaching staff as they examine the roster Poles has built and begin trying to shape it into something better than a three-win team.
That starts with multiple rookies who could have a chance for major playing time this year, including Wright, the presumptive starter at right tackle, and Dexter and Pickens, who could be pushed into a rotation on the defensive line. Eberflus showed last year he is willing to play rookies with safety 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 said. “We pride ourselves on developing these young guys, and we’re not afraid to put young guys in there. If guys are good enough to start, we’re going to put 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 last four months assisting Poles and his staff in determining which players would be the right fit for his team.
For some of the offseason, Bears coaches devoted their mornings to football and spent their afternoons helping the scouting department prepare for free agency and the draft. Eberflus tapped into his college scouting roots when he accompanied Poles to some pro days, not only watching players but talking to their coaches to get a better feel for whom the Bears would be drafting.
Poles and assistant GM Ian Cunningham said their understanding of what the coaches wanted in terms of culture and scheme fits helped them feel comfortable during the pre-draft process in the group’s second offseason together.
“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 said 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 in the Bears drafting seven defensive players, including Dexter and Pickens, who both could slot in at three-technique — a key position in Eberflus’ defense — or nose tackle. The Bears also picked Kennesaw State defensive tackle Travis Bell in the seventh round.
“Those guys are going to be dynamic,” Eberflus said. “They’re big, they’re long, they’re fast, they’re athletic, so it’s exciting to add those guys into the middle of our defense.
“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 also has a pair of new cornerbacks to evaluate in Stevenson and fifth-round pick Terell Smith from Minnesota. The Bears felt strongly enough about Stevenson that they traded a fifth-round pick to move up five spots to get him at No. 56. Poles said Stevenson likely will compete for a spot at outside corner alongside Gordon, who played outside and at nickel as a rookie, and Jaylon Johnson.
“Physical” was the first word Eberflus used to describe Stevenson and Smith.
“They like to hit,” he said. “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 came with an understanding that he was working with one of the worst rosters in the NFL despite having a promising young quarterback in Justin Fields. So a big part of the way Eberflus evaluated his job last season was whether he and his coaching staff laid the foundation for the right culture, work ethic and style of play.
With upgrades at many positions, Eberflus and his staff now must build upon that foundation, from developing a long list of interesting young players to figuring out how to put their new playmakers in positions to succeed.
“We have all these players now,” Eberflus said earlier this spring at the NFL owners meetings. “How can we put them in position in the critical moments?”
With a better picture of their roster and organized team activities on the docket this month, Eberflus and his coaches now can dive into that work.
