Latest news with #RandleEl
New York Times
21-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
New Bears coaches Al Harris, Antwaan Randle El and Eric Bieniemy bring winning mentality
LAKE FOREST, Ill. — When a sore and tired Al Harris used to fly home from road games during his playing days, he was confused by how his assistant coaches, who didn't play a snap, passed the time. 'I always saw the coaches sleep on the plane,' he said. 'I'm like, 'Y'all just got on the plane. Why you sleeping?' Now I know.' Advertisement After a 15-year playing career, Harris has been coaching since 2012. What he quickly learned after he was done playing is coaches sometimes catch a few Z's on the plane because they have to go back to the office for a long night of watching tape while the players head home to get some rest. In a similar vein, when he got into coaching after a nine-year NFL playing career, Antwaan Randle El realized he never knew how much work was going on behind the scenes. 'People think, OK, just because you played, you can coach,' he said. 'What I learned when I got into coaching is that 70 percent of what we do is in the office. And you don't think about that when you first come in as a coach. From a former player's standpoint, you think, all right, I can teach them how to run routes. No, you gotta set the stage, you got to prepare, you got to come up with the scripts and the splits, it's a whole nine yards. And when you realize that, that's when you start knowing it's just a different deal.' Harris and Randle El are new to the Chicago Bears coaching staff. Their boss, Ben Johnson, is going to be the voice of the team. Offensive coordinator Declan Doyle, defensive coordinator Dennis Allen and special teams coordinator Thomas Hightower will speak every week. But it's the position coaches like Harris, Randle El and Eric Bieniemy — all former NFL players themselves — who have the players' ears. They are the ones who spend the most time with them in meetings and on the practice field. Between the three of them, they played in nearly 500 regular-season games. Harris was an All-Pro safety and is a member of the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame; Randle El, a college quarterback turned receiver, won a Super Bowl ring and threw one of the most famous passes in the rich history of the Pittsburgh Steelers; Bieniemy was a former running back who played in a Super Bowl and was blessed with one of the great Chris Berman nicknames of the 1990s. Advertisement Nowadays, Harris is the Bears' new defensive backs coach (he doubles as the team's defensive passing game coordinator, not to be confused with Press Taylor, who has the same title for the offense), Randle El is coaching wide receivers and is the assistant head coach and Bieniemy, the former offensive coordinator for the Chiefs and perennial NFL head coaching candidate, is the running backs coach. It's draft week in the NFL, which means the acquisition portion of the offseason is ending and the real work is about to begin. If you're looking for a reason why the hype around the Bears might finally be for real, you can look at the money, and the thought, the organization has invested in the coaching staff. From coaching stalwarts like Allen, a two-time NFL head coach, offensive line coach Dan Roushar (64) and linebackers coach Richard Smith (69) to relative youngsters like Doyle (29) and quarterbacks coach J.T. Barrett (30), there's a good mix of experience on the Bears' staff. Some guys are whiz kids, others are coaching lifers. Along with Harris, Randle El and Bieniemy, Matt Giordano, Jim Dray and J.T. Barrett are all former NFL players. 'There's so many different people that I thought Ben went out and did a great job of just bringing together,' Bieniemy said last week. 'Everybody has their own experience, but everybody brings a different flavor.' Antwaan Randle El said it's pretty cool when he gets to put on a #Bears hoodie. Being this close to his hometown of Riverdale means being close to his family, which is something he's reveling in. WATCH: — FOX 32 Sports (@fox32sports) April 17, 2025 That, of course, starts with Johnson, the fiery football nerd who is making a reported $13 million per year to run the show. His salary will be a small price to pay if the Bears become good and he turns Caleb Williams into a star. To help him coach, Johnson said he wasn't just going to hire his friends (or coaches with the same agency), and he lived up to that promise. Advertisement 'Whoever was in charge of the hiring, along with Ben, did a great job of acquiring a good staff,' Harris said. The media met with most of these assistant coaches last week, with formal Q&As and roundtable meet-and-greets. Time usually crawls at Halas Hall, but this was a fun day at work, learning about what makes these guys tick. I wanted to know if these three think it makes a difference to have an NFL playing background? 'I think it's huge, man,' said the 50-year-old Harris, a former sixth-round pick who had to get cut to find his NFL future. 'I've been blessed enough, as a player, that all my position coaches were ex-players. So the connection was really there. Not that you have to be an ex-player, because there were a lot of excellent coaches that hadn't really played in the league. But I just think the message gets there. You understand exactly what they're going through.' Randle El, 45, agrees, but with an asterisk. 'I think it helps because we are knowledgeable about the game,' he said. 'Because you got a lot of guys who were players who coach and it doesn't take the same way. It's about your knowledge of the game, and then you got to bring the same energy to practice every day.' Bieniemy, 55, has been coaching for a quarter-century now. He's the veteran sage of their cohort and he knows what's really important isn't what they've done in the past, but what they can do now for the Bears' players. 'I'll say this, it's always good to have guys that have had an opportunity to play,' he said. 'Me and Al Harris played together (in Philadelphia), we worked together in Kansas City, we understand our role. Our role is to be the best coach that we can be to help those young men in our room to go out and play at their very best and be the most accountable that they can be to help us to accomplish the goals that we want to accomplish. … My man El has done it at a high level as a player. On top of that, he did it at a high level as a coach because they beat us … it was the 2020 season, I like to forget that. They beat us up in that damn Super Bowl game (when Tampa Bay defeated Kansas City 31-9 in SB LV). So not only has he had an opportunity to play at the highest level, he's also had an opportunity to coach on a championship team.' Advertisement Speaking of Randle El, he caught 370 passes for 4,467 yards and 15 TDs in his time with Pittsburgh and Washington. He carried with him the knowledge of a quarterback after being a four-year starter at Indiana and a prep star at south suburban Thornton High. (He's also the only coach on the staff who beat Kevin Garnett in a basketball state playoff game.) All that has helped him as a coach, and he should be a boon for the receivers and for Williams. The same goes for Bieniemy, who will be tasked with coaching up the running backs for what should be a run-heavy offense under Johnson. It's going to take a village to fix the Bears. As for Harris, he still rocks the long dreadlocks from his playing days. You can bet the defensive backs can relate to him and every day he'll be where he belongs in the defensive backfield. 'This is what I'm supposed to be doing, you know what I mean?' Harris said. 'I've been in this game, playing and coaching, since I was 7 years old and I'm 50 now. The only job I've ever had has been either playing in the NFL or coaching in the NFL, so I truly believe this is where I'm supposed to be. This is where my mark is supposed to be made.' (Photo of Antwaan Randle El: Jon Greenberg / The Athletic)
CBS News
18-04-2025
- Sport
- CBS News
Bears assistant head coach Antwaan Randle El is happy to be close to home
Chicago Bears Head Coach Ben Johnson made it a happy homecoming for Antwaan Randle El when Johnson brought him along from Detroit as his wide receivers and assistant head coach. Randle El won a Super Bowl with the Pittsburgh Steelers and also played for Washington, but the south suburbanite is known by a lot of folks in these parts as a three-sport star at Thornton Township High School. He played basketball and baseball at Thornton Township in addition to football. Working for the Bears and being closer to family is a dream come true for Randle El. "I see my parents twice a week. It's been really good. I try to see them more, but it is an hour and 20 minutes, whatever it's away, and with work, it's tough," Randle El said. "It's going to be even tougher when my wife and kids get here, because the kids got games." Randle El was asked if his folks could drive to him. "They can drive to me, you know, to the games. But we're going to have stuff at the house like we've always done, you know, but I've got to be careful, because I've got some cousins, and it'll be 6 in the morning, they'll just be knocking at the door," he said. "I still love them the same." Meanwhile, the Bears will be on the clock one week from Thursday with the 10th pick of the first round in the NFL Draft. In the midst of preparing, General Manager Ryan Poles took care of a local kid with a new contract. The ink is dry on a two-year contract extension for Lake Villa's TJ Edwards . The linebacker is now signed through the 2027 season for a reported $20 million. Ahead of the 2023 season, the Bears signed Edwards to a three-year, $19.5 million contract and have liked what they've seen from him the last two seasons. He was entering the final year of the deal and was set to make a base salary of $5.4 million in 2025. The former Wisconsin Badger has started every game the last two seasons, combining for 284 total tackles, including 170 solo, 14 quarterback hits, 10 passes defended, 6.5 sacks and four interceptions. The 28-year-old finished last season with 129 total tackles, including 79 solo, along with six quarterback hits, a career high four sacks, two fumbles recovered and one forced fumble. Edwards turns 29 in August. Earlier this week, the Bears also signed cornerback Kyler Gordon to a three-year, $40 million extension. Poles had identified a new deal for Gordon as a top priority for the team this offseason, not long after new defensive coordinator Dennis Allen specifically emphasized Gordon's role. "I think it's obviously a stress off the plate, and you know, it's just allowed me to focus more on the task at hand that we've got for the season; allowed me really to meet the coaches, get in the playbook, and just focus on doing that," Gordon said Tuesday. "That's all I'm really caring about right now."
Chicago Tribune
17-04-2025
- Sport
- Chicago Tribune
Antwaan Randle El is ecstatic about his Chicago homecoming — plus 5 more observations about the Bears
With just a week remaining until the NFL draft, the Chicago Bears have become increasingly eager to attack their next opportunity at improvement. They own seven selections in the draft, including four in the top 75, and are confident they can make significant strides in upgrading their roster. In the meantime, new coach Ben Johnson and his staff are continuing through Phase I of their offseason program at Halas Hall, working to set expectations for players and establish the vision for how they want to play across all three phases. The Bears held availability with all their assistant coaches Thursday afternoon in Lake Forest, a lengthy session that provided valuable insight into the early stages of Johnson's coaching tenure. New receivers coach and assistant head coach Antwaan Randle El was among the headliners, speaking glowingly of his homecoming, returning to Chicago to coach for the franchise he grew up rooting for. Here are six significant observations from Thursday's session. 1. Randle El finally returns home. The first time Randle El walked into Halas Hall as a coach, he couldn't help but feel the emotions. 'I had to try not to because I wanted to get focused and locked in,' Randle El said. 'But it just catches up with you. It was just, not weird, but it was like, ah, man, this is really happening. Like, this is it.' This is it. The Chicago Bears. Halas Hall. Randle El grew up revering the Bears in 1985. He was 6 years old during the run to Super Bowl XX. Those were some of his earliest football memories, watching 'The Super Bowl Shuffle' and playing as receiver Willie Gault in Tecmo Bowl. The Riverdale native was a three-sport standout at Thornton High School in the south suburbs during the 1990s. He went on to star at Indiana before becoming the first receiver to throw a touchdown pass in a Super Bowl during the Steelers' win in Super Bowl XL. He nearly signed with the Bears as a free agent the following offseason in 2006 before Washington came in with a stronger offer. Nearly two decades after almost becoming a Bear, Randle El is finally home. He was one of the first hires Johnson made after becoming head coach. The two worked together in Detroit with Randle El coaching wide receivers. He will again coach the receivers in Chicago, but he also added assistant head coach to his title. Randle El's parents still live in the south suburbs. He has two grandmothers, one who is 96 and another who is 85, still living in the area. For Randle El, it feels like this was meant to be. He allowed himself a moment, just a moment, to be sentimental about it when he first put on his Bears team apparel and walked into Halas Hall in Lake Forest. '(Then) I had to shut it off and get focused because, like I said, we've got a lot of work to do,' Randle El said. 2. Randle El seems borderline giddy to work with his top two receivers. Heading into the 2024 draft, with a crop of receiver prospects as strong at the top as it had been in years, Randle El fully appreciated the talents of Ohio State's Marvin Harrison Jr. and LSU's Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr. But he had Washington's Rome Odunze at the top of his list, hopeful the Detroit Lions could figure out some way to land Odunze. So, yeah, imagine his disappointment when the Bears nabbed Odunze with the No. 9 pick. 'It didn't work out,' Randle El said Thursday. 'But I'm glad he's here. Because, hey, here we are.' Randle El admires Odunze's fluidity at his size and sees an opportunity for him to have a major impact this season. He also let out a telling laugh Thursday the first time he began talking about DJ Moore, an expression of optimism about Moore's potential within this offense. 'We can get him the ball in a lot of different ways,' Randle El said, his eyes widening. 'I see him (being) used in a lot of ways. 'A lot of times you see him catching these screens. But he can run routes. He can move inside and do different things too. I am excited about that.' Moore has 7,531 career receiving yards and 35 touchdowns and should be a force for Johnson thanks to his versatility and experience. Still, Randle El noted, Moore is entering season eight in the NFL and has still yet to play in a playoff game or on a team that notched more than seven wins. So his ears and his mind remain open. 'DJ hasn't won yet,' Randle El said. 'He hasn't won consistently. Hasn't been in the playoffs and those types of things. So he still needs to get ready for that. 'It's a mindset that I have been in as a player. And as a coach. Now it's like, 'Man, we've got to get you to that point.' And he's hungry for that. So I can just feed into that and continue to build him up.' 3. The spring bonding experience with Caleb Williams is well underway. There is no more important relationship inside Halas Hall right now than the one between Williams and Johnson, with the latter looking to pour offensive knowledge into the former as fast as possible. But Johnson will need help nurturing Williams and, at various times and in various manners, he will look to offensive coordinator Declan Doyle, passing game coordinator Press Taylor and quarterbacks coach J.T. Barrett to facilitate the process. Barrett noted Thursday what he believes will be the most important piece of this spring in his building process with Williams. 'Time together,' Barrett said. 'It's just time. I can tell already that he cares. He loves ball. And when you've got that, we've got somewhere to go.' Getting there, though, will be a long and demanding process. And for a hungry learner like Williams, one of the challenges for the coaching staff will be to keep their young quarterback from wanting to devour the entire buffet of knowledge in one sitting. 'You work very closely with him on his day-by-day approach,' Barrett said. 'There will be certain times where he may feel like he's drinking from a fire hydrant as far as the information coming at him. But day by day, he has to be locked in on what the focus area is for today and stay honed in on that. That's all going to be a process.' Added Taylor: 'It's been a big thing with us of giving (information) to Caleb in bite-sized pieces. With almost every quarterback, they want the whole thing right now. It's 'explain to me this and this and this and this.' But I think collectively, we've done a great job of setting the vision that there's a progression to all of this and we will get there when we get there.' 4. Eric Bieniemy is excited to embrace a rookie running back, whoever that may be. The Bears have four running backs on the roster: D'Andre Swift, Roschon Johnson, Travis Homer and Ian Wheeler. Homer, primarily a special teams player, has six carries in two years with the Bears. Wheeler is coming off a torn ACL and has never played a regular-season snap of NFL football. That leaves Swift and Johnson as the top candidates to see touches out of the backfield. That's why there's so much speculation around the Bears drafting a running back next week. At a position that tends to churn through injuries over the course of a season, two options aren't enough. Whether the Bears select someone with the No. 10 pick (perhaps Ashton Jeanty, if he's still available) or later in the draft, it feels likely that they will wind up with a new running back on the roster. Even if it's not Jeanty in the first round, this year's draft is considered deep at the position. There are other options, such as North Carolina's Omarion Hampton and Ohio State's TreVeyon Henderson. However the Bears attack it, new running backs coach Bieniemy will be excited to embrace a rookie. 'There's a number of guys that are coming out and my thing is, the guys up top (in the front office) and the head coach are going to make the best decision for our organization,' Bieniemy said. 'That's the only thing that matters. If we decide to draft one, you know what, we're going to bring him into the building, we're going to put our arms around him and we're going to treat him just like he's one of the rest of the guys, whether he's drafted or he's a street free agent.' Before he won two Super Bowls as the Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator, Bieniemy coached some great running backs during his years as an assistant. The list includes Adrian Peterson, Maurice Jones-Drew, Jamaal Charles and Kareem Hunt. 5. Dennis Allen wants Kyler Gordon on the field at all times. Since the day he arrived as the new defensive coordinator in Chicago, Allen said he has a plan for the cornerback. Earlier this week, general manager Ryan Poles locked up Gordon with a three-year contract extension worth $40 million. Poles wouldn't have done that if the new coaching staff wasn't excited about Gordon's potential fit in the system. For Allen, that doesn't necessarily mean locking in Gordon as the nickel corner. 'I've talked to him about this: Where do we find that second position for him where it's not just he's a nickel only?' Allen said Thursday. 'Does he go outside and compete at outside corner? Does he compete some at safety? I've told him that he needs to be learning both of those spots.' How much does Dennis Allen's 'win now' messaging matter? 4 questions about the Chicago Bears defense. Last year in former coach Matt Eberflus' defense, Gordon played primarily at the nickel spot, lining up opposite the slot receiver. When the Bears wanted a bigger lineup on the field with a third linebacker, Gordon was typically the defensive back who came off the field. As such, Gordon played only about 68% of defensive snaps, while other top defensive backs such as Jaylon Johnson and Kevin Byard were playing close to 100%. As a rookie in 2022, Gordon split time between outside corner and nickel. He turned his focus solely to the nickel in 2023 and 2024. Allen wants to find a way to keep Gordon on the field at all times. 'We've had guys that have had the flexibility to play a lot of different positions,' Allen said. 'I think that's important in today's football, where you're not just locked into one thing. Being able to be multiple and do a lot of different things, so that's something that I think he can do.' Allen said the Bears won't know what the right answer is in terms of positional fits until they can see Gordon at various spots on the practice field. This will be one of Allen's experiments as the Bears head into OTAs and minicamp this spring. 6. Johnson has his coaching staff's attention. That much was clear while listening to Bears assistants Thursday, particularly as they spoke of Johnson's attention to detail and his demand for excellence daily from everyone around him. 'You understand what that is coming in,' said Barrett, who coached the past three seasons with Johnson in Detroit. 'And so you then take that same approach to the way you coach your position group.' Doyle, meanwhile, also has taken note of Johnson's repeated insistence that discomfort and strain are a part of chasing excellence. 'That's an attitude. And that's a standard,' Doyle said. 'The behavior you walk by becomes the standard that you accept. Either you're coaching it or you're allowing it to happen. And so every thing we are doing on a daily basis has to be held to that standard. That requires a high level of communication from the very top of Ben explaining his vision to us and then us as coaches holding our players and fellow coaches to that standard.' There's an undeniable edge to Johnson, Doyle said. And Taylor acknowledged that edge is energizing. 'There is this push to be cutting edge,' Taylor said, 'to be in front, to push the envelope. We want to not only challenge ourselves but our players as well. And just because something worked (previously) doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. So let's keep searching for the best way to do things that get the most of of everybody.'
USA Today
02-03-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Ben Johnson describes importance of Antwaan Randle El's role with Bears
Ben Johnson describes importance of Antwaan Randle El's role with Bears When Ben Johnson made the decision to depart as the Detroit Lions offensive coordinator to become the head coach of the Chicago Bears, he brought with him Chicago native Antwaan Randle El. Joining Johnson in Chicago, Randle El will serve as both the team's wide receivers coach and assistant head coach. The coaching staff that Johnson has built around him has been praised by his former peers and colleagues, which also contributes to the high expectations for the Bears next year. During his time in Detroit, where he served as wide receivers coach since 2021, Randle El gained a reputation as a coach with plenty of personality that was going to get the most out of his players while also holding them accountable. That coaching style was just one of many factors that led Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown to find himself in the upper echelon of top receivers in the league, having been selected to the Pro Bowl three times, and a First-Team All-Pro in 2023 and 2024. This week at the NFL Scouting Combine, Johnson caught up with FOX 32's Cassie Carlson and discussed the important role that Randle El will serve for the team. Johnson explained what role Randle El will serve as his top assistant, and the importance of the role to both of them. "He's going to be charged with not only the receiver room but really the offense, and the entire team," Johnson said. "That assistant head coach title, that means something to me, that means something to him." Johnson also believes that Randle El will be a big reason for the team's turnaround in 2025 and beyond. "He's really going to spearhead our turnaround here in Halas Hall and it's going to show up on Sundays going forward," Johnson said. "I think what's really going to relate to our guys is when they understand how wholesome he is and that he's really invested in not only their success as a football player, but so much more off the field than anybody would ever know. Once they get to know the true Randle El, it's going to really come to light." Johnson will get the headlines and credit for the future success of the Bears, but assistants like Randle El will be just as critical to the team moving forward.
USA Today
30-01-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Amon-Ra St. Brown breaks down coach Antwaan Randle El's departure for the Bears
Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown isn't normally known for breaking news, but maybe the 'Sun God' needs to add that to his job title. He was in position to be the first to report that wide receivers coach Antwaan Randle El was leaving the Lions to become the new passing game coordinator of the Chicago Bears. In the latest edition of the St. Brown Podcast, the Lions All-Pro reveals he inadvertently learned Randle El was leaving for the Bears. 'I hit up the group chat, I go, 'El, ain't you from Chicago?' St. Brown said. 'I sent that. Next one. 'You following Ben?' Literally, I sent that at 6:17 p.m. Two minutes later, I get a call from him. 'The f***?' I answer. 'He said, 'What's up, man.' He goes, 'Hey man. How'd you know? Did that get leaked?' I said, 'Nah, I was just messing around.'' The surprised reaction from St. Brown was a genuine one. Randle El was in line to climb the coaching ladder in Detroit, but he opted to go to his hometown Bears with Ben Johnson instead. No. 14 has no hard feelings for his longtime coach. 'I get it. He's from Chicago, too. So, it's a step up, he gets to be receivers coach, knows the offense, knows Ben. It just makes sense for him,' St. Brown said. 'I'm not upset. I'm not upset about it. I'm happy for him. It's just funny how it all went down.'
