Bears DC Dennis Allen on How Coby Bryant's Injury Affects Dillon Thieneman
An injury to veteran safety Coby Bryant forces a defensive reshuffle, thrusting Chicago Bears rookie Dillon Thieneman into an accelerated learning curve alongside new backfield partner Cam Lewis.
Video Transcript
What's going on everybody?
Nicholas Moriano here from Roundtable Sports.
For today's video, we look into how Kobe Bryant's injury impacts rookie safety Dylan Thieneman.
On Monday, during the Bears' first fully padded practice, Kobe Bryant went down with an injury, hyperextended his knee, and had a bone bruise fracture, out eight to 10 weeks according to Adam Schefter.
Now, what was so enticing about drafting Dylan Thieneman is that you had Kobe Bryant on the back end, a veteran, someone who's just coming off a Super Bowl victory, to kind of mentor him while they learn Dennis Allen's defense for the first time.
Now, with Bryant out, that means veteran Kam Lewis is going to serve in, in Bryant's spot as he returns to health in eight to 10 weeks.
But how does Bryant's injury impact Dylan Thieneman?
Well, according to defensive coordinator Dennis Allen, it's not much of a difference what he's gonna be looking for from Thieneman.
The expectation, quote, for him as a rookie is that each and every day he learns a little bit more, and he gets a little bit better.
There's a lot to learn in the National Football League.
There's a lot going on.
The volume of we, of what we do is more than what rookies have ever done.
So all really Dennis Allen's looking for from Dylan Thieneman, improve each day, get better, and what he said is, "Focus.
Just be you."
And what Dylan Thieneman is doing is taking that day-to-day approach.
He's focusing on those daily improvements, and he, r- told reporters on Wednesday after practice that things are starting to slow down, and he's starting to pick up things, tendencies from the offense.
An encouraging sign from the rookie safety as he's adjusting to NFL life, playing alongside a different safety on the back end, learning what NFL offenses are gonna throw at him.
There's a lot there.
But Dylan Thieneman is taking it one day at a time, and he also shared on Wednesday, Thieneman, that he's locker room or locker buddies with Kam Lewis.
So those two will get more acquainted with each other as they continue to get more reps, get to know each other off the field, and then ultimately play on the field.
So that's gonna be the acclimation process for Dylan Thieneman.
How quickly can he get this NFL game?
How quickly can he learn his position?
And he also revealed that Al Harris, the defensive backs coach, passing game coordinator, is also having him play some nickel as well or learning that position.
So there's a lot going on.
But if Dylan Thieneman can learn these, all these things that come with being an NFL player, then he can become more of a core, versatile, defensive piece for Dennis Allen's system.
