In the course of their history, the Bears have suited up 104 players from Illinois, from Dick Butkus to Red Grange to Emery Moorehead. They’ve averaged, roughly, one in-state player per year.
When the Bears named their 53-man roster Tuesday, though, a whopping six players hailed from the state:
• Linebacker T.J. Edwards: Lakes Community High School in Lake Villa
• Center/guard Dan Feeney: Carl Sandburg High School in Orland Park
• Tight end Cole Kmet: St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights
• Linebacker Jack Sanborn: Lake Zurich High School
• Tight end Robert Tonyan: McHenry High School
• Center Doug Kramer: Hinsdale Central High School
“As a kid, my grandma would always put on the Super Bowl shuffle on VHS and make me watch it when she was babysitting me,” Feeney, for whom the Bears traded a sixth-round pick earlier this week, said Thursday. “Those are some of the first memories.”
Even after they put Kramer on injured reserve with a hurt right hand, the Bears had enough local guys on their roster to play a different sport altogether.
“We can field a basketball team,” coach Matt Eberflus said. “It’s for sure important — because those guys bleed the Bears. They grew up loving the Bears, and when they come back, they’re so excited to be back. Their families are excited, so you can certainly feel the ‘want’ to come back.
“They love the city of Chicago, and all those guys are super-pumped to be here.”
Feeney was swamped with messages from both his family and friends when he was acquired from the Dolphins. His friends have spent the last couple years passing around clips of the “Saturday Night Live” Superfans sketch. With a feathered mullet and mustache grown during the COVID lockdown, Feeney looks like one of those fans.
Michael Schofield, another Sandburg High grad who played guard for the Bears last season, reached out, too.
“Having all that and all those texts flood in was really cool,” Feeney said.
Now the Bears have to figure out what to do with him. Feeney can play center and guard, but so can Cody Whitehair and Lucas Patrick. Left guard Teven Jenkins is on injured reserve. If Patrick is healthy, it stands to reason he’ll play center and Whitehair left guard, with Feeney backing them up.
Eberflus wouldn’t state his preference but praised Feeney’s utilityman skills.
“The position flex[ibility] is obviously something that we coveted there, to be an inside piece there for us in games,” Eberflus said. “And the experience . . . there’s a known and unknown factor to playing a rookie, and there’s also a known factor to playing a veteran. You’ve got tape, you’ve seen him play, you know what he can do up at this level.”
And all five of the local players on the 53-man roster figure to play in the season opener. That’s amazing, considering that only 62 Illinoisans played in the NFL last year.
“I grew up hating [the Packers],” Feeney said. “So I think I am right at home.”
Defensive tackle Justin Jones, who was teammates with Feeney on the Chargers, had an eight-word scouting report on his friend.
“He’s a great guy,” Jones said. “Loves football, loves beer.”
Kmet met Feeney at a golf tournament a few years back and can attest to the latter.
“He was a good time,” Kmet said with a smile. “And I know he’ll be a good addition to the locker room. To have another local product is always a lot of fun.”
