Here is what Charles Tillman said to the Rookies during the rookie mini camp!
The Bears held a team meeting on Thursday that featured a special guest speaker: Charles Tillman. The former legendary Bears cornerback, who played for the team from 2003 to 2014, was invited to address the NFL hopefuls by Head coach Eberflus.
Bears Senior Writer, Larry Mayer reported a few interesting things Tillman told the team during that meeting.
"You went from playing with boys," he said. "Now y'all playing with men."
Tillman then relayed a story from his rookie season in 2003 when he was asked by a coach during a meeting to say out loud his responsibilities on a play. He aced the test, but when the coach asked Tillman a follow-up question about the assignments of other defensive players, he was speechless.
""I was like, 'I don't know. I'm not a safety. I'm not a D-end. I'm not a linebacker,'" Tillman told the rookies. The coach said, "You're in the league. You're in the NFL. You need to know what everybody does.'
"So, that's one piece of advice that I would give you all right now: Learn your playbook; know what everybody does."
"So, that's one piece of advice that I would give you all right now: Learn your playbook; know what everybody does."
Finally, here was the most important advice and the biggest of them all given by Tillman:
"If you work hard for this team, I swear to you this city will love you," he said. "This is a Bears town first. This city bleeds blue and orange for the Chicago Bears."
Here were some of the responses by Bears rookies.
"It was amazing because that was a guy you grew up watching," said sixth-round pick Trestan Ebner, a running back from Baylor. "I watched him play. He's the best guy ever to force fumbles, so for me to be able to put the same uniform on as him and some of the legends is just a great feeling."
"It just shows the passion, especially the passion he played with," added third-round choice Velus Jones Jr., a receiver from Tennessee. "And it goes for even the offensive [side of the ball], the passion you play with, the greatness, the determination. It really fired me up even though he was a defensive-sided guy. Just showing the history here, what are the standards, that definitely fired me up as a receiver."
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