00:00You talk about the combine numbers, and we've heard a lot throughout the offseason
00:05that one of the main priority on the defensive side of the ball was adding some speed.
00:09This guy ran a 4-3-5-40 at the combine, and he definitely brings that speed
00:15that Dennis Allen and the Bears want on the defensive side of the ball.
00:18And even when you're comparing him, whether you're talking Emmanuel McNeil-Warren
00:22or even Caleb Downs, these safeties who are projected as first-round picks,
00:26none of them throughout their career have shown as a playmaker the sideline-to-sideline range
00:33that Dylan Thienemann has shown he can do.
00:35He can be a guy, if you just want to line him up deep as a center fielder,
00:39as a single high guy, as a free safety, and just let him stay back there
00:43and look for passes to pick off.
00:44He can do that at a really high level.
00:47He plays with anticipation, and the ball skills are what are really off the charts for Thienemann.
00:52There's a pass that I was just breaking down across the street at Fox 32
00:56before I came over here, where one of the strongest-armed quarterbacks
00:59in college football this past season was Penn State's Drew Aller.
01:03And in an overtime game against Penn State, Drew Aller is trying to throw
01:07just a pass up the sideline to his tight end who had snuck out of the backfield.
01:11Dylan Thienemann eyeballs that, begins to run the alley, presses the line of scrimmage,
01:15and then recognizes Drew Aller's going up the sideline at the last moment,
01:19stops his feet, flips his hips, and Aller's trying to throw a dart
01:22just over the hands of Dylan Thienemann.
01:24Dylan Thienemann goes up and is able to high-point the football on a pass
01:27with a lot of velocity from about 20 yards away.
01:30But those types of ball skills from any defensive back, let alone from a safety,
01:34are rare, are unique.
01:36And so that showcases just the most recent version of the playmaker
01:40that Dylan Thienemann showed himself to be in college football.
01:43And so he's not 6'4", he's not 220, but he is a player who tackles with urgency,
01:49and he is a player who's shown he can make plays on the football as a pass defender
01:54at as high a level as anyone in this draft cycle.
Comments