Thread: Did the Bears Find There Ted Thompson in Phil Emery?.............

Someone had asked what Bears players he might have scouted and recommended. Here's a partial list of Bears and a couple of Altlanta stars.

Bears new GM knows primary task

Emery's track record is 1 of being a leader with exceptional feel for talent

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Bears President Ted Phillips and Chairman George McCaskey. (Abel Uribe, Chicago Tribune / April 30, 2011)

Dan Pompei On the NFL 9:57 p.m. CST, January 28, 2012



Having known Phil Emery for more than a decade, I can tell you with complete confidence the Bears new general manager is one of the NFL's best evaluators of talent.

He forms strong, substantive opinions based on in-depth research that goes well beyond the norm.

Emery should do well on draft day.

Drafting players, though, is only one part of being a general manager, even if it's the only one most of the world sees or cares about.

If all a general manager did well was draft, he ultimately wouldn't be very successful.

He also has to be a leader. He has to be able to manage the coach and his staff. He needs to endure ownership. In a tweeting world, he better be media savvy.

A general manager is an administrator. He has to be able to negotiate and have a feel for working a budget. He has to be able to delegate and trust.

He should give credit to others quickly and be open to their ideas while never losing sight of who is in charge. He needs to be able to evaluate himself honestly.

A GM should be able to think outside the box.

More than anything, he has to see a big picture.

And that's really why Emery will be introduced as the Bears' new GM on Monday.

In two interviews, Emery impressed team President Ted Phillips and Chairman George McCaskey with his vision, his command of the room and the depth of his plan.

The Bears were looking for passion and commitment. They wanted someone who could communicate well but also someone who could listen. They wanted a strong personality.

These characteristics are evident in Emery. Something else is too.

Emery is a man of integrity. He is committed to doing the right thing, for the sake of doing it.

In that manner, he is not unlike Jerry Angelo, his predecessor. In fact, he's like a lot of other men who have sat in comparable chairs at Halas Hall.

Mark Hatley. Rod Graves. Bill Tobin. Jerry Vainisi. Jim Finks. They all were cut from the same cloth Emery is cut from.

Angelo thought so highly of Emery he recommended him to Tim Ruskell when Ruskell became player personnel director of the Falcons in 2004.

The Bears learned of Emery in the fall of 1997, when then-college scouting director Bill Rees paid a visit to Navy to scout offensive lineman Mike Wahle. Rees took note of the intense strength coach. The Bears didn't draft Wahle, but they did draft Emery … as a scout.

When the Bears came back to Emery nearly 15 years later this winter, he wasn't the same guy. He had been reshaped working with Angelo, Ruskell, Rich McKay, Thomas Dimitroff and Scott Pioli.

The perception is the Bears made the safe hire with a friendly, familiar face. I don't think Emery is going to be acting like anybody's brother-in-law.

It's not like he and Lovie Smith are old playground chums. They worked together for about four months. Smith, like everyone else in the building, will have to prove himself to the new boss.

Emery the general manager in 2012 is not Emery the southeast regional scout from 2000.

I think Emery is going to rock the Bears' world where it needs it. And he's not going to worry if he's hurting anybody's feelings.

Look for change in the front office. A director of college scouting and a director of pro scouting are likely to be added.

Ultimately, Emery will be judged by draft picks. He once told me Hatley taught him he can learn everything he needs to know from game tape. Emery is likely to wear out a few remote controls in his tenure.

When Emery doesn't find out everything he wants to know from game tape, he will ask questions. For instance, in 2007, he was watching tape of then-Oklahoma running back Adrian Peterson. He told me he noticed Peterson kept running up the backs of blockers in a game against Nebraska.

So he asked Peterson about it. Peterson told him his coach told him if blockers are in his way, run into them as hard as he can. That way, they will get out of the way next time.

Emery wants to run the Bears with better vision than Peterson had running the ball back then. But that doesn't mean he won't run up somebody's back now and then.

dpompei@tribune.com

Twitter @danpompei

Bears new GM knows primary task

Emery's track record is 1 of being a leader with exceptional feel for talent

• 
• 
• Comments
  124
  

Bears President Ted Phillips and Chairman George McCaskey. (Abel Uribe, Chicago Tribune / April 30, 2011)

Dan Pompei On the NFL 9:57 p.m. CST, January 28, 2012



Having known Phil Emery for more than a decade, I can tell you with complete confidence the Bears new general manager is one of the NFL's best evaluators of talent.

He forms strong, substantive opinions based on in-depth research that goes well beyond the norm.

Emery should do well on draft day.

Drafting players, though, is only one part of being a general manager, even if it's the only one most of the world sees or cares about.

If all a general manager did well was draft, he ultimately wouldn't be very successful.

He also has to be a leader. He has to be able to manage the coach and his staff. He needs to endure ownership. In a tweeting world, he better be media savvy.

A general manager is an administrator. He has to be able to negotiate and have a feel for working a budget. He has to be able to delegate and trust.

He should give credit to others quickly and be open to their ideas while never losing sight of who is in charge. He needs to be able to evaluate himself honestly.

A GM should be able to think outside the box.

More than anything, he has to see a big picture.

And that's really why Emery will be introduced as the Bears' new GM on Monday.

In two interviews, Emery impressed team President Ted Phillips and Chairman George McCaskey with his vision, his command of the room and the depth of his plan.

The Bears were looking for passion and commitment. They wanted someone who could communicate well but also someone who could listen. They wanted a strong personality.

These characteristics are evident in Emery. Something else is too.

Emery is a man of integrity. He is committed to doing the right thing, for the sake of doing it.

In that manner, he is not unlike Jerry Angelo, his predecessor. In fact, he's like a lot of other men who have sat in comparable chairs at Halas Hall.

Mark Hatley. Rod Graves. Bill Tobin. Jerry Vainisi. Jim Finks. They all were cut from the same cloth Emery is cut from.

Angelo thought so highly of Emery he recommended him to Tim Ruskell when Ruskell became player personnel director of the Falcons in 2004.

The Bears learned of Emery in the fall of 1997, when then-college scouting director Bill Rees paid a visit to Navy to scout offensive lineman Mike Wahle. Rees took note of the intense strength coach. The Bears didn't draft Wahle, but they did draft Emery … as a scout.

When the Bears came back to Emery nearly 15 years later this winter, he wasn't the same guy. He had been reshaped working with Angelo, Ruskell, Rich McKay, Thomas Dimitroff and Scott Pioli.

The perception is the Bears made the safe hire with a friendly, familiar face. I don't think Emery is going to be acting like anybody's brother-in-law.

It's not like he and Lovie Smith are old playground chums. They worked together for about four months. Smith, like everyone else in the building, will have to prove himself to the new boss.

Emery the general manager in 2012 is not Emery the southeast regional scout from 2000.

I think Emery is going to rock the Bears' world where it needs it. And he's not going to worry if he's hurting anybody's feelings.

Look for change in the front office. A director of college scouting and a director of pro scouting are likely to be added.

Ultimately, Emery will be judged by draft picks. He once told me Hatley taught him he can learn everything he needs to know from game tape. Emery is likely to wear out a few remote controls in his tenure.

When Emery doesn't find out everything he wants to know from game tape, he will ask questions. For instance, in 2007, he was watching tape of then-Oklahoma running back Adrian Peterson. He told me he noticed Peterson kept running up the backs of blockers in a game against Nebraska.

So he asked Peterson about it. Peterson told him his coach told him if blockers are in his way, run into them as hard as he can. That way, they will get out of the way next time.

Emery wants to run the Bears with better vision than Peterson had running the ball back then. But that doesn't mean he won't run up somebody's back now and then.

dpompei@tribune.com

Twitter @danpompei

Pompei writes an interesting article here. Is it possible we've been misjudging Emery?

I do believe we have. The more I thought about it over the past day, the more I thought that Emery was the right guy for the job.

Originally Posted by soulman

Pompei writes an interesting article here. Is it possible we've been misjudging Emery?

I guess we'll know in a couple years! lol

Originally Posted by Papa Bear

I guess we'll know in a couple years! lol

True dat. I'm not a fan of everything Pompei writes but when he gets away from just peddling his opinions and gets down to drawing on facts and his experiences over the years covering the team he can write some good pieces.

Obviously he's known Emery since his days as a Bears scout and has had the opportunity to make some judgements about the man. I've always thought the scouts were these writers best source of information. When an article quotes "a reliable source" or "inside information" I think it may well come from the scouts who are probably less tight lipped than the GM and coaches were during the Angelo era.

Emery's work history has taken him to some interesting places and we shouldn't really feel all that bad about them not hiring Licht. Emery has worked with GM's who come out of the Pats organization like Scott Pioli and he may well have as good or better a handle on how it's done in New England than many of us think. He's certainly been involved at some level with some very good draft picks. We badly need a top notch WR and Emery is the guy who they say "stood on the table" for the Falcons to draft Roddy White a guy I wish the Bears would have had the chance to draft. If he's that good a judge of WR talent I think our troubles at that position may be over.

I think we'll known if he's has the magic even before two years are up. He has the opportunity to make a big difference in the look of this team even before next season begins. First impressions mean everything and he has the goods at his disposal (draft picks and cap $$$) to make a difference.

I really like the piece written about his time at Annapolis. The guys that were talking about him were Seals, and if you can't trust the word of a Navy Seal, who can you trust.

Like anyone else, I was more than willing to share my opinion before the fact, but I was equally willing to admit that my opinion was based on little more than internet searching so, I'm certainly on board and more than willing to see what Phil can do.

Originally Posted by 4DaBERS

I really like the piece written about his time at Annapolis. The guys that were talking about him were Seals, and if you can't trust the word of a Navy Seal, who can you trust.

Like anyone else, I was more than willing to share my opinion before the fact, but I was equally willing to admit that my opinion was based on little more than internet searching so, I'm certainly on board and more than willing to see what Phil can do.

Yeah, I mean giving the guy credit for helping him develop the mental and physical toughness he needed to succeed as a Navy Seal says a lot. Those guys go through some of the most rigorous training known to man. They're some of the toughest mf's on the entire planet. That's a pretty high compliment to hand out to a guy who was just your strength and conditioning coach.

He talked a lot about his Navy days in his press conference and gives a lot of credit to who became as a scout to that. I'll say one thing about Emery. If we all thought that Lovie was getting tough on accountability last season I got a feeling Emery's standards regarding it will put Lovie's to shame.