You do go harder for your hometown': Bears are heavy on local talent in 2023

For Lake Villa native T.J. Edwards and Lake Zurich native Jack Sanborn, the similarities in their career arcs are uncanny.

The two Bears linebackers have taken nearly identical paths to the NFL. Both were high school football stars in the northern suburbs - Edwards at Lakes High and Sanborn at Lake Zurich High. Both went on to stellar careers as linebackers at Wisconsin, where they met and got to know each other in 2018. Both thought they might hear their name in the NFL draft, then waited all weekend long only to never hear it. Both signed as undrafted rookies and had to fight their way to a roster spot on special teams before eventually emerging as starting linebackers.

Now, both are Chicago Bears.

On top of all that, they were both coached in high school by coach Luke Mertens, who was the head coach at Lakes and at Lake Zurich before moving to his alma mater St. Patrick ahead of the 2022 season.

"I mean, c'mon, right?" Mertens said. "It's unbelievable odds for something like that to happen."

'I always wanted to be out here'

This offseason, the Bears added more Chicago-area natives to a roster that already featured a fair number of them.

McHenry native Robert Tonyan was one of them; he signed with the Bears on a one-year free agent contract in March.

Tonyan went to his first Bears game when he was 4 or 5 years old. They played the Lions at Soldier Field. Over the years, his parents took him to games at Soldier Field and even to see the Bears face the Packers in Green Bay.

The first time he returned to Soldier Field as a player - as a member of the Packers in 2018 - he heard his name over the loudspeaker and he knew he had made it.

"I always wanted to be out here," Tonyan told Shaw Local after that game in December 2018. "I didn't want to be up there (in the stands) forever."

That sentiment is shared by all 90 players currently on the Bears' roster. At one point, every one of these players was a little boy watching football on TV or from the stands. But for a handful of Bears players, playing for the Bears is much more personal.

'We take a lot of pride'

Like Tonyan, Edwards also decided to return home when he signed a three-year, $19.5 million contract with the Bears in March. Edwards previously spent four seasons playing for the Philadelphia Eagles. Additionally, the Bears signed Lake Forest native Andre Szmyt as an undrafted rookie.

Those three joined Sanborn, Lake Barrington's Cole Kmet and Hinsdale's Doug Kramer, who already were on the roster. Kmet, who played at St. Viator before heading to Notre Dame, has been a mainstay of the Bears' offense since joining the team as a second-round pick in 2020.

Szmyt and Kramer will have to battle for roster spots in training camp, but it's possible this roster could have as many as five or six Chicago-area natives on the 53-man roster.

"You're going to go hard regardless, you're going to care regardless, but you know, having the 'C' on your helmet since you've been a kid, having the Bears jerseys and playing in the backyard in Bears uniforms and Bears helmets and now it's realistic, it does mean more," Tonyan said. "You do go harder for your hometown and the home team. I mean, we take a lot of pride in here."

Szmyt grew up in Lake Forest and played at Vernon Hills before a record-setting kicking career at Syracuse. The Bears brought him in to compete with veteran kicker Cairo Santos.

Kramer, a center, played at Hinsdale Central before playing five seasons at Illinois and hearing his name in the sixth round of the 2022 draft. He missed all of last season due to injury, but is healthy ahead of the 2023 season.

T.J. and Jack

Edwards and Sanborn both had the opportunity to choose their futures, and both chose Chicago. Edwards signed with the Bears in March after leading the Eagles in tackles and helping them reach the Super Bowl. Sanborn signed with the Bears as an undrafted rookie free agent in 2022. Being close to home was a no-brainer.

"It was definitely on the top of the list," Sanborn told Shaw Local just after the 2022 draft.

When Edwards signed with the Bears in March, he said he continued to follow the Bears well into his NFL career. It was simply a habit. The Eagles visited the Bears in December, and Edwards came away from that game thinking about how tough the Bears had fought, even though they were well out of playoff position.

Both Edwards and Sanborn looked up to Hall of Fame linebacker Brian Urlacher. Just about every aspiring linebacker in the Chicago area did.

"I met Urlacher his rookie year at like a meet and greet or something like that and that was special for me and my friends," Edwards said. "And then Devin Hester, that first kick return in the Super Bowl will always stick out to me."

When Sanborn was leaving for college in 2018, Mertens made sure to tell him that it was in his best interest to get to know Edwards. The two played only one season together at Wisconsin, but they became good friends that year. Sanborn watched Edwards' career as he went from undrafted linebacker to special teams player to starter and eventually became one of the best linebackers in the NFL.

When Sanborn went undrafted in 2022, Sanborn brought up Edwards as his motivation in conversations with Mertens.

"T.J. kind of helped make it real for Jack," Mertens said. "If you don't get drafted, here is your path."

For high school coaches like Mertens, looking at the Bears roster and seeing half a dozen former Illinois high school football players provides the perfect example for his players. He believes it will help grow the game in Illinois if kids look at their favorite team and see players who grew up nearby.

"We're just such proud people from this town," Mertens said. "To have some of our own wearing the Bears colors is pretty gosh darn exciting."