Chicago Bears rookie offensive lineman Kiran Amegadjie called the first couple of weeks settling in with the team he grew up cheering for “surreal.”
The Bears’ third-round draft pick, who is from Hinsdale, said he was brimming with excitement about contributing to “the history and culture of my favorite team.” But the 6-foot-5, 326-pound Amegadjie will have to stay patient about contributing on the field.
The Bears held him out from their offseason program as he recovers from an October surgery on his quad. That injury cut short his 2023 season at Yale, where he was building on a breakout, all-Ivy League 2022 season with the Bulldogs.
Yale coach Tony Reno said he knows Amegadjie is itching to get reps on the field – and he believes in what Amegadjie can do once he does. Reno has watched Amegadjie’s rise from Hinsdale Central to the NFL, and he spoke with the Tribune about how Amegadjie developed and what he will bring to the Bears when he gets back on the field.
What was Kiran Amegadjie like when he arrived?
Kiran came in as a freshman in the COVID year. There were a ton of restrictions on what the kids were allowed to do and what they couldn’t do. We lost the season. We didn’t play that whole year. He essentially came in as a freshman and didn’t play until a full year later.
He came in as this wide-eyed, long, athletic kid who needed the weight room and had a ton of potential. He had a really good class, good group of guys with him. And he worked. He was one of those guys who came in and it wasn’t like we had to push him to work. He was someone who was willing to work and wanted to develop himself and get on the field.
During that COVID year, was he able to do things to develop his game? How did he handle that?
The fall semester, unfortunately there were a ton of (COVID) restrictions. We were in the weight room for four lifts a week that were under 45 minutes and we were only allowed to be on the field with them for a couple of days a week. And then we got shut down from any athletic weight room or field work because the campus got overrun by the virus and they missed it. So really his fall semester, he did minimal work. A lot of stuff he got was playbook stuff by Zoom, meetings by Zoom. And when they went home for the second semester – because all of the freshmen couldn’t be on campus in the spring – he was working out through our strength staff but on his own. They were posting workouts every day to our TeamBuildr account and those kinds of things, but he had to do a lot of work on his own.
The big period of growth he had was when he got back here the summer before sophomore year until the summer before his junior year. That full year is when his physical growth and also just his growth as a man and as a football player really came. He played for us as a sophomore. We played him at guard because that was our ability to get the best five on the field and he had that versatility. He got his feet under him. He was dominant at times, and at times, he wasn’t as dominant as he should or could have been because he was so inexperienced.
His junior year, he was a completely different guy. He had another great summer, another great offseason, and then his junior year he became the player he grew into today. And then he had a great summer last year and a great start and unfortunately had that injury early. But he was in great shape and was continuing to progress.
I’ve said this to scouts, coaches, front office people: Now we’ve got six (players) in the NFL and we put another five in, and he has the most growth potential out of any of the guys. He’s a really good player, but he was new to the game in high school. He only played 2 ½ seasons in college with the injury. So I think he has a huge upside.
In that 2022 season, what was it that clicked for him? Was it physical growth or understanding of the game?
It was all of it. He had a year of experience, so he had time on the job. He was a lot stronger. And he understood technically how to play the position better. That allowed his natural ability to really show. He became a very physical offensive lineman. He plays with an energy about him and he plays with a passion that is really unique for a lot of O-linemen. And it really showed.
You mentioned his versatility and the Bears have touted that too. What allows him to be effective inside and outside?
From a physical standpoint, he has great feet and he has really good hips. He can run through contact in the run game. He also has great feet and is someone who controls the edges in the pass game well. He’s not afraid to play inside and be an interior blocker, and he has the athleticism and experience to play on the edge. He played every position for us but center and he can do the same at the next level.
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When he injured his quad this past year, how did he deal with that?
Like any player when they find out, “Hey, this is probably going to be something that you’re going to miss the rest of the season,” he was pretty down for a day. And then the next day he came in and met with me and said, “Coach, I’m going to be here and be the best coach on the field that I can for these guys.” His ability to flip the switch from being a dominant Senior Bowl, combine invite who hopefully would be an early-round draft pick and help us win a championship on the field … he switched to, “Hey, you know what, that stuff is going to be on the back burner for a minute, and I’m going to be the best coach I can for these guys who are taking my place.”
He was at every practice, every meeting, didn’t miss a thing aside from the couple of days for the surgery. He was vocal. He was teaching and coaching. We saw him have great pride when guys on the offensive line that were replacing him had success. It was really, really fun to watch. He was as invested and as locked into the team when he was on crutches on the sideline as he was when he was playing.
What is he like off the field? What type of leader is he?
Kiran has really developed that. We spend a lot of time on that here, on developing leadership and leadership styles. He has the ability to demonstrate it, do it the right way, ask for help when he doesn’t know how to do it so he can do it the right way. And I think he also has the ability to challenge guys to do it better and encourage guys and celebrate guys when they’re doing it well.
He’s got all the pitches. He has every angle where he can find different ways to motivate, encourage and challenge. I saw him do it all, even with his best friends. A lot of times, that’s the hardest people to do it with, the guys you’re closest with. He would challenge his best friends and encourage them and bring young guys along. That’s a piece that a lot of people don’t talk about. That’s an area where he’s really, really elite in.
When you look back at his whole career, do you have a favorite performance of his?
In that 2022 season, we got in a situation at the end of the year where we were a really good run team. We were grinding games out. We were winning the old-fashioned way, 23-18, 24-21. We didn’t put a lot of points up, but the best way for us to win wasn’t that way. We got to the point where we were running the ball in a variety of ways and he was just completely dominating, essentially telling people, “Hey, we’re going to run the ball right here.” And then completely owning that and being dominant in those areas. Especially in the last two games. The last two games against Princeton and Harvard, we ran for well over 500 yards and the brunt of that was behind Kiran.
And he took a lot of pride in that. There were other times too with him, just seeing him grow as a person and player. Just watching him in the weight room or on the field, in practice or in games, doing the things I talked about – his ability to challenge and motivate and play with an incredible passion. He played with so much passion and I know he’ll bring that to Chicago.
When you talk about that growth potential he has at the next level, what does he need to do to reach that?
I go off the other guys we’ve had that are doing well in the NFL and he’s very similar. Once he has an opportunity to get in and learn the system and be able to play freely, as all young guys do, where it’s less mental and they can just play, you’ll see that (growth). The biggest thing for him is he hasn’t played a lot of football. He’s not one of those guys who started when he was 8 years old and played all the way through high school and college. He played a few years in high school and three years with us here. So I do think there is a lot of getting into a great system and just being able to go play. Because he’s gotten better and better every week. He’s not one of those guys who you’re saying, yeah, he can’t really get much better.
The other thing with Kiran too is he’s super long. He had 3 ½ years of college. He can get stronger too. He got a lot stronger when he was here, but I think his upper body strength can continue to grow. And as that does, that brings a whole different dimension to the game.
Have you talked to him much since he was drafted?
I was with him for the first round. I had to get back here for an event, and then he had a party for the second and third round with a bunch of our guys. We’ve talked two or three times. We text all the time. He’s doing well.
You put it in perspective. A few weeks before the draft, he had a workout here with one of the NFL teams, and we’re sitting in the office, and I’m like, “All right, man, if you had your pick and you had one team that could call your number…” He’s like, “Aw, coach, I love a lot of teams.” He’s rattling off these coaches he’s met. And he’s like, “But, I know it won’t happen, but if I could ever get drafted by the Chicago Bears, that would be a dream come true.” Of course, as his coach, I’m like, “I get it. But we can’t be disappointed if we don’t.” And then all of the sudden, it happens. It’s like a storybook.
He’s just learning the offense. The hardest thing for him is the Bears are doing right by him and they’re keeping him out of things until he’s 100%, but he just wants to go. He wants to get those reps on the field, which he hasn’t been able to get yet.
