There remains some financial concerns regarding the future of Zach LaVine, but the offseason shoulder surgery for point guard Coby White is now front and center on a position the Bulls need to address.

Arturas Karnisovas is no stranger to the bob-and-weave.

The Bulls’ executive vice president of basketball operations is actually well-trained in that art, especially when it comes to publicly discussing the expected upcoming contract negotiations with Zach LaVine.

“Obviously, we’re looking forward to talking to Zach in the future,’’ Karnisovas said last month, when wrapping up the 2020-21 season with the media. “I think looking at his numbers and how well he played this year, he improved in points, field-goal percentage, three-point percentage, free-throw percentage, assists, rebounds . . . He was a much better player this year.

“Again, we sat down with Zach and talked about this summer because we’re going to ask players to do more. Because obviously the results are telling us it’s not good enough. And he’s looking forward to the challenge. So we had those conversations.’’

And he left it at that.

LaVine wasn’t as vague when discussing his next payday.

“I definitely want what I deserve, and whatever that is I’ll have it coming to me,’’ LaVine insisted.

Between LaVine’s expectations and now the news this week that Coby White had left shoulder surgery that could put him on the shelf for the start of training camp, there’s real reasons why the guard position remains very fragile.

If LaVine wants to do his organization a solid and still be considered a max player, he can re-up this summer, making $29 million by 2025-26, the final season of the deal. If the two can’t get on that page, the Bulls would have to use the Bird rights to max him, but that puts him close to $39 million per year through the 2025-26 season.

First things first, however, as the organization still has to address the problem at starting point guard. The Bulls were putting a lot on White’s plate for this upcoming summer, looking for him to make a huge jump going into Year 3. Now, there’s questions if he can even be healthy for the start of Year 3.

That’s why the Bulls could clear some cap room by moving off of Tomas Satoransky and turning away from the team option on Ryan Arcidiacono to upgrade the position.

That could lead to an offer for restricted free agent Lonzo Ball or at least kicking the tires on veteran free agent Mike Conley, but both are fiscal long shots. Veteran combo guard Garrett Temple wants to come back and could do so on the cheap.

But the most important date on Karnisovas’ calendar is June 22, the night of the draft lottery, when the Bulls find out if they can turn a 20.3% Hail Mary into lottery gold.

Part of the cost in adding Nikola Vucevic at the deadline was a protected 2021 first-round pick to Orlando. If the Bulls land in the top four of the lottery, the pick stays with them. That means a shot at adding a point guard such as Cade Cunningham or a Jalen Suggs.

Both would be organizational game changers moving forward.

POSITION BREAKDOWN: GUARDS

WHAT THE BULLS HAVE

Coby White, Zach LaVine, Tomas Satoransky, Garrett Temple, Ryan Arcidiacono, Javonte Green, Denzel Valentine, Devon Dotson.

WHO COULD BE ON THE MOVE

Satoransky is guaranteed only $5 million of his $10 million salary in2021-22, while Temple, Green, Valentine and Dotson all are potential free agents. If the Bulls want to bring Arcidiacono back, it will cost $3 million.

THE DRAFT

If Lady Luck can smile on the Bulls and allow them to retain a top-four pick, Cade Cunningham or Jalen Suggs could provide instant impact at point guard, allowing White to play a sixth-man role moving forward.

FREE AGENCY

Chris Paul, Kyle Lowry and even Mike Conley likely will be too pricey, but that doesn’t mean a phone call won’t be made. Even the bidding war for Lonzo Ball could be too rich for the Bulls unless space is made with Satoransky and Thad Young pushed out.

WILD CARD

Spencer Dinwiddie has the $12.3 million player option for 2021-22, but could he turn it down and look for a starting situation and more security? The Bulls offer both.

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Westgate SuperBook risk manager was able to turn his hobby into his job

LAS VEGAS — The magnificent odyssey of Westgate SuperBook risk manager Chad “Rex” Beyers continued through a recent 72-hour window in typical unscripted, roller-coaster fashion, just how he likes it.

He savored seeing Billy Troutman — his best friend from grade school in Indiana, where they could spot the Twin Spires of Churchill Downs on the other side of the Ohio River — in the national spotlight.

Troutman is tight with thoroughbred trainer Brad Cox, whose Essential Quality won the Belmont Stakes last Saturday. NBC cameras captured Troutman bear-hugging Cox.

Without encouragement from Beyers, Troutman might not have witnessed, in person, Cox’s first triumph in a Triple Crown race.

The hectic sports weekend kept Beyers and four or five other Westgate risk experts busy, gauging and pricing lines, adjusting numbers.

Beyers spotted an anomaly in a Mets-Padres game that would prove profitable. Golf would ignite controversy. Late Sunday, he watched “an incredible heater” in the Excalibur dice pits.

On Monday morning, he believed he found value with the Royals, at +143 (risk $100 to win $143), against the Angels in Anaheim.

“When you can have a job that isn’t actually a job, but a hobby that you get paid for,” Beyers said, “that’s what we all should strive for.”

NO-NO BLUES

Beyers, 44, extrapolated baseball figures early last Saturday morning and was half-stunned to find Mets ace Jacob deGrom at +120. The Mets were in San Diego. He made the wager.

DeGrom owned a gaudy 0.71 ERA. The Padres started Joe Musgrove, architect of the franchise’s first no-hitter April 9 in Texas.

Savvy baseball bettors have long faded hurlers in their next start after tossing a no-no because of the additional pitches required for such a complete-game masterpiece and the emotional toll of making history.

But Beyers noted an extension of those doldrums for the six pitchers who have thrown no-hitters this season. Musgrove won only two of nine starts after his gem. That sextet went a combined 7-11 in its next 29 post-no-no starts.

“Guys who have thrown no-hitters,” he said, “have turned into shells of themselves.”

Beyers influenced the SuperBook, opening the Mets at -130 (bet $130 to win $100). “A good sweat for my pocket,” he said of his personal investment. The Mets won 4-0.

He is bullish on the Mets, Rays, Astros and Blue Jays starter Ross Stripling, bearish on the Cubs and White Sox. He doesn’t expect the historical rate at which inherited runners are scoring against Twins relievers to continue.

On May 31, Beyers publicized a position, but his Twitter followers had to be quick. Four minutes before the first pitch, he questioned the Yankees being favored over Tampa Bay. The Rays won 3-1.

“I thought, ‘Well, I’m going to bet this.’ Had no reason not to share it. I try to help. But there’s enough bad stuff that goes along . . . like today.”

BAD PRECEDENT

Before the near-football-field-length SuperBook screens last Saturday night, Beyers laments his shop’s exposure on the Nets, who blast the Bucks — and will do so again in Game 2.

The Twitter “bad stuff” to which he refers is golf. A few hours earlier, Jon Rahm withdrew from the Memorial, which he was leading by six strokes after three rounds, because of a positive coronavirus test.

Nonetheless, DraftKings, William Hill and others paid patrons who had bet on Rahm, despite his withdrawal, to win the tourney — a curious but not uncommon marketing ploy.

“A bad precedent,” Beyers said. “You can’t pay Rahm and pay whoever else wins, too.”

Ironic, many industry veterans say, because William Hill, in particular, is notorious for axing winners. I personally require more than two hands — and I retain all 10 digits — to count acquaintances that Hill has barred after mere $300 wins.

His opinions received some social-media blowback — what doesn’t? Like the SuperBook, Circa Sports didn’t reward Rahm backers. Circa director Matt Metcalf wrote that consistency, not subjectivity, is vital to a shop’s reputation.

“It’s clearly a loser,” Beyers said. “It’s right in [our] house rules. We’re more concerned about you betting here because you’re going to get a fair price, that you get a fair limit.”

THE SWEAT

Beyers was 13 when he first attended Churchill Downs, made his first bet on those ponies two years later. He was a senior at Clarksville High, playing for father-coach Rick Beyers, when sweat first fell from him in torrents in 1995.

He had so idolized hoopster Rex Chapman that “Rex” became his nickname, how most know him today. He had two free throws from a technical foul in a sectional playoff game at Jeffersonville High.

Ninety percent of a crowd of 5,000 cheered for the home team. Boos rained down upon him. Some even howled, “Dad-eee’s boy! Dad-eee’s boy!” as he stood at the line, nobody else in the lane.

“Made one, missed one,” Beyers said. “I was rattled, not going to lie. I was 18.”

Monday, an off day, he researched Euro 2020, the grand soccer tournament that started Friday. He planned to “sweat the Royals” that night. The Angels would win 8-3.

“I sweat everything, but I like it,” said the man whose career has landed him in Hawaii, England, Gibraltar and Costa Rica. “That’s why I love the business. The odyssey has taken me where it has, and I have no complaints.”

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There are still plenty of hurdles for the Fire to overcome before they build a state-of-the-art performance center within city limits, but their coach and midfielder Fabian Herbers are excited by the idea of the project.

There are still plenty of hurdles for the Fire to overcome before they build a state-of-the-art performance center within city limits.

But just the idea of the project has coach Raphael Wicky excited.

“This is something amazing that will be built here for the Chicago Fire,” Wicky said. “This is huge for a club. This is huge for the future of the club, for the players, for the academy, for the club to attract players.”

The team currently practices at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, the Fire’s home arena from 2006-19. Before the 2020 season, the Fire spearheaded numerous behind-the-scenes improvements at the facility that included modernizing the first-team locker room, adding space to the coaches’ room and tripling the available workout space.

The proposed $90 million plan for Hanson Park located in the Northwest Side’s Belmont Cragin neighborhood, however, would be in line with newer facilities built around the league if it comes to pass. Its completion would represent another departure from the Andrew Hauptman era under current owner Joe Mansueto, who has openly discussed building a performance center for the Fire.

Counting a renovated Hanson Stadium and a proposed seasonal inflatable dome, the proposal that emerged last week would bring seven fields,including three hybrid grass pitches for the first team to use. The Fire’s plan also incorporates a 90,000 square foot soccer performance center and three synthetic turf fields.

When it came to sketching the facility, Wicky said he was asked a few things about the project and gave his opinion, but that sporting Georg Heitz is probably more involved. Still, Wicky didn’t undersell what a completed center would mean to the Fire, saying it would have a “big,big impact on this club.”

“I’m 100% sure of that because a training facility is your home away from home,” Wicky said. “That’s where you spend, as a coach and as a coaching staff, so much time. Even as a player, if you have all these possibilities to use in a training facility, you will spend much more time there, and you actually enjoy going to work even more because you have just a perfect facility.”

Fire midfielder Fabian Herbers, who said he hadn’t seen the plans for the project, noted that the most important part of a training facility is having a good field. If you train on just one, it can get bumpy because of overuse. Multiple pitches, like the proposed project would have, can avoid that problem.

Herbers also wasn’t going to gripe about the current setup in Bridgeview. He said the Fire have a good gym and treatment room and “everything” at SeatGeek.

“But I mean, there’s always certain things that can be a little bit better,” Herbers said. “I’m the last one to complain because I’ve trained in smaller locker rooms in Germany and wherever, but it’s good. It’s good that the club has that vision that we get those training facilities and I’m excited for it.”

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Kavadas learned from his mistakes at the ACC Tournament and has the Irish flying high with a College World Series berth on the line against Mississippi State.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — You might consider Niko Kavadas the thinking man’s basher.

It’s not just that he plays first base for Notre Dame, a surprise entrant in this weekend’s -Super Regional in Starkville, Mississippi. Or that his 21 home runs this season, including five in last weekend’s regional, rank first in program history, even as he tosses words such as “propensity” into casual conversation.

No, it’s more than that with Kavadas, who in many ways has become the on-field heartbeat of the 10th-seeded Irish. His work ethic, in the weight room and the video room, has set the tone for the ACC regular-season champions.

“He studies what he’s doing,” Irish coach Link Jarrett said. “He’s very intense. He studies his own game and swing, and he works hard.”

Coming off a disastrous ACC Tournament in which he finished with eight consecutive strikeouts, Kavadas, 22, returned to campus determined to fix the problem. The lefty-swinging senior huddled with Jarrett and his assistants and analyzed 120 swings on video to see what, if anything, had changed.

The consensus: Pitch recognition was the culprit, not anything mechanical.

“Sometimes when you start pressing, you start swinging at some pitches that are out of the zone,” Jarrett said. “He just figured it out and got comfortable again.”

The graduate of Penn High School in neighboring Mishawaka, Indiana, entertained a throng of buddies and former teammates last weekend at Frank Eck Stadium.

It started with a two-homer game in the 10-0 opening victory against Central Michigan, continued with a first-inning grand slam in a 26-3 destruction of Connecticut and reached a crescendo with two more homers in the 14-2 regional capper against the Chippewas.

“I haven’t seen it in all my years of broadcasting,” former major-leaguer Todd Walker said on the ESPN broadcast. “Somebody that can just seem to go out of the yard at will.”

For Kavadas, it started with a long week of preparation. He also learned from his fruitless chasing in the Virginia loss down in Charlotte, North Carolina.

When Central Michigan’s starter came at the Irish with a similar approach, Kavadas was ready.

“He was spinning that fastball at the top of the zone,” Kavadas said. “It’s got 2,300-2,400 [rpm] spin rate on it, so it’s got a little bit of vertical rise. We just set our sights a little bit lower and targeted the top half of the baseball.”

That led to some ungodly exit velocities over the weekend and justified Jarrett’s gut instinct to drop his top power hitter down to the No. 6 spot in the batting order. Kavadas accepted the decision with typical big-picture understanding, then promptly launched himself (and his teammates) right back into a hot streak.

“The reaction was two balls over the batter’s eye,” Jarrett said, “and that’s the reaction we wanted.”

Notre Dame didn’t stop until it had put up 50 runs, including 15 homers, in three resounding wins. That sparked an elaborate homer celebration in the dugout in which the Irish mimed the lighting of a torch.

“It started when we had a lot of frustration with not being a top-eight national seed,” Kavadas said. “That’s something that lit a fire under us. Ergo, the torch.”

A former third baseman who has worked hard on his defense since moving across the diamond, Kavadas projects as a third- to fifth-round pick in the July amateur draft. That’s a few ticks higher than he might ordinarily go, according to longtime draft analyst Jim Callis of MLB.com.

“He’s a one-tool DH, but it’s real power,” Callis said in a text message. “He has hit good pitching this year and comes with a discount because of his age.”

Kavadas’ makeup and leadership add to the package, as well. After cradling the final out of Sunday’s 14-2 victory, he presented the game ball to Jarrett in a gesture that visibly moved his coach.

As for this weekend’s trip to play seventh-seeded Mississippi State, the underdog Irish are determined to grab just the third College World Series berth in program history.

“We’re still frustrated,” Kavadas said. “We feel like this next weekend should be at home, too. That’s something we’re going to play with that’s going to light a fire underneath us. We’re going to go into Mississippi State and find a way to go 2-0.”

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Let’s all agree on this point: There are too many strikeouts in baseball and too few strikeout quizzes.

Welcome to the Sun-Times Chicago Baseball Quiz, All-Strikeout Edition. I am your quiz master, Bill Chuck. These quizzes are designed to be fun and can be played on your own, or you can test your family, friends, neighbors or colleagues. The questions are easy if you know the answers. Other than stats, there will be no math. There will be a nice mix of Cubs and White Sox and a blend of history and current events.

Let’s all agree on this point: There are too many strikeouts in baseball and too few strikeout quizzes.

Are you ready for the Chicago Nine?

Just remember what Yogi Berra said: “Ninety percent of this game is half mental.”

1. From 2010 to 2019, which of these pitchers led Chicago in strikeouts?

a. Chris Sale

b. Jon Lester

c. Jose Quintana

d. Kyle Hendricks

2. Who holds the Cubs’ record with three games of five strikeouts?

a. Sammy Sosa

b. Javy Baez

c. Geovany Soto

d. Corey Patterson

3. Ernie Banks had 32 games with exactly three strikeouts. Which of these Hall of Famers had fewer three-strikeout games than Ernie?

a. Willie Mays

b. Mickey Mantle

c. Hank Aaron

d. Frank Thomas

4. It took 17 innings, but one Cub became the only one to strike out six times in a game. Who was it?

a. Hobie Landrith

b. Kyle Schwarber

c. Don Hoak

d. Jody Davis

5. On Wednesday, May 6, 1998, Kerry Wood pitched one of the greatest games in baseball history when he struck out 20 Astros and allowed just one hit. Who got the one hit?

a. Craig Biggio

b. Jeff Bagwell

c. Ricky Gutierrez

d. Moises Alou

6. While playing for the White Sox, how many times did Frank Thomas wear a Golden Sombrero (strike out four times in a game)?

a. Eight c. Three

b. Four d. One

7. Fergie Jenkins, always one of my favorites, was tough against everyone. Which one of his fellow Hall of Famers did he strike out the most times?

a. Willie Stargell

b. Tony Perez

c. Lou Brock

d. Orlando Cepeda

8. Chris Sale has spent his career in Sox, pitching for the Pale Hose from 2010 to 2016 and the BoSox from 2017 to 2019. For which team has he had more 10-strikeout games?

a. White Sox

b. Red Sox

c. The same for each

9. Each of these Chicago players had a strikeout streak of at least 20 games. Who was the one who had a streak that exceeded 30 games?

a. Javy Baez

b. Adam Dunn

c. Daniel Palka

d. Jim Thome

QUIZ ANSWERS

1. Jose Quintana

2. Sammy Sosa

3. Hank Aaron

4. Don Hoak

5. Ricky Gutierrez

6. One

7. Tony Perez

8. Red Sox

9. Adam Dunn

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Masses of cicadas are in the trees, bushes and lawns around my home. Their rhythmic drumming, chirping, hissing and whirring is so loud it seems at times as if a bunch of car alarms are going off.

WASHINGTON — On my back patio at this moment are 41 cicadas, either dead, dying or alive. They are male and female and some whose sex I can’t determine since a likely fungal disease — not deadly — caused the back of their bodies, with their sex organs, to drop off.

Hundreds of thousands more cicadas are in the trees, bushes and lawns around my home. The rhythmic drumming, chirping, hissing and whirring of males looking to attract a mate is at times so loud it seems as if a bunch of car alarms are blasting at the same time.

A few days ago I forgot to turn off my home alarm when I opened my door and even though I was in my yard I could not hear it wailing.

Sometimes the sounds are less noisy and more nuanced, as if the males are wooing the females with concerts of classical music instead of heavy metal.

I’m living in the place where Brood X — known as the Great Eastern Brood — is peaking. Brood X is one of the largest cicada groups in the U.S., emerging every 17 years.

As Sun-Times outdoors writer Dale Bowman noted in a recent column about cicadas, some of them have appeared in the Chicago area this spring. Brood X may extend to parts of eastern Illinois. A different brood of cicadas will dig their way out of their underground homes in Chicago in 2024. Consider this column an advance report of what to expect.

The ground all around my house is pocketed with hundreds of holes – the evidence of the cicadas drilling up from the tunnels where they have been living since before I bought my house. Who knew.

At first, I had an attitude. There was an ick factor. After all, we are talking about insects.

I changed, leaned into this, once I read up on cicadas and learned they don’t bite, invade homes or carry disease. And any eggs they leave behind in the ground — I’ll worry about that in 17 years. So I’m here to report on my own metamorphosis about these critters with the fire engine red eyes and filigreed translucent wings.

Lynn Sweet/Sun-Times

Living these weeks with cicadas as they rush through their short life above the earth I see as a privilege. I’m witnessing an incredible biological phenomenon — all right outside my home.

Let me tell you about the birds around my house. They laugh at my bird feeder now, though I know they’ll be back when Brood X dies off in a few weeks.

But for now, why eat my birdseed when you can dine at will on fresh cicadas? The birds are so plump, I’ve never seen them like this.

The rabbits are fatter. So are the squirrels.

I bought a net to protect the most fragile bush outside my home because the females lay their eggs in the branches and that can do some damage. Some in my neighborhood wrapped their shrubs fully in cheesecloth.

All I have to do is be careful when I open my doors. I am startled at times when one crashes on me.

You may have seen how President Joe Biden warned, “Watch out for the cicadas,” after swatting one off his neck before boarding Air Force One for England. A cicada invasion of exterior parts of the press charter plane delayed that flight for more than six hours.

My neighbor’s tree is a loud cicada haven. They fly all around that tree, like a scene from a benign version of Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds.”

The empty pupal cases the cicadas leave behind as they grow stick to leaves and are annoying. I’m careful walking not to step on them since they don’t jump away from approaching humans. Some cicadas, I observed on my long walks, died while mating. It’s easy to spot the butt-to-butt attached couples who overdid it. But after 17 years, I get it. There must have been, for some, an excessive amount of pent-up demand.

Lynn Sweet/Sun-Times

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The Red Stars have one of the most experienced groups in the league in terms of players who have played together. Dames was vocal about the value of keeping that core unit intact last year.

Ahead of the NWSL Expansion Draft in 2020, Red Stars coach Rory Dames said he plans for expansion years in advance.

As the league prepares to expand again next year with the addition of Angel City FC and a team in San Diego, owned by investor Ron Burkle, it’s safe to assume Dames hasn’t stopped planning.

Both Angel City FC and San Diego will begin play in the spring of 2022, which means an expansion draft will be held sometime following the 2021 season.

What does that mean for the Red Stars?

For one, it makes winning now with this roster even more critical.

Coming off a 1-0 victory against the North Carolina Courage that highlighted their defensive prowess, the Red Stars appear to be finding a rhythm at the right time. It was the first time the teams met in the regular season since the 2019 NWSL Championship match. Both team’s rosters bore little resemblance to the rosters they had in 2019.

The Red Stars have another week in the international break before returning to the pitch for a game against the Washington Spirit on June 19 at SeatGeek Stadium. They are currently tied with Gotham FC and the Houston Dash with seven points in the league standings.

“Our emphasis has been on us,” Danny Colaprico said.

Dames was able to secure roster protection ahead of the 2020 expansion draft by trading forward Savannah McCaskill, midfielder Yuki Nagasato, draft assets and two international slots. Neither Dames nor Red Stars’ primary owner Arnim Whisler was aware roster protection was a possibility. Upon presenting the idea to the league, it was established that this tactic could be used.

The Red Stars have one of the most experienced groups in the league with a lot of continuity. Dames was vocal about the value of keeping that core unit intact last year.

Assuming other teams use the same strategy, getting roster protection again will be a challenge.

Los Angeles and San Diego are both desirable markets, and Dames has said in the past he doesn’t want to keep players in Chicago who have an interest in playing elsewhere. Michelle Vasconcelos’ trade to the Utah Royals in September to be closer to her family in Utah was a prime example of that.

Ownership of the Royals was transferred to a group in Kansas City two months later, and the Kansas City women’s soccer club was formed.

When Angel City FC and San Diego join in 2022, it will bring the league to 12 teams. Former U.S. Women’s National Team coach Jill Ellis will be the president of the San Diego expansion team.

Ellis spoke about the challenges of building a team from scratch, but in a league like the NWSL, it doesn’t have to be a long process to find success. Because of the parity, she believes they could establish a winning organization right away.

Ellis also was candid about her desire to hire a woman as the coach. Freya Coombe, coach of Gotham FC, is the only woman who is a head coach in the NWSL. Ellis said she plans to have a coach hired by July.

“I’m committed to hiring a female,” Ellis said. “Early in this process, I was talking to someone and said, ‘I want to hire a woman.’ And they said to me, ‘Well, there’s not too many good ones out there.’ I said, ‘Yes, there are.’ ”

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Blackhawks: Another bad Stan Bowman decision comes to light by Vincent Parise

One of the bright spots for the Chicago Bears this season was rookie cornerback Jaylon Johnson. While working without a first-round pick for the second straight year due to the Khalil Mack trade, General Manager Ryan Pace found a way to steal Johnson in the second round after he slipped due to injury concerns that plagued him at Utah.

Chicago Bears’ DB Jaylon Johnson was left off of Pro Football Focus’s list of the top CBs.

Jaylon Johnson’s emergence as a rookie proved crucial for the Chicago Bears last year as they had a hole to fill at outside cornerback opposite to Kyle Fuller last season. In fact, Johnson’s progression and development as a rookie is part of the reason why the Bears have been able to stomach the unfortunate loss of Kyle Fuller who was a cap casualty.

However, either PFF just never watched Jaylon Johnson play or they need to seriously reevaluate how they rank corners. He was tied for ninth in the NFL in pass breakups and he allowed a 56.4 percent completion percentage for quarterbacks when targeted which ranked 20th in the NFL among cornerbacks.

I ranked the corners PFF listed in their ranking (three did not have data available) and among those corners, Jaylon Johnson ranked 13th in completion percentage when targeted and 19th in touchdowns allowed. There are a number of other categories where Johnson ranked in the mid-20s range but I believe this speaks to where he should actually be ranked.

Jaylon Johnson is an up-and-coming corner in the league with a lot of room to grow. However, he has exhibited the traits that all coaches say are necessary for defensive backs to succeed, especially having a short memory after bad plays. He exudes confidence and based on his play last year alone he should have definitely been included on PFF’s ranking of the top 32 corners.

Where should Jaylon Johnson be ranked?

Realistically, Jaylon Johnson should be ranked around 25 but I could see him jumping into the top 15 and borderline top 10 if he continues to build on what he did well in 2020. Even Johnson’s counterpart, Kyle Fuller was arguably disrespected in these rankings as PFF has him ranked 21st on their list of corners.

Related Story: 10 most important players for the Chicago Bears this season

It is important to note that Johnson’s rookie season was also impacted by COVID-19 taking out a lot of offseason activities and the preseason. With a full offseason this year and a return to a Fangio-like system under new defensive coordinator Sean Desai, Jaylon Johnson should have everything at his disposal to take a leap forward in his sophomore campaign atop the Chicago Bears defensive back depth chart.

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The high end of Fields’ potential is far greater than what Dalton’s done throughout his career. But Dalton can still be a great tutor during Fields’ rookie season.

The Bears want Justin Fields to learn from Andy Dalton. They just don’t want him to become Dalton.

There’s a big difference between the two as coach Matt Nagy handles the tasks of getting Dalton ready to be his starter this season and developing Fields as the franchise quarterback the team has coveted for decades.

His template for this project is the one the Chiefs used with Alex Smith and Patrick Mahomes in 2017, when Nagy was the offensive coordinator under Andy Reid. In the same way that the Chiefs expected Mahomes to far exceed the high end of what they could get from Smith, the Bears need Fields — eventually — to be a lot better than Dalton.

“Justin’s going to be Justin, no doubt about it,” Nagy said when asked about the folly of trying to turn Fields into Dalton. “But they’re going to learn from each other, and the little things that I’m seeing in the meeting room and out here at practice, it really does remind me of [Smith and Mahomes].”

Nagy is confident that is the best path and would prefer to stick with Dalton for the entire season. It worked for Mahomes. It worked for Aaron Rodgers, who sat his first three seasons with the Packers. There are also examples of rookies — Justin Herbert and Baker Mayfield, just in the last few seasons — playing well right away.

Mahomes’ lone start as a rookie was a meaningless regular-season finale in which he threw for 284 yards with an interception and no touchdowns. He won the MVP the next season. Then he won the Super Bowl. Then he signed a $500 million contract.

“For him to be able to develop like that and learn from Alex and grow, he would probably tell you it was a pretty good thing,” Nagy said. “If he would have played sooner, would he have done what he did the following year? Maybe. We don’t know that. But I would guess it helped him.”

Dalton is a reasonable equivalent of Smith as the Bears try to replicate what the Chiefs did. He’s not great, but solid. Not explosive, but savvy. He’s trying to extend his own career, but happy to be a mentor.

The Bengals spent nine seasons trying to figure out if Dalton was good enough and, after a collective 87.5 passer rating and zero playoff wins, they ultimately decided he wasn’t. Even at his best, he wasn’t the dynamic threat that Fields is projected to be. Fields walked in the door with a superior deep ball and dangerous running ability, putting him miles ahead physically before his first step onto the practice field. Once he’s ready, the Bears want Fields playing a different game entirely.

Dalton, in his 11th season and a few months away from turning 34, is here to be safe and reliable. Those are useful qualities in a quarterback, but it will only take the Bears so far. Even if everything goes their way this season, it’s hard to imagine them doing better than a wild-card spot with Dalton starting.

There’s still purpose, though, in Fields studying his every move over the next several months. Plenty of Dalton’s knowledge is universal, and Fields can apply it in his own way.

“How are you responding to making a good play [versus] throwing an interception, per se?” Nagy said, beginning a checklist of rookie lessons for Fields. “The biggest thing that Justin can learn from Andy is just understanding the defenses that he’s seeing.

“So [Dalton is] going to help him grow . . . Justin, he’s got to see Andy’s cadence — what he’s doing with his voice inflection, the way he says ‘White 80,’ versus the way Justin says it at the line of scrimmage. And then, of course, how to handle teammates.”

Fields has already gotten a quick class on that last subject during organized team activities.

He and Dalton recently were in a meeting with Nagy and quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo as they broke down practice film. Nagy, DeFilippo, offensive coordinator Bill Lazor and various other assistants all have specific roles in the Fields project, as do Dalton and fellow veteran Nick Foles. DeFilippo zeroes in on mechanics, and on this particular clip, he disregarded a strong throw by Fields and harped on his faulty footwork instead.

When DeFilippo finished, Dalton turned to Fields and reassured him, “Hey, dude, that was a hell of a throw right there.”

That seems small, but it’s vital. Fields is 22 and spent the last several months hearing analysts and scouts nitpick his mechanics. It’s why he slid from being the consensus second-best quarterback in college football to being the fourth one drafted, going to the Bears at No. 11 overall.

To hear one of his new coaches pile it on, even if he’s correct, was probably daunting. To see Dalton — the man whose job he’s trying to take, no less — have his back had to help.

“For him, it’s all new,” Dalton said last week. “I’m trying to give him advice on certain things, how I would view certain plays, what I’d do with my eyes on certain things, different things that come with experience. I’m going into Year 11. I’ve had a lot of ball. I’m just trying to help him out as much as I can.”

All of that information is useful for Fields, and he’s capable of learning from Dalton’s play without mimicking it. He can take the tools Dalton gives him and build a completely different house, just like Mahomes did.

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At least seven adults were shot early Saturday morning in an attack in Chatham on the South Side.

The shooting happened just after 2 a.m. in the 7500 block of South Prairie Avenue, Chicago police said.

Three people were transported to area hospitals in critical condition, according to Chicago fire officials. Another four people were transported in fair to serious condition, fire officials said.

All seven victims were adults, according to fire officials.

Police have not yet released any additional information on the incident.

This is a developing story. Check back for details.

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