Rypien on Chicago's QB room, potential of becoming a free agent again |
CHICAGO - Chicago’s quarterback situation is mostly figured out. Rookie Caleb Williams is the starter and Tyson Bagent seems to be a lock for the No. 2 spot. That leaves Brett Rypien and rookie Austin Reed, who are competing for the No. 3 spot. Therefore, Chicago fans should expect to see a lot of them in the preseason finale against the Kansas City Chiefs on Thurs. Aug. 22 (7:20 p.m. / FOX 32 or NFL Network).
While it is ultimately a quarterback competition, Rypien also focuses on trying to help everyone in the room. “I think it’s been the best collective group I’ve been with in terms of just trying to help each other out every single day and for me, from my standpoint being the oldest guy in the room, I think I’ve somewhat felt the responsibility to kind of spearhead that because with the rookies, I don’t think they knew what to expect coming into it and for me, I think it’s always important,” Rypien said. “You do know that you’re competing with these guys. But at the end of the day, you just want to see everyone play well and put good film out there because if you’re helping each other out, at the end of the day, you’re going to find out something maybe that you need to know when you get on the field. So, it’s been awesome to work with these guys. They’ve been unbelievable.” Rypien has bounced around the league for years now, going back to 2019 when he was with the Denver Broncos and went on and off their practice squad. It was with Denver where he got his first career start in 2020 and first win in the NFL. The game has changed a lot since then, and Rypien, the oldest player in Chicago’s quarterback room, has been around two rookie quarterbacks, Williams and Reed, who have offered a fresh perspective. “They bring such a fresh perspective, especially Austin and Caleb not having been in the league before and not really knowing what to expect on any of these things that we’re going through,” Rypien said. “So, I think I’ve talked to them about, especially, I think the game has changed so much now where you see a lot of these younger guys come out and they do all these crazy off-platform throws. Especially Caleb, that’s really part of his DNA even though I think he is really good from the pocket as well.” Being around Bagent has also been interesting for Rypien. The two of them were very similar in their journey to the NFL. While Bagent came from a Division II school, Rypien went to a Division I school but not a Power Five school, so he did not receive much attention when going into the NFL and, like Bagent, went undrafted. Getting to know him as a person, Rypien also has respect for how hard Bagent is always working. “The more I got to know him and hear his story, I think him and I come from the similar type of mold, come from not really big cities, both really committed to family, both of have had that underdog mentality (from) a young age, being under-recruited, counted out, being undrafted and I just love the approach that he takes every single day,” Rypien said. “He’s such a hard worker and that’s one thing that you can always respect in somebody is the way that they show up and they work every single day and I see that in not only Tyson, but everybody in the room.” If Rypien does not win the job for the No. 3 spot, he will go back to free agency. But as a competitive player, he is willing to go to whatever team he has to so he can get on the field again. “I’ve been through every situation I feel like you can possibly think of and at the end of the day, you realize you have no control over a lot of that stuff,” Rypien said. “So, if there’s an opportunity to go have a chance to play, as a competitor, absolutely you want to do that. But, you never really know what it’s going to look like or how it’s going to look like and I think that’s why you have agents and people that can help you and figure that stuff out for you. But from my standpoint, just do my job.”
