The quarterback conversation will dominate chatter for the Chicago Bears leading up to the NFL draft in three months, and that ought to be a major focus this week at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala.

Even though top prospects such as USC’s Caleb Williams, North Carolina’s Drake Maye, LSU’s Jayden Daniels and Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy are not in the game, it will be a chance to get a close look at Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. and Oregon’s Bo Nix.

Add Tulane’s Michael Pratt, South Carolina’s Spencer Rattler and Notre Dame’s Sam Hartman — who aren’t candidates to be the No. 1 pick — and it would be an intriguing bunch of passers in any draft cycle.

The Bears will be able to see Penix and Nix up close four weeks before the scouting combine, and general manager Ryan Poles likely has a detailed plan to vet all options.

Penix threw for 9,504 yards over the last two seasons at Washington, and teams will have plenty of questions about knee and shoulder injuries that interrupted his first four years at Indiana. Nix also thrived after transferring, passing for 8,101 yards and 74 touchdowns with only 10 interceptions at Oregon the last two years after three up-and-down seasons at Auburn.

The Bears drafted four players who participated in the Senior Bowl last year, all in the first four rounds: right tackle Darnell Wright (first round, 10th pick), cornerback Tyrique Stevenson (second round), defensive tackle Zacch Pickens (third) and running back Roschon Johnson (fourth). They also signed undrafted quarterback Tyson Bagent, who improved his stock with a week in Mobile.

The Senior Bowl was loaded with talent last year, when 36 of the first 100 draft picks participated in the game. Overall, 100 players who were in Mobile were drafted, accounting for 39% of all selections.

While it’s unlikely the first pick in this year’s draft will be in Mobile, you can’t rule out the possibility the ninth pick — which the Bears also own — will be on display.

UCLA edge rusher Laiatu Latu is one of the highest-regarded prospects committed to the Senior Bowl. Latu had 23 1/2 sacks over the last two seasons for the Bruins, and NFL teams will have a chance to see him perform in practice and the game.

They will have a lot of medical questions for Latu that will require due diligence at the combine, as he briefly retired from football with a neck injury after beginning his college career at Washington. Latu proved to be durable at UCLA, though, and for teams comfortable with his health, he could emerge as the top edge rusher in the draft.

That’s certainly a position the Bears need to figure out as they seek a presence opposite Montez Sweat. It’s not a great draft for pass rushers overall, but Alabama’s Chris Braswell, coming off a 10 1/2-sack season, is regarded as a potential Day 2 pick and is playing in the Senior Bowl.

Center figures to be a primary need for the Bears, and there’s an interesting crop of hopefuls. Before we dive into the names, it’s worth wondering what philosophy the Bears will take. If they plan on drafting a quarterback, would they hesitate to have a rookie snapping the ball? Given the option, a lot of teams would prefer a veteran center to aid a rookie quarterback with pre-snap reads and calls.

But if Poles and the coaching staff believe there’s a savvy prospect who can be an asset to a young quarterback — assuming the Bears draft one — perhaps they like the idea of more youth on the line.

In that case, West Virginia’s Zach Frazier, Oregon’s Jackson Powers-Johnson and Duke’s Graham Barton — a left tackle in college who is expected to play center this week — are interesting possibilities. Add Georgia’s Sedrick Van Pran and Wisconsin’s Tanor Bortolini, and there’s no shortage of options.

Top wide receivers rarely head to Mobile, and you won’t see any of the elite prospects such as Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr., LSU’s Malik Nabers or Washington’s Rome Odunze. But it’s not only a top-heavy wide receiver class; there’s also tremendous depth. And that’s where players such as South Carolina’s Xavier Legette, North Carolina’s Tez Walker, Arizona’s Jacob Cowing, Louisville’s Jamari Thrash and Western Kentucky’s Malachi Corley come into play.

The Bears, for the first time in a while, have the No. 1 receiver spot figured out with DJ Moore. With Darnell Mooney coming out of contract, they don’t have a No. 2 and could use some competition for Tyler Scott, who just completed his rookie season. Considering the wealth of options, the draft would seem to make more sense than a splurge in free agency, where proven options will be available.

Free safety looms as a question on defense, and Miami’s Kamren Kinchens will be in the spotlight as a potential late first-round pick. He made 11 interceptions the last two seasons for the Hurricanes, and while there are questions about his consistency, few draft options possess the kind of range he has.

Teams are always seeking talent for the defensive line, and Texas’ Byron Murphy is an undersized player (6-foot-1, 297 pounds) who could be a nice fit for the Bears as a disruptive interior player. He had 15 sacks in three seasons for the Longhorns with 8 1/2 this past season.

It might be more of a want than a need — and the Bears were pleased with the development of 2023 second-round pick Gervon Dexter — but there’s no such thing as too many quality defensive linemen.

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Amy Lindgren

Spring cleaning is a trope I like to use when it suits me: Spring clean your job search! Does your résumé need a spring cleaning? Count on seeing that in a future column, but today I’m still reeling from springing ahead for Daylight Savings Time.

Using “spring” in that context has put me in a different mindset this week. I’m not fussing today about refreshing something. Instead, I’m dreaming about growing a springy Tigger-tail (look that up, under Winnie the Pooh) to help me welcome spring with fresh eyes.

In that spirit, here are four books that have come across my desk recently that made me think new things.

Irreplaceable: How to create extraordinary places that bring people together: by Kevin Ervin Kelley, Matt Holt Books, March 2024, $28. I’m a space junkie — as in physical spaces, not outer space. I love floor plans, blue prints, diagrams and anything that lets me walk my fingers through rooms, imagining where the sun comes in. This book isn’t that. It’s better.

Instead of reprinting floor plans or describing the perfect window for a storefront, architect and designer Kevin Ervin Kelley has written a book to tell us why it all matters. If you believe that well-designed work spaces result in better work (not to mention happier workers), you’re already on board with his message.

In a dozen well-written chapters, Kelley proves the point with stories from decades of designing work spaces, museums, retail stores and other gathering places. His open, inquiring spirit balances well with his practical approach and leads to ways we can all improve the spaces we inhabit.

Running Effective Meetings for Dummies: by Joseph A. Allen and Karin M. Reed, Wiley, 2023, $29.99. And now for something a little more day-to-day in nature: Meetings, and how to make them better (or how to make them disappear, if that’s in your power). If you’re going to strengthen a skill this spring, running meetings isn’t a bad one to tackle.

When I need some skill-building on a practical scale, I often start with a “for dummies” book. As a big-picture person, I like having the whole issue laid out in chapters labeled for the specific problem being solved. This dummies book doesn’t disappoint. The co-authors — a meeting scientist (Allen) and a professional writer (Reed) — have taken care to present the chapters in a logical sequence. I appreciated each of the four sections for different reasons, but pulled together they made a satisfying whole. If you could use a brush-up (or introduction) on running a productive meeting, this is a good tool to have by your side.

How to Make a Few Billion Dollars: by Brad Jacobs, Greenleaf Book Group Press, 2024, $24.95. OK, not interested in the small stuff, like meetings? Let’s zoom ahead to being billionaires! And that’s the last joke I’ll make about this book. Making billions of dollars isn’t something you do without a plan. A plan, strategy, discipline … Jacobs has something to say on each of these points, and yes, he has even included a chapter on running meetings. Turns out, meetings are not small stuff when you’re on the path to billions.

Jacobs writes from his experience as a serial entrepreneur, with all seven of his companies having become billion-dollar or multibillion-dollar corporations. This is the quickest and possibly lightest of today’s book selections in terms of writing style, but the concepts are fascinating. From “How to Rearrange your Brain” to discussions about the importance of over-communicating to your team, Jacobs’ book has the air of authenticity, being told by someone who has walked the walk.

Rise Above the Story — Free yourself from past trauma and create the life you want: by Karena Kilcoyne, BenBella Books, 2024, $26.95. You might imagine that a book about past trauma would be heavy but that is not the case here. Kilcoyne combines storytelling with a step-by-step approach to dealing with the past experiences that might be holding you back.

Kilcoyne is not a trauma therapist. Instead, she developed this book from experience as a trial lawyer specializing in criminal defense. In that field, she saw patterns in the people she defended and the ways they were defined by their trauma stories.

Now, taking a tough but empathetic stance, she counsels a “no victim” approach, where each person takes responsibility for managing their personal trauma story so they can move forward. If trauma issues have been on your mind, this might be the task to spring into (or the spring cleaning to conduct).

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Amy Lindgren owns a career consulting firm in St. Paul. She can be reached at alindgren@prototypecareerservice.com.

A Ramsey County sheriff’s deputy was shot at two weeks ago in St. Paul. Not accidentally or by happenstance or because he was part of a standoff with a bank robber. No, the deputy, Joe Kill, was shot at while in pursuit of a reckless driver.

St. Paul police initially tried to pull over the reckless driver, but the driver sped off and the St. Paul officer did not give chase, but advertised the problem on his radio. Kill heard the dispatch, saw the car almost immediately, and turned on his lights and siren.

Kill pursued the car. They got to the 900 block of Euclid Street.

The passenger in the fleeing car leaned out the window and fired a rifle at Kill. Multiple shots fired at a sheriff’s deputy. Kill was struck by shrapnel, the plastic and metal bits exploding in his car. He was also struck on the strap of his protective vest. He was not seriously injured, meaning he experienced the thin line between death and getting to go home.

“He tried to kill one of our deputies,” the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office said.

I don’t know if this episode made the mayor’s State of the City address, or if the city council acknowledged this event, as busy as they are trying to bring peace to Gaza.

But this is the state of the city. As the police chief, Axel Henry, said, “if you would shoot at a cop, you would shoot at anybody.”

The fleeing car was soon enough found, on the 1000 block of Pacific Street. And just a few days ago, St. Paul police carried out a search warrant on the same block and arrested the 20-year-old alleged shooter. Later that same day, a 17-year-old, allegedly the reckless driver, turned himself in. The shooter is charged with attempted murder, first-degree assault and drive-by shooting. The driver is charged with suspicion of aiding and abetting attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault, attempted second-degree assault and fleeing a police officer.

Maybe this time the charges will stick, although we are not shy of elected and non-elected professional mourners who can produce crocodile tears on demand and tell us just how terribly misunderstood the lads are.

The shooter could have been in jail March 1, where it would have been virtually impossible for him to try to shoot a cop.

Last summer, St. Paul officers saw a Chevrolet Cruz that was wanted for its presence at a shooting in St. Paul, in which 27 shell casings were recovered. Police tried to pull that car over, but it took off and crashed into a parked car. A woman, 19, was driving. Her passenger, identified as the same 20-year-old in the current case, ran. They caught him. His backpack did not contain his Roy Rogers school lunchbox. It contained a handgun with a loaded magazine, another handgun with an extended magazine, a round in the chamber and an obliterated serial number, according to the criminal complaint.

Breaks were cut. He entered an Alford plea, maintaining innocence while acknowledging the prosecution had enough evidence to convict him. His attorney noted the guy had no previous convictions and said the sentencing guidelines for the felony called for a stayed sentence for one year and a day. His attorney asked for a gross misdemeanor. He got it.

The 20-year-old was sentenced in January to 360 days in the workhouse with the sentence stayed for two years. He was placed on probation for two years.

While on probation, he tried to kill a Ramsey County sheriff’s deputy.

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