New Bears coach Matt Eberflus added three assistants to his staff Thursday, hiring Andrew Janocko as quarterbacks coach, Tyke Tolbert as receivers coach/passing game coordinator and David Overstreet II as assistant defensive backs coach.
Andrew Janocko
Janocko, 33, boasts 11 years of coaching experience, including the last seven in different roles with the Vikings. He started with Minnesota as an offensive quality control coach (2015-16) before serving as assistant offensive line coach (2017), co-offensive line coach (2018), assistant offensive line coach (2019), receivers coach (2020) and quarterbacks coach (2021).
In 2021, Janocko helped veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins throw for 4,221 yards with 33 touchdowns, seven interceptions and a 103.1 passer rating.
With Janocko as his position coach in 2020, first-round draft pick Justin Jefferson had one of the greatest seasons by a rookie receiver in NFL history. Jefferson set a league rookie receiving record with 1,400 yards and became the NFL's first rookie receiver to earn AP All-Pro honors since Randy Moss in 1998. In addition, receiver Adam Thielen established a career high with 14 touchdown catches.
Janocko began his coaching career in 2011 as a graduate assistant at Rutgers. He entered the NFL as an offensive quality control coach with the Buccaneers (2012-13) before working as quarterbacks coach at Mercyhurst, a Division II college in Erie, Pa., in 2014.
As a player, Janocko was a three-year letterwinner as a backup quarterback and holder on special teams at the University of Pittsburgh from 2007-10 on teams that were coached by former Bears coach Dave Wannstedt. Janocko was a three-time member of the Big East All-Academic Team and graduated in 2010 with a degree in history and a minor in political science.
New Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy worked with Janocko at Pittsburgh as a graduate assistant on Wannstedt's staff in 2010.
Tyke Tolbert
Tolbert, 54, possesses 28 years of coaching experience, including the last 19 as an NFL receivers coach with the Cardinals (2003), Bills (2004-09), Panthers (2010), Broncos (2011-17) and Giants (2018-21).
In Tolbert's first NFL season with Arizona in 2003, he helped receiver Anquan Boldin earn league Offensive Rookie of the Year honors after catching 101 passes for 1,377 yards and eight touchdowns.
Tolbert won a Super Bowl ring with the Broncos to cap the 2015 season. From 2012-16, Denver receiver Demaryius Thomas became the third receiver in NFL history to record at least 90 catches and 1,000 yards in five consecutive years, earning Pro Bowl honors in each of those seasons. Tolbert also played a key role in the development of receiver Emmanuel Sanders, who posted three 1,000-yard seasons and was voted to two Pro Bowls from 2014-16.
Prior to entering the NFL, Tolbert spent nine seasons as a college coach, initially as a graduate assistant at LSU and Louisiana-Monroe in 1994. He then coached receivers at Ohio (1995), tight ends at Louisiana-Monroe (1995-97) and Auburn (1998), receivers at Louisiana-Lafayette (1999-2001) and tight ends at Florida (2002). He also doubled as recruiting coordinator in his final two stops at Louisiana-Lafayette and Florida.
As a player, Tolbert was a receiver at LSU, where he earned bachelor's and master's degrees.
David Overstreet II
Like new Bears defensive coordinator Alan Williams and linebackers coach Dave Borgonzi, Overstreet spent the past four seasons as an assistant on a Colts defense that was coordinated by Eberflus.
After serving as a defensive quality control coach from 2018-20, Overstreet was promoted to assistant defensive backs coach in 2021.
In all four seasons that Eberflus, Williams, Borgonzi and Overstreet worked together in Indianapolis, the Colts ranked in the top 10 in the NFL in run defense and takeaways. In addition, Indianapolis finished in the top 10 in points allowed three times and was the least penalized defense in the league in 2019 and 2021.
Before joining the Colts, Overstreet spent two seasons (2016-17) as cornerbacks coach and defensive pass game coordinator at Garden City Community College in Kansas. In 2016, the team won the NJCAA Football Championship with an 11-0 record, fueled by a defense that allowed the fewest points in the nation, an average of just 9.1 per game.
Overstreet began his coaching career in 2015 at Holmes Community College in Mississippi, working with cornerbacks.
As a player, Overstreet was a four-year starting safety from 2002-06 at Missouri, where his defensive coordinator for his entire career was Eberflus.
Overstreet appeared in 48 games with 29 starts and compiled 282 tackles, two interceptions, 19 pass breakups, five forced fumbles, five fumble recoveries and 5.5 tackles-for-loss. He was named first-team All-Big 12 as a junior in 2005 after leading the Tigers with 100 tackles.
Overstreet's late father, David Overstreet, was a star running back at Oklahoma who played for the Dolphins in 1983 before passing away in a car accident in 1984 at the age of 25—when his son was just 13 months old. The elder Overstreet was friends and teammates with former Bears coach Lovie Smith at Big Sandy High School in Texas.
The younger Overstreet participated in the Bears' rookie minicamp in 2007 on a tryout basis but was not offered a contract. A decade-and-a-half later, he's back with the organization as an assistant coach.