Preseason Week 3 Bengals vs Bears: player, team and coach connections

When the Bears arrive at Paul Brown Stadium tonight, there will be some familiar faces in attendance. Among them will be a few former Bears who were Bengals, such as TE Kevin Greene who spent time on the Bengals' practice squad last year and five Bears coaches who at one point coached at varying Ohio universities. Take a look at all of the player and coaching connections below.

Bears who are former Bengals:

• Bears TE Kevin Greene spent part of the 2014 season on the Bengals practice squad.
• Bears Assistant offensive line coach Ben Wilkerson appeared in 3 games for the Bengals in 2006 after spending time on their practice squad earlier in the year.
• Bears T Jason Weaver (Injured Reserve) spent most of the 2013 preseason in Cincinnati.

Bengals who are former Bears:

• Bengals Defensive backs coach Mark Carrier played seven seasons at safety for the Bears after being selected sixth overall by Chicago in 1990. He was named NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year after setting a Bears single-season record with 10 interceptions and was named to the Pro Bowl following three seasons (1990, ‘91 and ‘93).

Bears with connections to Cincinnati:

• Bears TE Blake Annen is from Upper Arlington, Ohio and played collegiately at the University of Cincinnati.
• Bears RB Senorise Perry, DL Brandon Dunn and WR Joshua Bellamy played at Louisville.

Coaching connections

• Bears Running backs coach Stan Drayton spent the previous four seasons on Ohio State’s coaching staff, starting as the Buckeyes wide receivers coach (2011) before being named running backs coach (2012-14), adding the title of assistant head coach - offense for the last two seasons. Drayton helped Ohio State to the national title last season.
• Bears tight ends coach Frank Smith was an offensive lineman at Miami (Ohio) from 1999-2003. During that time he was a three-year starter (2001-03) and a senior captain. He went on to work as a graduate assistant with the RedHawks from 2004-05.
• Bears Assistant defensive backs coach Sam Garnes was a safety at the University of Cincinnati from 1992-96, earning first-team all-conference honors three times, finishing his collegiate career as the Bearcats all-time leader in tackles and interceptions.
• Bears assistant DBs coach Sam Garnes played at the University of Cincinnati, finishing his collegiate career as the Bearcats’ all-time leader in tackles and interceptions.
• Bears defensive line coach Jay Rodgers worked as Ohio State recruiting intern in 2000.

Bengals with connections to Illinois:

• Bengals LB Jayson DiManche played collegiately at Southern Illinois.
• Bengals rookie FB Mark Weisman is from Buffalo Grove and attended Stevenson High School.
• Bengals rookie WR Jake Kumerow is from Bartlett and attended South Elgin High School.
• Bengals Assistant strength and conditioning coach Jeff Friday earned a master’s degree in exercise science from Illinois State and was an assistant strength and conditioning coach at Northwestern from 1992-95.
• Bengals assistant strength and conditioning coach Jeff Friday was a graduate assistant at Illinois State in 1990-91 and an assistant S/C coach at Northwestern from 1996-98.

Former College Teammates

• Bears rookie LB Jonathan Anderson, Bears OT Tayo Fabuluje and Bengals rookie LB P.J. Dawson played together at TCU.
• Bears DL Ego Ferguson played with Bengals RB Jeremy Hill at LSU Bengals WR James Wright (IR).
• Bears rookie DL Eddie Goldman and Bengals RB James Wilder Jr.
• Bears rookie center Hroniss Grasu played at Oregon with Bengals OT Jake Fisher and Bengals rookie CB Troy Hill.