Signing with Bears ‘hits home’ for Robert Tonyan

Calling Illinois home is something Tonyan has always taken great pride in and while it wasn’t intentional, he never really left the Midwest either.

After playing high school football at McHenry East High School, Tonyan spent four years at Indiana State. While he started his collegiate career as a quarterback – the position he earned All-State nominations at in high school – the Sycamores transitioned him to a receiver for his final three seasons.

Tonyan went undrafted out of college in 2017, but remained close to home, eventually landing in Green Bay, where he spent the first five seasons of his NFL career.

Now back in his home state, Tonyan gets to reunite with family, childhood friends and the place that founded his “Midwest mentality.”

“I do take pride in being from the Midwest and being a hard-working person,” Tonyan said. “Just get it how you can get it and the worker’s mentality, hard-hat mentality. My family has a construction general contracting business in this area, just having pride in the name and building something. My family, physically, we’re building things. And now me, I’m just trying to build my journey, my career, my personal destiny.”