Adam Shaheen - Chicago Bears

1) Adam Shaheen is a rookie tight end for the Chicago Bears. He was drafted in the second round (45th overall pick) of the 2017 NFL Draft.

2) Adam ran a 4.79 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine. He believes with a few months training he could post a faster 40 time than he ran at the combine.

3) Shaheen played basketball in his first year of college and decided to transfer to Ashland University in Ohio where he walked on to the football team. Adam played three years of football for the Eagles and decided to forgo his senior season to enter the 2017 NFL Draft.

D: What are your favorite healthy foods in each food group of My Plate?

AS: My favorites are bananas (Fruits), broccoli (Vegetables), yogurt (Dairy), chicken (Protein) and I love any type of bread (Grains).

D's Follow Up: I love Bananas, Broccoli, Yogurt, and I like English muffins for grains. And for protein I like Steak.

J: Who did you look up to while growing up? 

AS: I looked up to my dad when I was a kid and I looked up to Randy Moss as a football player. He was my favorite.

J's Follow Up: First of all, that makes lot of sense because I look up to my dad and my mom too. I look up to my parents because they believe in me and they are nice to me. For football, I look up to Jerry Rice and Lebron James for basketball. Lebron doesn't just brag about his skills, he's a really nice guy. He stands up to bullying and does a lot for people in Cleveland.

Occasionally, the boys and I make questionable decisions because we are so passionate about meeting our favorite athletes. This happened a few weeks ago when the first major snowfall came down. Most people were driving home to get warm with the snow falling down while we decided to stick with our commitment and drive through the snow to get to Bergie's Sports Card Dugout in Highland Park to meet Bears rookie tight end Adam Shaheen. It took us over an hour to get to Highland Park, which would typically take us 35 minutes. This was the first signing where we e-mailed ahead of time to notify that we would be attending and we did not need to pay until we arrived on the day of the event. Due to the weather, nearly all scheduled attendees cancelled. Thankfully, we decided to brave the elements and it turned out to be a night we will never forget.

We arrived at Bergie's fifteen minutes early and we were told that Adam was in the house and down the hallway. The boys came ready to ask Adam questions as we walked into the room to see Adam signing jerseys, photos, numbers and more. He was excited to see Jordan and Danny (even in the Packers shirt lol) and was more than happy to answer the boys' questions. Adam and Bergie said we were welcome to stay as long as we would like and the boys were in charge of entertainment. We had a big decision to make... do we go back out into the traffic and snow or do we spend an hour with an NFL player on a school night? We ended up staying for an hour and fifteen minutes talking with Adam and we feel like we may know Adam better than his fellow Bears teammates know him.

We learned a lot about Adam but one topic we talked the most about was food. Adam's favorite restaurants happen to be our family's favorite two restaurants. Referred to by NFL scouts as the "Chipotle Prospect" because he gained 70 pounds throughout his career in college, Adam credited his weight gain to his frequent appearances at the local Chipotle. I understand his infatuation with Chipotle as you will find me at the Deerfield location on weekdays at least 2-3 times a week. Chipotle is also a favorite of Jen who sticks to a vegetarian diet and the boys love the kids meals with quesadillas and carnitas. We love everything about Chipotle.

Not only does Adam Shaheen love Chipotle but his favorite restaurant is Pita Inn. He notes that he visits the Mundelein location at least 2-3 times a week or whenever he gets hungry. Once again, we are on board with this selection because we visit Pita Inn 2-3 times a week too and our good friend Wally runs the show over in Mundelein where they make the best food in the area. Shaheen noted he is of Lebanese descent and Pita Inn provides the type of Mediterranean food he grew up on. His order consists of the Combination Platter, 4 pita bread, tabouleh salad and a small order of hummus. Adam loves put it all together and make 4 giant sandwiches. We love Pita Inn like Adam and we hope to be there one day when Adam is eating his giant meal. We look forward to connecting with Adam again and we can't thank him enough for giving us an incredible experience!