Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - 5 On It: What letter grade do you give the Bears' initial free agency moves?

Episode Date: March 10, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Marshall Harris discussed a variety of sports topics in the 5 On It segment.

I got five. It's time for five on it. Rahini Harrison Rooney. Bring you five topics on their minds today. On 104-3, the score. I got five on it. Number one. What letter grade would you give the bears for what we've seen from the team so far in free agency?

B-plus. I, yeah, they didn't have a lot of room to work with. They had spots they needed to fill. They're filling the spots. Yep. I like the Kobe Bryant pick. up. He had four interceptions last regular season. He was on an excellent defense. I feel like he's going to help with slot coverage, which is something they needed. I feel like Neville Gallimore is a guy

who can help with a run defense, which is again something they needed. And they replaced linebacker, which is again, something they needed. So Devin Bush, great. They signed Debarco Jackson. Daniel Hardy's back. Brackson Jones is back. With what they were able to work with, I feel like this is good. Seems like a step in the right direction, right? I'm assuming by letter grade, the letter I is not available to me in this exercise. No, Marshall, we're going with grades, grades,

real grades from the report card. Because I've gotten an eye on my report card. Let me tell you. I mean, to be fair, you're supposed to grade based on what they've done so far, which yesterday was a complete day. I guess I'm giving them a B-minus. It's either that or a.

C plus. I'm not overwhelmed. I'm not underwhelmed. I guess I'm just wellmed. That is actually a word. And so that's where I'm at with this Bears team. They did address some needs

in a way that make me say, okay, that's not bad. But they didn't make anything to say, oh, that's amazing that they did that. Maybe we set the bar too high and that's why I'm like, well, okay, B. Well, that's what I said. It's either C plus or B minus for me.

There's nothing detrimental that they've done. That's why it's above average. But is it that far above average? There's still more to come, obviously. So I know the question's based on so far what they've done. I can't knock anything that they've done. Number two. Yesterday, the NFL announced the 2026 compensatory picks

handing out 33 picks to 15 clubs. to 15 clubs, and the Bears were not one of them. The Bears believed they should receive draft compensation after the Falcons hired Ian Cunningham as general manager last month and disputed the matter with the NFL, but to no avail. So here's the question. On a scale of 1 to 10 on the newly created injustice meter, where would you rate this development in the Bears' compensatory pick saga?

Now, we're going to get into this more at 1 o'clock because it deserves some time. 11 on the newly created injustice meter. Because what the hell are you doing? And I feel like some people got their hopes up thinking that they could somehow get one out of the two or that there would be some sort of consideration. But all indications said, this is what was going to happen. Because Matt Ryan, who wasn't as qualified for his job as Ian Cunningham is, is the highest level football officer in how the falcons structure their organization.

Except Matt Ryan said over and over again that Ian Cunningham is the general manager. So because of that, I think that this is an injustice. Ian Cunningham didn't leave because he felt like moving to Atlanta for the Lemon Pepper Wings. Ian Cunningham moved because it was a promotion. Although that'd be a cool reason to move to Atlanta.

OG stats for sure. But point being, we've said this before and we'll say it again. Nobody pays for these picks. These are compensatory picks. They are given by the NFL. Nobody has to take picks from their own and give them to the bears for this. It is a reward for doing the right thing and creating opportunities and trying to create avenues for minority candidates who have not had the same fairness applied to them in this league. to be able to do this.

And instead, they just decided, we're not going to enforce our own law. And in doing so, and I'll get into this at 1 o'clock, I think also just horribly illustrates racism in a way and discrimination in a way that they did not intend. So, yeah, 11 for me. Oh, 11 on a scale of 10. I like that.

I don't think I've ever gotten 11 out of you on a 0 to 10 scale. But I am here for it. And I don't disagree with your sentiment specifically because no matter how you chalk this up, and I understand that in the NFL's eyes, at least this is what they've said, they view Matt Ryan as the number one football man in Atlanta. But when you hear Matt Ryan actually talk about it, that doesn't make any sense from an NFL standpoint because Matt Ryan told me. you who's in charge? Ian's in charge. Ian's in charge of that space. I'm looking forward to

to learning about, you know, this. Like, I said it the other day, and Ian's Presser, like, I've never sat in a draft meeting. And so Monday is going to be the first time I'm sitting in a draft meeting, and I've got a lot to learn. So sitting, observing, being a fly on the wall, if there's something that Ian has a question about or something I can help with, I'm all ears, and I'm happy to share my opinion. But Ian is driving this boat, and he is the one that's leading us moving forward. I don't know that you could say it any plain or, then he said it in that moment. He basically said, I don't know what's going on.

I'm ready for Ian to teach me how to run a football team. That's what I heard. Did you hear anything different, Lela? So you mean to tell me that the executive officer and the position he's in doesn't have the qualifications of the person who's in the role that's underneath him? We have all had managers who didn't really understand the nitty-gritty of what we did, but understood, like, the job's got to get done. I'm tasking you with this, get this done.

I go back to my time when I was in Sacramento. We were creating all these sports shows, and it was from scratch. So the guy was like, yeah, you do this stuff. So I'm going to let you do this. And just let me know if I can help you. Very much the same vibe that Matt Ryan's giving off there in his executive role. And to illustrate my point, I was explaining, hey, we need to be at this game because the beard's going to be there.

He's like, the beard, who's that? It's like, you know, James Harden. He's like, who's James Harden? And that's what told me, okay, my manager really doesn't know anything about sports, but I'm going to still do my job to the best of my ability and teach him about who these people are that he probably should know at at least a cursory level. So yeah, it's my number is going to be a 12 just because I want to outdo Lela because it's ridiculous. Injustice.

And we need to add a trademark to that, by the way, the injustice meter. It has been trademarked, the injustice. If only it were acknowledged in life. Number three. This is five on and a 104.3, the score with Laila Rahimi and Marshall Harris. Here's question number three. What will happen first? The bears acquire a left tackle.

The bears find a pass rusher or the bears confirm the site of their new stadium. Now, Ray, you know that wasn't the official original wording of this question. Winners submitted a couple days ago. We had to laugh about it because the original from our friend Jeff, friend of the show, was even funnier because some of the things have already happened. Will the bears get a pass rusher or a stadium first? Then we decided, is it acquire a center, left tackle, sign a safety, find a pass rusher, sign stadium deal.

So they have found their left tackle, who is already on the team, acquired a center via trade. signed to safety. And I don't know how you qualify when you know a lot of the teams on the field already when it comes to defensive line. Not exactly a pass rusher, but they got the job done, at least

adding depth in Neville Gallimore. So I would say all of those things happened before they found a stadium. Even though they bought land for a stadium. Told us it was for a stadium. Yeah, I don't think it's about what's first. I think it's about what's last. I think we all know what's going to be last.

That stadium thing is going to be last. The shovels are not in the ground yet, and I promise you, the Bears will add even another pass rusher before there are shovels in the ground. They may add two more pass rushes by the time shovels are in the ground through the draft. They have a tackle.

They'll probably add another offensive lineman before the shovels are in the ground on that stadium. So I can tell you what's last, and it's going to be a minute before we have broken ground on a new stadium, whether that's Arlington, Heights, whether it's Indiana, whether that's your backyard, Layla. Wherever they decide to put a stadium, that's going to be last on the list.

I don't have a backyard. Oh. So that would be tough. Okay. Then not your backyard. Number four. Do Dolphins quarterback Malik Willis and Bears backup quarterback Tyson Bayesian both fall under the umbrella of the best 32 quarterbacks in the NFL?

And for full context, it was Ben Johnson that said Tyson Baygent was one of the best 32. in the league. He said one of the 32, right? Did he say best? Was best part of it? I guess we could play it in a minute here for full. And I'm not trying to parse your words. I'm just wondering out loud while I think about this. But that is the question, right? Because we all knew Belique Willis had a good year with Green Bay as the backup. He was more than serviceable. He's also somebody who I think got a lot of attention when he initially was in the draft. And, his position. And because of that, and even coming over to Green Bay, he was somebody who I think a lot of people considered starting quarterback in the league caliber. But that begs the question.

Now that Malik is in Miami, now that it looks like he is one of the 32, and we see guys like Tuatunga Viloa not there anymore, we see guys like Kyler Murray, not in the same respected position right now anyway. Does that mean Tyson Bayesian is one of the 30? And so I think a couple things can be true here. What we know about Malik Willis, more of a resume, more outright talent than Tyson Bayesian, more arm strength, better at the position. But Tyson Bayesian has a lot of upside. So, and people love his game knowledge and his dedication, and Ben Johnson absolutely loves

him. So how do you quantify it? I think he could be, but the issue is in the NFL, there's never just 32. That's why we're talking about this the way we are. It'd be more than 32. Is he one of the 34, 35? Oh, okay. Well, we can listen, by the way, if we want to get very specific about what Ben Johnson said,

just to be specific about this. Go ahead, Tyler. I do think there's a lot of merit to having a strong number two quarterback, which he certainly fits that bill on, I'm of the mind that he's probably one of the best 32 in the NFL. His preseason tape over the last few years has probably confirmed that in my opinion. I love Tyson. There it is. Best 32.

Ray, you were correct, and I had forgotten. He's not one of the best 32. He could be. He's one of the best, like, 35, maybe. I say one of the best 45. So, like, to you, he's playing in NFL Europe? Is he better than Mitchell Trabisky? Is he better than Dave?

Davis Mills. There's a long list of guys. I'm going to say he's more accurate than Mitchell Trubisky. I don't think that's going out on a limb. You don't know that time like I do. Whoa, but... You didn't have to watch it the same. Throwing passes to Alan Robinson that looked like they were going to four other people first. So the beautiful...

Runner's ball? Ring a bell? To anybody? Do you want to talk? about runners ball? Wait, Layla, didn't Alan Robinson said Chubisky, they gave up on him too soon? Alan Robinson believes in people. So does Ben Johnson. Hintz he said he's one of the best 32, Tyson Bajent, quarterbacks in the NFL. He hasn't done enough.

This is one of those questions. It's like Michael Jordan said, arguing about the goat. Like, there's, you don't, you don't have enough evidence. He hasn't done enough. What did Michael Jordan say about argue about the goat? Because that's him. So why is this? Well, he says he doesn't argue about these players who played in different errors

who never played against each other in their prime. I haven't seen this guy in his prime, Tyson Bajon. He hasn't, he's given me that nice little, what was it, a four-game sample where he went two-and-two over a stretch when Justin Fields was hurt? That's all I got, right? That's all I really have. I'm sorry, I can't put as much into the pre-season film as Ben Johnson does. And Ben Johnson is highly biased.

agree on that at least. Yeah, Ben Johnson loves Tyson Asia. I mean, that's painfully obvious. It gets into programming. You see his influence all over the place. Have you ever heard a parent talk about their kid? Like, their kid's the greatest thing ever. And you're looking to the kid.

Like, I mean, your kid's cool, but let's not get carried away. Let's not get carried away. And he was undrafted. Cool. But, okay, but for example, people are like, oh, we'll name the 32 quarterbacks. Okay, well, Joe Flacco was the backup in Cincinnati. Joe Flacco ends up playing because Joe Burroughs injured. Well, you know that Joe Burroughs a better quarterback.

So some of these you can eliminate just because of the injury concern. Now, the better question is, is he better than Michael Pennix? You know, that's where it starts to come into play. And the accuracy really is, I think, at the deepest level here. Is he better than Spencer Rattler, who was one of the 32 at the time? He's not better than Tyler, right? Tyler. Like,

like that, Tyler Shuck. Yeah, when the, when the Saints came on late. They really liked Tyler Shuck in New Orleans, but I don't, I don't know that they are ready to make a determination.

So then he fits into that group. I know that they wanted him to, they want him to be that guy. They drafted him to be. But then you also know that some guys, like, for example, Daniel Jones was not originally supposed to be the guy in Indianapolis. Better than Anthony.

Richardson. But Anthony Richardson was a high draft pick. 815. Ben Johnson said he's one of the best 32 number two quarterbacks. See, I'm with that. He's one of the best 32 number two quarterbacks. I know that's not what Ben Johnson said. He said one of the best.

32. 708 says, did at Laylorah Rehmi, we can't get ads on the text line. We just read them. It's not that technologically sound. And it breaks up a lot of your text. So we can't tell what they say. And we can't get most of the emojis. Did Layla Rahimi forget about Bejan's murder balls that he throws over the middle?

No, but like, there are so many quarterbacks who do that. Like, how many do you want me to list that do that? That's not indicative of just him. We'll just leave it there. He's not. You say he is. I say he's one of, like, 35. I cannot pin it down to 32.

Okay. We're in agreement then. And here's 312. Malik Willis is just fortunate to be from the Packers' back of quarterback tree. I don't think so. What? Malik Willis was highly touted coming out of college. I don't. The hello Matt Flynn.

Did you really trust the Titans to develop a quarterback? Fair. Number five. Shane Smith has been named the White Sox opening day starter. He is a Rule 5 selection. Does that make Shane Smith this year's Gage Tater Workman? I am offended by this question on so many different levels. Why? Because I wrote it?

Yes. because it feels very targeted. Because you know about my love for Gage Tater. But they're both rule five guys. One of them is an all-star, okay? Can we stop? I put that in the question. I know, but like, so I feel like you're just mocking me with the question because you know.

You're not Gage? But is that your Tyson vaged to Ben Johnson? It might be. It might be. And I'm not out here saying he's one of the best. I don't know, you can just pick a number. You just pick a number and fill in the blank. First of all, your opening day starter should be your All-Star,

if it's a pitcher, in this respect. So the fact that Shane Smith was the All-Star and he's the opening day starter, that makes sense. I know Sean Burke earned it last year. I know. But he has a Rule 5 guy. And people fall in love with Rule 5 guys during spring training.

I always fall in love with the Rule 5 guy. So based on that criteria, he's an all-star Layla this is like a square and a rectangle but a rectangle square is a rectangle

but a rectangle isn't a square yes all squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares correct listen I

he's an all-star and he's an opening day starter but by rule of the rule five selection that you love in the spring training who's improved

and shown himself we don't really have a gauge Tater Workman this year. This is the closest I could come up with. I'm with it. Because not only did he survive a whole year as a Rule 5 guy, but he's on year 2. See, now people

are getting into the questions here in our text line. Now you're doing the thing. You have to evaluate Tyson Baygent versus who you know was starting. Who doesn't have exactly the strongest ground starting? Well, I like this. 2-24. All caps. All caps. Laila. That means

they're saying it with their chest. Baygeon is going to Pittsburgh. Being a West Virginia guy, wouldn't that be close to home? That would be appropriate. That's his home like market. Yes. That would be neat. But see, see, there's enough of them to where you could ask. And I think it's a fair question. So now we should all be rooting for Aaron Rogers to retire so that the Pittsburgh Steelers want to get Tyson Pagion. The idea that you know what quarterback you were getting in Malik Willis after two years with the Titans, stop it. Bad situation. Stop it. You knew more about Malik Willis in college to know that that wasn't entirely going to be the case.

Stop it. 317. We don't know how good Beijing can be because he only plays in the preseason. But I do know he doesn't have an NFL arm. Drops microphone if it wasn't attached to this. I mean, the arm strength was always going to be the issue. Yeah. But the accuracy is where you can make up for it a bit.

But how many NFL quarterbacks do you know who their arm strength is also not, it's not their strength? See? See? See what you should do there. Yep. Coming up next year on Rahimi Harrison Grotie, I don't know that this is the debate for Adam Amin, but I know he's ready to talk about

just about anything. Announcer for the Bulls, announcer for the World Baseball Classic, announcer for both Major League Baseball and NFL at Fox. He's been everywhere, so we'll talk to Adam Amin next.