Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Bears make several additions as legal tampering period opens | Take The North

Episode Date: March 10, 2026

From 'Take The North' (subscribe here): The NFL's legal tampering period is here, and the Bears have filled some — but not all — of the holes on their roster. Dan Wiederer and Mark Grote offer their thoughts on the Bears' additions of safety Coby Bryant, linebacker Devin Bush, defensive tackle Neville Gallimore and others. Plus, left tackle Braxton Jones is coming back on a one-year deal. Are the Bears done adding to the left tackle competition? And how do we feel about the addition of Garrett Bradbury at center? Finally, we now know for sure that the Bears didn't get any compensatory draft picks for assistant general manager Ian Cunningham leaving to become the Atlanta Falcons' new general manager. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bears fans, this is Take the North. What's the reason, Duck? It's here with your host. All these guys. Dan Weiderer. The whole key to sustaining success in this league is to have a quarterback play that is top tier and can consistently push you down those roads. And Mark Grody.

We're allowed to at this point. Bears fans are allowed to right now dream big and predict what you want out of the season. We're going to take the north and never give it back. Hello again, everybody, and welcome in to the Take. North podcast along with Dan Weederer of the athletic. I am Mark Grody of 104.3 the score. We are smack

dab in the middle of the free agent negotiating period. As we record this podcast on a Tuesday at 1016 in the morning is when we are starting this just to let people know because we do like to use the word fluid

on this particular podcast. Take the North Dan and that's exactly what it is. You have joined us in mid-thoughts. in mid-negotiating with things having already been done, all of which we will discuss on this podcast, but the disclaimer is necessary, Mr. Weedsie. Things are fluid, and they will remain fluid probably through the remainder of the week. It's really funny, Grotty, because once upon a time,

the kind of ebb and flow of this period in the NFL was much different. It wasn't until officially the new league year began that you'd have that happy New Year, explode the pinatas, and then everything would start moving at breakneck speed. we're, you know, 48, 52 hours in advance of that where everything really gets rolling. And even beyond that, because of the way the league has reacted and sort of made the trade market in March a big deal, last week was this series of major moves, which we obviously felt in Chicago with the DG Moore trade, with the Max Crosby trade to Baltimore.

There was so many things flying around that it feels like when we finally do get to the league year, that it's kind of calm and that everything becomes official, but the activity isn't as, as chaotic as once upon the time it was. Let me just run through really quickly for the benefit of our audience. What has happened so far on our watch. And again, it's 1018 now on the Tuesday of Free Agent Week. Wednesday is when all of these deals become official. But let me go in no particular order necessarily.

But here is what the bears have done so far. They have they have maintained. They have kept some players, including DeMarco Jackson, the linebacker, two years $7.5 million. Special teamer and maybe sometimes defender, Daniel Hardy stays with the Bears, two years and $6 million. Braxton Jones is back for a year and $10 million. Case Keenham, the third string quarterback, is back with the bears.

And then some of the bigger ones from the outside, Kobe Bryant, the safety, three years, $40 million. Devin Bush, the linebacker, gets three years and $30 million with the Bears, nose tackle. Neville Gallimore, the 28-year-old, he is here with the Bears as well. And as you already know, the Bears do have guys like Garrett Bradbury, the center who was signed here, of course, whom we talked about. So I think that's the thumbnail right there.

Dan, I don't know how you characterize the day and we'll get into all of it in the specific players. the word that is coming into my mind today. Yesterday, as this was happening on Rahimi Harrison Grotie on the score in real time, and we were kind of trying to process it and break it down, I said pretty good. That was the word that I used a pretty good day. I couldn't use, I needed the qualifier for not quite good, but pretty good. Today, Dan, I am using the word reasonable.

It's been a reasonable start to free agency for Chicago Bears, filling some needs, especially with those two players. at safety and linebacker and Kobe Bryant and Devin Bush, both pretty good products for the Bears who will not insult anybody's football sensibilities at all in any way, shape, or form. And in fact, I'm pretty excited about the ceiling of what we might see out of the safety Kobe Bryant. Well, so here's where I'm going to give you a choice here.

You've got two doors here. I'm showing them to you in here on the video free. Do you want the door that has a little bit of Dan Reeder optimism for you, or do you want the door that has a little bit of caution? You choose first. We'll get inside both doors either way, but which one do you want first? Dan, yesterday on the show, on Rahimi Harrison Grotie, after you got off the air with us, and thanks for coming out with us. It was a great hit.

I said, you know what the thing is about Dan Weeder? He, he, nobody does perspective and tells people, it gives caution, I think, better than Dan Weger. That's why I'm so well loved. So that said, give us the, you're a little bit worse. How did you characterize it the negative side? It's just a caution and the warning. Give us the warning first and then lead up to the good stuff. All right.

So we're talking about adding a linebacker in Devin Bush. Devin Bush is arriving in part because Tremaine Edmins was released. And I think if you talk to most people around the league, Tremaine Edmins is a much more accomplished linebacker at this stage of his career than Devin Bush. So you've downgraded at linebacker. You had to do so necessarily because of salary cap constraints and things of that nature. Kobe Bryant arrives to a safety's room that is vacant right now.

he's the only inhabitant in there, which makes him the headliner. If his arrival necessitates the departure of Kevin Byard, well, now you've subtracted an all-pro defender and a team captain from your locker room. And so one of the things that I felt Monday night was the Bears defense has changed, but has it gotten better? The Bears team has changed, but has it gotten better? I would argue no. And I went and looked at it on Tuesday morning, the Bears had 47 players participate in the

playoff game against the Rams in January. That's less than two months ago. 20 of those players, including nine guys who started that night against the Rams, are not currently on the Bears 2006 roster. So when Ben Johnson warned you that there was going to be changed with this football team, you're seeing it in real time now, that this is going to be a very different constructed football team by necessity. And so look, over the last, I guess it's seven days now, eight days now, you've subtracted a Pro Bowl center from your roster. You've subtracted a five or six time 1,000 yard receiver from your roster. You've subtracted a pretty good every year starter linebacker.

And now potentially if Byrd is gone, which we'll find out. And again, things are fluid, fluid, fluid, fluid, fluid alert. You've lost a team captain in an all pro. And so, like, there's a lot of room to go to get your team back just to the level that it was at just a week ago. And the Bears are going to have to continue to do that under constraints. The salary cap situation is not great at this moment. And then I'll give you, I'm going to open this door for you. This is the optimism door.

The NFL draft still exists, right? And when the DJ more trade was made, we said Bears fans feel good about the idea that they've got four picks in the top 90. And they're going to really have to go out and try to hit on those picks, at least three of them, to feel really good about what they can get done in this draft with adding difference makers to the roster. but this is just such a, to me, it's been a sobering reminder of how difficult it is to retain and sustain. Retain and sustained. Yeah, the draft is April 23rd, just as a refresher for people listening,

because this has changed since in the last couple of months, the Bears have a first round pick. They have two second round picks now because of the DJ Moore trade, a fourth round pick. They no longer have their fifth round pick. they do have a couple of seventh round picks as it stands right now. The only thing I'll push back on a little bit, Dan, is the comp of Devin Bush and Tremaine Edmonds. That like Tremaine Edmonds, while you're right, probably a more accomplished a career than Devin Bush, but not by a lot. And while Tremaine Edmonds was a good bear and a great leader and had a nice year last year, was never a huge impact guy.

And I will say, too, that there are similarities between the two careers of those of the linebackers, Devin Bush and Tremaine. And it's because both, I would say, like relative to where they were drafted and the expectations that both of these players had coming out of college and probably even more was expected of Devin Bush when he was drafted number 10 overall at Pittsburgh, neither has quite lived up to the billing that they were. So, well, I don't want to call it a. wash. I am not as concerned. And same age, both guys are 27. There's a similarity between the two. I think

that Devin Bush is properly motivated. He is coming off 125 tackle season where he did have a couple of pick six. So I don't know. I'm not, I'm not as concerned at this point over the loss of Tremaine because I like Devin Bush. And I don't think it's a huge difference in the actual impact that will be made on this football. Yeah, I'm not saying you need to be concerned. I think it's just an acknowledgement that they haven't made, they haven't upgraded the position. Like, they just haven't. You know, and so like that, if you're trying to go from a team that finished in the top

eight to a team that can play in February, you're trying to upgrade your roster and you're trying to get better. And the Bears haven't done that yet. Look like I think Devin Bush brings speed. You listen to Ryan Poles at the combine, say that that was going to be a priority for the defense was to get faster. He's going to make you a little bit faster. You mentioned the career year.

The Bears will be his fourth team. What's crazy. you mentioned that they're both 27 years old, Tremaine and Devin Bush, like, these guys been in the league forever. And you're like, man, they entered young. And it's crazy that both those guys are still, you know, very much entrenched in their 20s. The 30-year-old doorbell is not ringing yet for either one of those guys.

But look, like that was an outlier, the season that Devin Bush had last year in Cleveland. That's not what he showed during his four years in Pittsburgh. It's not really what he was in his one year in Seattle or his first year in Cleveland. And he benefits, obviously, from playing behind Miles Garrett with Carson Swessinger at his side and Denzel Ward behind him where you've got a defense that really was humming. And so you're going to have to find ways if you're Dennis Allen to turn him loose. Your excitement about Kobe Bryant is warranted. I think there's a guy there that is very, very versatile, very quick.

I think when he was shifted from cornerback to safety, his career kind of hit a little bit of an escalator, his ability to be aggressive, to tackle, to be tough, to show off some of his ball skills. seven interceptions the last two years. That's a good piece of evidence of ball production. It's also the total that Kevin Byard had last year alone with the Bears. And so like, again, like I think you've put a good player into your defensive depth chart, but you're also subtracting a bunch, you know, and so like when you go through that, that kind of list of guys that played in the playoff game that are, that are no longer, or not currently part of the Bears roster, you're like, whoa, no Jaquan Bristker, no Nashon Wright, C.J. Gardner Johnson. Tremaine Edmonds, you know, there's a lot of pieces that you've subtracted.

And now right now you're just filling those holes rather than going the next step and making significant upgrade. Yeah, and Kobe Bryant is interesting because of his versatility, which any defensive coordinator likes. But we know in particular, just from gauging Dennis Allen on his first days with the Bears and the player that he that he pointed to was Kyler Gordon because Kyler Gordon has some versatility. and you can do all sorts of things with them. Kobe Bryant came into this league as a as a cornerback, played that position, kind of fiddled around on that position for a couple of years. Last year,

played 17 games as the strong safety this past year, and he was a Super Bowl winner, that there is something to that that has to be added and mentioned often that Kobe Bryant won a damn Super Bowl, which is huge and you can't keep everybody on a talented defense. But he played 17 games, at free safety this past year. So I love the versatility.

He's the type of guy. I don't know if he's going to work out or how great he'll be, if he'll even be better than Jaquan Brisker or Kevin Byard or any of these guys. But I do like the product and I like thinking about what Dennis Allen might be able to do with a guy like that with that type of versatility. Well, the versatility that you bring up is huge. And I think that is something that DA really values and it gives you an opportunity to be, unpredictable and to do some different things, both Russian coverage-wise, that make things hard on an opposing offense. I like the Super Bowl experience as well, because if you are Kobe Bryant,

you've seen it. You've seen it come to life, right? Like, you've seen one of the best defenses in football, gel, understand what it takes to compete at the championship level, and you've watched a culture come together in a way where you're able to go have a parade in downtown Seattle. those types of little bits of wisdom, I think, translate and they carry over with where you've come from. And I'm sure we'll hear from Kobe Bryant at House Halle Hall before the end of this week. And we'll be able to pick his brain on kind of the value that he feels he gained from the experience of going on that journey with Seattle this year. And so it's a plus. It's a plus for sure.

I mean, again, I'm going with the caution because this division, which is having its own turbulence across the end of NFC North this week as well. It's so hard. And you just have to realize that you're not the kings of the NFC North. You took the NFC North, but there's three feisty competitors coming to rip it back from you. And so you just, again, like going back to Ben Johnson's mid-January sentiments of like, this is going to be really difficult to keep this thing going going forward. You just got to be aware of that every single day.

And that translates over to making roster moves practically sensibly and setting your football team up to sustain whatever success they enjoyed in 2025. Hey, this is Richard Deich, the host of the sports media podcast. If you're interested in what's happening with all the places where you consume sports, the sports media podcast has you covered. I've been turning down interviews all week. Hoda Koppi, reached out, Oprah, George Stephanopoulos. So I said, no, I was booked on the Deich podcast before the Taylor Swift phenomenon.

I must live up to my responsibility. Listen, wherever you get your podcasts. Yeah, and it's fair to point. out too that within all of that, the bear's defensive numbers were not particularly good last year except for the ability to force turnovers and takeaways and all of that. You cannot take that away from them. So this is in a lot of ways a rebuilding project. Let's stay, before we get to a couple of other players that I want to talk about some of the guys that have returned and one other new guy on the defensive line, let's build out what like at lineback. I know you and I talked

about this a little bit on the score. It's like the question is, well, are they set? And it kind of looks like they are with Devin Bush, who we just talked about, DeMarco Jackson, who is back. And that's kind of the wild card right there. T.J. Edwards, hopefully, in theory, will be healthy. But the injury scares me. A year older scares me with T.J. Edwards.

You've got Ruben Hippolyte, the fourth round draft pick from last year, who was not an impact at linebacker. this year. It feels like there's not going to be another big move, maybe in the draft somewhere, they snag another linebacker. But I think they are going into this season looking to really lean on DeMarco Jackson a hell of a lot more than they did this past year, except for a couple of instances. And famously, the Pittsburgh game where DeMarco Jackson had the 15 tackles. I wouldn't be surprised if they drafted a guy. Now you're going to draft a guy with the idea that you don't need him to come in and start for you immediately. But that would certainly be a

position that I would keep my eyes on in the draft next month and just trying to find a, you know, look like they did it last year. And people scratched their heads when the bears picked Ruben Hippolyte because it felt like the bears had seen something that no one else around the league had. And ultimately, I think Rubin's rookie season would tell you that might be the case. You didn't get to the end of 2025 in Hippolyte's rookie season and go, man, that's an emerging standout for your football team. You were left going, oh man, is he going to be able to find himself a legitimate solidified role going forward. So that's, it's an interesting position.

I'm not sure how much we've even mentioned the name Neville Gallimore up front in front of these guys, but that really feels to me like the Andrew Billings replacement at Nose Tackle. This again, another guy that'll be on his fourth team in four seasons, really made his name. He stops. And so ultimately, you're looking for him to be an asset to your run defense. I'll give you a little bit every once in a while as a pass rush.

but that's not why he is here. He's here to be a rotational piece on your defensive line. And I think we're ever going to get to a point where we're like, man, Neville Gallimore was the engine of this Super Bowl run, right? And if they are, then pull up this archived footage and throw it in my face. But right now, that's a guy that you're adding because you need to add. And so that, you know, when we talked last week about 40 open roster spots and, you know, like this is what you have to do going through the shopping list and going through each aisle of the store

and trying to figure out, okay, what can we use now that that helps us get a little bit more whole? Yeah, yeah. From what I understand, he's a great personality, terrific locker room guy, all of those intangible. So there'll be no issues there. He's 28 years old. It's funny because when, as we were all sitting there, and you, all of us at the score in, you know, real time, doing a live show, waiting for the names to come down, like, okay, it was going to be the first big one. and it was Neville Gallimore.

Leaving us all like, wait a minute. No, I mean, luckily, I got lucky. I was like, that's a deaf piece. And then yes, of course, the Andrew Billings thing. In 2025 with the Colts, 17 games, eight starts. So you could see that, you know, that is the definition of a rotational piece. Playes, doesn't start. Three and a half sacks last year, which can't, I mean, that pretty good year.

Like, relative to his career, he had four years with the Dallas Cowboys. was that's a team with which he began his career, one year with the Rams, and then the one year last year, which was probably his best year with the Colts. So he sounds like he'll be a nice piece at the age of 28. Hopefully you can get a couple of good years out of Neville Gallimore. Yeah. And look, the shopping list is still long, you know, and I imagine we'll get into left tackle here in a minute.

I think for me, some of the big splash signings elsewhere in the league on Monday were the things that made you kind of get that whiplash that we talk about when you see, oh, why weren't the bears more aggressive in going after Tyler Linderbaum? Well, he just got $81 million from the Las Vegas Raiders. I'm like, okay, I understand. That price point doesn't exactly marry up with where the bears are at right now. Alec Pierce, a guy, obviously the bears weren't necessarily interested, but a Glenn Ellen kid, he gets $114 million to stay in Indy.

And in so doing, the Colts have to trade Michael Pittman in order to make things work with their top receiver and their quarterback and Daniel Jones. Jalen Phillips, another guy that was on kind of the radar. Oh, if the Bears want Edge help, what about Jaylen Phillips? Well, he goes to Carolina and gets four years, $120 million. You're like, okay, like, that's probably outside the Bears price point right now with what they've already invested in their defensive line, even if it wasn't necessarily invested wisely, right?

Like, that's another conversation we can have. So there was a lot going on. DeMario Davis went to the Jets. Mitch Trubisky to the Tennessee Titans. That one caught my attention yesterday. Oh, Mitch is moving on again. And as we said, when Mitch's career here in Chicago ended, he's going to be just fine.

He's going to be just fine. Like, he's going to make a lot of money for the rest of his football life to be a QB2. He's now even doing commercials to let everyone know that he's perfectly content being a QB2. And off he goes to be at least a competitor for the backup roll to Cam Ward. Once, I think this goes for in life, Dan, if I may impart some wisdom. Once we accept who we are, what we are, what our limitations might be, you just might be happier in life. And Mitch Trubisky, I have no idea if it could have been better for Trubisky.

If he could have had a better infrastructure here with the Chicago Bears, if things were better, if Matt Nagy was nicer to him, could things have been different? And I'm sure. The answer is probably no. Probably no. And honestly, I say the same thing for Justin Fields. I try to give these guys that met, did you get bears? Did the bears hurt you?

Probably not. You're probably right. But I think it's okay. I'm just happy for Mitch Trubisky at this point because you and I know we both covered Trubisky. He was a nice guy. He was, did he win the good guy award? He was definitely.

His last year here he won the good guy award. And that was in part because of how good a guy he was. I mean, you talk about a guy who got benched in the way he got benched. in the way he got bench in his last season in Chicago and then was ready late in the season to, you know, pick himself back up and lead the Bears into the playoffs, albeit a very weird playoff season in 2020 for the Bears. But Mitch, Mitch, like, he earned a lot of people's respect with the way he handled himself through all that turbulence. It's a pandemic season. And obviously, yeah, you mentioned that that's a big part of his legacy here in Chicago, even if he's ultimately remembered as a disappointing run. Well, this is a perfect chance for me to do a stretch of an analogy to get us to our next topic

because it's almost like the way Mitch Trubisky won the quarterback competition over Nick Foles that one year. It was sort of like reluctantly. It was like, well, it's going to be Mitch, but he better be good. I know where you're going with this. You know where I'm going with it. I'm going to Braxton Jones because it was the same thing. The reaction to Braxton Jones winning, and I say that in air quotes, winning the starting left tackle job at the beginning of the 2025 season was similar because

it was Ben Johnson answering my question with the answer of, we're going to go with Braxton Jones, which was a very reluctant answer that you could just see the lack of optimism pouring out of Ben Johnson and it proved to be correct. But the bears are in a situation with Ozzy Tripillo being injured and probably out for the rest of the season. The Bears did not make a splash. They did not sign as of right now anyway, fluid situation, folks. Taylor Decker is not walking through that door. Braxton Jones, Dan Weederer, a one-year deal worth up to $10 million as your stopgap left tackle, I think. Worth up to. Very key phrasing there because it's my understanding that's a $5 million deal with

the possibility of doubling you with a bunch of incentives, performance and play rate related incentives. And so this is what you would call a prove a deal in the NFL. And it's a chance for Braxton Jones to try to find a path towards proving to the Bears and maybe others in the league that he is a, you know, starting caliber standout tackle at the position. You go back a year and you understand what Braxton was dealing with in the offseason, the spring, the summer of 2025. He's coming off a very serious season-ending ankle injury. He had surgery. A new coaching staff comes in, tries to put eyes on him and are like, man, one of the things that he really struggles with is anchoring against power and bull rushes. And so we've got to get him bigger.

Rehab specialists are telling you, you need to get lighter to make your rehab go a little bit more smoothly. The coaching staff is telling you, ultimately, we need you to get bigger so that you can anchor against bigger people. That's a struggle. And I remember talking to Mully and Haugh about that at the time. Like, man, this is, you know, there's a physical struggle to this for Braxton. There's a mental struggle to this for Braxton. He obviously comes in. As you mentioned, wins the week one starting job at left tackle, gets benched before the season's very old, gets injured again,

he's on IR for a long time. He gets activated from IR but doesn't play in the playoff game. And so it's just a very weird 2025 saga for Braxton. Now that he's back, you hope that he's able to flip over a new page and get out his pen and decide what he wants to write on that page. But I don't feel great if this is what they are going into training camp believing can get them to the next level, which would be a competition between Braxton Jones

and Theo Benedet. Yes. Like, I don't know. That just leaves me a little unsettled. And I know we did our, you know, five questions that we need answered before training camp a few weeks ago. I'm not okay if this is the end of the answer. Yeah, because it's bringing back exactly what you did last year, minus the Truffillo part.

Yeah. And Karana amagagashi is still hanging around. And, you know what I mean? I forget about amagogy. always. Yeah, understandably. Yeah, so you're right. We are on a path for these, you know, once we start heading out to Alice Hall for these OTAs and the mini-camps,

and then training camp, we are looking at an extremely similar scenario to last year, except for Tripilla. I would imagine that there'll be another candidate at Left Tackle that you and I don't even know about right now. I'm not saying, I'm not predicting Taylor. I don't think that's out of the question at this point, but. Yeah, but your money's, your resources are drying up. And if you're willing to give $5 million to Braxton, you know, like, are you going to go out and spend at that position?

You know, it's, it's interesting because they are not flush with cap space. I know everybody wants to restructure every single guy in the buildings deal to create room to make these splashes. They just, they're not in that position at this moment. And so I don't know. I don't know if they can fit a big splash. I'm thinking of more another like find another theory. Sure. I'm not talking about like it's probably.

You're right. just on the Decker front. Like, you know, that felt great 48 hours ago. Now I'm like, oh, yeah, I don't think so. I guess I'm just trying to protect myself when I'm saying that, like, as in I don't think it's going to happen, but we can't both sit here and completely ruin out. We could log off and it's reported on Twitter that they've signed them. Exactly.

They made a little extra. They restructured a contract or made a deal or whatever. So I am just trying to protect myself, damn it. Right now when it comes to Taylor Decker, my prediction would not be. that he would be part of it. As a matter of fact, he would not be part of a competition because if they were to sign Taylor Decker,

I would assume that Taylor Decker would become the starting left tackle with very little pushback unless he's, unless they deem that he had lost a step coming into camp. So that's the situation with, with the offensive line. You know, we assume that Garrett Bradbury full force will be the center. You've got your two guards coming back.

We know that and darn all right is another guy to bring up. I know that you and I've talked about. about it many times. Pretty soon, that man has to be paid as well. And that's part of the, that's part of the Braxton Jones equation as well, why you can't go out, we don't think, and spend the big money or even use a really valuable draft pick

at this point on a left tackle. Well, and, you know, again, like that might come before the bears start the season. A darn all right extension is certainly in play at this point. And if that happens, now all of a sudden you're probably, you know, taking the signing bonus money and 50. figuring out a way to distribute that and figuring out what that means to your cap. We obviously saw, I don't even know if we've talked since then, the trade on Friday for Garrett Bradbury. That's the replacement for Drew Dolman.

And so it's like, okay, like I don't feel badly about that. I just don't know that I can rubber stamp it as an upgrade. No, it's not. Linebacker, I don't know if it's an upgrade. Safety, I don't know if it's an upgrade. Center, I don't know if it's an upgrade. And you're at the point where you want to start upgrading. Bradbury, obviously, is a guy who, you know, he went to the Super Bowl.

We just talked about Kobe Bryant's Super Bowl experience. He did so with a young quarterback in Drake May. The book around the leagues, he's undersized, and sometimes he's big, powerful interior linemen can take advantage of that and bully him a little bit. But at the same time, you get a guy that's widely regarded as a really smart dude, can take a lot off your quarterback's plate. He's got college experience playing with Joe Tuny.

Apparently, they used to room on the road at NC State. You know, I got to make a confession. I'm not sure that I realized fully that Joe Tune was an NC state guy, a wolfpack. I would have gone and given him the Wolfpack symbol by his locker a couple times. You are, Mr. ACC. You lean on me to find those people for you. That's what happens. Who was at last?

His name is escaping my brain right now. Josh Blackwell. Josh Blackwell. He was having Duke basketball arguments with C.J. Gardner Johnson. And yeah, I had to go settle that kerfuffle. But yeah. So anyway, with Bradbury, how did you feel about that? I mean, you went from like dreams of Tyler Linderbaum to, okay, we just traded a fifth round pick, a future five for a one-year kind of bridge guy for us.

My reaction to it is he is similar to what you said. He is not as good as Drew Dolman. We're not going to sit here and glow about how important Drew Dalman was and what a great signing that was. And then somehow say, well, Garrett Bradbury comes in. You get the same thing. No, he is not as good. So to me, it was, okay, fine. And I'll say it again, he's not going to insult anybody's football sensibilities.

He is a veteran. Another guy who I am being told is a great locker room guy. He's going to fit in. He's going to be fine. But he is not probably going to give the exact same comfort to that offensive line as his predecessor did. It's interesting. You're talking about the weight factor too. I was listening to Pete Bersich, who works with the Minnesota Vikings.

He is a Chicagoan. Pete Bersich said, and I thought he was kind of. of saying it tongue in cheek, but I also think he was serious. He said that Garrett Bradbury is one of these guys who will lose weight throughout a season. Like he's one of those dudes that's got to really work hard to keep the weight on. He says he golfs a lot, Dan Weederer, and that because of the extra golfing and walking all those loops, as they call him, that he loses weight out there. So Garrett Bradbury, the golfer and the guy that's got to keep his weight up. But, yeah, it's not inspiring, especially since we're talking about all the other

different centers that were on the board like Tyler Linderbaum and Tyler Beaudish and Connor McGovern like that like he was not on the list. Garrett Bradbury was not on the list of guys that we were thinking about. Yeah. The last week we had Cassie Carlson on. And so Olin Kruits and I went in on Friday afternoon to do the offseason with Cassie Carlson, Mark Grady. And so it's like two o'clock you're sitting down to do the show.

And the question was, will the bears be in the Max Crosby sweepstakes? and what will they do at center? And then you get the 6 o'clock and you're like, well, they're not in the Max Cresby Sweet Sakes and we know what they did at center. So sorry that we sat down and wasted your time with a whole episode on things that became moots by the time really anything got to it.

Sorry, not sorry. That's what fluidity is, right? Like, that is the fluidity that you referenced at the outset. Yeah, it is. And as for Max Crosby, because I, like, I lose track, too, if you even talked about it, of course, if the Bears had done the day, deal for Max Crosby and the deal was Max Crosby to Baltimore for two first round picks, one of

which is this year for the Raiders, another one next year. If they had gotten Max Crosby, I would have found a way to celebrate. But when they didn't get Max Crosby, I also said, kind of a relief, little deep breath. You're not giving up the two first round picks, which the bears have done twice in the last 20 years with Jay Cutler and Khalil Mack. And we could argue about whether or not that was worth it. And then you bring in the knee injury and that he's getting closer to the age of 29. So part of me, even though I would have welcomed Max Crosby, a little bit of relief that the Bears did not go all to balls to the wall to get Max Crosby here with the Bears. Shot clocks, big shots, upsets, ACEs, TGL playoffs are here.

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the creamer aisle. Close your eyes. Exhale. Feel your body relax and let go of whatever you're carrying today. Well, I'm letting go of the worry that I wouldn't get my new contacts in time for this class. I got them delivered free from 1,800 contacts. Oh my gosh, they're so fast. And breathe. Oh, sorry. I almost couldn't breathe when I saw the discount they gave me on my first order. Oh, sorry. Namaste. Visit 1-800 contacts.com today to save on your first order. 1-800 contacts. Remember these two doors?

The two doors are back on the screen, folks, for Dan Weedy. I got two more doors, optimism and caution. These are actually the same room. And I'm going to give you the conclusion at this stage on March 10th of where we are with the Chicago Bears. It's both caution and optimism. You can choose which way to take this point. So much of this is just noise, because ultimately the bears are in a position now where they have a head coach and a quarterback that they believe in and

people around the league believe in. And so so much of this team's arc and its future hinges upon is Ben Johnson, who everyone thinks he is, is Caleb Williams, who everyone thinks he is. And if those two questions are answered positively, the bears are on, they're on the escalator on the way to the elevator. If they're not, we're in an, oh, God, world. And so that's where you kind of have to put your brain right now is that with all the free agency chaos. It ultimately comes down to how good is the coach, how good is the

quarterback, how good is the coach and the quarterback together. That should be mentioned at the end of every podcast because right now it just everything feels fragile because they are putting this team back together. But at the end of the day, you have the quarterback, I think, you have the head coach, I think. And that goes a long way. One thing, Dan, that I know we will not get burned by in the name of fluidity is a little bit of news that came out this week in terms of you guys have been hearing

about the compensatory pick, the Ian Cunningham compensatory pick. The Bears were officially not awarded any compensatory draft picks in the 2026 draft following the departure of Ian Cunningham to the Falcons,

which is pretty ridiculous seen as I think we all know who signed Alamedaze Akees. Who's making the football decisions? It's not Matt Ryan. So for people who are wondering, the dream is over for the compensatory picks. And this is a rule that needs to be revisited,

and I believe will be. 33 total compensatory picks were given out for the 2026 draft on Monday. One of those, a third rounder to the division rival Detroit Lions, for the Aaron Glenn hiring in New York, right? Like it's the exact same rule. that the Bears were hoping to lean into. The Lions obviously had Aaron Glenn as their coordinator.

He goes on and takes a head coaching job. And the rules is if you go on to take a head coaching job or a primary football executive job, you are entitled to a third round pick in successive years. The Bears don't get that for Ian Cunningham. There's a lot of nuance to this. I think everyone is in agreement that in the spirit of the rule, the bears probably should have been entitled to these two picks.

I think when the decision was made, when the Falcons created this position for Matt Ryan. The NFL was pretty firm with their rationale. And I understand the unwillingness to bend precedent here to where you would create a situation where then all of a sudden people start giving GM jobs to people to get draft picks while having somebody else sort of running the controls of the operation.

There's probably a little bit more explanation required from the league's point of view. And maybe some of that will come out at the league meetings before the end of this month. I just never got the sense that after the NFL made that that firm declaration initially that they were going to waver on that. And I know there were some other reporting out there and some other rumors that the bears were very hopeful that they were going to get these two threes. And Ryan Poles even expressed some of that hope in various interviews from the combine. I never got the sense that the wind was blowing in that direction.

And then obviously on Monday we got a firm word that they were not part of that list. And so right now I will say this. And you can you can react to wherever you see accordingly. Our friend Mark Silverman was on ESPN 1000 on Monday, and he was really going to town on how much of an injustice this is. And I had a text and say, man, like your outrage here, I have to ask, is it, A, based on this really heartfelt feeling of promoting diversity inside the NFL, or is it more connected to wanting the bears to have two-thirds down tests?

And I just, I have a hard time believing that Chicago would have this, level of outrage if it was the packers who were in this boat. Like I just have a hard time believing that this isn't more connected to the actual picks than the letter of the law. I get it. The rules in place for a reason. It's to promote the diversity as guys climb the ranks. I think that the bears, Ryan pulls it a good job of describing it from the combine.

But it feels like it's been exaggerated outrage, understandably in Chicago, because of what the actual consequences are for the football team. as a consequences for the rule. Trust me. Taking calls at the score, a lot of it is just pure, oh, we could get extra graphics for this. And I'm not going to say that didn't run through my brain either at times. And I have to do better at that as well. Like just remembering what we're talking about, and that is advantages, necessary advantages for minorities in the National Football League

because of the way the National Football League is screwed up in the past in terms of, minority hiring. So while, yeah, that you are spot on right, Dan, but I think that everybody's been a little bit guilty of admitted to yourself that, yeah, you were more interested in those draft picks than you were in the actual letter of the law and your outrage when it comes to like the injustices of the world. And like I said, I'll point the thumb too because draft picks have gone through my brain too. Yeah. And third round draft picks can be valuable. I think a couple of weeks know we read some of the names of guys that have been picked in that range over the last few years. And so it is what it is, but it looks like the Bears draft board in terms of the picks they

currently have in their wallet is pretty much set at this point. That is true. Oh, and then the quarterback room, it's all coming back next year. It looks like the band is back together. And I think that's a good thing. Yeah, I'm cool with running this back. The two-year deal for Keenum caught my eyes just because you wonder if the bears were trying to build themselves a little more cushioned in the event. that, you know, some trade offers for Tyson Baygent were to get really serious and really heat up.

And Ben Johnson was inclined to change his, no, do a yes at some point. But we'll see. Like, I think it's a good idea to run this back. I feel like there was really good harmony in that room last year. I think Case leaned into his job. I think Caleb leaned into the teaching. And so there's no, no pushback at all in keeping the continuity going there. Dan, I love that I get to have these 40-minute conversations with you because we're both so busy that I don't know, like, just in life, if I would be able to pick up the phone and just talk to you for 40 minutes or hang out with you for an hour, which we should probably do more.

But this has been a delightful day. What is the rest of, do you get like, I know you've had a lot on your plate lately, man. You get a few deep breaths here today. I mean, we're all watching. We're all keeping an eye on the time. How are you doing in your war room, Dan? I guess is what I'm getting to. Yeah, well, you know, I honestly, again, it's fluid and things could twist on the drop of a dime. But I feel like it might be a quiet day, to be honest with you. I think the bears did a lot on Monday. Monday was wonderful because the weather here was terrific. And so when I needed a break, you'd just go for a 10 or 15 minute walk around the neighborhood here.

And it was like, man, it's like 70 degrees out here. It's beautiful. Great reset to get that vitamin D and that spring heat pouring into your body. It's not so much like that today, but I'll probably still find a way to get it. get a few walks in as we wait for the next series of developments from this from this football team, which by the way is changing, but it hasn't necessarily gotten better yet. Right, right. There, yeah, there is hope.

So that's it. A little bit of nerve still, a little bit of fragility. And when we next talk on the podcast, we'll see what has changed. We'll see if we get a chance to talk to some of these new guys, Kobe Bryant and Devin Bush and Nevin Gallimore. And we will bring them to you in our own unique way that we, do here on Take the North. So I think that is going to do it for today, Dan, unless there's anything else, anything else pressing on your mind that you need to let our audience know before we go,

but I think we've done a pretty thorough job in this very fluid scenario. Yeah, my last little note here is I think I kind of want to go. Hopefully Illinois will make the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament on Saturday. I think I'd like to go. They would probably be playing Michigan. So the Bears need to just shut down their free agency activity for the period. of probably noon to five on the Sunday. I did take in the Illinois. I think I watched just about all of the Illinois Maryland game. The game scared that a lot of me.

Yeah. Ugly. Yeah. I didn't like that one. Blastic. It looked like they were going to blast off and they just wouldn't on senior day for Maryland. So I was getting scared. But we'll do an Aligni podcast down the road at some point in time.

We won't mess around with that too much. But I do. I hope you make it to the Big Ten tournament. I hear the prices to go there are ridiculous. But you and I have our ways of getting into it. I'll sit in the rafters. I don't care. Just put me by one of those banners and I'll hang from the rafters.

I want to see you in the student section with all the kids hanging out to be like, hey, that's Dan Weirer from the Take the North podcast. Once upon a time, I probably got the orange crush t-shirts somewhere in a bin in the basement. If you want me to break one of the 1990s orange crush tissues out. You are an absolute beaut. That is going to do it for us today here on Take the North. And so for that guy right there, Dan Weider. of the athletic, read the athletic, subscribe to the athletic, just like I do. Dan also does a lot

of work for the score, which we appreciate. I love our conversations on live radio there as well, so you can check both of us out on the score, sometimes multiple times a week. For our executive producer, Adam Stozenzynski, I am Mark Grody of 104.3, the score saying thank you so much for watching and listening to The Take the North podcast. Great talk. See out there. Thank you, everybody. Thank you.