Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Bears stadium talks move forward, the latest from the NFL Combine | Take The North

Episode Date: February 27, 2026

From 'Take The North' (subscribe here): It was a productive week for the Bears both on and off the field. Stadium legislature in both Illinois and Indiana moved forward. And the NFL Combine brought some clarity on what direction the Bears could be taking with certain players. Producer Adam Studzinski fills in for Mark Grote, alongside Dan Wiederer for this one. How significant is the stadium news out of the neighboring states? Also, the Bears offensive line coach was extremely honest about how they're assessing the left tackle position. Plus, a surprising player is getting calls for a possible trade. Finally, Wiederer brings us the latest odds & ends he gathered from Indianapolis. 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

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We're going to take the North and never give it back. And welcome in to the Take the North podcast presented by Odyssey. I am Adam Stizinski. I'm the producer of this podcast. I'm alongside Dan Wheater of the athletic today. Mark Grody has the day off. Dan is back from the NFL Combine and Indian Avenue. Welcome back.

Chicago, Dane, and you got some nice weather to start the weekend off for at least a day. Yeah, not bad at all. Got a great night of sleep Thursday night. That doesn't happen when you're in Indianapolis at the Combine, so that felt great. And then obviously there's a lot to still unpack. When you get back from Indy, I always feel like the day after returning is this just like organization day.

You're trying to gather everything you had and then put it in different buckets and figure out kind of what you learned and what you didn't and what you still need to find out. So kind of in that process here, and we'll probably, you know, slowly sort through some of it here on this episode as we kind of chart the next steps for the Chicago Bears and what I think is a crucial stage of this offseason. Yeah, there's a lot going on. And, yeah, always a ton of information coming out of Combine Week. And the testing really just got started on Thursday. But, you know, for what you do down there, it's pretty much ends on Thursday. So, yeah, a lot to gather.

We'll start here, Dan, the latest on the Bears search for a new stadium location. I guess you could say took steps forward in both Indiana and Illinois on Thursday. So I'll TLDR this as best I can so we don't get too into the weeds on the minutia of this. But in Indiana, they passed through their Senate and House and was the governor's sign. Governor Braun signed the legislation to create the Northwest Indiana Stadium District. Stadium Authority. There it is. So that is done. It's in place. The Bears, if they wanted today, could say we're going to build an Indiana and take up that. They didn't do that for the record. Illinois, on their side, passed through their House committee, the pilot legislation that would eventually

allow the Bears to negotiate property tax certainty, we'll say, with Arlington Heights. That did not get called for a vote in the Illinois House floor. And then the House is on break until mid-March. So that's not going anywhere for the time being.

The Bears released statements after moves in both states are non-committal, and that's it. That's pretty much where we're at. So not a ton, but movement, some movement, we'll say. Yeah, and I think one of the important things that you mentioned there is this sort of Springfield Spring Break that's going to be occurring over the next three weeks where,

where, again, March 18th is the next date that things can progress for the Bears in Illinois. You have what happened in Indiana and their state legislature adjourns now for the rest of the year. They're out, but they've done everything they needed to do to establish this framework that would allow for the building of a stadium in Northwest Indiana. It would allow for the potential partnership between the Bears in Indiana. And as we talked about when this stuff really mushroomed up more than a week ago, this is all about Illinois's response. While you kind of dial, you know, detailed some of the response that Illinois has made here

this week, the House Revenue and Finance Committee passed. It was a 13 to 7 vote, which gives you an indication that this is not sort of unanimous momentum pushing forward, but that pilot legislation, if you hear us talk about pilot legislation, pilot stands for payment in lieu of taxes. And so that basically means that Illinois would allow the bears to get a property tax freeze on the property length, 10 Heights, but not the entire property. The part of the property that is related to the stadium and the parking, and then they would be able to negotiate the Bears would with the local municipalities, the payment in lieu of taxes, the pilot that would allow them to pour more money in so that those communities would have the tax revenue or the extra funds that they need to continue operating. And so you've got movement. Now the next question is, does Illinois get its act together here this spring

and able to create that movement into certainty for the bears where they say, thanks, but no thanks, Indiana. We're going to take this pad ready, you know, ready for our shovels property in Arlington Heights that we have owned for more than three years. And we're going to start building on this. And so that's the next step. It's got to get house approval when Springfield comes back into play. And then from the House, it's got to go to the Senate and then eventually the governor.

And so those are the steps that are needed to be taken to get the Bears in Arlington Heights. I think we're all in agreement at this point that that's the Bears preferred project. They've bought the land. They own the land. They have visions for the land. They have a stadium design for that land. They've got an idea for a multi-use development out there. If they are able to get the cooperation of the Illinois government, they would be ready to, again,

stick a shovel in the ground in Arlington Heights and get going. If that does not advance, right? and Illinois just stalls out again. The Bears at least have the option in Indiana to say, well, we've got something here, obviously with their eyes set on Hammond that we can pivot to, if need be. But I think we've done a pretty good job in our discussions over the last couple of weeks

of letting people know kind of the pecking order of where their brain is at. And now again, this is all about, can Illinois finish their response here? And, you know, I guess if we're going to get there with this football analogy, can they get their side of things over the goal line? Yeah, exactly.

So I think, probably be hearing much about the house and Illinois comes back, like you said, on March 18th. And, you know, I, as notable how the statement that at least after each side came out, where moved their legislation one way or another, that, you know, is fairly neutral. Yeah. It's an opposite of what happened a week ago when the Bears were that really strong statement, when Indiana moved their legislation out of their House committee, I think that maybe the bears learned their lesson there,

the way that I did like, hey, what? So I don't know if that was. And maybe you read that differently. But I just thought that. And look, like the bears have been clumsy and inefficient in a lot of parts of this process over the last several years, right? The statement that they put out more than a week ago had its intent. intended impact, right? It's true. It's true. It's true. It's true. It's true. And the reaction is what

sort of jarred the, you know, the government officials in Springfield and across the state to say, well, wait a minute. We've got to put this more on our front burner now than we have for a long time. And so whether the bears handled that as gracefully as they could have, that's a debate there. But what happened from that is it created a little bit of urgency in Illinois that then created what we saw on Thursday, where you actually do get the pilot legislation advanced. And now it's obviously got to go through the pecking order and the process and the chain of command to be locked in. But, you know, here we are now with more momentum in this entire stadium saga than we've had in a very, very long time, perhaps ever. Yeah, well, probably since they

bought the property in Arlington Heights, I would say. Yeah. It is the most significant movement they've, they've, had and that we've witnessed. So yeah, and you're right. That's a good point. You know, the Bears clearly had a purpose of that statement last week. And I just, notable how this week they were just a little foot off the gas a little bit more. But that's, you know, again, because Illinois got got moving. We'll wait and see. Unless you got anything else on the stadium stuff here, Dan, I think we can move on. Yeah, just to save the date. I'm personally sick of talking about it. A save the date postcard, March 18th. That's the next time that this will sort of bubble up to the surface. And so everybody can take a deep breath for a few weeks.

and enjoy the peace and quiet without this being sort of a daily issue. Right. And I would say, you know, look, when the House comes back, they'll probably be, I haven't looked up the dates, but just my loose knowledge on how Illinois legislature works, they'll be in session probably for over a month at least. So if they don't do something on March 18K, nobody freak out. This episode is brought to you by White Claw Surge. Nice choice hitting up this podcast.

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A podcast that puts the moments before it disappears under a microscope. Listen to and follow the final hours, available now wherever you get your podcasts. Anyway, all right, yeah, we'll move on. As far as on the field is concerned with the bears, you went a little bit earlier this week about how the bears could go about filling their left tackle spot, and there's a lot of options here, and I know you gathered some more information from the combine about potential prospects, and we also have some audio.

We'll get to hear from their offense, the Bears' offensive line coach, Jan Roshar, who gave us some more insight into how they're approaching this. So I don't know where you want to begin here, Dan. Yeah. I think I want to start with Dan Rishar. I really do because so he appeared on the Tehran Armstead podcast,

which is great because they've got a pre-existing relationship from Dan coaching Tehran in New Orleans. And so there's obvious comfort and it's a really good conversation. Tehran Armstead was on the score back during the Bears season with Spiegel. and Holmes. And it was one of the best segments of the year, in my opinion. This dude is like super knowledgeable. He's got a great feel for offensive line play. He knows what it takes. Obviously, very accomplished pro in the NFL for a very long time. And Dan Rashar had the privilege of coaching him, which allows him to understand what high level left tackle play looks like. So they got around to kind of talking about this as it relates to the Bears on this episode of Toronto Armstead's podcast. I think it's called The Set, if I'm not if I'm not in correct on that.

And so I think it's, we'll just. turn the floor over to Dan Roshar here as he talks about the Bears' left tackle situation and his kind of overview of where they stand now and where they can go going forward. Transparent, I met with all three guys that played left tackle for us this past year, to include Theo Benedet and the undrafted young man from Canada. And I told all three of them this. I know what the left tackle position looks like in this league. You are the standard.

That's a rare player that comes along, but somebody has to play that position similar to that. And so it's a faceless, nameless guy right now. It has to become the way we play the game at left tackle, similar to what's being done at right tackle. Is that player in the building? I think there's guys that have traits, but not consistent enough, not the way we want it done, consistently. So that's to be determined. Now, you can address that in free agency. You can address that in the draft. But to find your play or Darnell's play, that requires, in my opinion, you took a couple of years, but it takes probably draft capital or asset we currently don't have.

So it's probably most likely either through free agency or it's here in the building. And my opinion is it's anywhere outside of here. It's here. So that's how we're going to approach it. We're going to work with the guys we got and we're going to make it better. Stas, I was taken aback and impressed with the candor there from Dan Rashar. And it really does give you an understanding. And this is like the reemphasis of things that we've been talking about now for seven months

of what the Bears standard is, right? And when we've talked repeatedly about the championship standard and kind of dissecting that as, is this good enough to win a Super Bowl, it's clear that Dan Rashar doesn't believe that they have a left tackle currently on the roster that's good enough to help them win the Super Bowl. And so they either have to make the players they have a lot better

or they've got to go out and court someone new for that position. And I just thought there was a lot there from the Bears' offensive line coach to give you an idea that they're going to continue raising the bar and continue pushing for more as it comes to what's acceptable at that play. And again, with Dan knowing Theran Armstead the way he does and knowing what that level of play looks like. And then in that clip, also setting Darnell right in the play that he gave them the right tackle, that's an important context as the Bears go through this offseason.

I'm with you, Dan. That's good stuff. And it's great that they're striving for better, you know, and they're not settling. And, you know, it's funny with the left tackle thing. And I think that Roshar really. kind of confirmed what I was thinking, which is that even if Ozzie Tripillo was healthy, they would still be looking for better, right?

And he would be penciled in as they're starting left tackle, but they would still be searching for, hey, you know, you got us to the end of the year. Right. We need you to be better and we're going to continue looking for better. So now because he's heard, this pushed this up their list of priorities, right? So they could absolutely, and I don't know we'll probably get into this,

a left tackle in the first round is possible and wouldn't be surprising. I wouldn't necessarily, that's not where I want them to go because of some of the guys on my list. But anyway, that's for a different time. But I think that it's, and that's great that they have someone who, like Rochar, who's, I mean, this whole staff is so honest. It's so refreshing that he's willing to say what he says. to Theo and in their meetings. And I'm guessing Braxton Jones too,

but I'm assuming Braxton Jones is not going to be back. His contract is up. And it'd be stunning if they were to bring him back. But to me, so yeah, I think that this confirms what we're all thinking, which is, look, they're looking for an all pro-level left tackle. And they're not going to stop looking for that until they find it. And they're not going to settle for. what was competent left tackle play for all of last season.

It's purposeful honesty by the Bears, and I love it because of what we talked about. Like, Ben understands what was achieved in 2025. The staff understands what was achieved in 2025. They also understand that they were three victories short of a parade. And those last three victories are always really difficult to get there. You have to never settle for anything less than what gets you into the parade. And so that's part of this equation. You talk about what might be available to them at number 25.

This is interesting to me because I think, obviously, like, I never like to really dive into draft potential until the first two waves of free agency are over because then you have a better understanding of how they use their free agency resources to address certain positions and it changes the way that the draft board looks to you. And so we'll get there at the end of March into April. But I do think it was interesting. As we talked about previously, I participated in. that beat writer mock drafts for the athletic earlier this month.

And it was like, I went into that thing being like, I'm going to go get the best edge rusher or defensive tackle possible. And then the way the board fell, it was like, oh, there's some offensive line guys here that are really intriguing. And if you can address that need with this pick and just plug that hole in offense, particularly given the depth of the edge class, well, then maybe you've got some options. So with that in mind, Daniel Jeremiah, very good draft analyst for NFL network.

He spoke at the Combine earlier this week. I did want to ask him a little bit about a couple of the left tackle prospects that are available, potentially available to the Bears when they pick late in the first round in April. Those two guys are Alabama's Caden Proctor, George's Monroe Freeling. And so just reached out to DJ for a little thumbnail at this stage of the off season on what he thinks of those two guys and their potential in the NFL. Proctor is like two different human beings. So you watch him in the opener against Florida State and, you know, was told he, he came into camp around 390 pounds and he was heavy, he looked heavy-footed,

he was slow, and he struggled. And then he got himself into shape. You get to the later tape later in the year, and you see the athleticist. He's got great feet for a big guy. I think he got down in the 350s, and we'll see how he shows up here. I anticipate he'll show up in shape, but when he's in shape, he's as talented

as any linemen in this draft. So that's going to be the question he has to answer. And then with Monroe Freeling, it doesn't have a ton of experience, but he's got an ideal NFL frame. He's got, he's really athletic and explosive. His tape just a little bit of a roller coaster ride. So he's not a developed product yet. Interesting. I don't know how you kind of process that, but at least, you know, the starting point for us is we put together

kind of our scouting reports on some of these guys that could be in play at 25. It sounds like both of them are a little raw in DJ's mind. And so wouldn't now, now I would assume that a first round tackle would have an insight, depending on what they do in free agency, right, would have an inside track to a starting job. But it sounds like they, either of those guys would have work to do before they're at the level the Bears would like, which, you know, is probably going to be the case for most rookies. You know, it's not very often a Joe Walt comes your way, right? A guy that you plug and be awesome immediately. So yeah, yeah, I think that both, both sound a little raw. And I would say if either of those were taken by the bears

based on DJ's assessment, that you would have to be patient with them, which is, you know, okay, I guess. But, you know, hey, look, if the offensive line is as stable as it was from left guard

to right tackle, you can maybe get away with that again. But again, you know, if the goal is winning at all, then you would ideally like to have a guy there that is, if you're facing a team like the Rams in the divisional round, you don't have to worry about. Right? So here would be my one response to that is that you get to make a call on draft weekend, on Thursday of draft weekend.

You can get to bring a guy into your building as your first round pick. And then you've got four months with that guy before you have to play a regular season game. And you've got nine months with that guy before you have to play a playoff game. And so you as a staff, both coaching and front office, have to project how quickly can we get the development? to come. And that's going to be part of the vetting process and what they do, obviously, with interviews at the combine and as they go through 30 visits through March and April, those are the things that you're trying to learn after you've already got your full evaluation of the player. And so that factors into the equation, too, is, you know, how willing are you to wait for

development if you see that, you know, some of it may come quickly. And if you determine that a guy's going to take a lot longer and you're not willing to wait for that, then that factors into kind of how you stack everything. Right, right. And, you know, I will say, I felt like the Bears did a really good job last year of developing a lot of players in season. You know, Ozzie Tripillo was one of them. He was a guy that they, in training camp, thought was overwhelmed by left tackle and had him just at right tackle to calm his head down. Right. But by the end of the year, he was able to play competent left, left tackle for them. And so that, that shows that Dan Rochard and Ben Johnson and this offensive staff were able to develop him and get him better to the point that he could start

for them. So I'm not saying it's not that one of these two couldn't be drafted and be developed into that. I just saying like it would be sounds like it would be players that you would have to be a little patient with to begin with. Similarly with Theo, like we walked into training camp last year and Theo was just a guy. He wasn't on anyone's radar and the next thing you knew he was starting eight games for the team, right? And part of that was because he responded to coaching and they feel like they've got a great coaching staff to develop guys. That was one of the sort of the secret sauces of the 2025 Bears. And so important to remember that because like, you know, again, we'll get into more of this in next week and beyond. But one of the most prevalent sentiments down

in Indianapolis is how impressed people around the league were with Ben and the staff and just feeling like that team was very well coached, you know, and that they got a lot out of what they had. And so that's going to be a part of the Bears journey going forward to is continuing to get the most out of things through coaching. Where's your playlist taking you? Down the highway, to the mountains, or just into daydream mode while you're stuck in traffic. With over 4,000 hotels worldwide,

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dot me slash dash terms max $100 cashback per month the world moves fast your workday even faster pitching products drafting reports analyzing data Microsoft 365 copilot is your AI assistant for work built into word excel PowerPoint and other Microsoft 365 apps you use helping you quickly write analyze create and summarize so you can cut through clutter and clear a path to your best work learn more at Microsoft.com slash M365 co-pilot. Definitely. And so a few more things to touch on here coming out of the combine. Something that was not on my potential radar for this week was a report.

There was a few trade rumors out there. We talked this week about, you know, Tyson Bajent's name being out there. DJ Moore is out there. I did not expect, and this was from Jordan Schultz, who reported that the Bears have been getting calls on Jervon Dexter, the defensive tackle who they drafted a few years ago. And so that was kind of surprising to me. I don't know how you reacted to that, Dan.

I personally would be a little shocked if they did trade him. I mean, it depends on what kind of offers they're getting, right? But I just didn't see that one coming. So I'm curious how you reacted to that. Well, look, for me, this was all part of a bigger pot here with the bears where you understand that they're headed toward the new league year here in a couple of weeks. They've got 22 guys currently under contract whose contracts will expire when the new league year begins. And so they've got to figure out all that.

Now we've got, you know, trade rumors attached to DJ Moore and Tyson Bejant and J. Van Dexter and Tremaine Edmins. And you realize the volume of conversation that has to happen between the coaching staff and front office to figure all this out in concert that they've got obviously they've got to create cap space they've got to figure out which players that are absolutely untouchable you know there's just a lot of work and i've been saying all week that the biggest march headlines for the bears particularly in the early parts of march might be the subtractions they make more than the additions they make which in recent years it's been you know major there's a newcomer you know here it is it's dj for one year it's joe tuny another year it's Jonah Jackson, you know, you've lived it the way we've all lived it.

And so I think this year it might be most of the news here in the short term is going to be like, oh, wow, that guy's no longer with the Bears, you know. And so that's going to be interesting to monitor. I don't know what's going to happen with Dexter. Obviously, was a day two pick by the Bears a few years ago. And he's had his moments. I just don't think there's been the consistent impact. And so if they're able to get something in return and they feel like they can find a better fit for Dennis Allen

and something to create that interior disruption that's going to be a priority this offseason, then all ears and figure out if you can make it work. And so, yeah, I'm curious what their threshold would be to go ahead and move off of Dexter, because if you do move him, then you're going to replace him. Yeah, got to replace him, right. And he is somebody that I think, you know,

as the roster currently stands, is someone that can play for you. I'm not saying he's a great player or anything, but he can make an impact. He had, what, six sacks this year? He had a pretty solid year, I would say, but maybe he's just not after they went through a full season. It could also be that Dennis Allen is saying,

hey, you know, this is not the kind of guy that I necessarily, like, profiles for me, right? You know, and Dennis Allen knows what he wants. He's a guy that's been a really good defensive coordinator in this league for a long time. So he knows what he's looking for. I do believe I was talking with Alex Kuhn at the score, who EPs the afternoon show for. for us. He pointed out there's a couple of guys that played for Dennis Allen in New Orleans defensive tackles that are free agents this year. So maybe they have their eyes on

those guys and those could be potential placements and neither of them would be that expensive. I will note that, you know, this is Jervon Dexter's last year of his contract. It's not a heavy cap hit. Yeah, his cap paid is a two, I'm looking at it right now, 2.1 million. They save 1.6 by getting rid of him. So that's not very significant at all. So this is not a cat move clearly. And so I'm curious, you know, if they move him, I don't know what you would get for a guy like Jervon Dexter. I feel like. I would think it would be a late day three.

Yeah, like a fourth, yeah, fourth maybe, like maybe if someone really likes that. Yeah. I think you'd be looking at a six probably if you were being realistic about it. And so like, yeah, you know, so then you have to have those conversations. Is it worth it? or do we just kind of see through this for the final year of his rookie contract and figure out what we can get out of it? Andrew Billings, the nose tackle, he's coming out of contract. My hunch right now is that the Bears won't bring him back, that they'd be looking for something a little bit different.

Credit to Billings for responding to this coaching staff's new demands for him, you know, with the regime change. But I think they'll probably move in a new direction there. And so, like, you go through this depth chart, right? And you look at the defense and you're like, man, like, they've got, this. decisions to make. And they've got they've got to be very calculated with them because at all three levels, up front, linebacker secondary, they've got big decisions and they've got to figure out how they all work together to give Dennis Allen the pieces to elevate this. And I'll just give you this one nugget with a GM I talked to recently that said, you know, one of the best things for

Caleb Williams in 2006 for his development would be to have a defense that was just stronger. We all know that the Bears led the NFL and takeaways last season. was a huge part of their success. But ultimately, if you have a defense that is capable of doing even more than that and just not leaving the pressure on the quarterback to have to kind of win games late, then you can kind of allow him to develop in other ways where it's just not a pressure-filled existence every single game and every single week. And so I think part of that stems back to this conversation we're having about what steps do

they take to strengthen this defense? And I think probably three weeks from now we'll have some. some answers and we'll have to break it down. And yeah, you know, I mean, just look at the the 49ers game, for instance, like, God, get them one or two stops outside of the pick six at the start of the game and you walk away with a win, right? Sure, yeah. Yeah, so, I mean, that's just one example.

Now, look, the Bears' offense responded over and over and over in that game. So it's not like Caleb wasn't capable of it. But, yeah, you know, that's just a take a little bit of pressure off. And yeah, you say, you know, they have a lot of holes to fill currently. no safety is under contract. You mentioned Billing just coming out of contract. Now Jervon Dexter's name is out there. You don't know how healthy

Dio Dainbo is going to be, and even he's coming off. Sharma Turner. Yeah, Sharma Turner. So both of those guys had significant injuries that are tough to come back from. So you don't know how much you can really count them then certainly to start the season.

So yeah, there's a, I expect them to do a lot of adding to that room in the next couple of months through the draft and free agency. So two, we'll keep something else to keep an eye on. Gervon Dexter, we'll see. I personally don't expect him to get moved unless they get blown away. But, you know, we'll see.

Two other names on our radar, right? Like we're talking at the cornerback position about Deshaun Wright and C.J. Gardner Johnson and are either of them back? It seems like the sentiment right now is that Deshaun Wright will get more money than the bears can afford to pay him under their current construct. And he would be silly to turn that down when you've earned this sort of life-changing opportunity. but CJ has been active on social media recently and seeming like that he wants to remain a bear and, you know, in various ways has made that with, I think,

commendations of L. Harris and Caleb Williams recently that I've seen that where you're like, okay, this doesn't feel like a guy who's preparing to go elsewhere. So we'll see how it all shakes down. And again, they've got a job to do here of stabilizing that defense and getting in in position to remain a contender. I'd be kind of stunned if they bring CJ Gardner Johnson back. just based on the, you know, how much it'll cost. That's it.

It's what's the market, right? It really comes back to what's the market for him. And this is the guy who was sitting on his couch in October last year. So there wasn't much market then. And so maybe you get them on a discount and say, hey, you don't really want to change teams again, do you? And CJ says, you know, I like being here. I like the L. Harris.

Caleb's pretty good. You know, I'll take a deal similar to what I had last year. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, hey, it's not that I wouldn't welcome him, welcome him back. It just I'd kind of written them off. So, all right, we'll go ahead and move on here. A couple of things that we had yet to really touch on on this podcast because of everything that's been going on.

Promotions. Yeah, promotions. So Press Taylor is the Bears new offensive coordinator. And for people that weren't overly familiar with his work, he was the Bears passing game coordinator this last season. He spent three years prior to that as the offensive coordinator. in Jacksonville he's done a bunch of other jobs he had some some crossover with a lot of different people so he's a new offensive coordinator and you had a chance to ask his brother about him his

brother is is the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals Zach Taylor and so you had a chance to wander over there and ask Zach about him right yeah you know so like look we've talked previously about what the role of the offensive coordinator for a play calling head coach is. And we know what Ben expects. And it's a support role. And it's the ability to kind of through a megaphone echo the sentiments of the head coach when the head coach can't be there and message all these things. And I think a few weeks ago, we talked about some intel I got from Zach Taylor last year at

the owner's meetings about being able to jump off the train and trust that the offensive coordinator is going to keep the train moving. And then the head coach can jump back on trusting that there's, been progress made. Well, that felt like an opportunity now that his brother is in that role in Chicago to go ask Zach Taylor about what do you think of this move and what do you think about Press's ability to work for Ben who Zach Taylor also worked with Ben Johnson in Miami. So some good insight here from head coach of the Bengals, Zach Taylor. He's been in that role before. I think he's an incredible coach. I've never worked for him,

worked with him, but the people that have been around him are always quick to tell me that. I know Ben thinks highly of them. I think it's a great relationship with he and Ben. I think the world band. I worked with Ben for four years in Miami. I've been around Press my whole life. So I think those are two people that do it the right way. That'll work really well together.

They got a great staff there in Chicago. Ben's done a great job with that group. And so, you know, we don't play them in the regular season so I can pull for them, you know, in the regular season. But I'm excited for the opportunity Press has got. Press is ready for that. And again, he's, he's, like everybody had bumps in his career.

Now he's at a place where I'm happy he's there. I think Chicago's a great organization, great head coach, and happy to see him for us there. Testing season is right around the corner, and this is when confidence really matters. When kids take time to review key concepts and strengthen their skills before assessments, it can make all the difference.

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Yeah, so good insight there. And hopefully I think, think people enjoyed listening to Declan Doyle as the 2025 season went on because it was really good every week of standing up there and kind of explaining things in a way that was really easy to understand. Press is very, very much the same way. And so I think when we start to get into it and his face is out there in front of the podium a lot more and his voice has heard a lot more. I think Paris fans are really going to come to enjoy listening to kind of his perspective and insight. And again, a lot of it is going to be echoing the sentiments of Ben Johnson, who is obviously going to continue to let his messages be heard loud and clear,

as we discussed the other day with his ongoing animosity toward the Green Bay Packers. Oh, yeah, you got to love it. You got to love it. So, yeah, there's your offensive coordinator. And yeah, yeah, I don't, I will miss listening to Declan Doyle. Like, I really enjoyed his press conferences. I haven't personally heard a ton of press Taylor's, Press Taylor talk, obviously you have

because you're in the building. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to getting to know him and hear him a little bit more. I will note that I remember, so I have a friend from high school who somehow ended up being a huge Jaguars fan and he's not a fan of Press Taylor. And I will say that anyone that's worried

about the job that Press Taylor did in Jacksonville when he was the offensive coordinator for Doug Peterson, And maybe you know, I'm not sure if he called plus. As I know, I'll have to, I'm not certain. But this is a different job. And it's okay. And remember, Ben Johnson's in control. So if you're worried about Press Taylor's offensive coordinator,

I think it's going to be okay. That's just what I saw. The other part of this is having a conversation this week with an agent that handles coaches, there's just a, a, firm belief that this position at Hallis Hall for the, you know, foreseeable future is seen as a springboard, right? Like if you can get the offensive coordinator job under one of the brightest play callers in the business with one of the most talented quarterbacks in the league, all of a sudden, by association, you start to get opportunity. We saw that occur with Declan Doyle

quickly, probably more quickly than the Bears anticipated. And so I would bet that there's a pretty good adrenaline rush for Press Taylor of being able to step into that role, try to give it is all and then and then potentially kind of continue to climb the ladder as a coach with with higher aspirations definitely definitely so so yeah looking forward to seeing seeing him hearing him speak honestly i don't know when the next time that the coordinators will actually talk i'm guessing it'll be probably early in may yeah at o'tia's so so yeah we'll so we'll look forward to getting an o press taylor a little bit more the other promotion is the bears had to replace ian cunningham as assistant general i guess they didn't have to but they did replace assistant

manager, assistant general manager, Ian Cunningham, with Jeff King, who's actually been in the building for about over a decade in the personnel department. And so Jeff King is your new assistant general manager. Jeff King's been here for 11 seasons, came in at the lowest rungs of the scouting department when Ryan Pace was hired and has really built himself into a trusted voice and fountain of information inside House Hall. The one thing that I've kind of gathered, here recently is they really believe in Jeff's ability to take the pulse on the locker room. This is a guy that played in the NFL for a long time, tight end with Carolina Panthers, tight end with the Arizona Cardinals.

And so I think Ryan Poles in particular trusts his ability to assess how certain moves will impact a locker room and certain decisions will impact a locker room. And they lean into him for that. And so now he's one seat closer to the general manager as the Bears go into this, again, as we talked about, a very crucial stage of their offseason. And I think Jeff's ready for this opportunity. I think he's eager to kind of, again, move into the role that Ian held, but not try to do it exactly the same as Ian did it.

Obviously, there was a built-in friendship starting out with Ian and Ryan when they got here. Jeff's earned Ryan's trust over time together. And so it would be interesting to see kind of how this evolves, but certainly another guy that's going to be taken on a heightened role, who's earned the opportunity and the Bears feel very strongly that he can continue being an asset for them. I've liked what I've heard from Jeff Kane in the times that he's spoken. Usually, like, day three of the draft, they'll send him out there to talk about some of their late round picks, right? So I've liked what I've heard from him.

He seems to know what he obviously knows what he's talking about at some level. He's survived. It's always notable, I think, when a guy is kept on through regime. Multiple regimes, yeah, for sure. Yeah. So he's clearly earned the trust. He had the trust of Ryan Pace. you would know better than me if he was here for Phil Emery.

He came up at pace, but now this is forehead coach that he's been with, you know, between Foxy and obviously Nagy and then the Iber Fluse and the Ben. And so it looked like he's seen a lot too. Yeah, yeah. I always get a kick out of it when Ben says, you know, that he's learned a lot in this league from failing, you know, like and being part of teams that stunk, you know, and he was part of teams that stunk in Miami and Detroit. And I would imagine that somewhere in Jeff King's journal,

there's probably some notes about things that he's. seen over the 11 seasons he's been at Hallis Hall, similar to myself, right? Like, I've got no book's feet from here that probably include some demons that you don't really want to re on earth. But, yeah, no, so he'll be good. He could definitely tell you what not to do. I think that that would be for sure something that if you're Ryan Poles,

you can get, hey, am I going down the wrong path here? No doubt. Yeah. Little shout out here because a friend of the podcast, Cassie Carlson, who works over at Fox 32, she had to sit down with Jeff King earlier this week from the combine. It's about eight minutes and it's really worth listening to if you want to get a little bit better feel for who Jeff is. Cassie's been crushing it in Indianapolis.

I told her that earlier today that like the volume of people she's talked to and what that is on earth in terms of insight from people both locally and nationally. I would encourage people to get over to Fox 32's YouTube channel and check out a lot of the interviews that Cassie's done because there's a lot to learn. And this is that kind of week, right? There's a lot of people talking to a lot of people. And you can learn a lot by just kind of surfing around a little bit. I'm glad you mentioned it because I had not caught that one yet. I will add that one to my list. And so, yeah, Cassie has been very busy, like you said.

So, okay, to cap things off here. You sound like had a smorgas board of stuff to bring us at the end here, Dan. So where do you want to take us next? All right, I've got some quick hitters here. The first quick hitter here is I'm going to read you a list and then I'm going to ask you if you can guess what it signifies, and I know you won't be able to, so then I will tell you what it signifies.

But here's the list. Ernest Jones, Nashan Wright, Kirby Joseph, Brian Robinson Jr., Leo Chanel, Jake Moody, Trey Tucker,

Luke McCaffrey, Charles Grant. Okay. I know most of those names. Those are free agents. In some way, I'm having trouble. This is like the game,

the board game, Trybond. How do all these names or late. I give up. I give up. Boom. All right.

These are players that were chosen with third round compensatory picks over the last five years. Oh, well, okay. I never would have guessed that. Interesting sampling. That's not all the players that have been selected, but it gives you an idea of the kind of player that might be available to you

if by chance you were able to stumble into a third round compensatory pick. Obviously, we're bringing this up because we're still kind of awaiting final word on whether the bears will be able to get a third round compensatory pick. pair of compensatory third rounders, one in 26, one in 27 for Ian Cunningham becoming the new general manager of the Atlanta Falcons. You heard me earlier this week express my doubt that anything is going to change. The NFL has to set that draft board before the new league year begins, you know, less than two weeks from now. And so there's an urgency to get this decision finalized.

I still don't think it's going to happen. But listening to Ryan Poles talking various interviews about this, he seems to be expressing hope and optimism in that regard. And so it's is sort of a, I don't consider it a dead issue at this point based on the way the general manager has talked. But there is a sampling of the type of guy you could add to your roster. It is indeed a free player, right? Like that's what it amounts to. Obviously, not entirely free you're going to have to pay their rookie contract. But it is, it's just a free selection there in the third round. If you're able to get it, that's the type of impact guy you might be able to find. Right. Yeah, it's not insignificant, not at all. And so I, I, I, I,

I was pleasantly surprised that polls was as open about they feel that they deserve those picks based on how, based on the, you know, the, what they did for Ian. And I, like, I, I don't get on my whole soapbox about this. I just feel like it would be such an easy win for the NFL to just say, hey, you know what? Yeah, you, you did what we are looking for teams to do based on the letter of the law. you shouldn't get them, but the spirit of the rule is exactly how you followed it. Here are your compensatory picks.

Congratulations, Chicago Bears. I feel like it would be so easy for Roger Goodell to do that in a time where in this last coaching cycle, you had, I think it was three, no, not yet, three minority coaches hired,

maybe. I don't have the list currently in front of me. It just wasn't a good cycle. I don't know if they were, I don't even know if they were ready. No, it was one. It was one. Robert Sala might have been the only one.

So I don't know where I was getting a three. But anyway, you had all these coaching openings, and Robert Sala was one of the very few, if not the only one that it just would be such an easy win. It would be such an easy win for the league. And I don't think anyone's going to throw a big fit. Yeah, I don't think there would be a lot of blowback, right? I really don't think there would be.

So we'll see what happens, but that one was at least pointing out. One other quick footnote here on Monday morning, if you wake up and you're a subscriber to the athletic, get over to your app. Kevin Fishban and I are doing a full, download and dump of all the intel and information that we picked up in Indianapolis from a lot of different people that we've talked to is my first time working the combine with Kevin,

new teammates together. And we were driving home from Indy on Thursday night sharing thoughts. And I'm like, man, that was productive. Good week. So you're going to have thoughts on, you know, Caleb Williams, Ben Johnson, DJ Moore, a little bit of Max Crosby, some other topics blended in there. What are the Bears going to do at linebacker and with their defensive line? So get ready for that download dump on Monday morning. And I got one more little trivia piece for you because I just mentioned Cassie Carlson a couple minutes ago. And I sat down with her before I left the combine to talk about the bears. And at the end, we were just talking about the exhaustion that comes with the combine.

And I shared this nugget. And I just want your verdict on whether this was a TMI nugget, a too much information nugget. But I said, it's time for me to get out of here because my supply of liquid IVs and our X bars is running out. And I also have a little, you know, combine cheat that I. I use, which is bringing a sandwich bag of ginger that I can pop periodically throughout the trip to settle my stomach after some late nights and some big dinners. And Katz was like, okay, interview over. I don't want to ask any more questions. I was just curious from your perspective, is that a too much information situation? No, no, I think that's fine.

You're sharing a sheet code there. I like that. I'd never considered just straight ginger as, you know, obviously ginger ale, I've used to help settle the stomach on occasion for, it's like a candy ginger from Trader Joe's. And we've got, we always have a bag in the house, and then I raid it and bring it with me. And I feel like it is, it's one of those things where I'm like, man, I'm glad I figured this out at some point in time because those weeks can be, again, there's some late nights and some big dinners. And so every once in a while, you just need a little settling. Well, I mean, look, ginger is a, a legitimate, natural way to help, settle your stomach. It's one of those like chemical things you can do. That's why that's why I always

like you got an upset stomach when I was growing up. My mom drinks some ginger rail and it helps. It does help. So yeah, look, it's not, I like, I appreciate that. I think you're just like, I don't think that's too much information. I think maybe we get a ginger manufacturer to become a sponsor of take the north. If we can't get the Topo Chico people and all the other people that we, you know, try to plug for for for things to come and, and, jump aboard this this fast-moving train that's going to great places. Hell yeah. And yeah, Topo Chico, we're waiting.

We're right here for you. Also, a great way to settle your stomach. Also, it is, you know? Yeah, so, yeah, it's, you know, the bubbles, the bubbles really help. So, yeah. Yeah, Topo Chico, climb aboard, ginger. Any ginger manufacturers, any ginger ale people, they're all the different soda out there. We're waiting for you.

Come on in. So, all right, yeah. Unless you got anything else, Dana, we can wrap up. That's it. I'm tired. Yeah, all right. Get some sleep, Dan, and we'll catch you next time here in the Taked North podcast. Thank you for listening. For Dan Weider of The Athletic and for Mark Grody, who has the day off, I'm Adam Stizinski,

and we will talk to you next time on the Take the North podcast. Great talk. See out there. Thank you, everybody. You're best. Monster Energy. Everybody knows White Monster, Sierra, Ultra. That's the OG. It kicked off this whole Zoh, Zoh, you know.

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