Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Best of the Bears: Chicago trades DJ Moore to Buffalo

Episode Date: March 8, 2026

In the Best of the Bears on 104.3 The Score, Score football analyst Anthony Herron joined the Spiegel & Holmes Show to react to Chicago trading receiver DJ Moore and a fifth-round pick to Buffalo for a second-round pick; Matt Spiegel and Laurence Holmes discussed which Bears receiver needs to step up the most with Moore now gone; and Leila Rahimi and Mark Grote opened up the phone lines for Score listeners to share their thoughts on the Bears' trade of Moore to the Bills.

Thanks, everybody. The Bears. You're listening to the best of the Bears. He's it for the touchdown. And the Chicago Bears have taken the league. A weekly mix of 670, the score's best NFL talk to get you ready for game day. In Odyssey Sports Station, Spiegel and Holmes. Okay.

Here we go, sports fans. Afternoons on the score. Folks, at 4.30 on a Friday, Ryan Poles has traded the number one draft pick to the Carolina Panthers. The Bears have moved from one to nine. This is not a drill. Number one for number nine, number 61 in this draft,

a first round pick next year in 2024, and a second round pick in 2025, and wide receiver DJ Moore. This is pulled in by Moore, 56 yards touchdown. And a 230-yard, three touchdown. for number two. What's the key to win in a one-on-one matchup?

Being creative, winning at the line, and then he's both from there. How gratifying is it when you win that battle and get the football thrown to you? What? How gratifying is it? Does it please you? That's amazing. He's taking those strides that he needs to. He's been bossy lately.

Sounds a little sassy. On the fake, Williams. Looking downfield, watching downfield, goes improbable wins. In regular season history. A walkoff for the Bears and Tom Rinaldi is with one of the heroes, DJ Moore. If we can get to him right now, DJ. It means a lot. And at the end of day, the packers always.

Does it please you? I mean, it doesn't please me, but it's good to see. Left side, DJ Moore's got it. When he wasn't just a little open, he was a lot open. Absolutely. gut-wrenching loss. 3127, the Bears advance. I want to say thank you to God for our season.

Everybody know this season was special for the 2025 Bears because RIP Virginia, but we went out there and made some moments this year. And it was special moments, and we can't look forward to causing havoc to the league next year. Thank you guys. We tried to do everything we could. What I mean? Well, you know what I mean? He's gone.

And we couldn't do nothing about it. The official. Spegel and Holmes. Afternoons 2 to 6 on Sports Radio 104.3, the score. It's time to get some stuff done. If you're just jumping in your car, if you're just leaving work. By the way, it is pie hole season for real, for real in the city. So be careful.

Like, I was ducking and dodging today. In the Blackmobile? No, no. It is too dangerous for the Blackmobile out there. The Blackmobile rides a little too low for the Pothole season. So I know. I'm going to have to wait until late April, early May to get the Blackmobile out in the streets again. Folks, it took me 35 minutes to get out of the Blackmobile when Lawrence drove me home. 35 minutes. It's low to the ground, man. It is very

low to the ground. It is very fast. Man, that was the Chris Tannahill Goodfell's treatment for DJ Moore, and it hit me more emotionally this time. And then when we played it earlier, I love that we played it twice for the late crowd. I think earlier we were like getting ready to break down the topic. It's breaking news. Yeah. Right? So there's an adrenaline rush and then you get to kind of think about some of those moments that he is given.

Like catchphrases. DJ Moore gave Bears fans a catch phrase that they can use forever. DJ Moore in the cheese grater hat celebrating that win and saying F the Packers always, you know, and this like, and him feeling it. I remember how good it felt for him. Just to see, like, man, that dude has been through it. This is his first year really winning, all of that. So, I mean, a really impressive football player who had a damn good run as a bear.

That said, I like the trade, as you know, but let's talk about it. Big Ann Heron joins us now here on the score, and we were theoretically going to do like a little bit more of a drafty type segment with Big Ann Heron. but, you know, bears breaking news and whatnot over the last couple of days. Big Ant, thanks for joining us. Let's start with today's news. Your reaction to DJ Moore being traded. In line with a lot of what you guys are just saying there.

And I mean, even the Goodfellas treatment, when you think about the fact that DJ Moore was only a member of the Chicago Bears for three seasons, but he will defend it if we go down as a Bears legend, as a Chicago sports legend in a number of wades, largely in the most statistically insignificant season of his career, but he had so many major moments. And when you consider him joining the Bears coming off the heels of just it feeling like aside from what maybe Alan Robinson,

like the Bears were in this desert of offensive playmakers for so many years where there was, you know, trying to figure out like, Is Mitch good? It's hard to tell because he doesn't have anybody to make plays for him on offense. And then Justin Fields being the only legitimate electrifying talent that they had on offense. He could score a touchdown at a moment's notice, but no one else could until they trade for DJ Moore. And that very first pre-season game, I was out there at Soldier Field and just watching him catch that screen pass. And it was off to the races.

And there was like, we had somebody else who could make a play on the offensive side of the football, something that didn't have to be schemed wide open, something that didn't have to be some defender running into a teammate. It could just be the Bears having a playmaker who the other opponents couldn't handle. That was DJ Moore. He provided that for three seasons here in Chicago. And now this past season, he got the opportunity to do it. And he enjoyed so many moments of being on a team. at a high level.

It was fun to watch that. I feel good for DJ more than I imagine the situation he goes into will be another positive one with a winner for him. But, yeah, I echo a lot of the sentiments that you guys had that where the trade makes sense in a lot of ways was necessary to continue to build on what the Bears just did this past season. But it can be met with a tinge of, you know, sort of a, I guess a tinge of sadness to a certain extent

because it would have been fun to watch DJ more. continue to mature and develop with this team if it made sense, but this makes more sense. Okay, let's throw out salary and salary cap stuff. When we talk about the football player, what are the bears giving up that they hope will grow from the other pieces that are still here? So, DJ Moore is a playmaker. I view DJ Moore as a playmaker in my mind, by my definition. mission more so than a pure wide receiver. When you're looking at the pure wide receiver, you're hoping for perhaps someone who's

more graceful in their movement ability, more precise in their route running, snatches the ball more consistently with confident, quiet hands, presents a big catch radius and a big receiving target to quarterbacks that at this point in Caleb's development, he seems more comfortable with. But as far as this ado, when you get the rock in his hands and you can do it on a seven route, you can do it on a nine route, you can do it as a running back, you can do it with screen passes, there's a level of bravery and a nose for the end zone that DJ Moore has always played the game with. And it hasn't been in a mode that looks like your traditional wide out.

And I believe that certainly would seem to be at least a part of the piece to the puzzle for why he's no longer with the Chicago Bears, but as far as just a dude where you find a way to get him the ball and there's a chance he's going to score, there have been few players in the time he's been in the National Football League that have done that with the consistency, that have presented that threat to the opposing defense in as wide variety of ways as DJ Moore has. So you just kind of hinted at a little, but what did not fit overall? So much focus on the final play, especially nationally, the interception, but it's more than that when you're thinking about what did not quite fit. It's multi-level, because for DJ Moore himself, his size, his stature

as a wide-out, if he caught the ball in the way that he did, where for the most part, he tends to be a body catcher. This, as I've talked to you guys about, talks about it on this station and over on Fox 32 and everywhere else. DJ Moore is most consistently a body catcher. And so for the quarterback who's throwing him the football, the fact that he's not six-four, then that presents a smaller target for the quarterback to comfortably try to fit the football into. Now, we did see.

There were certainly moments throughout DJ Moore's career. I take back to the play against Cleveland, another amazing throw Caleb made, amazing grab where DJ Moore climbs the ladder to go get it. And I went and got it with his body, not with his hands. But there have been some examples of DJ Moore doing that to be the consummate Spiegel Gawagi guy.

But that wasn't what he specialized in. He wasn't exceptional in that regard. He's kind of a smaller passing target, a smalling receiver target for a quarterback because he doesn't present the type of receiver who really catches it away from his body, away from his frame that consistently. And the precision of route running that very last offensive play of the season, the frustration was warranted. It doesn't mean DJ Moore going to make a whole lot of plays.

in Buffalo, wherever else he ends up throughout his career beyond that as well. But that play looked like a number of plays that DJ Moore has run at various points. We're just wondering, what exactly is the route? Is the urgency really there? And he's a guy who's got sort of a almost like a gentle stride to him. Like that last offensive play, you look at him at Roman Dunesay. Like Roman Dunezay doesn't appear to be running any harder than DJ Moore, but both those guys, as far as when they're at, full tilt in their stride,

DJ's faster than Rome, but both guys are similar in that way where they don't look like they're working hard when they're running their routes. But I would say Roma Dunze is a better, more precise route runner, the DJ more, even already at this point in his development. So that, I would imagine, presented a problem for the Bears' offense, for Ben Johnson, and that he's not a guy who kind of makes up for it with that ability to catch the ball away from its frame that set into, for my estimation,

his ability to kind of get on the same page with Caleb consistently. The other bombshell news with the Bears this week was Drew Dalman retiring at 27. You as a former NFL player, you dealt with a ton

of injuries that short-circuited your career. If we can go through the human element of it first with you, Aunt, how did it hit you when you heard that Drew Dalman was going to walk away? I immediately

was saying to my wife, you know, Drew Dalman's 27 years old, and I haven't perceived him. I mean, he's consistently been available throughout his young career, and I haven't perceived him as a guy who's had a lot of surgeries, but that certainly doesn't mean he

hasn't consistently dealt with a lot of injuries, and those injuries can present themselves orthopedically. They can also present themselves neurologically. And we won't likely get the full story on that until we're further removed away from the shocking news of the dorm of retirement. But for me, I was 28 years old. I bounced around the NFL for five years, having surgeries with this team and that team. And I've played an arena football league for a few years. And my thought was, all right, here we got. I have more

job security. It'll be a version of the sport that's less rough, still make good money doing it. Same thing. Just kept having surgeries, injuring knees on the turf, shoulders. back, everything else, it just got to a point where I got into a training camp and I was out there, I was recovering from my most recent surgery, and I just didn't have it. And I didn't even discuss it with my wife. And, you know, wherever you're at that point, when you've gotten to the point of playing in the National Football League, you've played professional football, you're approaching 30, when you've devoted your life to that endeavor, to trying to be the best version to push your body to the limit as consistently as you can, when you suddenly recognize,

when you look in the mirror or when you watch yourself on film and say, I just don't have it anymore, whether that is looking in the mirror and recognizing it mentally and emotionally, whether it is watching film and recognizing it physically, for every player, when you hit that point where you say, man, I just, I don't have it. This isn't in me anymore. It rocks you to your core. And, you know, I was never a guy who was football or bust, but I was certainly a guy who put everything I had into being excellent at my craft. And when you get to that point, it's a life-altering moment.

Because if you haven't planned exactly for what's next, or if it's happening sooner than you anticipate, or if you were one of the blessed few who get to do it as long as you can dream of, at some point you're still going to be a young man, and you're done with this endeavor. And it was certainly a shock to my system. And I look forward to hearing, just if nothing else,

just out of the curiosity of hoping that Drew Dalman is in a good place mentally and emotionally with his decision, that he's in a healthy place about it. Because I, like so many people, are curious, kind of what led him to this point. It's what we would anticipate as the prime of his career physically and the comfort he has in this bear's offense. everything else. I would imagine there's an explanation that'll come at some point.

How did that go, by the way, Aunt, not discussing it with your wife? How'd that go? She was rather caught off guard as well. She was watching that entire off-season rehabbing and preparing and working with trainers and we moved to town to the next city we were living in. And then I got home and said, yeah, I hung him up. And we had some deep conversations about I bet. All right, what's next? What's next? She has followed me all around the country to these various cities.

And in some ways, you know, sort of put her career on the shelf and she's going with me to this place and that. And, yeah, it was a difficult time because not only was my playing career over, but then our family had to figure out what's next for us. And, yeah, when you're doing that, you know, I was 28, Drew Darwin's 27. And, yeah, he is a multimillionaire. But he was just about to end. enter his earning crime as well.

So you would imagine there's a gravity to where he's at in his life right now and just trying to figure out what the next phase brings. We hit on a possible scenario here. Let's say the Bears decided to vote a lot of their money to center just like they did last year now with the available cap space, and they go out and they get Tyler Linderbaum, the most expensive center on the market. What if they did that? And left tackle was going to be a draft.

pick. Somebody from the top 60. They got three picks, and they're just going to try to survive that way. How do you feel about that plan for the offensive line? What this ends up doing, the Drew Dalman portion of this, it changes, it adjusts my

perspective on what left tackle means because I was viewing the, and you hate having anyone get injured, of course, but the idea that the bears were not going to definitively have a starter at left tackle. I was choosing it it through a positive lens of at least now they know that

Ivy Tripillo is not going to be available and so they have to make a move. I felt like they were going to be in a gray area trying to decide. Is it worth trying to upgrade from a second round pick who hadn't really locked it down to an extent that looked like he was definitely your left tackle of the future? So if he's not a part of that equation, the bears will have to expend some capital to make sure they've got someone solidified there. But now you probably have to explain. spend a premium draft position on one of those spots.

Because, yeah, you're good at left guards, you're good at right guards, you're good at right tackle. But now there's two spots on your offensive line that are cavernous holes for you. So if you get a vet at center and you pay decent, if not huge money for that, whether it's Tyler Linderbaum or Beiotich or whatever the Tyler might be out there that you feel good about, then you've got to go into the draft and make sure you get a left tackle. But their hand is forced a bit more now to use an earlier draft pick, perhaps a more premium draft commodity, then they likely would have if it was only left tackle they were focused on. Have you looked at all at the centers in the draft?

I mean, not extensively yet. I mean, I'm certainly, like, I'm sure Alex Coon has watched Logan Jones from Iowa. You know, feel really good about that. We keep getting, you'd be shocked by how many questions we keep getting about Logan Jones. He's not Tyler Linderbaum, but he had to follow up that Tyler Linderbaum legacy. he had Iowa as the former defensive lineman who moved over to center and, you know, took a little time to figure it out. Once he figured it out, he played at a really high level. Could have been probably a, you know, mid-round pick a year ago, decided to come back for

another season. He'll likely be a day two draft pick right now. Where the bears will have to sort of factor in is now that Caleb is going into his second year in Ben Johnson's offense, are there going to be some of the mental gymnastics that are required pre-snap? If you add a rookie into that spot. Now, do you feel like Caleb's at a point where he can handle, you know, taking the lead on setting protections

and, you know, IDing the mic and making a lot of the pre-snap adjustments for the offensive line? If you don't feel great about a rookie center stepping into the extremely voluminous and versatile Ben Johnson offense and having your center, worry about that as much, Caleb in year two will have a lot

more of that on his plate. If they feel like they're all good with it, then that's where the comfort with putting a rookie into that spot can be enhanced. But if not, to have a vet in there, even though the vet isn't necessarily going to know Ben Johnson's offense, but that vet will know NFL defenses. And one thing is just as important as the other. You not only have to know what you're doing, you definitely got to know what the opponent is trying to throw at you as well. So I want to go back to DJ for a second and talk about it from this perspective.

If you're in the wide receiver room now, and there's probably going to be some additions via free agency and the draft. But if you're in the wide receiver room now, a lot of faith has been placed in you. A lot of faith by Ben Johnson and Ryan Poles has been placing you as you make the trade to send DJ Moore to Buffalo.

When you look at the guys who are on the roster now, where do you want to see the next steps happen? That's the other level of this that I was referencing and then sort of come back around to with DJ Moore because the one aspect

of it is evaluating where the Bears viewed DJ Morat and his fit moving forward, but the other level to it is also faith that's being placed in the young playmakers that remain. And think about, I know I've spoken to you, Lawrence, I might have spoken to you about

at some point here recently too, too, speaks to me. Think about D.K. Metcalfe and the Seahawks deciding to move on from him and then you get the emergence of Jackson Smith and Jigna. I don't know if any of them really thought he could have been the record breaker that he became this season. but they felt like they had to do.

There's no doubt about that. And that added to their comfort to move on from D.K. Metcalfe. Do the bears feel like that about Roma Dunzee or about Luther Burden? You would certainly imagine they feel pretty good about Coast and Loveland as well. Or is it just the triumbrance of them that they feel really good about their ability to not only run the football, but also the receiving, the past catching threats that they have out there. Out of all of them, just as a pure whiteout, Luther Burden, to me, showed more promise in his rookie season this year than we've seen as an overall playmaker than

Roma Dunesay. That means Roma Dunezay doesn't have exceptional potential as well. Out of the three of them, though, Colston Loveland is the one who, for his position, can really go above and beyond. They've really got a special talent as a pass-catching tight end. And so I would imagine that's a part of that D.J. more puzzle as well, because it is a risk. There's none of them who've proven that they can shoulder the load of a passing attack and the way that DJ Moore had the shoulder the load of a passing attack.

Because DJ Moore didn't get worse this past season. This is just the most weaponry he's been surrounded by at any point. So the entire Bears' offense didn't need to lean into him. They could run the rock. They had other guys who could catch the football and make players at a high level. So he just didn't have to be the guy who was going to get well over 100 targets that he really needed to be in every other offense he'd existed in throughout his career. It's great stuff, Anthony Heron.

We always love talking to you and love seeing you over there on Fox 32 when you're over there. I'm doing some work over there these days as well with you, young fella. Oh, I know, right? Is there an announcement? I'll be on Chicago Sports tonight at 6 p.m. Tonight on the Fox local app. In a jacket. I do have a jacket.

I absolutely do. Top button swag and a jacket, baby. That's the way we got to roll. That's what we got to do. I found that look in 1989, and I'm not letting it go. And then on Saturday, and I get to do post-game after the World Baseball Classic game, Team USA against Great Britain. That's awesome. And me and Dane Placco get to hang out and do some World Baseball Classic post-game Saturday night on Fox 32.

I love Dane Placco. Me too, man. Yeah, right? Yeah, man. I'll never go to it ever, man. Yeah, man. It should be some fun. And you're the best.

We appreciate you, man. Thank you. I appreciate you, fellow. I'll be on 104-3 to score tomorrow night from 6 to 9. I'm looking forward to that too. All right. Look at that. Everybody got a plug.

Everyone's got a plug. Alex, you got anything you want to plug? How about cross talk with Ant Tomorrow at 545? Tomorrow. That sounds great to me. No, I'm good. And is on NBC5, by the way, speaks. Oh, he is?

Yeah, my bad. He went over there with Smokey Lou. He can know this. He did. Well, he said Fox 32 earlier, didn't he? He said it. Oh, he's a free agent, apparently. Yeah, he can kind of move between a couple different places.

He's in a couple different worlds, Tani. That's the beauty of being Big Ann hearing. That's right. You don't have to lock it down. The thing is that... Until somebody locks him down. The thing is that it's off-season. I think when the season starts, there has to be a declaration.

Well, wait until they find out that Big Yan can talk baseball, too. That's right. That's right. What do they find out? Tanny's trying to... Yeah, I'm going to be on the new season of White Lotus, so I just want to have won't know that. We began filming.

Were you okay with the nude scenes? We all right with that? Was everyone else okay with it? That's my only question. These are the questions that you have to ask. Everyone else demanded it, as a matter of fact. Well, they have the intimacy coordinator. Oh, yeah.

It's also me. It's in my contract. When A. was talking about what centers are available, some other Tyler, which Tyler did you guys think of? Fair and all. I thought of Buterbaugh. I'm like Tyler Buterbaugh as a center of the future.

But I mean, there are, there's, There's Tyler Beiotish and there's Tyler Linderbom. That's two Tyler's, man. On RTC, inside the clubhouse. I call it that for short. Oh, that's good, Tyler. That's good. That's good.

That's good. It's got to be useful if that dude ends up being a center. I love the verbal padding of the head that David did there. That's good, Tyler. That's good. Keep it going. Keep trying. I love that kid.

Yeah, man. He's a good kid. He's a good kid. He's a good. My future co-host. He's a good. inside the clubhouse. I'll call it that for short. Oh, that's good, Tyler. That's good

T.C. That's good, he's a good kid, man. Good boy. He, uh, he works really hard. Yeah, he does. He's a, he's a very nice young man. I wish nothing but the best for him. I really like that kid. He's the second most famous producer at the score.

Behind tanny? Yeah. I think Dustin is ahead of that. Dustin Rhodes for good reason. Baby tea. Baby tea is much He's a legend around here. I know. Grody? What's a up. That's true.

No one does a ray. Actually, I do a ray, but it's very limited. You got, you got to kind of, just kind of drop your voice, like, real calm. Like, hey, let's go to break when you come back. I hate all you. That's subtext. He doesn't say it out loud. I hate this whole show, but let's just go to break.

And then Kevin Fishbain, and let's try to get out on time. I don't want to burger. Yeah, it's 527, guys. I'm vegan. I love Ray, too. Ray, dig in. Anything for you out there? Nope.

Once again, nothing I can eat. I think we can officially rule out DJ Moore from breaking one of the most hallowed Bears' records. Hallowed and embarrassing Bears' records. DJ Moore is not going to be breaking that record. I do try to bring Ray food, though, when there's food. I'm like, there's got to be something like fries or something that he can have. Yeah.

Because people forget. He should try. It's like when I smoked those chicken wings, I went time. Like, hey, Ray, I'm the first one that says, I'm sorry. You don't have anything to eat. Then I don't bring anything. He's like, Ray was like, no, it's cool. You brought fries.

Like, all right, there you go. The day, Rinalis brought in the pickle pizza. I was so excited. I'm like, Ray, Ray, you're not going to believe this. He loved it, too. He did. Yeah, he did. Well, Ray should try what I did for a while there when I was vegan at home.

You know what I mean? Like, you can do vegan at home, but when you're on the world, that's too hard. Too hard. I don't think that's a thing. I made it a thing I made it a thing I can tell you It's a thing

Tanny lived it for a little while Vegan at home Is that why you would come in grumpy Damn skippy Darry You gave me a delicious sausage sandwich today That's why the show's been so good

We fed each other Let's uh Hey yo Yeah What? All I was talking about Was the Sucas sandwich

Skippity Babbity Is this sausage biscuit Oh yeah Sandwich Sandwich You know what You need to go back home. You think so? No, instead I'll go over to Fox 32.

Yes. Well, I'll be doing Chicago Sports tonight on the Fox local app this evening. That's right. So, DJ Moore is not going to break this embarrassing and hallowed Bears record. Who will? We'll discuss next on the score. Taste the biscuit. Taste the goodness of the biscuit. After the Bears traded DJ Moore, Bears fans called in to react. Jesse, you've been waiting a long time. We thank you. I think Bears fans should be rejoicing. We overpaid DJ Moore, who to me is not a true number one.

Yes, he made some plays, but that's what you got paid for. Go ahead, Joe. I mean, I keep seeing Paul's say we won the trade. My thought process now is, are we putting this burden on Jale Walker to kind of step it up or maybe bringing Mooney in? Tommy, you're on the score. I look at it as time for the young guys to step up. Keep it ears.

We continue to talk about the DJ Moore trade and look to see what else Ryan Poles could do. On Sports Radio 104, 3, The Score, and live on the first. free Odyssey app. This segment is sponsored by Shipper Guide TMS, the platform freight teams rely on. Book shipments in minutes, not hours. Shipper Guide TMS automates your entire transportation process from carrier selection to delivery tracking

and even one powerful platform that saves time and cuts costs. See how at shipperguide.com. Shipper guide TMS, the platform freight teams rely on. We go through a hot grease down, man. Afternoons on the score. I'll use his word. He didn't care about stats. All he cared about winning.

It's the most winning DJ's ever had, probably since high school. That's all he cares about. In terms of roster, like I said, we got a lot of decisions to make and figuring that out. I think what stood out about DJ this year is the level of toughness rubbed off on our team. Guys, they're dinged up.

They almost had to go because DJ was going. He was able to fight. through a lot. Got a lot of respect for him. It's a valuable thing to have in your locker room. The Bears right now think that they got a lot of value from trading the fifth and DJ Moore to Buffalo for some cap relief and a second round pick in this year's draft. We're discussing it here on the Spiego and Home show.

Yeah, that second round pick is a big deal because of what you can do. I just saw this from Warren Sharp. He ranked the most expensive wide receiver rooms. As of right now in the NFL, it's an interesting moment to look at since the Patriots just got rid of Stefan Diggs and the Bears just got rid of DJ Moore. Would you like to guess where the Bears are among the 32 teams in terms of the expensive or not wide receiver rooms? And this is this is post-DJ-More trade. They're the least expensive wide receiver room. They're number 30 of 32.

12.5 million dollars allotted to wide receivers. Only the Raiders and the Kansas City Chiefs are behind them. And so it's very interesting having seen this move. Number one is, of course, the Bengals. Yeah. At $63.5 million. Both those guys are worth it, though. Number two is now the Buffalo Bills.

The Buffalo Bills. And they were really hoping that Keon Coleman would. Yeah. would solve some of those problems on the cheap side. You're right. Number three is the Dallas Cowboys who have a big decision to make about George Pickens and C.D. Lambs.

So, like, expensive wide receivers get traded in this league all the time. But you wanted to talk about one of those cheap players on this Bears roster. So now, I feel like there's a little bit of pressure on Rome to be the guy that we were expecting. Because if you make the argument about DJ Moore, that he wasn't on the same page with Caleb. Can I not make that same argument with Rome?

Because there were times where I'm sitting there going, wait, and I've said this, we've talked about this over the last couple years, speaks, if there was no Caleb, the amount of time that we would spend on, hey, for a guy that was a top 10 pick in the draft, are you really getting what you thought you were getting out of Rome, Adunze? I would actually disagree about the chemistry.

issue. I would say that that man needs to catch the damn ball. Well, that's, that's, I'm, I'm sure that those guys are actually really good. I'm not talking, I'm talking about like, as far as Caleb being able to count on Rome in some of those moments. Yeah, well, counting on him, I guess, I guess what I, what I, what I'm quibbling with is the chemistry in terms of, look, the targets, he was number one last year. Rome, even with all his injuries. He was number one with 90 targets ahead of Loveland,

ahead of all the other wide receivers. Like there is a belief in trust from Caleb to Rome in terms of targeting him. But to your point, Rome's got to finish, man. He's got to make catches. He's got to be healthy. And he definitely did have some route problems that we heard. And they're like, Alex, did you hear at JT when you would watch the breakdowns

and other people breakdowns worrying about Rome? I remember JT saying he was worried. that like DJ was going to have an effect. It was more like play strength with, with Rome and catching the ball at the point of contact that he has to get better at. And of course, health as well. But I do agree with you, Spigs, that early in the season, it didn't seem like Caleb was ever shy about going to him and expecting him, throwing the ball where he was expected to go.

And the thing is, is that if you look at the most important games that the Bears played last year and then look at targets for Roma Dunes A, it's not the same story. in the first playoff game Colston Loveland had 15 targets DJ had seven Luther had seven Rome had six in the second playoff game DJ had eight

Loveland had 10 common un guy wow I forgot he caught four passes in that game and Rome had six so in the games where the money nut cutting time when nut cutting time came along Rome was a little bit farther down the trough

when it came to Caleb targeting him. He was also injured at that point. It also drops early in the game, right? I'm sure that one changed the way Caleb looks at that. That's what I'm saying. And that counts. That absolutely counts. Yeah, Rome's got a lot of work to do, and he's got a lot of prove it to show you in this year. That's for damn sure.

Look, you mentioned the guy who's going to lead them in targets. Colston Loveland. He, I mean, that to me would be, and that would make all the sense. Although, I do wonder, because, We all feel this way. Yeah. And the tape says what the tape says, our team's going to actually try and take him away.

They have double team. If they're going to double team him when he splits out wide? Does he, I don't know, like, I would have to look at how defenses have gone against Travis Kelsey or Gronk. See, that's the thing.

To try and figure it out. I mean, there are so many bona fide top tier tight ends who still get targeted every week because the offense coordinator is smart enough to create situations where they're one-on-one with the line. or they're one-on-one with a safety, no matter what you try to do. And even if they're one-on-one with a great corner, they might just body up on them,

push off, and there you go. It's weird because in my mind, he's the number one receiver now. I think that is important to get in a conversation like this. That as much pressure as there is on Rome and Luther Burton, the distribution of targets on this team is going to start with Colston Loveland. And then you can adjust off of that. And so the great thing for Rome is that he might be in some situation. next year where he's one-on-one and you want him to win.

But also, we kind of thought Rome would be a little bit more of a guaggy. For sure. And he hasn't quite been a guaggy. You guys heard of guaggy go up and get it, guys. Yes. Thank you, Matt. Yes. I saw Matt Miller with that hat.

No, he's not to kill Harry-level bad guaggi with negative guaggi. I thought I was going to work for him, man. I was like if ever there was a guy who needed to change a scenery. Oh, yeah. It was in the keel Harry. Oh, go ahead. No, just once? You only do it once.

Is that the rule? Thank you. You could abuse it, you know. That was one of those players that Terry was like, yeah, you know. You just do it once. Well, because he's got to die. He's going to get, like, the voice is going to have a problem. Also, I can't request it.

I think that's clearly off the table. So I'm going to apologize for that. Yeah, man, it's, Rome's got work to do. if Rome has another year where you're like, man, that man has trouble catching the ball and those kind of things, you're going to have big time thoughts about how much you even trust a guy like that after three years. I think it's weird. There's a couple of, there's a Texer. You can't have a tight-in as your number one receiver?

That's ludicrous. Oh, yes, you can, sir. What? I mean, no team has won a Super Bowl with a tight-in as their number one receiver other than the Kansas City Chiefs three times. That's a Patriot. And the Patriots. Yeah, right. That's what I find out.

It's like a great tight end I had, a little mini gronk. That's what I find myself thinking about is all those Patriots teams with those fairly inconsequential wide receiver rooms at times with really good tight ends. Like there are many ways to skin a cat. No offense to the cat. It's true. He doesn't mean to offend you. I don't.

Our guy Dave Wonstadt is going to join us. He was like, hey, I want to get in on this. I want to talk about it. And our response is, of course, because your day wants that. Let's talk ball with Wani. Next, you're on the score. There's always more than one way to skin the cat. Breaking Bears News.

The Bears trade star receiver, DJ Moore. Breaking news coming down just moments ago. DJ Moore is being traded to the Buffalo Bills for a 2026 second round pick that frees up $16.5 million in cap room for the Bears. And the games where DJ Moore was not a factor this year, he was still your best receiver. It was a really good Chicago bear. Keep it here as we break down this big move by the bears and what it means for the team moving forward on Chicago's sports radio, 1043 The Score,

and live on the Odyssey app. Rahimi Harrison Grody. I don't want to break time. I don't want to yell at myself. Can we handle more Anthony Herron? Midday's 10 to 2 on 1043, The Score. If you are just joining us, we are following the breaking news for Adam Schaefter,

and multiple other reports that the bills and the bears are in agreement working to finalize a trade that would send DJ Moore to Buffalo. Compensation still being discussed. Trade can't be processed until the new league year begins, but both sides are pushing to make that happen. We just had James Big Cat Williams on telling us his perspective on not only Drew Dalman's retirement, but DJ Moore being moved as well. We want to get your perspective. 312-44-67-667. is our number here on Rahimi Harris and Grotie. This does with the cap saving. This opens the door to other

interesting, bigger, maybe even better things like Tyler Linderblum, like Max Crosby as a possibility. That is out there. Do we have some fresh Adam Schaefter here right now? They're working on it. They're going to tell us when it's ready. I gotcha.

And let me just, before we take some of these calls, 312, 644, 67, 67. Right now I'm looking at because I was naming guys off the top of my head, like of the Bears' all-time wide receivers in the top 20. Yes, DJ Moore right now, 17th overall in Bears history with wide receivers. I mentioned Alshan Jeffrey Lela. He is number three. He is number. That's Jeffreys to me. He goes to the Jewels. That's right. I've seen him at the Jules many times. The number four receiver for the Chicago Bears is Walter Payton, followed by Mike Ditka. Curtis Conway, the old USC wide receiver and bear, is sixth overall. Alan Robinson, who by the way, will be joining us at 1 o'clock today. We just found out our guy, Alan Robinson, will be on the show. He is number 11 currently on the all-time Bears wide receiver list.

Brandon Marshall, number 13. James Scott, back in the 80s, is number 14 overall. Dennis McKinnon, number 20. Komet. Komet is number 19 overall on the Bears' wide receiver list. A couple of years ago, he was the team's leading receiver. He was. So there's that part of it, too, as well. I think that was the pre-DJ Moore year, as I recall.

As text her asked me here, hey, Grotie, this doesn't mean that DJ isn't going to be on TTN. Doesn't necessarily mean that. He could still be on Take the North. I do have a text out to him. We'll see if he responds on this day. Probably doubtful, but we'll see. 312-644-67 is our number. Here's some more news.

This from Jordan Schultz, the NFL reporter. Schultz report on Twitter sources say teams in the trade market have gotten the sense that the Raiders are more open to the idea of trading Max Crosby, and it's a situation that is only going to intensify. He also said, I do not get the sense that the bears are done on the trade market. Those are two separate posts. Wow. I just want you to know those are two separate posts.

else would be vulnerable to trade on the Chicago Bears, right? Well, I guess Tremaine probably not. I mean, he is. He is. That's not a splash though. Yeah. Yeah, that's likely going to be a cap casualty. Who else are we thinking about here? Who else? Well, it just depends on who there's which, at which position do they feel like they have depth? And then at which position do they feel like they could free up enough money? You know, Cole Cavett was discussed as a possible cap casualty that was in Kevin Fishbane's story a few days ago because of how his contract is structured. So is he possibly next? My first thought when I heard this was because of the fact that this brings up $16.5 million in cap space that this could be freeing up for possible money to get Tyler Linderbom, the free agent center who was tremendous out of Iowa, had a

wonderful career so far with Baltimore. So Tom Pelliserro is now reporting that it is a done deal. the bills are sending a 2026 second round pick to the Bears for DJ Moore and a 2026 fifth round pick so I think that that is important to note as well two draft picks for DJ Moore and now DJ goes to an MVP quarterback and Josh Allen

and his former offensive coordinator with the Panthers Joe Brady who is now part of the staff of course as we know in Buffalo big news the fact that it was a second round pick despite how high he was was paid. The familiarity with Brady, I'm sure, helped. And then now Buffalo has their their WR1. I think that's pretty good. I think that's like, I don't think that's an insulting

getback for the bears right there, 2026 second round pretty good. And then add in the fifth rounder as well. The way it had been sounding from what I was hearing, it was going to be lesser than that. So it was good to hear. I'll take that. I'll take that for DJ more. So let's go to our phones. 312, 644, 67, 67 here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie on the score. We'll do it the next segment as well as we roll through. Let's start with, who should we start with? Jeremy in Albany Park. Jeremy, you're on Rahimi Harrison Grotie.

Hey, thanks for taking my call. You know, I totally get the business side of this. I just feel like as a Bears fan, it's like we can't have nice things in some ways, and I know that this can free up money. But going into the offseason, I think about players that inspire confidence in DJ Moore, Drew Dalman, and I'm just like riding off the high last season.

I'm like, you know, these are great players. and I know this makes sense. I totally get it. But DJ Moore, you know, obviously that last, you know, playoff game not so great. But you look at what he did and was just a, I think, a safety net for Caleb Williams. So I think it's going to be a huge loss.

And I'm definitely bummed about it. I think you speak for a lot of people, Jeremy. There's a reason why I still thought he was the Bears number one receiver. He was the one who could be trusted the most, especially when the game was on the line. He was a really good player for the Chicago Bears. Like I said when the news broke, that was a good. He's the 17th best wide receiver the franchise has ever had and made monumental,

historic catches, had some great years when it didn't matter as much, but he was terrific with Justin Fields and a clear number one at that time. I'm still thinking about right now about other bears who potentially could get traded if the reports are correct that the bears could still be willing to deal. And unfortunately, there's a name that popped up on the text line. And the texter is right. Cole Comette has always been vulnerable in this cycle. He'd be an $8.4 million cap savings.

We know that Tremaine Edmins, if they can get him off the books, that's another $15 million cap savings right there. And then you go to DeAndre Swift as well, $7.47 million in cap savings. So you got to look at those three guys right there. Yeah, that's what I was saying about Kevin Fishbane's story that Cole Comet was mentioned as a possible cap casualties. I kind of thought he was in a safe place now, but then all of a sudden, not so much. Well, I was going to say, I wonder if he gets traded as well.

312, 64, 64, 67, 67 is our number. We go to Colin in Northfield. Colin, you're on Rahimi Harrison Grody. Hey, hey, guys. How's it going? Good, man, how are you? This call is no longer being recorded. You know.

We're recording your call, just so you know. Yeah, we are. We're getting all of it. No, go ahead, man. What's on your mind? For crying out loud, some jagoff while I was waiting, told me to hit record because they wanted me to send it to him. But thank you for them.

Yeah, we can't be saying that on the air. So guess what? Your buddy and you. Something was a miss. Now released from our care. Let's go to Tony and Joliet. Tony, you're on Rahimi Harrison Grody. Hey, friends.

I'm Grote. Tony! Love you. Same. It was an absolute dagger when I heard it because I believe we had that one guy that was going to, we had Ben, but we had Galman.

And what he did in Kansas City, and we got him young, and I'm like, this guy is awesome. He's going to develop Caleb. I don't think how, we don't realize how important that guy was with what his history is. And to be healthy, and to be where he was to do that to us.

I know you guys. I know we don't know why he's leaving, so you don't want to be saying something and then look back like, oh, man, I didn't know that. But a guy with that pedigree and background and family background, if there was something else, I think he would have put it out. So we would understand.

So nobody's going to be like, oh, you screwed us. Now what are we going to do? He basically took us out of the Max Crosby conversation. It killed us. And just as our bears are looking like, man, this is looking great. Now all of a sudden, DJ's going to Buffalo, where they could be there next year.

We could be seeing DJ in the Super Bowl next year, and we're trying to replace players because this guy left us. I feel like he abandoned us. I feel like I don't know how to describe the hurt I have with this because we were flowing towards a couple days ago before this broke guys. We were a favor to get Max Crosby now.

I don't know how we make that move go. it's just a real sad day. We still got a foundation. I still love our receivers. But, man, DJ was our best one. The catches he made in those games were some of the greatest moments in my Chicago Bears history.

And guys, I love you. Just a real hard day for fans. And I just feel like, I just feel like I'd love to know why the guy's leaving. But, man, I just say, whatever money we can get back off of him, if it turns out, he just decided, yeah, I want to be mechanical engineer.

I don't want to do this anymore. Well, you should have known that before you signed with us because we could have done something else. Now we're going to have to get Lindelbaum, and what are we going to do after that? So yeah, just very disappointing. Thanks for taking my call. I love you guys. Show is great as always.

Tony! See you, buddy. Thanks, Tony. So to summarize, Tony thinks that the Drew Dalman news led to the DJ more trade happening or perhaps the Bears being more motivated to make it happen. And I don't necessarily know that that's. wrong. I think that it's fair to understand how much of a game changer Drew Dalman's retirement was for the entire scenario, especially

given the price of offensive linemen. And let's face it, wide receivers get traded a lot in the NFL. So we understand that as well. Big name receivers switch teams. We just saw Stefan Diggs, by the way, get reportedly released. On the move again. So this is something that happens where your big name receivers, they travel, unfortunately, just part of the discussion. And Tony, just so you know, because he mentioned what it means for the Bears with the Dolman part, they do save $10 million in Cap room with Dolman having left. Right. So 312, 644, 67 is our number.

We are going to forego halftime for this breaking news. DJ Moore to the Buffalo Bills. We now have the terms of it thanks to Tom Pelliserro telling us a second round pick and a fifth round pick this year. These are both picks this year coming from Buffalo. below more with your reaction next.