Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Best of the Bears: Who will get traded this offseason?

Episode Date: February 28, 2026

In the Best of the Bears this week, Laurence Holmes and Anthony Herron pondered if the Bears will find trade partners for the likes of receiver DJ Moore, linebacker Tremaine Edmunds and defensive lineman Gervon Dexter Sr.; Tribune reporter Brad Biggs joined the Mully & Haugh Show to discuss Moore’s trade market and to share what he has learned about the Bears at the NFL Combine; and Matt Spiegel and Holmes explained how quarterback Caleb Williams’ second contract is already on the mind of general manager Ryan Poles.

I'm Sally Helm with the podcast History This Week. In each episode, we serve as your eyes and ears into history's biggest events, major elections, world wars, scientific breakthroughs. But we also bring you into the smaller behind-the-scenes stories, the unsung heroes, secret meetings, even personal grudges that changed the course of history. Listen to and follow History This Week, an Odyssey podcast in partnership with the History Channel. Available now for free on the Odyssey app and wherever you get your podcasts. It's really difficult. I talked about this earlier, but especially when you win games, you create this really deep relationships and you see guys help you get to the next level.

So when you have to pick and choose and really try to live in different spaces cap-wise, it can be really difficult and it's hard to turn the emotional side off of it. But at the end of the day, we've got to do it's best for our organization. Ryan Poles has got to play a little bit of Tetris with the Bears roster and the Bears' salary cap. And so there's some things that need to be changed. Ben Johnson talked about it at the end of the year. He's like, look, this is not going to be the same team because that's what happens every year. Thanks. Now I have the Tetris theme song in my head, by the way.

Do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do boom boom boom boom boom boom. Club remix. But yeah, he's got to do that. Like, for example, you bring in Nashan Wright, and Nashan Wright is probably going to get himself a nice deal. Yeah, as I should. Three-year deal or something like that, probably somewhere around $40 million or maybe more than that.

For Nashan Wright, you have to make decisions on your safeties. You have to maybe redo your linebacker room. Because T.J. Edwards is hurt, and he's got a lot of miles on him. and Tremaine Edmonds costs too much money versus your salary cap. So you have now told his agent, if you can find a trade partner, we would be interested in talking to him. But more than likely, he's going to be cut. Let's start with Edmonds. How do you think he played last year?

And does it make sense for the Bears to go, go find a deal, Tremaine? Because I don't know if we can bring you back. I think it only makes sense because he's costly. because at 27 years old, coming off a stretch of the season, where I believe he was playing the best football of his career, before he left the lineup again with an injury. But in the chunk of the year where they moved him to Will, and he was healthy, man, was he playing well?

And that was both with T.J. Edwards in the lineup, and at times without him in the lineup. And that's where, at times, Noah Sewell has to step in and play some decent football. And, you know, you had DeMarco Jackson step in and play well, too. But Tremaine Edmonds, when healthy, that length, that athleticism, and the move to will, we saw the best version of.

We saw the version of Shemaine Edmins that the NFL had kind of been waiting for for a lot of his career because he's always been that guy. And you and I talked about it as soon as they made the move and Roquan was gone and he bring Edmonds and Edwards in. And Edmonds was the darling of that follow-up acquisition. Yep. But a lot of it was traits. And, you know, we're in the midst of the pre-draft process right now.

He's always been a really traitsy guy and a guy who's been, who's had good production, but not the elite level production that his skill set would indicate he should be having. We saw stretches of that this year, and he is only 27 years old. So old 27, though. He's got a lot of miles on him. But that being said, he hasn't had, to my knowledge, I don't think he's had some injury ravaged career either. And he's not a guy who's consistently been a part of the blitz. package in his career where he's, you know, you got to tussle with offensive lineman when you're an offball linebacker. There's no doubt about that. But his style of play is not such where it looks

like his shoulders are ready to fall off and his knees are all strapped up or anything like that. So I agree it's at 027 because of how long he's been in the league, but I still see him being a guy who's going to play beyond the age of 30 and still, you know, unless things really take a drastic turn. He doesn't look like someone who's lost a step at all yet. But yeah, he's not going to be a bear anymore because he's really expensive and they're up against the cap. With T.J. Edwards, you have an injury that is probably going to make him being available early on problematic or maybe not even the best version of himself when he does get back for the bears. That seems to now be a very serious deficiency at that position. I've looked at the free agent market for linebacker.

It's pretty decent. like there's some guys out there that can play. There are also some guys that are going to cost you a lot of money and some guys with some mileage on it, which is part of the problem. There's also a part of me that feels like the linebacker position overall has been devalued over the last couple years and more teams playing 11 personnel. But whatever, looking at the bears and where they're at,

how big of a priority should it be for them to start thinking about linebacker, both free agency and maybe even the draft? Well, to potentially lose or move on from each of those guys. And in Edwards' case, it's not like he's one of the most expensive linebackers in football, but he got re-up by the Bears a couple of seasons ago for good, for quality starter linebacker money. But the injury is the prevailing issue with him. Now, it also would make him difficult to move if the Bears were even considering moving him.

So I think T.J. Edwards is going to be a member of the Bears in this coming season, is my anticipation. but not knowing for sure what you get out of a guy who is now approaching 30 and has now had some injuries start to pile up on him a little bit, then that could be a concern for them. The linebacker room, though, that's where once money is freed up, at least now there'd be a possibility of the bears, once you go into free agency, once you sign guys,

because I don't see them drafting an off-ball linebacker early enough that you think he's going to come in and be a starter, but not only is Edwards hurt, Noah Sewell is hurt, as well. So that linebacker room that coming into the season is like, oh, maybe they're pretty deep at linebacker. But all of them ended up being ravaged by injury at different points in the season. I'm still not

convinced of what Ruben Hippolyte is. With good reason. And he missed so much time this season too. And even frankly, in his Maryland career, he wasn't a guy that made a lot of splash plays in college either. Similarly, Noah Sewell was a guy who was a high-level recruit,

had a really fantastic freshman season at Oregon, and then sort of plateaued. But he was in the midst of playing his very best football when he was healthy for the Bears this year. So when healthy, I think they can feel pretty good about Jackson and Sewell and Edwards. But they've all been heard, aside from DeMarco Jackson, but that he's the guy who maybe has had up until this season the least real opportunity to prove himself. But man, did he splash when he was out there? For Ruben Hippolyte, though, you've got to hope for that growth and that development.

And if they feel like there's something there, because they're not going to move on from a fourth-round pick in you. or two anyway, but you hope that at least as a depth piece, if nothing else, maybe as a contributor, you hope he can grow into that, but the linebacker core is tenuous mainly because of injury, because I think if all those guys were healthy, they could at least

feel like they could piece together a couple of starting off-ball linebackers they feel really good about. There's a lot of injury concerns. What do we need to consider when thinking about DJ Moore and his future as a bear? For D.D.

DJ Moore, he's been in the league for quite a while now and has been a playmaker every season of his career at this point, the perception of DJ Moore is still that there's, he's not a fully fleshed out wide receiver, but man, is he a playmaker? And so I don't think the entire league will have the same degree of interest in DJ Moore for what his contract currently is. because he's now gotten paid like one of the top playmakers in the sport. When the Bears acquired him after the Caleb situation, getting the pick, and then you make the move to bring DJ in here, and it was a great acquisition at the time, partly because of the contract that was there from Carolina. And so you got a guy who was a really good playmaker,

and you also got him at a really reasonable contract value. Then he put together a good resume, and so they've paid him like one of the top playmakers in the sport. is he valued like that by the rest of the league? I would imagine there are going to be particular teams who say yes, if they're teams that are very needy of wide receiver. I don't look at the diminished numbers from DJ Moore as being as big of concern as how other teams view a guy

who's gotten to this stage of his career and whether or not this is the best version of a wide receiver that they'll see DJ Moore play. If it is, you still have an exceptional play. but you don't necessarily have the wide receiver that a lot of the offensive minds in the sport would necessarily value at being, you know, 23 mil plus over the life of what remains on his deal to trade for not only him, but for that current contract value. That was a part of the value of getting DJ Moore here when they did.

The contract value was pristine. Now you're paying him like he's in that upper crust of true wide receiver, and that's not what he's ever been in the sport, but he's a really good playmaker. I think it's a particular offensive scheme, a particular offensive mind that looks at that contract and says, yeah, we like that value for what that guy is. How would you value Tyson Baygent if you were the Bears? He seems to me to be a guy who has more value, who should have more value to the bears than on the open market. We've got to think about it. He's had, what, four starts back in his rookie season as an NFL quarterback.

So a lot of the evaluation of Tyson Bayesian is based off of the wow factor of an undrafted quarterback that was able to vault into being the number two QB in Chicago every season of his career and look competent as an NFL starter. And the phrase that Ben Johnson used the other day calling him one of the top 32 quarterbacks in the league. I disagree with Ben. I think that's essentially sort of a blanket way

that in football parlance, it means he can be a starting quarterback in this league. If Ben was, like, forced to do a power ranking. He'd probably be QB 40. Something like that. And I think Ben would probably, if he did it, he would probably write it up more like that. But I think that's just his way of saying,

I think he's capable of being a starter in this league. He's worthy of doing that around this point in his career. There's a lot of guys who've started games in recent years and several games in recent years, who Tyson-Bagent can do as much as. they end up doing. But that being said, the value he has to the Bears and the fact that they've just re-uped him with his contract, to have that security as your number two, Caleb's

durability, it's great to have that confidence. But if you move on from Tyson-Bagent, then what do you have to do to replace that? Because now you are in a window where you want to win and you don't want the potential for Caleb missing a series, missing a game, missing games, plural, to potentially de-revenue. rail the window that you're in right now with this cash. So you have more faith in Tyson Bayesian than Case Keno? Because I know the Bears have invested

in Tyson Bayesian. I wouldn't necessarily say I have more faith in him than Case Keenum, but the bears have invested in him. Because how I feel about it is Case Keenom being there allows you some flexibility with Bejant that you didn't have before. That quarterback room was pretty

desolate. Where it's like, oh, it's Caleb and this guy that wasn't drafted. And I don't know what case like case came has been in the league for a long time even if he's making league minimum that's still really significant money because of how much of a tenured veteran he is like that that

even I don't he might be making more than the minimum but if he is take a look it's still a lot more than what the minimum would be for a guy on his rookie deal because case Keenham is is such a tenured veteran in the league. He's been in the league for over a decade he's well into his mid 30s right now so whatever his contract

is I mean it's not taking up a big chunk of of the cap, but third quarterback money, how long do you want to continue to pay Case Keen and whatever he's taken up to essentially be an assistant QB coach? Last year he made $2.25 million. And he's technically a free agent, but they would probably just

bring him back, depending on what happens, and then you go and you go see if you can find another Tyson Bayesian if you want. I'm not saying wait till UDFA's. Yeah, right. But maybe there's someone that you've had your eye on, you go,

there's a guy in the fifth round that we feel like can grow into something. I think, yeah, I didn't even consider it through that lens of it being maybe a drafted guy who would be your number two. Or you mean if you brought Case Keenem back as your number two and then drafted guys? Okay, I see what you're saying with that. To me, it depends on the return for Bejit. If you actually get something for Tyson, Bejit, I think that's great. I'm not clear how the- What would you consider the ceiling for, because,

My thing is you walk away with a fourth. You're ecstatic about that. I definitely agree with that. I don't think you're getting like a day one or two draft pick for Tyson and Bayesian. I don't know why the rest of the National Football League would view Tyson Baygent with that esteem. We're watching every step of his career here in Chicago and marveling at it. The rest of the NFL isn't watching every move Tyson Baygent makes and marveling at it. They've seen him start four games, go two and two, show that, yeah, the arm strength is an issue.

but yeah, he's impressive for his resume, just like Baxter Jones, impressive for his resume, just like, blanking on the defensive ends name, who started the majority of the season opposite Montez Sweat. Austin Booker? Austin Booker is impressive for his draft profile, for being a fifth round pick. Tyson Bejant, I don't think he's a darling around the national. I'd be surprised if Tyson Bejant was some darling around the National Football League

that teams were clamoring to come in, him in as a starter. He hasn't achieved at that level yet. I don't think anyone wants to bring him in as a starter, but I do think that looking at some of the situations around the league, I love to have him as part of a competition to be a starter.

Gardner Minshu has started a good amount of games during the time Tyson-Bajet has been a quarterback in the National Football League. I think that's an excellent cop for him. You can definitely get Gardner-Minshu or more out of Tyson-Bajent, but the rest of the NFL isn't like clamoring to get Gardner-Michu either. So I think that

That's the realm of how the NFL should view Tyson Bayesian, but it only takes one team. Jervon Dexter is also being dangled. His development has been uninspiring. Yeah, and it's too bad. I love going into the season last year. I got to spend some time with him on draft day and just seeing the way he reshaped his body and the commitment that he talked about. I was out there with Lou Canellis.

We were doing our draft show out of Soldier Field. Oh, yeah. Cat's feet himself. And, you know, he's certainly, he's an above replacement level defensive tackle, I guess, but he was a second round pick who the bears have been hoping would really emerge to be a stud there. And he's not that. But he's still traitsy and he's still young. And for somebody else to have the potential to come and, you know, sweep him off his feet and bring him in,

then the bears got to listen because for what he's done in Chicago and for where the bears are at cap-wise and how they want to maximize. this defensive front, you probably got to keep taking bites at that Apple via the draft. And they've done it. You just haven't had guys pan out to really become a star for you that you've drafted. Do this feel like DA kind of stepping in and saying this guy's not a fit in my defense? I think that he hasn't been a fit in either of the defenses that have been run here since he's been drafted. I think that's the problem.

I think they drafted a guy who came out of Florida playing a different type of defense and then said, hey, you know what? We know that you didn't. you guys didn't really have a three technique and we kind of want you to be that and I think that he swam like his head was swimming in the first two years. I think I think he's athletic enough to help someone in the right scheme. But I don't know that there's star potential there anymore. It's kind of like basically knowing what you're into. Like for me, I don't want to put cake in the fridge.

I know that about myself at this point in my life. leave my cake sitting out so it's moist. You put it in the fridge. I don't like my cake starting to dry up and get all frosty. A lot of folks put cake in the fridge. I don't. I know that about myself at this point. How well do the bears know Javon Dexter

and if they're prepared to move on at this point? Danny, your feelings about cake? Well, obviously, if it's got cream in it, it's a different story. But I was just reminiscing on this great pumpkin pie we had going around the holidays. It was massive and it was just on top of our stove. Just every time you walk by, just get a little slipper. A little slivered up.

Yeah, a little spoonful. You're good to go. There's no doubt about it. I mean, am I crazy? Everybody else puts cake in the fridge? I'm, and I'm with you. Last night, I was out, this is a really cool place out in Evergreen Park called Porter Cullen. And they were selling, like, homemade coffee cake.

Really? And I was like, I have to have that. Yeah. How was it? It's excellent. Hi, this is Jill Schlesinger, CBS News, Business Analyst, Certified Financial Planner, and the host of the Jill on Money Podcast. With the New Year Upon.

us there's no better time to take control of your financial life and the Jill on money podcast is here to help it's your questions that make it possible for me to provide unconventional and i hope entertaining insights on your money more importantly on your life follow and listen to Jill on money wherever you get your podcasts with brand bigs bigs time his name is big stocks football with you Welcome back. It's Mullen Haw, Chicago Sports Radio 104.3, the score on this beautiful Wednesday morning in Chicago. Clay Harbor from CHSN is in for Mully today. And welcome to our CHSN, the Chicago Sports Network audience, simulcasting till 9 o'clock. Clay Harbor wearing the CHSN swag, the hat that he doesn't take off, even when he's working out. Might need some new swag over there, Clay.

Yeah, I might need to put it in the washing machine or something. I don't know if it ruins a hat. Time now to go out to the Plumbers 911 hotline. Plumbing emergency call 1833 Plum 911. Local 130 plumbers get the job done right the first time. Brad Biggs is a football man for the Chicago Tribune and he joins us now. Morning Brad. Morning, Brad.

Morning, boys. What's going on? So yesterday we got a lot of stuff to discuss because Ryan Poles and Ben Johnson did a lot of talking. They went all through the podium to. Mike Floreo, to all the networks. So, Brad, how surprised were you? Let's start here at how open Ryan Poles was about the possibility of trading DJ Moore, Tyson Bayesian, of doing business to pare down his salary cap

and to get under the cap so he could have a roster he can live with. Well, I think he talked about being as flexible as possible and as open-minded is they can possibly be. And they're in a situation where they've got to do some heavy lifting cap-wise here in a short period of time. And so if you're willing to throw an idea at them, maybe something they haven't even considered. They'll at least listen.

And if they want the possibility of creating DJ to maybe material, realize, yeah, I think they've got to push that out there because they cannot cut DJ more and create cap savings. The only way to pull it off is to trade them, and that could be a little tricky because it's $24.5 million for this year, and if he's under contract on March 13th, which will be the third day of the league, year, 15 and a half million for 2027 becomes fully guaranteed. So you're talking about then being in a minimum for a minimum of $40 million. He played for a lot of the reasons that Bears fans look at DJ Moore and say,

hey, they got to trade him. fans of other teams might look at it and say that might not be the best move for the team and I respect DJ and what he brings to the table and I think short of getting a solid offer the Bears are going to be happy to have them on the roster this season but it just means they're going to have to find other avenues to create some of those kept

savings that they're going to require. Brad, and yesterday's article, you said that the bears are open for business and the situation as such they might end up parting with more than one player that they'd really like back. Who are some of these players? And please don't say Colquemet because, as David knows, I am the leader of the Colcomet fan club here in Chicago. Yeah, really, I don't think that's likely. but they're at a spot where you can't say impossible for most things,

but I think they highly value Cole Komet and they're not evaluating him through the lens of fantasy football statistics, okay? Or number one or number two, like Cole's value as a guy who can help you in a past game, both catching the ball, pass blocking when needed. His value in the run game was extremely high this past season, third-ranked rushing offense in the league. And I think the ability he had to handle some of those things in the run game are what allowed Colston Loveland, in part anyway, to steadily kind of gain and become more effective throughout the entire season.

I would certainly be surprised if Cole commits not on the roster this year, but you just, you almost, you can't say never to about anyone. And I would, I'd say one more thing, Cole. If I had to, you know, rank a list of possible things that could happen with Cole, I think there's a greater possibility at some point, maybe not in the next couple weeks, but at some point they consider, an extension for him to lower the cap hit, keep them, get him under contract for a couple more years,

then unload him. Now, the problem or the challenge for the team with the extension would be, he's still going to be in the prime of his career when this contract is complete at the end of next season. So I can't imagine Colcomette is looking to, you know, hand out some discounted years. starting in 2028, but that's a conversation for another day. Brad, they also were pretty open about the Tyson Bayesian conversation.

Ben Johnson delivered the funniest response the day when he coughed and said no about trading Tyson Bayesian. And yet, if there is a market that emerges and there's more than one team and there are bidders for the backup quarterback who is backing up a starter who hasn't missed a start in two seasons, you listen, as they said, what do you suspect the market is for Tyson-Bajun? And do you agree with Ben Johnson when he says that he's one of the 32 best quarterbacks in the NFL? Be able to put together a better list of those 32 through his experiences than you and I, probably. You know, the Bayesian thing's interesting to me.

A team's not going to trade for him unless he's going to – at minimum compete for the starting job, right? At minimum. So I think you have to take a look at the landscape and say, okay, how many teams out there are in the market for a starting quarterback and go through that? Then you start looking at their, okay, what are their possibilities? Like, is agent going to be anybody's plan A?

I'd be a little surprised, right? and I don't even know that someone's going to try to trade for Bayesian and just name them the starter. Like, can you imagine back not too long ago when the Bears are in quarterback limbo and they're going out and trading for the Tyson Bayton of the Houston Texans, who you've probably barely heard of, right? Do you imagine what the reaction would be? No, that's why I was surprised at how open they were about their love for him. Yeah, I just think it's, if you want to blow them away with an offer, the puck. If you can offer them a mid-round pick, how does that make the Bears better? Like, what does it do?

They took a fourth-round pick in Grafurted for Rubin Hippolyte last year. You need another fourth-round pick this year, or even if it's a three, because your case Keenham's a free agent who I think there's a possibility they'd like back depending on how the cap puzzle comes together and his level of interest but he's out the door so if if all of a sudden you trade agent now you've got one quarterback under contract and yeah Caleb's been remarkably durable like he's coming up on the most durable bear's quarterback of all time, and he's entering year three. But by golly, if something happens to him in week nine

where he's got to miss a month, and you see that happens to happen to quarterbacks all the time, and the bears hit the skids, they're not going to look too great if Tyson Bajun's in another uniform, whether he's playing or not. I think we can all agree that defensive line is one of the bigger need for the bears, and that's what a lot of the Chicago fans want to talk about. Ryan Poles yesterday didn't sound like a GM ready to make a big D-line splash, excuse me.

He said from a cap perspective, we probably don't have enough to make all that work on the D-line. And there's some situations, mostly injury, that didn't allow that to come together the way it's supposed to. After hearing from polls, do you expect them to go through, go into next season with a similar defensive line as they have this year? No, I think they're going to add to it. I mean, they've got to. And it's a remarkably deep draft for Eddressers. Like talking to people down here in Indianapolis, there's every, whatever your prototype is in terms of height, weight, length, things of that nature. You're going to be able to find it.

Now, is there a Miles Garrett? No. But it's a deep, deep group with guys coming in all. shapes and sizes. So you've got that on the edge. There's, it's a solid draft, I think, for interior defensive linemen. And it's not as deep there,

but there's some choices. And there might be a cluster of them available there around 25 for the Bears to pick from if that's kind of how they wanted to start the draft out with an interior defensive lineman. But, yeah, they're hopeful. that those injured guys will be in the mix in 2026, but by no means do I expect them to sort of lean into that as the key roll for what was missing on that defense up front.

They know they've got to add some talent and some more depth to that defensive front. Brad, what do you think that Ryan Poloz was referring to specifically or a position group or a player or players? when he was expressing the need to have more speed on his defense. Was that a problem that you felt like was obvious last year? I think everybody, every football coach that I've ever known, always wants to get faster at certain positions,

but he did make that a point of emphasis, and I wonder what you thought of that. Yeah, I think, you know, the two position groups that jump out to me just based on you look at the depth chart, because with their cap situation, it's a little difficult to, hey, well, they can upgrade here. Well, yeah, that's a great conversation about upgrading at a certain position, but they've got like blank spaces they have to fill first. So I'm thinking about safety, and I'm thinking about a linebacker.

I do not expect Tremaine Edmunds to be on the roster next season, and speed is not a question for him. He moves extremely well, especially for a guy with his size at that position. but I think we all know that T.J. Edwards, that's not his strength, right? That's when he's 100% healthy. You're not talking about his speed. You're talking about his instincts, his intelligence, being in the right place at the right time, things of that nature. So they probably want to get a little bit faster in the secondary and at the linebacker position.

And I wouldn't disagree with him, although it wasn't like a, it didn't seem to me, like a glaring problem for them. And then it's, you talk about speed, like, Michelle might plenty fast enough, but he was really tight-hipped. And so he's not a guy that turns and runs real well. But if you look at a 40-yard dash time, he cruises, right? Yeah, I think, yeah. Safety linebacker.

Yeah. I think left tackle is another interesting. position for the Bears here. And we got another name that could possibly hit free agency, Trent Williams. I know that would be a huge cap hit. What do you expect the Bears to do at left tackle? Is there someone in free agency doesn't look like there's many guys

with Schaude Walker from the Packers? Trent Williams, probably a little bit too expensive. Maybe the draft, or do they just go into next season with Theo Benedict and wait for Ozzie Tripillo to get healthy? Well, I don't think they're going to do the ladder there. I don't think that's in the cards. And it was amusing to look at all the people who thought that if Trent Williams somehow becomes available, that that's a no-brainer option for the Bears.

I mean, shoot, if they could get him and Max Crosby, you know, didn't they really be cooking, right? It wouldn't be bad. Yeah, I mean, it's a tricky spot, I think, Clay, because ultimately they want to give Ozzy a shot there down the road. And is down the road December, is down the road, 2027. I don't know right now, and they don't know. So you sort of need a bridge player to get you there.

And if you were looking for a bridge safety, no problem. You want a bridge guard, plenty available. You want a bridge right tackle, we can probably find you a couple options there. A quality left tackle that you would view as a bridge guy, he's not available. Like that guy, if he's a quality left tackle, he's going to get paid. So I think the bridge option here really, the one that makes most sense, and they'll have to get together and talk, the two sides is Braxton Jones. and that's something I've talked about since Mobile a month ago in the Senior Bowl is this could be a win-win situation for both parties.

Braxton Jones did not put together the kind of contract year that he would have hoped for coming off the injury that he suffered in 2024. So he's sort of damaged goods right now because he was never healthy this past season. so he could use a one-year kind of situation to go out and play, correct his market, enhances positioning, and the Bears could use a one-year guy to fill that gap for him. The question is, what are the coaches feel about him? And I don't know the answer to that because he was, you know, Dan Rochard never saw him healthy, right?

I'm talking fully 100% healthy. Ben Jansen never saw him. at his best. They can look at the tape. They can hear testimonials from Ryan Poles and Jeff King and others, but they never saw it. So that'll be interesting to see because I think, you know,

a guy like that, you're probably looking at ballparking at $5 million per season, maybe, which would make a lot of sense in my mind. Brad, before I let you go, found

the answer to a couple of different questions. Ryan Pohl has expressed that this wasn't, the sense of urgency wasn't about next year. The big picture approach was to sustain success and to take the approach to roster buildings so they were good for a while. And that answers the question about, you know, Trent Williams and Max Crosby and some of these go for it moves, they might resist because they're taking the long view because they can't, because they have Caleb Williams, because they have Ben Johnson. Did that strike you the same? or how would you describe just that approach that polls talked about?

Yeah, and I think they kind of dropped some breadcrumbs at the end of the season in that regard, and people just kind of, you're going to wait and see, right? Do they want to go for a bigger move or not? Because Ben Jensen, they had tremendous success in year one. He's got a quarterback going into year three. they've got a handful of other young players that performed well should be getting better you go out and you make that Crosby move

and you're giving yourself a short window and then you're going to have some you're going to have to really rectify what's going on with your salary cap and then that's too distant future and then you're in a position where your quarterback is what, near six and you're George McCasky's got a task force at Hallis Hall

going through the chairs and sofas there trying to find loose change for the salary cap, right? They're going to be in an untenable position. So they've kind of maintained that all along. They want to build something that is going to sustain and put them in position to contend yearly. I know Bears fans love to take swipes at the Packers, but guess what?

It had been in the postseason most every year, and that's the first step for the Bears. They got to prove that they can make it to the tournament every January and have the kind of roster and foundation in place to put themselves in a position, and you go swing on that older guy, It didn't make sense to me at the end of the season, and it doesn't make sense now,

especially when you look more and more closely at the roster, what it looks like in 26, what you could project ahead to 27 and 28, and then the cap situation. Great stuff, Brad. Have a great day. Take care, fellas. Welcome to Radio Rental. The scariest stories you've ever heard in your life,

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Listen for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Honestly, I think it's just like filling the energy. Whether it's here at practice, whether it's like when we show up on game, like you could just feel that energy. That energy is contagious. And, like, you know, as a player,

you're going to do everything in your power and make sure you deliver for the city because you know you have a lot of people behind you. Even when it being such a big city, it's like, nah, like they really bleed, you know, Chicago Bears out here. And it's like, you can do everything in your power to make sure you put a smile on everybody's faces because, I mean, that's just what competitors do,

you know what I mean? Obviously, you want to do it for the reasons you do it for at the same time. And when you know you have a city behind you, and when you know the people are, you know, hungry for and when, like, you're going to want to do everything in your power to deliver for it.

Tremaine Edmins in his three years with the Bears has averaged 111 tackles inside of a season, four tackles for loss, and one fumble recovery, and one forced fumble. I don't know if the statistics really talk about how good he played in spurts, but I do think a lot of people were hoping there would be more from Tremaine Edmins. And it looks like he's going to be a cap casualty unless, the Bears can find a trade partner that would like some financial control and don't want to let Tremaine go to the market because he's a good fit on their team. Tremaine is one story like that. DJ Moore is another, but I thought that Ryan Poles being the guy who took us to quarterback finances in the middle of talking yesterday kind of reminds you what's going on here. Here's Ryan Poles yesterday at the Combine, voluntarily and without prompt, bringing up Caleb's eventual extension.

I'm really fortunate to have Matt Feinstein. I think he's one of the best cap guys in the league. He gives us a lot of different scenarios for us to operate in, but also showing us the short-term and long-term effect of each one of those decisions. Because we want to stay in that sweet spot where we have maximum amount of flexibility as we move on. not only from this year, but three years down the road. I hope eventually to have a quarterback situation too where we've got to pay a young quarterback. So that comes in a play as well.

I think we're getting closer and closer to clarity and that side of things, which helps us start to build those models to make sure that, again, we're doing the right thing for us moving forward and we're not put ourselves in a situation where we've got to make really tough or bad decisions down the road that hurt us. So he's talking about he and the cap expert

having these conversations, and he's maybe not there yet, but he's certainly thinking that they're going to have to have a completely different mathematical equation when the extension comes. So you've got to think about that stuff. How soon is my question, to you Lawrence, to you Alex, to you Tanny, to the listeners, because a lot of rookie quarterbacks on rookie deals get approached after year three. Right. So after year three, like, hey, would you like to, we'll buy out. this fourth year, which is only going to pay you, what, 12 mil?

Because then Caleb is only going to be on the hooks this year for like somewhere between 10 and 11, and next year is only like 12. It for sure the extension will happen after the fourth year. I think he's 3.9% of the cap in 2027 at 12 million. And I think he's 3.4% of the cap this year. But if you want to get an advantageous deal, you might try to buy a out that fourth year, along with the fifth by the fifth year that's not going to get picked up and you end up trying to work

something out after the third year. I don't know a lot of things about Caleb Williams. But the one thing I think I know about Caleb Williams is we ain't doing no discounts. If he continues to play as well as he's played, he's going to hit for a lick. Like he's going to be, I would guess, and his draft class, like that's the other part of this. Yeah, man.

Those guys in the draft class and when they sign, like each one of them will try to be one upping the other. So it makes sense for any team to try and get a deal done before you end up having to pay the top dollar for it.

I don't suspect. Maybe things have changed. Maybe the relationship with Caleb is really good. Maybe he is feeling it and PCA can get involved and Conor Fadard and everyone else. And modest and they can convince him to sign early. I don't feel like that's what he's going to do. So more than likely Caleb plays all four years that are guaranteed

and then signs the deal after that fourth year. Risking injury in the fourth year. This is why they try to come to you, the teams, and say, hey, man, you could get hurt. And by the way, don't you want to make more than 12? We'll up that to an average of 20 or 25. That's why we have to look at Caleb as an outlier for everything. Because Homeboy's got money banked from college.

Absolutely true. Like he's not, like, I'm not saying that the money that he signed in his rookie deal was it $40 million. Like that's obviously like great money. But if you're Caleb, you didn't just walk in and have that. You already had millions and you've already had a plan for your money. Yeah. So you're not.

He's part of a group of quarterbacks that is negotiating from a place of strength, unlike any other time in NFL history. You're right. Because of NIL and because of where they are already. It's a fascinating thing. I started thinking about this when I heard polls say that yesterday. And then this morning, when I read and heard Brad Biggs talking about DJ Moore saying that if DJ's on the roster on the 13th of March, His contract is guaranteed for next season for 2027 at $15.5 million. So that's a $40 million commitment to DJ Moore over the next two years.

Yes. And do you want to put him on the books at 15 and a half for 27 when, among other things, you might be dealing with a quarterback where he's going to start to make more if he accepts your offer and you can work something out? and all the other stuff that's going on. And you might have, I mean, if we're projecting out there too, you might be in a position where you want to give Rome an extension. Correct. So how much you paying at the position?

I continue to think that DJ won't be on this team next year. And after hearing that and seeing some of the urgency and the Tremaine news today, I think that DJ is probably going to get dealt by March 13th if a trade is possible out there because they need to do a trade with DJ as opposed to doing just a cut with DJ because of all the dead cap. So a trade before March 13th is something you want to watch for with DJ Moore.

Max Crosby to the Bears confirmed. Max Crosby spoke with Caleb Williams last week on a podcast. That actually ties the room together very nicely because we're talking about contract development. What if we talked about like quarterback development? And we use the conversation that Caleb had with Max Crosby, who could be a beer, to discuss all of that stuff. It's almost like we planned it.

I know, right? We will do all that next here on the score. 1043, The Score is Chicago Sports. Chicago Sports is 1043 The Score. Thanks for keeping us the number one most listened to Sports Station in Chicago. Listen on your radio, your laptop, mobile device through the Odyssey Act, AUD, ACY, or tell your smart speaker to play 1043, The Score. We're live and local. For three, The Score.

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