Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Best of the Bears: Will Tremaine Edmunds be a salary cap casualty?

Episode Date: February 14, 2026

In the Best of the Bears this week, Leila Rahimi and Marshall Harris discussed the possibility of linebacker Tremaine Edmunds being let go to free up more salary cap space; Dan Wiederer of The Athletic joined the Mully & Haugh Show to explain why he expects the Bears to have a rather quiet offseason compared to recent years; and Mike Mulligan and Brad Biggs outlined the details of quarterback Caleb Williams being eligible for a contract extension after the 2026 season.

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. Lela Rahimi,

Marshall Harris, Mark Grody, Rahimi, Harrison Grody on 1043, the score. Down over the middle. The interception of the year last week. His fourth put six on the board. and gives the bears the lead. That is courtesy of Fox. This is Rahimi Harris and Grody on 104.3, the score.

And Tremaine Advins, despite being on injured reserve, still did work. He still had the most tackles of any bear this season and the regular season, despite being on injured reserve. 112 combined tackles, hit 61 solo tackles, 51 assists. That's how you get to the number. The four interceptions, as we've mentioned. Tremaine Edmonds had the season that I think a lot of us thought the Bears would get out of him with the Matt Eberfluse defense. It ended up happening with Dennis Allen's.

I want to say, Tremaine Edmund surprised me this year. Yeah. Because I kind of cast him off as a guy who's just underperforming based on the contract. And then obviously you connect him directly with Roquant Smith and understand this is an all pro player in Baltimore that you're comparing him to. And at some point, you're like, well, why didn't they just get? give Roquan the money to stay. And we're not going to move up to draft and all the off-ball linebackers.

Yeah, but to see him actually come through and look like the guy for the 13, I know he missed four, he missed four games, but for the 13 games to look like the guy that you thought that they were acquiring, that was good news for the Bears and a stabilizing force. Remember,

on a Bears team that had a secondary in serious flux. And not just a secondary in serious flux. Like, there's a reason we're calling him one of the most productive bears and the most productive linebacker for sure. T.J. Edwards was plagued by injury this year.

Unfortunately, the most scary looking one happened during the playoffs as we saw, you know, with the broken leg. Noah Sewell ended up going out for the rest of the year with the Achilles. You know, there were so many bad injuries that the linebackers suffered as well. And

for Tremaine Edmins to step up and also have the season that, again, I think that's why the bears wanted him. You know, he flourished and he didn't say much when it came to why he wasn't producing before. But alluded, I think, in very subtle ways to being put in a better position to succeed this time around. And Kevin Fishbane, our friend from the athletic, did a story on the bear's tough spot that they're in under the salary cap. I know it's more flexible now. And I know it's going north of $300 million, which is a great thing for everyone. But the bear's

have so much money committed to players that there are very likely some cap casualties that are going to have to occur. Edmonds is possibly one of them. According to over the cap, the bears ranked 24th in available cap space and are $5 million currently in the red. So they're going to have to be some tough decisions that are made. Edmonds making $17.44 million in the cap hit just this last season and it makes you wonder what's going to happen. It's the fact that you look at where he is compared to other linebackers at his specific position. He's the fourth highest paid one. And so you have to weigh what you got out of Tremaine Edmonds this season against the value of what you're paying compared to what other

teams are paying that same position. I know the salaries are going to go up, as you mentioned, because of the salary cap, but you still have to look at what are our priorities as an organization position-wise? Because we know what? what's going on with the secondary, specifically the safety position, and where can we shave some money off? And I'm sorry, but he's the most obvious candidate just because of where we are in his contract, the timing, and the structure of the contract. Yeah, it's the difference between that cap savings and the dead money. That's the key here. And as we see in Kevin's article, and he included a lot of nice graphics, too, on the athletic if you want to check it out. It's $15 million for

Trayne as we mentioned in cap savings. 2.437 million in dead money. That ratio is high. It's a low amount of dead money for the amount of savings that you can get. Two other names that deserve to be mentioned here on this list. Cole Commet is an $8.4 million cap hit. That's $3.2 million in dead money, so more than Edmonds. And then DeAndre Swift.

I don't know why they would want to do this necessarily unless they see a clear upgrade at the position. 7.47 million in cap savings that would lead to only 1.33 million in dead money. And that's when this gets hard. You know, we knew at some point that would happen. Think about the fact that Kevin Byard is up for free agency, the league leader in interceptions in 2025's regular season, Nashad Wright is a free agent,

Jaquan Brisker is a free agent, all four of the safeties are. So throw Jonathan Owens in there as well. There are some very tough decisions on the defensive side of the ball It had to be made. And as we've mentioned before, because of all the money you're giving to your line right now. So my first question is, what do you think the conversation is like right now, specifically between Ryan Poles and obviously C.C. Ben Johnson, but Dennis Allen. Yeah.

And Dennis Allen getting what he needs. He's a guy who moved, switched those guys position-wise. We can talk about Tremaine Edmonds switching his linebacker position from what we had seen. with T.J. Edwards, and clearly, when they were both healthy, and it was limited, they were more effective in whatever Dennis Allen drew up systematically. But I want to know after seeing a season of him and really only a flash, a burst of some of the other guys like Tyreek, what does he think about the way the bear's defense looks, especially since Shemar, Turner. Like the draft guys he even got didn't really contribute. Yeah,

Shemar Turner out for the year, as we know. Zay Frazier. Ruben Hippolyte. Didn't do much. He was a healthy scratch many times. And when he did play, he got injured in the game he played in. Right. So that didn't help. And he was far down the list. Yeah, it's not good, which is why I wouldn't necessarily give the draft. And hey, but that's another segment we're doing later today. I think it comes down to knowing that you can extend some people, right? Like you can extend a restructure. The more years you have left on the deal, the more you can kick that money out. So that's the concept that we heard Mike Florio talk about. Does Kyler Gordon fit into that? You know, do you want to commit to more years for Kyler Gordon? Do you want to restructure some of that

salary as a signing bonus? That's a possibility. We saw them do that with Joe Tuny on the other side. He gets an extension and they're able to move some money. around for him. So you go with the players that you can. T.J. Edwards, maybe you can do that with his as well. If you want to. Dio O'Donbo. I don't think you'd do much with Dio right about now. He's one year in. Yeah, but no, that's what I'm saying. So the years left on the deal, you can do more when it comes to restructuring and freeing up money. But you're going to have to have some odd man out. You know, somebody's, there's a bunch of people on this team who were deals. you know, like Nashon Wright was a deal.

Tremaine Edmonds ends up being more of a deal because of the performance he just had. And as we mentioned, that cap money hit is not much. So Dennis Allen, I guess you have to start with, I start with a line of scrimmage and then you move backwards. But when your secondary was the most productive unit you had,

it's a very tough thing to do. The Bears made the playoffs, not just because of Caleb Williams and the offense is an ascension, but because of the turnovers they created. And when you talk about the secondary being the most productive unit you have, what you're not saying is that front was the least productive unit they had. And that's on both sides of the ball.

That's on special teams. I'm sorry. Amontes what got to double-digit sacks? Austin Booker. But to the price of $25.085 million next season? Like that's the issue. Jalen Johnson, by the way, at $25 million. But at least Jailen Johnson was hurt and came back.

And that was more understandable based on track record the path that Jalen Johnson took this particular season. Dio Dainbo, 20 and a half million for next year. Grady Jarrett, 18.9. Jonah Jackson, 19.5. I'm not mad about that. And when you look at the positional rank for some of these guys, like Dio Dingbo getting the 14th most salary, like 14 is not high. 14 is about league average if you think about it.

But what I'll say is, you got it. to get that type of production from those players when you pay them the money. You got to be at least getting the money that you're paying them that value in comparison to what other guys are getting paid around the league. 6-30, this is Adrian in Oceanside. He's a texter who texts regularly. Wouldn't a restructure for Edmonds make more sense? Cutting him would create a need for two linebackers because Edvers is hurt.

Oh, I'm aware, but he doesn't have the years to work with here. So that's what makes it so tough. You've got to think about it in terms of restructuring for the years remaining on the deal. So that's why this is tricky. Yeah. And trying to figure it out, I like that we have Mike Floreal on because he explained how they try to maybe over-dramatize the restructuring of contracts because the clause is there. We can restructure your contract to suit salary cap purposes. It's less about the actual idea of restructuring and maybe even about waiving.

It's more about can you evaluate the talent if you were to waive a Tremaine Edmonds to say that you're going to get that level of production from someone else. And to be clear, this next season is the last year of Tremaine Edmonds's contract. That's why this is hard. And usually you get to the last year of a contract, it's like, well, are you going to extend him or are you going to let him walk or are you going to cut him? Those are like, that's a specific heading into the last year of a contract thing in the NFL. because you'd rather cut a guy early than late, and you'd rather get something for him than not. Yeah, that's the other piece of this.

The hard part, too, is also, as much as we've talked about the fungibility of, say, the running back position or the safety position, it's also a linebacker in a way. The Bears thought that Roquan Smith was replaceable. Definitely expendable almost. They tried. They tried.

They did not do a good job of... They did not replicate. Yeah. The performances are two different things. Granted, Baltimore has a better front, but how many teams don't have a better front than the Bears? Let's be honest. How many teams don't have a better front?

Yeah, that's a good question. Or at least more effective, right? More consistently effective. On a team that you expect, like if you're going to have 11 wins, if we go through all the teams that have at least 11 wins, where do you think the bear's front ranks? Oh, man. That's the equation.

Yeah, that's what makes us hard. Because the ultimate lesson learned from this past Super Bowl, and really the last two, is how important line play is you got to be able to protect on an offensive line, but also you have to absolute monsters on defense. That's how the last two Super Bowls were won with absolute monsters on defense. Well, and building from the trenches out, you know, and they thought that they had, they thought they had at least paid a lot for their trenches. And that's why this is so tricky too. You know, when you've got guys on rookie deals who are cornerstones and they're on the line, makes your life a lot easier. At least you've got Darnel right on one side.

But he's going to get really expensive quickly too. Yeah, he's going to get expensive. Caleb's going to, this window is so important right now. This is one of those years, this is one of two years in which you can do more than you're going to be able to do after the next two seasons, a whole lot more because of the flexibility of the rookie contract of the quarterback. The other part of this too is, you know what I'd really like to have if I have all these tough questions facing my salary cap.

An assistant general manager, Phil Ian Cunningham's spot. They need one of those? Yeah. You think you need more eyes on scouting, especially when your draft board is going to have to be a lot different now that you pick lower in the draft, for example? I'll be surprised. Wow. I'll be seriously. I'll be seriously surprised if they don't have a new assistant GM by the end of next week before the combine.

Don't make that bet with Mark Rody. He doesn't know if they're going to fill the job. At all? Yes, for the career. I can't see them not filling the job unless they're just going to redistribute titles in another way. You've got to have a certain number of people doing a certain number of jobs because that's the way front offices work. They do have a cap dude at the Bears. Like, don't look up Bears' cap dude.

I don't think you're going to get the result you want. But you're saying they have a dude. They do have a dude, yeah. So it will be interesting to see what they do to get their front office hole and their coaching staff whole for that matter. I understand it's Matt Feinstein. So he's the vice president of football administration. And he spent his last five years as director of football administration. And now he's been promoted.

I don't know that cap dude is part of the title there, but everybody's got a cap guy. Yeah. And sometimes the cap guy has wield more power than some situations than others. and then that guy has to leave when it's time to go home, see Minnesota Vikings. Yeah. Play the buzzer. And lives in my head rent-free most of the time. Coming up next, it is halftime.

And boy, do we have something for you? The Seahawks Parade and their social media posting were both really entertaining. And we might have to play some other sound effects too. Next. Dan, good morning. How are you? I'm good. I feel like you guys are about a year away from being in hologram form in my kitchen when I wake up in the morning. So I'm eager for that next transit. Can we do that?

That sounds like good technology. Yeah, it's coming soon. So listen, loved your story about the offseason, loved your story, always interested in salary cap and implications and you broke it down and you had three guys that conceivably you could save money on. Now, you know, we know there's many different ways to lower cap, to create cap savings. You can extend people, whatever it may be. You're kicking the can into the future. I don't know how they feel about that. But the fact is they are tight on the salary cap.

And Mr. David has a dream of Max Crosby, so they're going to have to clear some dough. That dream may stay in the nighttime hours, in the dreamland. for a while. I do think that I thought Bigsy said it well yesterday that you have to be careful in not sort of equating win now mode to now or never mode, right? Like what you're trying to do here is you're trying to get this window

open to contend for the next 10 years. And you want to be in the playoffs with a shot, you know, 80% of the time over the next decade. In order to do that, you have to take a big picture view of every move you make. And so you have to just be very careful with, you know, thinking that you're one piece away, one of the things that really struck me yesterday,

we get beyond the Super Bowl and you start to see the odds for next season. And the Bears are like on most lists, they have like the 13th or 14th best odds to win next season's Super Bowl. And so it's not like they're in this rare air where you're like, okay, they're one of the three teams that's got to go now to get this thing done. And so I do think you just have to be very cognizant all the time about the big picture. Well, definitely. I think that's smart. But I also think you don't confuse what I'm saying in terms of opportunity with the increased sense of urgency.

I believe that they're both here. And you have an urgent tone always to an opportunity to get better and to go further in the playoffs. And I think when you have a disgruntled player who is at an all pro at his position, I do think that you have almost an obligation to explore that to its full. its extent. And if that means considering two first-run draft picks and whatever player you might want to discard as part of a package, it's worth discussing and

it's worth getting your cap to the point where you can absorb that big of a salary if in fact you're able to pull off that deal. I understand the limitations and the peril with that kind of approach. But I also think that

you've got to play it through or at least explore that in conversation when we're sitting here in the middle of February. So I'll say two things. Number one, the Packers last year did everything that you are talking about here. They had to give up two first round picks and a three-time pro bowler, plus guarantee Michael Parsons, you know, $47 million annual average value on his contract in order to get that done, and then they won nine games.

Okay. So now you have some pieces that you're missing for the future because of this move you made. In order to clear the salary cap space that you're talking about having to clear for the acquisition of a Max Crosby, you're putting significant weight on your future caps, whether that's 2007 or 28 or 2009, where when that weight comes down on you, now all of a sudden you're in a world a hurt. And so again, like, I'm all for the discussion, but when you play it out and you go practically through all the things they'd have to do to even put themselves in position to even start a conversation with Las Vegas, you see how heavy of a lift it would be. And it just doesn't

feel practical for this team at this time that's got, you know, other areas that they need to address. And again, they've made so many big ticket expenditures over the last couple years that you have to acknowledge that some of their growth has to come from return on investment of what they've already invested. Do you remember having the same cautious tone, which is appreciated and understood when they were discussing whether or not to trade for Khalil Mack? Yes. And, you know, how many playoff games did they win when Kalil Mack got here? Would you have given back, in retrospect, would you have not made that deal? I think I still would have made that deal, 10 out of 10 times.

Because they gave up two ones and a top of the market contract, right? Like, Khalil Mack, I think the day that he arrived in Lake Forest was the highest played defensive player in history. And it just, the dividends weren't there, right? Like we had similar excitement when they traded for DJ a couple years ago. And I was like, man, Chicago's never seen a receiver of this caliber, maybe with the exception of Brandon Marshall. coming into town like this is going to be it you know you go back to when they traded up in the

draft to get justin fields it was like oh this is the time is now we got the quarterback you know these trades that they give you this this right immediate adrenaline jolt but you have to have this this idea of this league and what the formula is for sustaining success and there's a lot that goes into that you know a couple thoughts on that damn one would be um my god adam schafter reported yesterday they may go five years out with draft picks, which to me is like, that's the only thing keeping the car on the road. You've got no constraints if you're going five years out. There are going to be teams that just, you know, you've got to protect people from their own idiocy. GM will be here in five years. Yeah, what is exactly right? So now all of a sudden you've got a GM who's on the hot seat

who's trading away draft picks for a future GM. Oh my God. Because he's got to, he's got to win now or be done. And so you make these crazy deals. And it's going to get wild. And that's, you know, it's going to be, it's going to be awesome if they do that for social media. Oh, I mean, listen. Now people can come up with the dreamiest of dream scenarios and, and it's all in play. But in terms of building a winning football team, it's not, it's not right. But here's the problem with it. Like, how do you judge the value of draft pick? That's the first one. In other words, I'll give you next year's one for a second round pick this year. That's the cost.

So what does that mean? I'll give you my 2032 first rounder for your fifth round pick. Like, I mean, I don't know how you even market that or kind of intellectualize it. The math becomes an issue. Ben Johnson, thank God. He'll run through it in his head and tell you the answer. I just wonder if you look at stuff like that, you say now every player becomes more valuable. In other words, you give me two first rounders and a defensive tackle,

and I will give you Micah Parsons. Now it's give me four first rounds for them, right? I mean, don't you just, doesn't it kind of make the value of everything kind of out of whack, too? Well, it changes everything. And so, again, like I think it's great for the machine that the NFL is and trying to keep everyone's attention for every second of every day of the calendar. but it does create some mind fields that, you know, teams would have to walk through very cautiously and try to figure out how to do things, you know, with discipline, I guess, and with practicality,

and that's not always easy to do in this league. Okay, now that you shut that down, Mr. Practicality, what would you like the Bears to do in this off-season, and where would you like them to begin? Yeah, I mean, I really think that the two places that come to mind is, I really do think you need more teeth to your pass rush. And I think some of that may have to come from what you do on the interior of your defensive line and how you address that and try to find somebody that can be a disruptor, a consistent disruptor in there, because that was missing this year to a large extent. And then I think you just have to find some creative way to address your left tackle position

because I think we're all in agreement that it's just in a world of uncertainty right now that's not comfortable as you go forward. And look, like you're going to be able to lean into continuity of the quarterback and the play caller and the other 10 guys on your offense that you're likely to bring back for 2026. But that's a pretty important position that you want to be able to have confidence in when you go to the starting gate of 2026. And so we'll see what kind of direction they're able to go in that way. Dan, we get a lot of people that want to know if they could trade DJ more. And you get rid of that contract and then you get a couple of first round. here's the thing.

You know, getting rid of that contract is the payment for trading DJ more. So you could trade them and you could get a pick back. I'm not sure you get a first round pick. And I'm not sure what kind of pick you get. And I don't, I'm not sure what the whole market is. I just think that you say things and you come up with plans. What I loved about your story is you break it down. Here's who you can conceivably cut and save money with.

You can trade other people, but it's difficult to get. the value that you have for that person unless their salary is more manageable if you trade them. Well, and, you know, people see the DJ contract as one like, oh, it'd be good to get that contract off the books. Well, you have to have another team that's willing to take that contract on. And he's signed for another four years. Now, there's obviously exit paths, you know, beyond the next couple here where you can get out of that early.

But you've got to find somebody that feels like DJ is that good that you want to give up not only draft capital, but you want to take on a contract that, you know, runs through 2029. And so I, I just don't know what the market would be out there if that was something they desire to do to begin with. And so, look, like, this is going to be an interesting offseason. I think, like, we've been accustomed here the last few years to see in the bears, like, in the center of the beehive of everything that goes on in February and March and April. And they may be in a position now where they're not in that same space. And that's a good thing, because you're not, like, in this world where you have to to make these big splashes in the spring to be able to compete in the fall.

You have a team that obviously is just won a division, and so it might be a little bit quieter, and that may feel uncomfortable to people that are accustomed to the, you know, the dopamine hits of February, March, and April. But, like, just be ready for this to be a little bit less of a headline grabbing offseason than we've had the last few years. So who do you think, to summarize or clarify, who do you think is in the most roster jeopardy based on his contractual status?

I mean, it feels like Tremaine Edmonds is the guy that the conversation has to be had the heaviest on, right? Like, you've got to determine whether that $15 million of cap space savings would be beneficial to you to address other positions. It's the most obvious move to make if you feel like that money helps you get better in other areas. You got to remember, the bears have 22 unrestricted free agents in their building right now, you know, with contracts that expire in less than a month now. And so you've got to make your pecking order of which of these guys do we absolutely want back. And if so, what's the market to get them? And so that's going to be the first piece of the puzzle here. And it's a list this year, guys, right?

Like you start obviously with Byrd and Nashan Wright. You've got Jaquan Brisker on there. Braxton Jones is a question because of what we talked about at the left tackle position. There's Andrew Billings and DeMarco. Like there's a lot of in-house guys here that are CJ Gardner Johnson that you have to determine whether it's a, you know, thanks for stopping by. You've been great. or, yeah, we definitely want you back to be part of this next run. It's funny because I think that, you know,

one of the things that Olin said after the end of the season that stayed with me was this idea that, you know, if you're one player away, maybe he's already on the roster. Maybe you've got enough talented players you can develop and you can get them better. Can Theo Benedict with an offseason get good enough to cover for you at left tackle? Is he good enough to do that? He wasn't in – And the playoffs, we know that, and they made a different decision.

So that's one out there. Booker is another guy who came on late in the season. Can you solve your pass rush issue internally? The answer might be no. And I think the idea of going out and getting someone to help is a great idea, especially when you see the last couple Super Bowls and how dominant. I'm saying maybe you get a pass rush. Maybe you get an inside guy in the second round.

The draft could bail you out with young talented defensive linemen if you get it right. Otherwise, you've got guys that are on the verge of being gone already. Well, and this is why we talk about return on investment, right? And the investments already made. And you look at the defensive front, like Montez Sweat has got to continue to play next season as he did for chunks of this season. Dioa Dangbo has got to be much better and much healthier than he was. first season as a bear. Grady Jarrett has to be much better and much healthier than he was in his first season as a bear. You've got to get something out of a second round pick like Jervon

Dexter to take a developmental leap that impacts games that helps you win. Austin Booker, a guy that you felt like you've got to steal in a couple years ago, he's got to become a more complete football player. We saw flashes and we know that he can disrupt and impact the quarterback, but now that's got to become a regular occurrence. And so like, that's why everybody's always looking for the next new piece. You've got to see what you already have. You've got to see what you already have and get the most out of what you already have, particularly when you've invested. Again, these aren't like bargain fines with most of these guys. They went out and put some big money behind a lot of these guys, and now you've got to get

them to perform up to what you thought they were going to be when you brought them into beginning. Shemir Turner. I mean, I'm wondering. Samar Turner, good one. Dan, when would you know what the medicals are? That's the problem. And do you have to anticipate, okay, we need help at defensive tackle because we don't

trust this guy at his age getting back and getting healthy with Grady. This is an awesome discussion because, you know, we just came out a Super Bowl week where everyone in Santa Clara was trying to convince the world that, you know, the bears were basically just in the waiting room for the next Lombardi trophy. You know, like, nobody can stop talking about the bears. They're the next team to shower in the confetti. And then you start digging into the details. And you're like, holy cow, there's a lot here. What I love about Ben, the first coach that I've been around in my time on this beat that has been so emphatic in acknowledging the reality of this league. And then acting accordingly with the understanding of like, this is really freaking hard.

And it's hard from, you know, February when you're trying to put your roster together in a sensible way, to the time you get the training camp and you've got to prepare for the season, to the time you're in the fourth quarter of these close games. Like every step of this journey is really hard. And you mastered a lot of the hard stuff last year and you still only made it as far as the divisional round, right? And so like that message is going to get hammered home here all year long, even as this sort of euphoria and anticipation builds for the window. that the bears could potentially be opening.

Why is there such a rush or why are there so many people, it seems, that want to rid the bears of DeAndre Swift? Hmm. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I thought like DeAndre Swift was, for me, kind of the poster child of why this last season worked, right? Like it was a guy who was very coachable.

Totally. Unbelievable. Right? Like underrated and unbelievable. Just the guy who took coaching, understood what was asked of him, you know, fought through injury. played at the highest level of his career. Like the salary is not like this exorbitant thing that's weighing you down.

I think it's just a little bit north of $7 million for this next season. Yeah, I don't know, David, why that's out there. But I don't know that that's necessarily shared inside the building by the people that matter. And I think it was interesting the minute the postseason ended, Ben Johnson, among the things he talked about, catch the damn ball. And that is, that underscores, frankly, Roma Duneze. You know, you thought you were getting Pukkahua when you drafted the guy. He caught all these passes, all these, you know, kind of challenged balls.

And he can't do that in the NFL yet. He's got to take another step. Like, you need, you know, listen, Loveland was phenomenal by the end of the year. If that guy takes another step, you're laughing. You know, ditto with Luther Burden III. That's another guy. You know, you've got some good things going. provided it moves forward at the pace that we expect.

That's it. It's take the next step. By the way, Puka Nakua, since you referenced him, picked after Tyler Scott in that draft. I know. I know.

Just always like to bring that. Yeah, please keep mentioning it. That was awful. How good is that guy? He's amazing. But to your point, like this next step part of this equation

is a big deal for a lot of key players that are in starting roles or key reserve roles, they've got to take the next step for the team to take the next step. So will you and Kevin Fishbane carpool to Des Moines or will the athletic spring for an apartment? Kevin and I are carpooling to the Combine in a couple weeks. I don't think we have any plans for Des Moines.

And I really don't think that Des Moines is really any more realistic than the top golf out in Naperville. It's quite the duo, you and him. We both do great jobs. Dan, thank you, buddy. We appreciate it. It's fun to have the real talk, the real conversation. about what's happening here. No, it's always fun.

And it's a good discussion. It's a good spirited way to start my Wednesday. And so I've always enjoyed it. This has been another fun season. And let's keep it rolling. All right, buddy. God bless you. That is Dan Weider.

Take the North podcast with Mark Grody. It's dropped another episode. You want to keep in touch with that throughout the off season. Oh, yeah. You get the latest analysis and news, and they do a terrific job. Set up this extra point. It's time for the extra point with Moline Haugh on 114. 4-3, the score.

Will this upcoming season be the last one of Caleb Williams on his rookie contract? Will the Bears have to give him an early contract if he takes another step this season? How will they handle the upcoming expenditure? That's a great question. He's eligible for a second contract like all players after three seasons, after the completion of three seasons. It'll take two to get that done. What are Caleb's goals going to be? Because the sooner the team goes to you, the more they're thinking, they get a little bit of a discount because they have him under contract for 2027.

They hold a fifth year option for 2028. In 29, they could use the franchise tag. So it's certainly possible if he has a strong. season, but you'd want to know Caleb's thoughts on this too. In a market that just continues to explode, you've got 11 quarterbacks right now with an average annual salary that's 51 million or more. So where would he slot in and what would it look like another year out? One of the crazy things, and I don't know how the league would address it, or the teams, but there is absolutely no legitimate middle market for quarterback pay.

It's either the guys making 45 million or more basically a year, or he's on his rookie deal. The only guys that are really in between that fields this past year, Aaron Rogers. There's just not many not many guys on it. Sam Donald. Well, Sam Donald's probably, I would get,

I'm just guessing straight guess. Sam Donald signed a $100 million three-year contract with the Seahawks. I'm guessing Seattle's going to have to go to him and rework that contract this offseason. But there's no middle tier quarterback pay. and there's a whole lot of middle-tier quarterback performance. Hopefully, that's not a conversation that involves Caleb at all. It'll be interesting to see.

The Bears will have some cap flexibility in the future. And I'd be real curious to know what Caleb's goals are in that regard as well. Is Caleb's dad demanding X number? of percentage points for Bears ownership? Or how about X number of percentage in the new stadium ownership? I don't believe that's even legal.

I'm just having some fun of being a wise guy. I think Caleb Williams, and I can't blame him, is going to hold out for every last dollar he can get. And again, that's not a bad thing. He's not going to get paid for three years. That's okay. Every year, Mully, you guys know better than I do.

I cannot remember a year that the NFL salary cap has not gone up. And it doesn't go up by a million dollars. It goes up by tens of millions of dollars. So Brad's sitting at 45, and that's an accurate number. By the time we get to the point where they have to pay him, which might be after they tag him, it could be 60. Oh, Dustin, it could be closer to 80.

So my point is, the bears are going to be in a rush to try to get him to sign something, and he will be giving them the Heisman. Well, you wait and wait and you can really maximize your market. That's what, like, one of the poster boys for maximizing pay at the quarterback position is Kirk Cousins. Yeah, so he's incredible. Represented by Mike McCartney, a Chicago-based agent. Yeah.

Like they brilliantly played that game to the point that I'm surprised more quarterbacks haven't gone. on the mic for representation just because, like, Kirk Couss is the Hall of Fame of quarterback earnings. How do you get someone like Mahomes who, in my opinion, settled for less money because he was happy where he was at? I mean, he makes a ton of money. I'm not saying he doesn't, but shouldn't he make more? Isn't he worth even more than he's made?

Is Matthew Stafford going to play for, what, $40 million? this year? Does he need more money? Yeah, but does he need more? Like, does he need a like, it's, it's got, he's crazy. It's crazy. And you know what? It's the first time in a long, long time. It's the first time in a decade. There's been a conversation about, what are the the Bears going to do with this next contract for the quarterback? You know, and therefore, they're very fortunate to be in that position again, finally. Yeah, finally. So it's great stuff. It's really happy news. Whatever they have to pay, they have to pay because that's what you're doing.

You're trying to continue your development of a player who's played in every game. I mean, that is a great thing to see happen. So Caleb, stay healthy, do your job. That's wonderful, and he will improve. So I think that, but does that change your attitude about this year? In other words, if you're going to have this huge expenditure, should you make a commitment this year on say Trey Hendrickson or somebody who is available, maybe you get a one-year deal out of someone

and then you can devote, or maybe you get a two-year deal, whatever it might be, then you can devote that money to the quarterback when that contract comes up. Should you be maxed out? And I'm talking about reworking contracts and getting rid of some people if you have to

in order to make this the year where you're trying to win because you're not going to be able to do. do it as the quarterback starts dominating the salary cap. I think they're going to be able to do it as the quarterback starts dominating the salary. Like you look at the number of players they have under contract in 2027 and then more specifically in 2028. In 27 they'll be able to clear space. A year from now, they'll be able to make moves where they say, okay, well, we've got these players entering near three of a three-year contract, are they still the player that we need? And

provided that they're not all restructured this offseason to create more room, they'll be able to move on from them and create a whole bunch of space. I think in 2028, there's only 12 players under contract. But it's not just about you've got to fill all those positions. You've got to be able to draft and you've got to be developing. And they've got to fill probably more positions. this offseason and people are cognizant of that are screaming for trade for Max Crosby or signed Trey Hendrickson or do this.

Well, hey, look, there's some other needs here. Like I saw somebody put out a list of their needs and their wants, and they had listed linebacker as a want. But they had them being super active to the point where like, okay, you know, clearly as part of your moves to create some space, Tremaine Edmonds isn't with the team anymore. guess what, that makes linebacker an immediate need. Unless you think Ruben Hippolyte's going to go from being a guy that you're not comfortable

given a uniform to on Sunday to being a guy that you really like in the starting lineup. Here's the problem. That's a bad pick. Okay. They overdrafted him. He didn't do anything. You sometimes have that happen. It's not the end of the world.

And it was a really good draft form. It was a really good draft. I'm just saying that was a bad pick. It was a guy you had a need at that position, and you had overdrafted a guy, and he couldn't play the position where you needed him. That is what happened. Maybe the same thing with what was the kid's name that they took in the fifth rounder? Zay Frazier?

Zay Frazier. We'll see. Like, he's got a big year ahead of them. They're expected him. I'm saying, we'll see. Yeah. But I'm saying. No idea what to expect.

As of right now, you got nothing out of that pick. It's okay because people get hurt or people have issues, whatever it might be. but those are the two you're kind of looking at right now, wondering, well, I mean, you did a phenomenal job. Look at all these guys. But you kind of missed on those. And you're going to have a couple of those in every class. And both those guys, hey, clean slate.

What could they do now? No problem. We'll see moving forward. All right. We've got so much to get to. We're going to continue our conversation with Brad. Great to have them in this morning. You're listening to Mully and Haw.

on 1043, the score.