Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Bill Zimmerman breaks down the Bears' defensive line problem

Episode Date: February 25, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Marshall Harris were joined by Bill Zimmerman of Westwood One Sports and Windy City Gridiron to discuss the latest Bears storylines, including their need to bolster their defensive line.

Rahini Harris and Grotie. Midday's 10 to 2 on 104-3, The Score. I got to have conversations and kind of see what, like I said, the best combination of players we can bring in. We want him here. We think highly of him. He's a great teammate. He's been productive pretty consistently over the last couple of years that he's been here. So I have nothing but great things to say about him.

But this is the time now where we have to look at all the different scenarios to see what can allow us and put the best team out there. And I've talked about this before. It's just, you know, there's relationships there. There's a lot there that make it really good stuff. But he's a guy we want here, but we have to look at all the pissing. You know, Ryan Poles, you sounded a little pensive. You sounded like you had given this a lot of thought.

And I feel like that's been the case. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104.3, the score. That was Ryan Poles. speaking on his side session yesterday at the NFL combine talking to reporters. Side session basically means you're just not at the podium. You're doing the little group to the side. That group to the side is often the people you see the most. You know, that's like the beat crew.

So that's why we have that information. And we now go to our hotline. That is where we find our friend Bill Zimmerman. Bill is the deputy editor of Windy City Gridiron. He is also the senior executive producer for Westwood One Sports. And he's nice enough to join us on Twitch. Twitch.tv.tv slash The Score Chicago. Bill, thanks for joining us.

Of course, guys. How are you doing? Well, we're good. Now that we're all together, we can talk about the search for the information that is elusive. It started with a report that you put out on Windy City Gridiron when it came to the possibility of an injury settlement for Dyer-O-Dangvo, which is a separate topic in and of itself.

But then became all of us trying to start. search to find out which Achilles Dio O'Damebo tour in 2021 leading up to his draft. And we've had a lot of people look, please don't use AI on this because the combination of words and the fact that he's had two Achilles tears is what makes this really tricky. In my sourcing, I can't find which Achilles it was in 2021. All I see is in his A. I don't think in Marshall's sourcing either and in yours. So everybody, let's check.

I have not found it yet. I also have not found it, Bill, and I think because of when it happened and it just never was asked specifically because it was before the draft that people just never got around talking about which leg it was. Have you found it? I was never able to get anything clear on that either. And it does, it doesn't, it's not critically important, but it is significant enough that it is something I think we'd all like to know. Well, and here's the point. and you and I were texting about this. What if it is the right one both times?

Because in November against the Bengals, it was the right Achilles. If it's the right Achilles both times and a guy who's six foot five, who you depend to have speed and burst as an edge risher, that doesn't seem good to me. It wouldn't seem good to me either. And by no means am I any kind of medical expert. But, you know, I try and talk to people who are and people who are in that world and know that world well.

And, you know, what I'm getting is if it's the same leg twice, that that is far from ideal. Look, the best case scenario, I guess, would be that he's torn both his Achilles tendons. That's not exactly something that football players would want either. But the way I kind of understand this is he's looking at a nine to 12 month rehab. And next season, or I should say this season here, 2026, he will not be as effective as he was in 2025. And we certainly know he struggled in 2025. That rehab is not to get him up to 100%. That rehab is to get him up to maybe 80, 85% of what he was last year.

If it's the same leg, that 9 to 12-month rehab probably pushes from what I understand closer to the 12-month side. And then you certainly have to wonder with two Achilles tears in the same leg, how much that affects his burst, how much that affects how he's able to play, because that's certainly going to be a compromised leg. Okay. And then that's what kind of we were discussing. Bill in a previous segment in our 10 o'clock hour, that was at 1025 or so.

We were talking about, is the timeline enough to let you know which one it is? I just don't feel comfortable enough, though, based on what Ryan Polson to infer whether or not he toured the same one twice. Yeah, I think, you know, we're going to kind of probably be left in the dark here. We know it's an injury situation, and especially this is an injury situation from before he was a Chicago Bear before he was even at Indianapolis Colt. So if that's something he wants to keep under wraps, that's certainly not going to be something that's going to be easily dug up.

And like I said, I don't know if it's critically important because I think either way, you're talking about a player who is not going to be at his same effectiveness level from a year ago. And of course, a year ago, he was not an effective football player for the Chicago Bears. So it's kind of a question, is it a slightly longer rehab? Is it slightly, instead of him maybe being seven, 75, 80% of himself? Is he, you know, 65, 70% of himself?

I think it definitely has an impact. But it's not like, from the way I understand it, it's not like it's career ending if it's the same leg twice, but it could be career altering. Bill Zimmerman, the senior executive producer for Westwood One Sports Deputy Editor for Wendy City Gridiron, joining us here on Rahimi, Harris, and Grotie. And Bill, I agree with you that that might not be the critical part. The critical part is what we heard from Ryan Poles and talking about him,

being an expected contributor next year, despite the fact that this Achilles tear took place in November of last year. And so we are looking at a timetable where clearly Ryan Poles thinks he can contribute in a year's time or maybe even less than a year's time. And as we know, with Achilles injuries, that's not usually how that works. It's usually the second year back from an Achilles injury when a player looks more like himself if he ever gets back to being, quote unquote, himself. Yeah, I think that that's the big issue here is the Chicago Bears,

I think they very much understand that they have a defensive line problem. And if they are going to make a jump to be, you know, and obviously playoff, great season, everything, that next jump to really be in that next tier of Super Bowl contending teams, they need a defensive line, they need a disruptive defensive line. They have a lot of money committed to this defensive line already. And of the three big contracts, two of them are aging really terribly.

and of course the Dio O'Dangbo one is at the top of the list. So if you're talking about O'Donbo being a contributor, despite the contract, to me, you have to look at him as a rotational player. And if they're just committing extra dollars to this defensive line for a year before they can get out of O'Dangbo and potentially Grady Jarrett, I think that's what you have to look at it if you're Ryan Poles. You can't look at this guy as anything close to a starting caliber player, even though that's what you signed him for.

So I think the bears need to look at this. understand that they need to make at least one, maybe two significant moves on the defensive line. And if you have really expensive rotational players, that's the way it needs to be in 2026. Bill Zimmerman, making a good point, when you branch out to the defense overall, knowing that guys like Deshaun Wright, Kevin Byard, have to get more money, knowing that T.J. Edwards is unhealthy right now. You know, he's suffering from that broken leg injury. Noah Sewell, Achilles tear. How do you consider the defense as a whole knowing that you're spending so much money up front? Well, and I think that's where the bears need to be careful. And we know they can open up

a ton of money if they restructure some contracts and move stuff into bonuses and spread it out over the length of those contracts. But if you do that, you need to be confident that that player is part of your future plans. Like, you can restructure Grady Jared a little bit and bring that cap number down this year, but then I think he's got four million dead if they cut him next year. But if you're going to restructure that money and free something up, then he's going to have eight or nine million dead. So do you want to do that? You don't want to restructure Grady, Jared, if you want to be able to get out of that

after this year. You know, O'Dangbo's cap number is just gigantic and the dead money is even more this year. Like we talk about an injury settlement. That's pretty much the only way they're going to be able to move him because, and that's O'Dangbo having to basically be willing to give some money back. and if I'm DiO. and Dingbo, I'm not doing that. So it puts the bears in a complicated situation there. You mentioned T.J. Edwards.

That contract extension, I didn't love it at the time. And certainly, you know, I didn't know he was going to have a significant injury here. But that's another one where he's got significant money this year. You can't really get out of it this year. So, you know, we talk about DJ Moore and they were noncommittal there with DJ Moore yesterday. But at the same time, if you were going to restructure DJ's more as money, you're going to push money into the future if they can't end up training. him if that's what they're going to do. So the bears have to maneuver certain things here.

Jalen Johnson, obviously a guy you could restructure, but what Jalen Johnson are you getting in 2026? They're not going to get out of it for 2026. But again, at the same time, can you be confident you're going to have Jalen Johnson based on how he looked last year, which maybe that was anomaly and he's going to get back to his 2024 self? But if we don't know that based on all the injuries he was dealing with last year, are you confident Jalen Johnson will still be part of this team in 2027. I think that's why we're seeing the bears being very pragmatic about what they're doing financially here because they really need to see, do these guys have a trade market? What money can they get off the books without pushing money down the road and making getting

out of some of these contracts that unfortunately have not aged well easier in the future? Bill Zimmerman, the senior executive producer for Westwood One Sports Deputy Editor for Wendy City Gridiron with us here on Rahimi here. and Grotty Bill, I got to ask you because you brought it up in one of your articles about the possibility of an injury settlement with Dio Dengbo. And it looks like that's off the table now because Ryan Pulse is actively saying this guy is going to contribute next year. Yeah. And like I said, that injury settlement, because if you cut Dio Dengbo this year, I believe the number is 22 million dead. And his cap number is 20 and a half million. So you actually make the cap situation

worse. You have to sit down with O'Donbo and see if he's willing to. to lower the amount of cash he'd have. I mean, it'd still be a big number. We're still talking, what, $14, $15 million, not like he's going to take $7 million and walk out the door and do something like that. Now, again, the way I understood it, you know, about a month ago was that they were going to approach him

and talk about that. Maybe they did, and O'Dangbo and his representation said, we are absolutely not doing that. So now Ryan Poles, I'm not saying that absolutely happened. I'm saying that could have happened. And now Ryan Poles is saying that he is a part of this team moving forward because they understand, he has zero trade value and he has a large number that they can't get out of this year.

So if the injury settlement is off the table, and like I said, that would have to be O'Dangbo saying, all right, I'll give you some money back. But there's no benefit for O'Dangbo doing that other than being a nice guy. And the Bears gave him this amount of guaranteed money, you know, whatever it was, 11 months ago. If I'm Dio Odenbo, I'm saying, look, you guaranteed me that money. I'd like that money. Like there's no reason for him to do that.

So I think if that was something that was broached, it was certainly something that's not going happen. Bill Zimmerman, thank you so much for joining us on Rahimi Harris and Grotie. If you want to see more of his work, you can go to Woody City Gridiron. The man is full of information and you also have a podcast. We should probably plug that right now as well. Tell the people what it is. Yeah, it's the Bears Banter podcast. It features a lot of different Bears people, you know, personalities from around the Chicago area, some national people as well. You can catch that on the Second City Gridiron podcast feed. Bill, thank you so much. This has been informative and at least we're still trying to figure out all together as a team, which Achilles it was.

So one of our suggestions on the text line was to Google image search from that year, which I thought was a great suggestion. So I started to do so. And do you know what I found? What have you found? I found a picture of Chris Emma. Oh. Talking to Montes-Saintiff. Some people like Chris Emma.

They do. So I'm going to keep searching, but at least we found Chris Emma. Bill Zimmerman, thanks so much. Thanks, Bill. Thanks, guys. a mystery for the ages. Indeed. That was Bill Zimmerman and he does great work over at Windy City Gridiron and on his podcast as well. Coming up next here on Rahimi Harrison Grotty on 1043, the score. Did we find our version on the offensive side of the ball for a Max Crosby comparison?

We might have. I will explain next.