Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Chris Emma has some HOT draft takes | Take The North

Episode Date: March 28, 2026

From 'Take The North' (subscribe here): Dan Wiederer is still on vacation, so Mark Grote brings in 104.3 The Score's Chris Emma! Emma was at Notre Dame's pro day, and has some thoughts on a few Fighting Irish players he thinks would fit on the Bears. There's one runningback Emma believes would be a great fit, but it's probably not the one you're thinking of! Each of the guys also have a HOT draft take they reveal to each other. Finally, quarterback Caleb Williams has some competition in his efforts to trademark the "Iceman" nickname. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Event contracts are offered by Robin Hood derivatives LLC, a registered futures commission merchant and swap firm. Bears fans, this is Tate. the North. What's the reason? Duck, it's here with your hosts. All these guys. Dan Weider. The whole key to sustaining success in this league is to have a quarterback play that is top tier and can consistently push you down those roads. And Mark Grody. We're allowed to at this point, Bears fans are allowed to right now, dream big and predict what you want out of the season. We're going to take the North and never give it back.

Hello again, everybody, and welcome in to the Mighty. The North podcast. Our guy, Dan Weider, has the week off. He will rejoin us next week in his place today from the score and 670thescore.com. He is on X at C. Emma 670. He is Chris Emma. What's going on, Emma. What an intro. How about it? Episode 461, honored to be here. What's happening, Grody? We only reserve 461 for our favorite people. Congratulations. on 461. What an honor. What an honor. Very meaningful. I am looking forward to this podcast. We got a hot rundown today because Chris Emma attended the Notre Dame Pro Day.

And if you follow the NFL, you know that most teams typically have multiple Notre Dame attendees on their roster. We've also apparently both have hot takes on the draft that we did not share with each other. So I can't wait to get to that. We must talk about. the ice man, Caleb Williams versus George Gervin. We will lay that out for you in just a little bit. And if we have time, we might just talk about the NCAA tournament, Illinois. Shout out to Weedsie.

I know that Weedsie's got to be happy being the Alignite alum that he is. Maybe we'll even talk some baseball and opening day. But Chris, let's get right to it and talk about the Notre Dame Pro Day, which you attended. We know that there's some mighty running backs that are going to be, potentially two in the first round. Let's start right there. And why don't we get into a little bit of your, first of all,

your assessments of the Bears running back situation this year and then those Notre Dame running backs. And if you believe that that is a need and if it is realistic to get either of those guys. Well, let's start. This is going to tie into my little mini rant about the draft later. But you know, you draft best player available.

And it's such a cliche you hear this time of year. but it really is true. And the prime example of that from the Bears is Luther Burden sitting on the board last year. And granted, we know they tried to trade up and see if Trayvon Henderson could be a bear, but he was the best player available, Luther Burden. And that amounted to the idea of this guy is so good we can't pass him up a year later, you're trading away DJ more because Luther Berden made him expendable. And by the way, you get that second round pick back as part of the deal that you used to draft Luther Burden.

So it's evidence of what Ryan Poles wants to do in the draft. And look to this draft. now. And I know you would love to fit your draft picks with your needs. And there's needs all around that defense. You got to get ed directors. You got to get detackles. You got to get maybe another lineback. You got to add to the secondary. But man, there's just some players there that you got to keep an eye on. Some players who are best player available that might not be the most obvious need. Go get him if he's there. And the guy I'm thinking about it, I wrote about this week on the scorecicago.com is Juddarian Price in Notre Dame.

And Jeremy Love is going to go in the top 10, maybe the top five. And he met with the Giants last week in New Jersey. He met with the Jets. Aaron Glenn was on Notre Dame's pro day as well as new offensive coordinator, Frank Wright. Like he's very much on the radar for those two New York teams. And like he's going to be the top running back. Taken, he's arguably the most talented player in this draft. But he asked Jeremiah Love and you ask a lot of people in South Bend,

like Janarian Price is that guy too. And I grew fascinated by this guy because in this day and age of NIL, where you can get the bag and be that starter and be the guy who's racking up big yards and big numbers and solidifying your first round pick. He didn't want to leave Notre Dame. He wanted to stay there, even Jeremiah loved by his side and be running back 1B and accept that

because he knew how good he is. He knows that teams are watching and understand what he can be. He talked about that brotherhood of Notre Dame and being part of that program. He did not want to leave Notre Dame. And the Irish took care of him, but also like it says something about the character of this. guy. You understand this is somebody you want on your team. This is an explosive player. This is a guy

who's got breakaway speed. He's a bruiser. You got to see this guy like one on one. Like he's his physical and it's as big of a running back as you're going to find, but he can run with the speed. He's not a bruiser type running back. He's a do-it-all running back. This guy can catch passes out of the backfield. He had two kickoff returns for touchdowns this past season. He could be your return specialist. Tadarian Price is there in the second round for the Bears taken. Don't think about it. Just take him. I know you got to eat on defense.

You got to get a court to this and that. Take Giderian Price if he's there. That's your running back for the next so many years. That's a Ben Johnson player. And I wrote about this. I talked to Price and love and people know their name about it. And I think this would just be an excellent fit for the Bears. He had did Gedarian Price, the man about whom Chris Emma is speaking and promoting for sure.

12 games last year, 674 yards, 11 touchdowns. As far as the receiving game is concerned, wasn't particularly involved. But a lot of this has to do with the fact that, as Chris mentioned, Jeremiah Love is the man, was the man there. Six catches, 87 yards and a couple of touchdowns as well. How do you know, though, that that does translate to being the next man up behind Jeremiah Love, just because Jeremiah Love did hog up all of the yards? There is a comparison that I know some people were discussing, and I'll throw it out there, for you, Emma, to defend.

But I know where I'm going with it. There was a man by the name of Rochon Johnson, who the Bears once upon a time ago drafted, who was bought similarly behind the most talented running back in the draft. That would be Bejan Robinson. Why should people think that Judarian Price is not what Rochon Johnson is to be John Robinson, as Judarian Price might be to Jeremiah Love? Because you watch this kid and you just see it.

You understand it. God, breakaway speed. If he gets to that second level, he's just gone. And that's kickoff returns as well. He can do so much for an offense. And Jeremiah, said it well when I asked about generating price. He goes, if you want me, like, this is another version of me talking about love.

Like, he sees prices that level of running back. And he's just, he's a different athlete. This guy is a physical specimen. He's a big old dude with breakaway speed. He looks like an NFL running back. He plays like an NFL running back. He did it at the high. highest level. And you understand, like, this is a guy whose game is going to translate really well.

I'm curious if he's somebody who could sneak into the first round. I think it's unlikely, but he's, I think he could be that second running back off the board after Love who goes really early in this draft. Teams are going to be drawn to that. And it's the return aspect as well. He can do so many things for an offense. And that just checks the Ben Johnson boxes, right? That's the kind of guy that Ben Johnson's looking for somebody who can be that do it all threat out of the backfield. And we know last year they were fascinated by Ash and Genty, and it was just too much to give up to move to the top five into select.

It just did not make sense for Ryan Poles, far out of his comfort zone. They've looked at running backs in the last several years. And DeAndre Swift had a really strong season, but he's at the end of his contract, the third year coming up, and this is probably his last year in a bear's uniform. You got to start thinking about that next running back. You don't want to go into next off season without a plan and just kind of seeing what you can get out there.

there. This is the time to do it. And this is the time to assess your backfield and find that compliment to SWIF for year one. And somebody who can ultimately take the reins and go beyond this season. So I think they're going to be looking at running back. There's going to be plenty of good options out there. But starting in the second round with Judarian Price, that's a guy who I've had my eye on. Yeah, it was before the Washington game last year where the Bears got their shit together as far as the running game was concerned. You can swear this podcast? Well, yeah, you know, we don't usually like to do that. We call it the the Dionne Miller rule.

She's a listener from ABC 7. She does not like when we go potty mouth. But everyone, so it's a weekend. We're recording on a Friday. So I let one loose. If the spirit moves you, Emma. You'll get up again later. I don't know.

I mean, you just got back from Notre Dame. We just lost 24 to 6 yesterday in opening day. All the hope is gone. Like, I probably got a couple curses in me. We'll see. 24 and 6, man. It's been a while since I've left.

I haven't let one loose in a while. Maybe I just, I felt compelled and needed to because I do so much terrestrial radio. I didn't let loose just a little bit right there. Yeah, they did get their stuff together last. DeAndre one per show, DeAndre Swift, 16 starts, 1,87 yards, 9 TDs, 34 catches, 299 yards, and a touchdown. I always say, too, like, we have to keep in mind that in these, and that was 16 starts. in the 17 game schedule, a thousand yards doesn't mean quite the same for running backs as it once did. But DeAndre Swift had a really nice season.

Kyle Munung guy was a little bit of a revelation because did not know how he would fit in, 17 games, 783 yards, five TDs. He also had 18 catches for 164 yards. Did not have a touchdown last year. Hell, Britt and Brown had a 22-yard touchdown run. And he was one of those preseason heroes as well. My only pushback, I guess, would be as if, is if Benjamin, Johnson is one of these guys who can scheme running back and make running backs look good.

Do you want to pay a first or second round price for a running back? But I guess you gave some evidence that they did last year for sure. And look to what the Lions did with Tamir Gibbs. I mean, they had just brought a David Montgomery right before then. And look, at the time, that kind of seemed like a little bit of a draft to reach. That was, I believe, the Robinson draft. I'm not mistaken. There was another running back up there.

Gibbs goes higher than expected. And everybody's kind of looking around like, what are the Lions doing? And this is the team that's kind of built up for success and you're using high draft picks on running backs in this spot. And you see how good that guy is now and certainly how good he was for Ben Johnson's offense. That's a weapon. That is a guy who starts leading your backfield. And in this case with Caleb Williams in the offense, like you got a compliment. You've got the ability to change your entire offense and your makeup around the quarterback too and create that kind of balance and unpredictability that Ben Johnson wants in this offense.

It's like, yes, they were able to make it work with several different running backs. I said, Bridget Brown was the name I kind of forgot about. He shined in that game against the Bengals. He started running for touchdowns. But yeah, yeah, in theory, you could just have an offense where you plug and play, go. You're getting 100 yards out of whoever you roll out of bed. But you'd like to have a dynamic threat out of the backfield. And certainly as you're trying to talk about that, how do you get beyond the division around?

How do you make that run to the Super Bowl? And how do you withstand some of these top teams in the NFL? Like, it was great to see that shootout against the 49ers and some of the ways that they were able to come back and win these games. But you want to have an offense that's setting the pace in these games. And Caleb Williams, I think, is going to make a leap in your three. I'm excited to see what he can do. But if you have that dynamic running back to the offense as well and you create that versatility out of the backfield, then your offense just has a different makeup.

Let's talk a little bit about Jeremiah Love, even though it was. would probably be a shocker if the Bears were to this year attempt to move up. Like they did attempt to last year with Ashton Genty. And you can give your opinion on that if you'd like. But Jeremiah Love, who probably will be, as Emma said, a top 10 quarterback. He can run a 4-3, 640, 3 years at Notre Dame last year in 12 games, over 1,300 yards rushing. That's about 7 yards per carry, 18 touchdowns. The man got into the end zone.

280 yards worth of receiving three touchdowns in the air just for the hell of us. Tell us all about Jeremiah Love, Chris, Emma. What are the best players to come through Notre Dame? I don't say that lightly. I mean, this guy was unbelievable what he meant for the program the last several seasons. Thinking about that run to the national championship game a couple of years ago and just how dynamic he was. And what a different season.

It could have been perhaps. He should have been a heist. And he should have won the huntsman if it wasn't for the fact that he was splitting carries a lot with Guderian price. Like that kind of took away from from his workload. And they actually went into the season finale this past year trying to feed him the ball and get him an invite to New York and he ended up getting hurt in that game. But look, this is a guy who is explosive of the players you're going to find.

He's the most talented player, I believe, in this draft. He's incredible. The breakaway speed is something else. You just can't catch this guy. The highlight that's always going to stand there. There's a few highlights out there, but the 98-yard touchdown run against Indiana, scoreless game first quarter,

and he comes around the edge, and it's just gone. Like, five, ten yards away from the line of scrimbutt. He's just gone. He's just that much faster than everybody else. And somebody's going to get a hell of a player. I think it could be the Giants because they have their quarterback in Jackson Dart

and they've got a team that with some pieces where they're trying to make that jump. And if they're taking love in the top five, then that transforms their entire offense. It makes everything easier for Jackson Dart's second season. It makes the entire team start looking like a more legitimate contender in an east that I think is going to be a little bit more open this year. So he's not going to fall out of the top 10 for sure.

I don't think he's going to fall out of the top five. It's a pipe dream for the Bears. You know, if they hadn't won all these darn football games, you'd be sitting there in the top 10 saying this guy would be an incredible piece for Chicago. But, you know, to the pictures go the spoils, you're picking 25. here and you're saying, oh, what if? Maybe we'll get an area price instead. It's a way better way to live as one who covers

the Bears. It's still great. Like, just not sitting here what's today. Mark 27th and like, man, where are they going to be in that? They're going to trade into the top three? Are they going to trade back to the top? Like, all these years are just like draft chaos. And here they are 25. Like, let's just go best player available and make it work. Yeah. Hey, it worked last year

with Colston Loveland, even though they did have a top 10 pick last year. With all due respect to Jada Walker, who I know has basically his own massive fan club out there with all due respect to Khalif Raymond. I still think, and Weeder and I are on the same page talking about this on Take the North recently. Bears don't have enough wide receivers right now. They just don't with DJ Moore having, and maybe Walker will be great. Maybe he'll be a revelation. And I think we know what you're

going to get from Khalif Raymond, maybe 300, 400 yards, maybe at a maximum. That's just his resume and he does other things really well, kick return and whatnot. But the bears still need another playmaker wide receiver to go along with Luther Burden, to go along with Roma Dunes. And we know Rome has got something to prove. That said, and you tell me if I'm looking in the right direction here, Emma, next guy on the pro day list I have down as wide receiver Malachi Fields for the Irish. big guy, 6-4-218. Am I on the right track to bring up Malachi Fields? He's a fascinating one. Like, this is a kid had transferred in from Virginia, and it just a big old target. Like, this is a guy who made plays all throughout, especially at the end of his season at Notre Dame.

And he looks really impressive, like fluid motions with his route running, watching him out there in Prodey a couple days ago. You see the way he's able to use quick feet to get open and create that size miss. match, quick along the sidelines. I liked what I saw out of him a lot, and I think a lot of these teams did as well. He's somebody who's, there's been whispers about him sneaking into the first round perhaps. Oh, wow, okay, okay.

It would not be an incredibly deep wide receiver group. There's some playmakers out there for sure, but he's somebody that could draw the attention of teams. I'll give you another name, a wide receiver who jumped out to me because he had to at a pro day, and sticking with the Notre Dame theme. Will Pauling, a Chicago native, a Holwood Flossmore product.

Shout out Lawrence Holmes and the whole Holmwood Flossmore crew. This guy ran out there and ran a 4-3-7-40. Okay. Lou, he's probably a late-round pick. But, like, I think if the bears are looking for playmakers and wide-receiver, I don't see them

unless it's like another Luther burden situation where a player just kind of falls into their lap. I don't see them go wide receiver until day three. And this is a guy, like, when you're out of 4-3-7, you catch teams attention. He was not a guy at the combat. I don't believe this was something we're like, he'd been training hard for it.

He'd been getting ready for it. The cool thing was he had a bunch of his homewood flossmore teammates and friends in attendance. And the whole place just kind of blew up when he ran this thing. I asked him about like, what would it mean to go to the Bears to draw that interest? He certainly drew some interests out there at the pro date. And he kind of smiled and gave the answer,

well, I want to go to any team, but be pretty special. Talked about families been going to Bears games for years. And like, this is a guy. He talked about checking the boxes for Ben Johnson, checking the boxes for character, what you want in this team. Like, that's a weapon.

A guy who could run that fast and can play with that kind of chip on his shoulder. Like, this is somebody to keep an eye on. It's a late round flyer. The Bears didn't have people in attendance to watch him. Jeff Schaever, the longtime scout was there on the sidelines and certainly got that on his stopwatch as well, seeing 437 fly on through. So I'm with you on the needed wide receiver.

Again, it goes back to, and this is going to go to my little mini rant later, but best player available, like you just need to be diligent with this here. If it is a wide receiver and you got that chance and you're able to add to that group, great. You love in a perfect world for that edge rusher to be the best player available who's in that burden situation.

So far above everybody else, you can't pass them up and just happens to fit a particular need. But look, this is a team of needs all around. We're talking about running back, wide receiver, beefing up the old line a little bit. You want to get another center. defense. I mean, just go down the list. You need so much for depth on defense and first a young downside for the future. Like this feels like a draft of Ryan Poles is going to be trying

to trade down in day two and day three and just get as many swings as he can to get some young pieces in there. And you're saying there were two second rounders right now after the pick 25. Like maybe you're trading now one of the second rounders getting a few day two or day three picks back, whatever it is. Like I can see Ryan Poles really trying to up the ammo and take as many swings as he possibly can. Well, let's get into the draft here in a second. Is there any other Notre Dame players, though, that stood out that we should be thinking about before we move on?

Have we covered what the Emma has covered? What more name is Billy Shrath? In the interior offense alignment plays guard. You can move around a little bit. Somebody with upside. Maybe that somebody could potentially fit into a center spot for the bears. I think the bears are going to be trying to find a center. Maybe it's a guard they can convert to center and use for kind of a red,

year after losing Drew Dalman to retirement. And Garrett Bradbury, I believe it's one year left in his contract. I think it's going to be one year in Chicago and then you part ways there. So I think they're going to be looking for an interior offensive lineman. And there's going to be some options there in the draft. One other guy then I'll throw out at you from Notre Dame that I was looking at as I was doing my ND studies. Is Emil Wagner or I'm sorry, I'm so used to talking to the Alignanai, not Wagner.

He's an actual Wagner. I guess he's a right tackle, but what about his prospects for the draft? Is he somebody that we should be looking at or no? Yeah, if you're looking for tackle, a steady player, somebody who emerged throughout his career at Notre Dame, clearly has a lot of trust in the team, or the CNS as a captain,

a guy that everybody in South Bend really speaks highly of. So, yeah, that's somebody who's going to be on the radar as well. And from the bear's perspective, now you look at that tackle position. Like, I think they're perfectly comfortable with this potential, for a competition of Branson Jones and Jeddrick Wills, but if that best player available, if there's somebody there, including pick 25, is a tackle who could be your franchise tackle

and solidify your offensive line. Go, make that move, and you figure out the rest from there. So, you know, you got two guys that won your flyer deals trying to prove it, and it's an intriguing competition, but you can blow that thing entirely up if you find your franchise tackle in the draft. Hi, I'm Angie Hicks, co-founder of Angie. And one thing I've learned is that you buy a house, but you make it a home.

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Let's get into the draft. Just to refresh people, the Bears draft picks as it stands right now, they have their number one pick, which is 25 overall. They have a couple of second rounders, 57 and 60. overall. There's a third rounder at number 89 on the overall, fourth rounder, 129, and a pair of seventh rounders, which are very close to one another, 239 and 241. And my guess is, as Chris has indicated, there'll be all sorts of jockeying and changes as the draft goes on, trading up, trading down as Ryan Poles has wont to do, as he did some of last year.

I will let you go first. And I know that you've kind of alluded to what your draft hot take is. I think we've gotten a little piece of it. But what is on your mind right now as it pertains to the bears about the upcoming draft in late April in Pittsburgh? It's not even a hot day as much as just like rationale going into this thing. Like I think, Chris, I want a hot take. All right. Heat it up a little bit. Don't, don't dumb down your hot take now.

I'll give me my Cubs lineup thoughts if you want. We'll get there. We'll get there, man. But it's, look, the bears have needs. We get that. They need edge rushers. they need detackle, they need a corner. Don't force these damn picks.

Like, don't worry about, oh, we got to pass on this guy who's a running back to over, see, whatever, because we need to force this Eddrusher who's 10 or 12 down the draft board. And this is not a Ryan Poles thing to do. We know how Ryan Poles approaches these drafts. Like, he's going to take the best player. He's going to trust the board. There's seek value. And maybe there's trade downs or whatever you need to do to maximize that value,

you would absolutely love in a perfect world, as I said before, to get that edge rusher at pick 25, and that's your compliment to Montes-Swed and Austin Booker. That's your dynamic player. You fit your pick 25 with your top need and you just go, and your defense is that much better. Draft doesn't work that way. This is not a perfect world by any means.

That's the beauty and the complexity of the draft. Go get the best damn player, because you've still got so many different things you've got to improve on this roster. And last year was exciting and it was so much fun. And this breakthrough they had was legitimate. And you believe you got the head coach and quarterback in place, which is the hardest combination to get in the NFL. But you look around this roster and you can poke holes in just about anywhere and say they need to upgrade here. They need better there.

Like it's just it's not there yet. This has to be a draft where you're getting as many impact players early on, but also developmental players for the future. because you're at the cap crunch already and you've hardly reaped the rewards. Like take the north and never give it back was the goal. You took the north, never giving it back is going to be a challenge. And that's the beauty of the NFL with a salary cap. This is the hard part now. Ryan Poles fortunately came up in Kansas City at a place where they were winning,

winning a lot, but also having to make these difficult decisions. Let's trade Tyree Kill in his prime because we got to open up some cap room. Let's continue to restructure Patrick Mahomes as deal a year. after a year because we want to squeeze this guy into the mix here. It's an incredibly difficult thing to do. This is the challenge now when you start climbing that mountain top to get to the very top. The bears are nowhere close to that at this point yet. They got a ways to go. They had some really difficult decisions to make because they have already to this point. The draft is the lifeblood now where you've got to get as many good pieces for your future

as possible. This isn't free agency where you're filling needs. And in a perfect world, you're able to do both and you're able to merge those two lanes into one, but that's just not the way this thing works. Go get as many good impact players as you can. Maximize value to your draft board. Trade down as much as you need to get as many swings and bites of the apples you want. This has to be a strong draft for the Bears. They can't come away from the same.

We got an edge restaurant or deed tackle. This isn't a one-year thing, and your window for contention will close really quickly. If you start forcing needs in the draft and worrying about 2006 instead of 2030. You got to do both. And this is your chance to do it. I'm so with you on and specifically not forcing defensive line for a couple of, look, if they want to move up in the draft to get Ruben Bain Jr. I am here for that or any of the elite pass rushers that exist in the draft. We can definitely talk about that. But there's a couple of things here. And some research I did over the last 10 years in the draft picks 20 through 32. There have been very rare here.

hits in those numbers for edge rushers and defensive tackles. There have been some, not a whole lot. As a matter of fact, Montes Sweat was one of those, and we could debate how large of a hit that was. I think for the most part, Montes Sweat has been a hit in the NFL. So there hasn't been a lot of those. Number two, I mean, we know that Ryan Poles has struggled with drafting defensive linemen.

I mean, just going through the quick sketch here, last year, Shamar Turner. Jury's still out on him. 2024, Austin Booker. I think that might turn out to be a pretty good pick relative to where he was drafted. 2023,

Jervon Dexter, Zach Pickens. And then in 2022, I have down Dominique Robinson. And look, they gave him every opportunity. It didn't work out. Another guy that was conferred

from a different position. And he was not a high draft pick. So the hits did not keep on coming for Ryan Pohl. So with that said, like as I study some of the defensive linemen and edges that might be available for the bears, like Zion Young out of Missouri, Caden McDonald that of Ohio State, the defensive tackle, the edge Malachi Lawrence out of UCF. These are all guys. The one thing about these guys is they waver heavily in terms of where they would be picked. Some of these guys could slip to the second round.

Like Zion Young, he's a guy could be a first round pick, could be a second round pick. there's too much mystery around a lot of these defensive linemen right now. So that said, where I'm getting with this, Chris, I'd actually be more comfortable with and there are varying opinions on drafting a safety in the first round. Like, you got to hit. That guy's got to be good if you're going to go with a non-premium position. At least that's sort of what it's etched as a non-premium position. So I am down with a Dylan Thineman on Oregon.

I am down, Emma, with an Emanuel McNeill Warren. at this moment, unless things change and things do change, it's a fluid world we live in, as we'd like to say here on take the north. I am more comfortable with the bears. If they're going to go need and not necessarily best pick available, but I think you're on to something that that is the way to go, and that's what polls has said. I am more safety over defensive linemen right now.

Dylan Pheneman would be a heck of a fit for this defense. And you talk about like an ideal compliment to Kobe Bryant in the secondary, like the enemy can run up to the box. He made plays in coverage. You got Brian who's got the athleticism to get all over the field to make plays. Like, yeah, your safety combo for a number of years. And that's, yeah, that's not the obvious need, but that is a way you can address this defense.

I'm looking at a quarter, too. Are they just going to run it back with Tyree Stevenson and Terrell Smith alongside Jalen Johnson and hope that Jalen's back to be in Pro Bowl, Jalen Johnson, and that Tyree Stevenson has another chip on his shoulder and submitting can be healthy? I don't feel great about that. Jarrell Smith, by the way. You can't just call him Smitty.

I mean, people are like, who's he talking about Smitty? The guy's barely played. I got Iber flus in my mind as Smitty. Yeah, look, I just, I don't feel great about that position at all right now. About cornerback? Yeah, they're going to have draft somebody there. Like, you just, you came away from this thing like, okay. I mean, it just, Nishon rides breakout all pro season,

the pro bowl season covered up a lot of the, struggles he had there. Is Jalen Johnson going to come back from a really difficult injury-riddled season and just come back to being Jalen Johnson again? I don't know. Then that's a lot of your defense when he is a one-man wrecking crew of a coverage guy and teams are just getting away from him and throw him to the other direction. But teams are picking on Jalen Johnson at the end of last season. If he comes back and it's struggling again, they're going to keep picking on him some more. And on the other end, Tyree Stevens is going to be your lockdown guy? I just have no faith in that being what they hope to have been. There's been flashes of good. There's been a lot of frustrating miscues there as well.

And yeah, Trell Smith is the guy on the upside, but he's coming off in ACL and he said injuries throughout his career. And that's not somebody you can count on exactly. They're in a tough position there. And that's just another place on this defense. You're talking about they got a need to address. You love to come away from the draft and have somebody who's a shuner. down corner for you, but you only got one first round pick. You got two in the second.

He got a lot more needs than that. Yeah. Yeah, man. And you can never, ever rule out cornerback. I mean, you are right. And I hope, I think Jalen Johnson will be back together. But it was frightening to see him be exposed like that. And he, you know, probably admittedly came back prematurely.

He was pretty transparent with us in the locker room. whether on those open locker room days at Hallis Hall or even post games, I mean, what he would say is that this is, I don't feel right. This is I'm not 100% still. This is not me. Let's hope that that certainly is the case and that Dennis Allen can maneuver and have the right guys out there as well. So good, so good. Springstiles are at Nordstrom rack stores now and they're up to 60% off.

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Disney Plus wants to know, are you ready? Yeah! For Marvel Studios, Thunderbolts, the New Avengers. Now streaming on Disney Plus. Let's do this. One of the best Marvel movies of all time. is now streaming on Disney Plus. Hey, you weren't listening to me.

I said, Thunderbolts, the New Avengers, is now streaming on Disney Plus. Meet the new Avengers. That's cool, man. Marvel Studios, Thunderbolts, the New Avengers, rated PG-13. Now streaming on, you guessed it, Disney Plus. Before we get to Ice Man,

did you have anything you wanted to say about the Bears' free agency season? Because I've never really talked to you about that on record with the Kobe Bryant and Devin Bush and Jaxie Annborn. of course, he's back with the Bears and your Neville Gallim Morris and your Cam Lewis's. What is your quick synopsis of what the Bears did in Free Agency? One thing I've really come to appreciate you about Ryan Poles is he kind of just tips his hand beforehand

and go back to the Combine where he talked about watching those playoff games and seeing their need for speed on defense. And they went out there and addressed him. And I think it's fascinating when Poles himself talked about his quote was the best combination of players referring to the difficult decisions against the salary cap. Their entire secondary was affordable. Every single player was signed on one-year deals under $10 million. Even Wright and Byrd, who had Pro Bowl seasons, signed for uninspiring deals.

And I know there are different points in their careers, but every single player, you thought, how are they going to resign this guy, how are they going to make this work? Every guy was attainable for them. They wanted Kevin Byer back. He's all yours. You wanted to Sean Wrightback. Sure, get him. You want Jonathan Owen's best.

Mac, Jaquan Bristair, whoever it is, go get them. It speaks to how determined they were to get that speed and overhaul that secondary. And against this really tight camper, you're trading away DJ Moore and releasing Tremaine Emmons. There were solutions there where you could have stayed low with the cap and retain your secondary from a team that won the NSC North last year. Ryan Paul said, nah, let's just overhaul this. And I give him a lot of credit. because that takes some stones and to have that kind of conviction and to operate with it, even with these restrictions against the cap.

I love what Kobe Bryant brings for this defense. That is a guy entering the prime of his career who you want to give that money to. Kevin Byard is a terrific player. He was an important piece of this team. But you're paying for future performance, not past performance. And you're willing to bet that Kobe Bryant is everything you hoped and then some for three years, 40 million where Kevin Byard is on the, proverbial wrong side of 30 and you're not paying him for seven interceptions last

season. You're paying him with the hope of what's he going to do next season and beyond that. And they made the right move, as difficult as that was. And Jaquan Bricker with his health risk, like, that's a guy who put a lot in the line for this team. He loved being a bear. It sucks to say goodbye. That's somebody Ryan Poles really valued on this team. These are difficult decisions to make.

And I just, I give a lot of credit to the way that the front office addresses. When they talked about, we need speed upgrades all around. went out and yacht them. And Devin Bush is a piece of that at linebacker instead of Tramaine Emmons. And you can go all down the list about the athleticism that they brought to the mix. Like it was a really prudent offseason with this one specific grand goal in mind. I think their defense in specifically the secondary, I think it's a lot better than what it was before. I can't wait to see it all in motion.

And yeah, man, tough decisions. Jaquan Brisker, you mentioned. That was one of Ryan Polz's first board. I mean, that was in his first draft class right at the top with Kyler Gordon. who did get paid and there's another guy who man just stay healthy dude stay healthy spider man so great stuff on on free agency so i think people have been following this this story which i just think is hilarious Caleb Williams the ice man cometh who self-proclaimed i think the the ice man Caleb Williams and i think he's earned it man we we saw some of

the most exciting passes in modern bears history last year from Caleb Williams. So Caleb Williams has filed the paperwork for a copyright, for a trademark for the nickname Iceman. He is running into a little bit of interference though from the guy who I'm not sure if history records go before George Gervin, who was known as kids, George the Iceman Gervin. He played in the seven in the 80s. As a matter of fact, George Gervin was not known for being a Chicago Bull, but he was a Chicago Bull. Big Man for the Bulls, when big men really counted.

He actually played with Michael Jordan. But four days after Caleb Williams decided to file for this trademark, of course, the Iceman got a hold of this. Four days after he also filed for it because he's like, yo, man, that's me. I'm the Iceman. this hilarious quote. No, it's not it's hilarious, but it's just, it's perfect.

The tone here from George Gervin, I think is perfect. George Gervin says, in response to Caleb Williams, who's trying to take the ice man from him, quote, I've got nothing but respect for Williams. Gervin tells these sometimes. He's already proved greatness

and his potential upside is great. Like an ice man. But, says Gervin, that name is taken. All I'm saying is, and this is the best part. All I'm saying is young fella, we've already got one ice man.

Young fella. He also said something along the lines of I was the ice man 22 years before you were born, which is like just the perfect line. Oh, man. I think he had George Gervyn's at his

basketball reference page. First of all, he's got a bunch of nicknames, one of which is the point machine. like go with the point machine instead of the ice man but the point machine is about as sick of a nickname as you're going to get I love the fact that he filed his trademark four days after Caleb Williams did as if to say wait a second yeah yeah I don't know how this is going to be recognized I don't know enough about trademark law maybe I don't want to know about it either I'm not doing that I'm not doing the deep dive I've been spending months and years in stadium conversations and legal bills and I went to the Indiana State House.

I don't have time for trademark law on my agenda, especially with baseball season starting. I don't know. Can they hear it? Is there some way around this year? George Irvin had an incredible career. Hall famer, 12-time All-Star. I forgot he was a bowl until just seeing that now. I thought I had remembered that because, you know, I'm old.

And I remember all of Jordan's career. And I was thinking, wasn't he a bull and I'll be damned if I wasn't right? Mostly known for being a spur. And I think even he was an ABA guy, I want to say, with like the one of the weird ABA names, like the red hawks or the yellow jackets or the Virginia Squires. Or the Virginia Squires. Yeah, there you go. The Virginia Squires. That's your, that's your ABA team.

Is it ABA? Yeah, American Basketball Association. There you go. That's your APA connection there. Yeah. Two years with the Squires and then one year with the Bulls. You know you're old when we have to pull out ABA references. I'm happy to say that I don't remember anything the Virginia Spurs ever did.

It's just squires. That's got squire. Conflation is occurring. What's a respect to the Virginia Squires. Oh, man. Yeah. It's a, I don't know. It's a fascinating.

You know, Kayla Williams is enjoying the hell out of this. Oh, yeah. This guy's coming after me. He's trying to stop my trademark here. I'll say this for Caleb Williams' side. If this does go to some kind of legal battle or trademark court, you had how many years George Gervant to file this trademark? You can't do it four days after this.

Hotlines. Okay. Sorry about that. You can't come out there and say, oh, I was the ice. before. That's not how trademark. I know that much about trademark law. No, it's not working that way. I'm sided with Caleb on this. All due respect to the great George Gervin, the ice man. I'm not going to granting this. I'm siding with Caleb Williams on this. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's time for a new ice man. How about that? That's the way I can say.

Look, well, all due respect to George Gervin. I hope he lives to be 100. He's 71. It's time for a new ice man. This is an ABA guy. So we shall see. We shall see what happens with the Iceman debate. If nothing else at all, it will be a hilarious conversation with Caleb Williams. And I do predict that we will see Caleb Williams and George Gervin live together at some point in time, pictured and both smiling. That's my prediction on this. Isn't great that we've come a long way from, isn't Mitch? Is it Mitchell?

Which do we go with? Your mom prefers Mitchell. But should we go with Mitch? Is that just now the Iceman versus George Gervin here? Like, come a long way. She's coming to a quarterback now, huh? Oh, good. Lastly, it was, it was a classic, classic opening day of baseball for our teams yesterday. As both the Cubs and White Sox were essentially slaughtered yesterday.

Classic because wild things happen in baseball on opening day. And you and I could probably do a top 20 crazy, toughy roads, things that have happened on really both sides of town. and half cracking a three-run homer on the first pitch of the game in Miami. And I believe it was 2019, I believe. 18. 2018, yes, yes, yeah, 2018 at the Marlins, just things like that. Hell, yesterday, what a great start for the White Sox starting off with a home run against Jacob Mizorowski on a three-two count.

And the Cubs just got clobbered by Washington, maybe the worst team in baseball, or at least you could definitely put them in the, the, the least best team. But what did you think? Opening day yesterday, a classic day for both of our teams on the bad side of this case. Well, you didn't mention 2008, my senior skip day in high school, going to see Kosuke Fukudomi. Yeah, baby, three run home.

They still lose that game. Great memories from that one. Hold on. Hold on. Trivia question for you. Trivia. Who gave up the home run to Koske Fuku Dome in the game? Eric Gagne, right?

Oh, yes. I always get people on that, but not you, I'm not you. Early bearded right hander, of course. The Dodgers closer for many years. Came to the Brewers and yeah, didn't quite have the same Eric Gagne thing. But yeah, that was a hell of a day. Yesterday, not so much.

Not so much. It was a weird, just like weather day where I showed up and it was like 70s. And it was kind of warm out. And then by first pitch, the wind had completely shifted in and it's freezing. And my dad was there. I said, dad, go buy a hoodie. You're going to freeze out there. And I'm also like nobody's going to hit the ball out of the ballpark out there.

And sure enough, it's Joey Weamer driving it into the teeth of the wind. And Leamer! He forgot this guy was on the national. So he's driving one into the bleachers. I don't know how the heck he did it. And they hit a few with them. It was a tough day. And opening day is so full hope and excitement.

And you're sitting there talking about how great this team can be. And I just filed my column earlier today about how the Cubs have a chance to win the World Series of everything goes right. then you're losing 10-4 and getting your teeth kicked in by the nationals. So baseball is a humbling game sometimes, but 161 more of these. Emma, I think episode 461, which is always special for any podcast, has been terrific. I'm sorry, Nebraska got ousted, but I can't wait to watch the ILLI and I get back into the final four since 2005 when I was there covering Illinois in the final four. and then I went to St. Louis to cover them against North Carolina, and they almost got North Carolina.

So thank you, dear Emma. Take care, buddy. Yeah, you got it, buddy. That's going to do it for Take the North. Like I said, our guy, Weedsie shall return next week. Dan always needs a little time off because he does it all. So for Dan Weeder, for our guy, Chris, Emma. Follow him on Twitter at Cema sports,

and you can read him on 670, TheScore.com. If you want to read more about Notre Dame, you should do that right now. So thanks to Chris Emma. Thanks, as always to our executive producer, Adam Stittinsky. I am Mark Grody of 104.3, The Score, saying thank you so much for watching and listening to the Take the North podcast. Thank you, everybody. The Beasts.

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