Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Examining the Bears' defensive line in wake of Gervon Dexter trade buzz

Episode Date: February 26, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Marshall Harris examined the Bears’ defensive line outlook in the wake of trade buzz surrounding defensive lineman Gervon Dexter Jr.

Rahimi Harris and Grody I don't want to break time I want to yell a person Can we handle more Anthony Herron Midday's 10 to 2 on 104 3 The Score We said we're going to see a lot

Fourth down tries Now each team They'll have one one We see DART use his legs here He's been the best running quarterback in the NFL since his debut Short roll Tries the run but nowhere to go

He got swattered up Finish him off Both teams Turn it over on downs on their first drive. Why do I feel like when Joe Davis and Greg Olson are doing commentary, that it sounds like they just believe in everyone? This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104 through the score. They're like, yeah, Dart could do this.

Like, here's some numbers. Jervon Dexter's like, no. Such a mouth, Joe Davis and Greg Olson, until the next play you commentate where you believe in somebody else. This idea that Jervon Dexter wouldn't be on the Bears next year, I would have never thought of that. This was not the plot twist I expected from the combine, defensively on the line. So when Jordan Schultz is out here tweeting, and thanks for Jordan to stop by the show,

when he's tweeting from the combine that, you know, teams are looking at possibly adding Jervon Dexter, I had to really sit with it and understand the explanation. I was like, actually, that makes sense. Jordan Schultz's report, this was about four hours ago. He said teams have inquired with the bears about trading for Javon Dexter as the free agent defensive tackle market in draft class are not deep. The 24-year-old started all 17 games last season. He has 13 and a half career sacks and 42 quarterback hits.

And his numbers, I thought, were, for what we expect of him, good. 20-25 season, he had six sacks. He had 44 total tackles, 21 solo, 23 assists. He also had some passes batted down that I thought were very good. He played in all 17 games. He only missed two the year before. and those are the only two he's missed. The guy has been consistently available on the line.

And because of what Jordan Schultz said, Marshall, the fact that the free agent defensive tackle market and the draft class are not deep, I assume that means the bears will replace it with somebody in-house, right? Because that's the only way it would make sense to give up the last year of what's been a deal relative to the rest of the NFL on that position. If it's not deep, it's not deep.

And that means it's not deep enough for the bears to go out and get somebody to help them. in Jervon Dexter's absence, and you can make the argument they need to upgrade at that position, but it might be along the lines of or akin to what's going on with left tackle right now. It's not there. Also, I would like to take you back to that Giants game for a moment because that was when it all fell apart for New York. That's when they fired their head coach and had to make a severe pivot. Next thing you know, Matt Neg is their offensive coordinator and John Harbaugh is the head coach.

Jackson Dart getting concussed. It changed a lot of things about that season for the New York Giants. Man, how the things changed. And it was at the hands of the Bears, partially in Jervon Dexter. So there was discussion surrounding the defensive line, which I think the bears and the rest of us know, needs to be re-evaluated at the very least. And Ryan Poles explained the possibility on flipping the defensive line

like they did with the offensive line last year. Yeah, I think it's always possible. Things got to come together. That mindset was there from the, day I walked in, but those opportunities, the clarity that we needed wasn't all there. So we were able to capitalize on some cool situations there through trade and for agency. I'm not sure how that's all going to line up now. I know from a cap perspective, we probably don't have enough to make all of that work on the

defensive line. I do think on our D line, I think there are some situations, mostly injury, that didn't allow that to really come together the way it was supposed to. So I look forward to that happening. But we're also going to have to continue to bring talent in to create competition, so that our defense can take the next step. Okay, I think Ryan Poles is like, what about all that money you spent last year

also on the defensive line though, Ryan Poles? See, you say that and that's kind of the worry, the concern. Let me back up. That's not kind of the worry. That is the worry and concern is that the players who were hurt this past season will not be healthy enough this season to justify his expectations of them improving and also just them being healthy next season.

Do you think that we're acting too casual? about Shamar Turner's availability given the timeline that polls issued yesterday about it? I am not acting casually at all. I'm saying I'll believe it when I see it. He's coming off a torn ACL. That's how I'm acting. In late October. That was like October 27th. And when you understand that back-to-back weeks, he goes down, Di-Odingbo goes down, and what has to happen for an ACL, which is better than a torn Achilles when you're talking about DiLadinebo, it gives you pause to try to figure out how they're going to be better, given the cap circumstance of this team right now. Now, things could change in the next two weeks because obviously the league year is going to start and we're going to see, okay, this is what concession you made to free up the cap space that was necessary.

Some are assumed. Tremaine Edmund's no longer on the team. And then you're just wondering, who's getting restructured, is someone getting traded or are multiple people getting traded? Yeah, and that's not happened yet, Edmonds, just so in case you heard that and thought something might have changed. That's not the case. Now, Ben Johnson also talked in a side session at the NFL Combine about trying to find defensive linemen reinforcements. And this is pre-the-Jurvon Dexter news. We're still going through that process right now, just free agency.

There's some guys out there that we feel like could help us out. We certainly feel good about some of the guys that we currently have in the building that will continue to ascend and take the coaching that, you know, DA and the defensive staff are providing for them. But, you know, for us to take the next step as a defense, we do need to pressure the quarterback at a more consistent clip. And so that is a point of emphasis for us. I do think this draft does have some guys that could possibly help us out in that regard. But that'll be something that we got to look at and it will be a point of emphasis when we come back in the springtime, just how do we increase our get off to where we can put more pressure on the queue? Well, at least you didn't say

they need to win more one-on-one battles, which if I were playing defensive line, I would be insulted by because it basically says you're getting blown up. That's what was said about certain members of this team during the middle of last season. Now, Montez Sweat came around after that comment and played a much better second half than you did, let's say first four or five games for the Bears. But really, that's the whole team if you're thinking about it. They started off slow, post-by week, everyone picked it up, and that's why the Bears won the division title.

Now, because we're lunatics, and we have one thing on the mind at all times, and that is not money, that is not time. It's not some resources that's essential to us all. It's Max Crosby. We're like, oh, is Ben Johnson talking about Max Crosby when he said this to Cassie Carlson? I think a relentless nature. I think that's something that always comes to mind. not always the most talented, but a guy that you know, you have no breather plays against, something that I look back at some of the former offensive alignment that are now coaches having those conversations. Hey, who gave you the most probably? It wasn't necessarily the biggest names.

It was sometimes the guys that just went for longer and for harder than their opponent. And I think there's something to be said for that, you know, you're going to get 100% from them every single snap. He just said what he wanted in a defensive lineman candidate. That was the question. And then he describes someone who just never stopped going. Basically an energizer bunny whose battery never runs down or runs out. I would say someone with a high motor. Someone who plays 97% of the snaps or so.

That would seem to fit the description of what Ben Johnson was describing. Somebody who may not love football but is obsessed with football. Yeah, it goes beyond love. Did it for free, you'd say? somebody who wants to win. It maybe hasn't had as much winning as he is accustomed to. We have one thing on the mind. Is it triple X minus one?

It is. So I think we should bring this to the floor in the spirit of pulling back the curtain. So Ray, we've been so fixated on this that Ray's spelling has now gotten, it's off kilter. I'm hitting like double. Every name has a... Ben and N. Johnson. Yes, it's just my typos are now. Ben NN.

Everything in the vein of Max with two X's. What you did, it was a baseball name. And didn't you also put like two... I think so. Max Crosby is on the forefront of my mind. And I know I'm not the only one. Where my Maxinez does it? Do we cut ourselves off?

Like, do we have to... I don't want to. How does this work? I can dream, can't I? I think it's affecting us. Nah. What are you talking about? Everything is related back to Max Crosby.

Nah, has two ages at the end. I've been playing tackle football since I could walk. Hell yeah. Max. You want that. Max. Yes. Max.

Max. Max. The reply is just the word Max. Max. Max. Max. Do you want the Max Crosby? For those of

people who don't know, the Max Crosby, why are there two X's in his name origin story? Do you want that? Would you like that? We'd like to get to know Max Crosby more. The extra X in Crosby's name essentially stands for extra large. Crosby's mom already decided on the name. So she threw in the extra letter for comical effect and to make him stand out even more. He was born at 11 pounds and 9 ounces.

Jeez. Big enough as a newborn that the doctor had to break his clavicle to get him out. Crosby revealed the info on Twitter back in 2020 after his rookie season with The Raiders. Did you get that? The man was so big as a newborn, the doctor had to break his clavicle to get him out, to get him delivered. Previously on the Lawrence Holmes show. I mean, almost 12 pounds at birth. So his mom just said, for comical effect, let's throw an extra.

extra X, because you know what? X going to give it to you. Amazing. Amazing. See, and Lawrence, because he heard his music, his old intro music, he came running to the studio. My God, that's Lawrence Holmes' music. It is, it is.

But we have one more segment. And boy, do we have one more segment for you. Speaking of X. We didn't get to address halftime in, I think, a proper manner. We did ghost maxing. Or what is it, ghost lighting? It's your term. It is USA Today's term.

It's just something I used to experience. I was thinking of the term looks maxing and that's a whole other ball wax I don't want to get into right now. Wax X, X. Damn it, Ray. Wax. Max. I said maxing instead of ghost lighting.

Ray! This is why we have to cut ourselves off. It's like it's going to end in being John Malkovich. The only word we say is Max instead of like other words. Like when he said Malcovich, Malcovich the whole time. Max.

I hate us, but I love us. How do we describe what's next? It's a stroke of marketing genius. The Atlanta Hawks have dubbed the night the Orlando Magic are coming to town as Magic City Monday. We'll talk about it next. Stroke, you just had to say stroke of marketing genius. I had to see.