Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Examining the Bears' left tackle problem

Episode Date: February 17, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Mark Grote discussed the Bears' left tackle conundrum.

Rahini Harris and Grotie. Middays 10 to 2 on 104 3, the score. With Ozzie, what is the timetable on his return? How is that going to impact what you may or may not have to do to get a veteran option? That's part of our job. Really unfortunate because I thought he was coming along. I was looking forward to him getting this offseason. I don't have a specific timetable. I'm sure it would be somewhere deep into next year for the injury.

So I had a good conversation with him. He knows this is part of his journey. He's going to have to overcome. I got a lot of faith in him and our staff to get him back ready to go, whatever that is. But specific time tables, I don't have that right now. Yeah, Ryan Poles told the truth there, didn't he? This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104-3, the score.

And that is a big issue for the Bears, because when we're talking about off-season needs, suddenly two positions where I feel like we've talked about them, and maybe they thought that they had dressed them. them and their expensive positions are still ones that we very much are discussing. Number one is the constant disgust in the need of a pass rush. You know, we've talked about Max Crosby ad nauseum. We will until anything happens. Bradley Chob now being available. And then the other one is left tackle. And whether or not we like it, Ryan Poles is going to have to likely get a third

bite at the apple when it comes to trying to draft a left tackle. First, it was Bradson. Jackson Jones, who may be available via a one-year proof-it deal or something along those lines, but the position is very high in demand, which is part of what we know. Two is Ozzie Tripillo who really showed progress before he was injured with an injury that can be very difficult to time. Ryan Poles did not lie to you, a torn Patelor tendon, especially when you're 6'8 and you play a left tackle offensive lineman. Ozzie, of course, was on the right side before he moved to left.

Mark, we know that that's something that can take a long time. Some people don't come back from it. At least Ozzy is young. And we're looking at the Bears likely having to spend draft capital on another left tackle potential yet again. Yeah, it really, this injury sucks. Because while Ozzie Tripillo was imperfect in his time playing left tackle, it looked like he was on his way. And the Bears' offensive line with Dan Rochart and Ben Johnson and all of his staff did really good job. of compensating for the newness of these guys, including Theo Benedetto.

Theo Benedet needed help over there. Ozzie Drapillo needed help over there. But the trajectory was really good. Now you have to either, you're right, draft one, sign one, get creative, you know, things like, and I don't think that this is something we're going to see, but until we really see darn all right, just locked in, nobody's going to move him to left tackle, then you have to think about that possibility, too. How important is left tackle in this offense?

And is darn all right somebody you start to mess with? And how much do they like somebody like Jordan McFadden, who was, you know, had to play probably too much last year? And you're looking at me right now like, I'm crazy to even bring up his name. But that's where they are in terms of creativity and knowing their own personnel right now. Well, no, a lot of people are saying Karana Magaji is the,

fourth bite. But I don't. I wasn't even thinking about Karana. I wasn't either because I don't know that they ever set out to have him be a starting left tackle. Now I know he had to start. That's a different discussion. But when it comes to, I think sometimes you know, I know he was a third round pick. But I feel like even then you're probably drafting that guy, especially knowing that he was injured at the time and he played at Yale. Ivy League's a little bit different competition from

say your Big Ten or your SEC. So I was still thinking that that was more of a developmental than it was a, you need him on the album cover, as Poles Likes to say. But yeah, we can count him. Okay, so that's four. Yeah. But I considered him more of a depth guy rather than perhaps a starter. I mean, I'm still trying to figure out is, can he play at all? Because we still don't really know about Karana.

I'm a guy because we saw him get in, even though he might have been put in in some unfair spots. What was it against Minnesota? Yeah, at Minnesota. So he hasn't necessarily been put in positions to win, but considering he's a third round pick, and maybe he just gets bunched

with Ryan Poles' mistakes of the past, as we were talking about in the meeting. Like, offensive line, ironically, you could say, has been one of the bigger problems for Ryan Poles until last year and this past season. And they went to the store.

Yeah. They did the hard thing because that's the beauty of having a quarterback on a rookie contract is you can spend a lot of actual money to get per se the best free agent center on the market. You know, in Drew Dalman. You can spend the money to get a guy like Joe Duny and then extend him knowing that that's the intent. And good on them. They spent the money on Jonah Jackson and look how that season turned out. We haven't even talked about that given all question marks that he had had coming from the Rams.

he comes in, has a great season, especially when you consider how successful the right side of the line was when it came to the running game. That we don't complain about. But you can't go to the left tackle store. And when you do, it's expensive. Trent Williams is here to tell you about it. So in the meantime, they've got to figure out yet another plan.

Yeah, I mean, that's one of the most important things that they need to have hammered out by the time they step on the turf for training camp at Hallis Hall. and it'll be very interesting to see how they go about this and what kind of resources they put into it. Nobody's trying to call me a polls apologist, but am I doing so in not counting Quran Amagaji in that discussion? No, I think it's kind of sad. I mean, I think it's like just pointing out Karan Amagaji, there are probably listeners who were like the same thing I reacted like, oh yeah, Karan Amagaji, who is, like he's a third round pick. He's a third rounder.

That's like, it's not like it was a fifth six. Blender was seven? Yeah. Like, it's like, it's like kind of dancing around bust for somebody like him. Now, it all feels better because of the purchases that they made as you just went through and the success of darned all right. Like, the darn all right thing is just, thank God he really came into his own this year and that you have literally a pro bowl guy as your right tackle.

That's so incredibly important, but they've got to figure this out at left tackle. Well, and that's it. And I feel like we're stuck in the same situation. Would I be asking this question if Ozzie Tripillo had not hurt his Pitello tendon? No. This wouldn't be an issue. But unfortunately, we're faced with a very sobering thought, especially when you consider how much money that position commands. Right.

You had the guy. There he was. There he was. We think Ozzie Tripillo and now he's not there. But that's where. It's a pillow. Yeah. Well, I was wondering when he was.

going to chime in about that. Jeez, Chris, Emma, we can't take you anywhere. Poor is the pillow. Poor Emma. That's also to me why it's not a done deal that Braxton Jones is going to be like, yeah, I'll give you guys a year. We just told you how hard it is to find quality experienced left tackles. Man, I can't.

And he may not be the all pro. Nobody's saying that. You know, I've had my fair share discussion about Braxton. I was always worried about his pad level and just how the width of the base at which he was blocking. But when it comes to positional availability, I mean, look how quickly it took for a guy like Kevin Jenkins, for example, to sign. I expect

Brackston Jones will get a lot of attention in a free agent market for that very reason. Good offensive lineman, even passable offensive lineman. Jared. A hard to find. Leno, when he left the Bears and the previous seventh round pick, he landed right away. And wasn't he somewhat of a cap casualty at the time?

Yeah, I think he was. And he was also, honestly, he just brought up Tevin Jenkins. He was also a Tevin Jenkins casualty because that's when everybody thought, oh, okay, you've drafted your guy, you highly drafted player in Tevin Jenkins. There you have your left tackle. And we know that that all imploded.

And Tevin Jenkins ended up being a guard. And Braxton Jones, the seventh rounder, ended up being that pick or that guy. Fifth rounder. Fifth rounder. Yes. Yeah. Ludo was the seventh.

Jones was the fifth. And then the qualifier of always the discussion of, well, dot, dot, dot for fifth rounder. Now, Luke Newman, I feel like is still a guard in all of this. You know, he was drafted last year. I don't think that his life changes too much because of this. I could be wrong. I don't know that any of us saw Theo Benedette's life changing as much as it did after a preseason. Yeah, and that's the other part here because it is, it does seem like a seriously complicated issue, unless we look at it as and say, okay, somehow, some way this coaching staff got that Theo Benedict, undrafted guy to sat around in his first year to be effective

at left tackle. Ozzie Tripillo, who missed the offseason program and looked like he was going to be, at the very least for the year, a project and maybe a guy that plays, but probably a guy that's not going to play. Can't, do we have enough faith in this coaching to have to say, yeah, you can't. could patchwork it for another year. You could get away with Braxton Jones. And I don't think they will with Braxton Jones just because they sort of said it from the beginning. We don't really care that much about Braxton Jones. Yeah, he's our starter. We're going with Braxton Jones. He did win

the left tackle competition. But after that, once he was replaced, he was replaced. He's a good example of look what happens when a guy of that height and that size has a debilitating injury. You know, he had that broken ankle and remember how he was still coming back from it and he didn't even look like himself for a long time. And then ultimately, yes, ended up losing the job. I think experience won out just because it was a new offense too and everybody was learning together. But that's why there's no guarantees here. Thank goodness, Ozzie Tripillo is young. But we just don't know what we're going to get once he is able to play. 847 bears at 25th pick should draft the best available at either left tackle, edge, or defensive tackle.

I mean, right now at number 25, if I had my pick out of those, I'm still, I'm still defense, though, by a hair. Well, it's supposedly a very good class for rusher, edge rusher. It is. But, you know, I believe Clay too. Clay said this last week, Clay Harbor, when he was. on with us. Let's also consider getting more interior rush. Doesn't always have to be perimeter. Oh, I'd be okay with them drafting a defensive tackle. I mean, like, is. Or maybe perhaps that's a cheaper position in free agency than edge rusher, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And like is, you know,

what's, what's Grady Jared got left? Is Jervon Dexter? Are we just about out of time on Jervon Dexter? You got two years left on Grady's deal, right? Wasn't it three? Yeah. Yeah, you do. And it's Shamar Turner, too. who you have three years left on his rookie deal. Has to be crucial in this. Big time. Second round pick has to be. We talk about it on Take the North about how the bears are sort of the higher from within bears.

Like when you look at like realistically how their defense is going to get better, it's the guys that exist either playing Shamar Turner or Grady Jarrett get better than you were last year. We're going to have more on this discussion because like not to get real bleak, but let's not forget that four safeties are all up right now in free agents. well. Kevin Fishbane will join us to talk about cap casualties at 1225. Coming up next year on Rahimi Harrison, Oh, oh, I'm leaving.

It's halftime. And when I first got onto this story, I'm leaving. I did not think it was appropriate. She is filthy. I held off because I just didn't think it was ripe for a broadcast discussion. But sometimes when everybody else is talking about it

to a fever pitch, you have to as well. I'll just read the hell. and I can't read everything because I'm not stupid. Plastic surgeon. You think I'm stupid? Pumps more drama into gate at Olympics with injection claim. If you haven't heard,

get to know it next.