Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Examining the direction the Bears are going in free agency

Episode Date: March 10, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Marshall Harris reacted to the Bears' additions as NFL free agency got going Monday.

I think it's just going to be a couple of days or months before we get used to calling Kobe Bryant. A, Kobe Bryant comfortably, and then B, not Kobe White. After yes, we may have had to adjust from thinking of Kobe Bryant. It's like a step through double euro step trying to get around it because it's like, wait a minute, I can't say Kobe Bryant because that's the famous. Nobody's name really is Kobe, but maybe it's Kobe White. But no, no, it is Kobe. Are you sure it's Kobe Bryant? Because that sounds like, sad.

Well, and then Grody joked about typing in the word football as opposed to basketball, and then people got mad. Like, well, you can just type in Kobe with the C. You're right. Heaven forbid we double check or be specific in this day and age with a search engine. We should just make sure we do the least and trust it blindly. To that textor, that is not true because when I try to look for Kobe Bryant highlights of the Bears, it just automatically put me to Kobe Bryant from the Lakers. Yeah, yeah. Mansplating about how Google works is a new one. This is not why you called, and I don't want to talk about it. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104-3, the score. And what was important yesterday and what did matter was that we got some defined direction from the Bears yesterday as to what they thought their priorities were.

I was pleased. Does it please you? Yes. I was pleased, Marshall, to see that the priorities I had, which were linebacker, and safety did get addressed yesterday. Was it the massive splash that people thought it was? No. Was it the, oh, the cap doesn't exist type of take?

Absolutely not from Ryan Poles and company. But it was a get somebody who can create turnovers, which we saw them address both at the safety and the linebacker position. And then it was also getting Kobe Bryant and Devin Bush a bit of a pattern when it came to speed. Kobe Bryant comes from an excellent defense as we know in Seattle. It sounds like he's very versatile. This is somebody who now the question becomes, is it Kobe Bryant and Kevin Byard? Or is it Kobe Bryant and somebody else? I know she didn't say, is it Kobe Bryant and Jaquan Brisker? I guess he falls under somebody else. I'll say this. I am holding out hope that

it can still be Kobe Bryant and Kevin Byard. I think I'm shocked that Kevin Byard has made it almost 24 hours We're what 23 hours and 5 minutes into this thing As far as the negotiating period for the NFL Ahead of Free Agency in the start of the new year league on Wednesday I thought Kevin Byrd would have a team Whether that was the Bears or someone else by now And the fact that he doesn't gives me a bit of hope

And it's a growing amount of hope That the Bears can find a way to bring him back in the fold because let me tell you something, that is a pairing I would like to see Kobe Bryant and Kevin Byer. With the versatility that Kobe Bryant brings to the defense, we know that Dennis Allen loves himself a hybrid. He loves himself a guy who could do more than one thing. And his ability to not only cover as a guy who started in the league as a cornerback, but has moved and played both safety positions, you like the idea of that versus the stoic sensibility of a guy coming off of a first team all pro Cesar. season and Byer.

And while we're addressing the safety position, I think addressing the linebackers is also key to that. And what we saw was, I think, an echo of if these guys know how to turn the ball over at a remotely close rate, which it is four interceptions for Kobe Bryant last regular season compared to seven for Kevin Byer, that extra three does matter. But when you see that part of it, along with Kobe Bryant being 26 years old, then you also add to that the Devin Bush aspect of this where he is a guy who's known for

his speed. He had two pick sixes last year. That goes with his three interceptions, which was a career high. That's not quite tremendous admins is four. But that let's you know that these are guys who can fly around the ball. Perhaps turnover creation is still something

that they're looking for actively trying to make sure it's not a game of chance. Because you and I, Marshall, have talked about how how many turnovers last season by the Bears can you attribute to right place, right time, and knowing that you can't always recreate that from season to season, especially if we don't know what's happening with Kevin Byard, and we don't yet know what's going on with Deshaun Wright.

They were the two biggest factors in terms of actually creating the takeaways because you said right place, right time. Yeah, you can be at the right place at the right time, but you still have to make the play. The biggest thing is, were you in the right place at the right time? Making the play, I mean, we've heard the expression, hands like feet. There's a reason that most defensive backs are defensive backs and not receivers. Hands like feet. Yes.

It's so good. Why did that hit me today? Well, I think the biggest thing going into today and why I said, I know safety isn't considered a quote unquote premium position necessarily, but when you have a guy who can cover as a safety and is not afraid to get his hands dirty. and get down in the box and hit somebody, that creates the type of players that Dennis Allen likes to have

and allows him to play more of a chess game as opposed to, largely he was playing, I don't know, Connect 4, the early part of last season anyway, because he was so short-handed. I mean, they had to go out and get CJ Gardner Johnson out the street. And C.D. came in and did C.D. things.

And I don't know where he's going to end up. I guess the message I would have to anybody who's maybe a little anxious at this time wondering who the biggest of playmakers is going to be the bear sign on the defensive side of the ball and the reason they're anxious is because DiO Dingbo exists and you feel like so much money has already been invested into the defense

is understanding it's still early. We haven't even hit Wednesday yet. There's still a lot of players out there right now that could still end up being a bear and I'm curious to see how Ryan Poles is going to scheme this and architect this portion of the defense. Tough day for the

Just get Tyler Linderbom, trade for Max Crosby, and draft Rubin Bain guys. Congratulations. You just named the top three names, both, you know, one of the top names in the draft and then two in free agency. You know what you taught me, Leila? Do you feel better? Do you feel better about naming people that everybody else names? It wasn't going to be that way for Ryan Poles and the Bears.

It just wasn't. One of the greatest lessons that you have taught me, Leila, as we have worked together, is that when you dream, you got to dream your biggest dream, first. And so I think for everybody, they had to get that out there. Like, I want this guy, this guy and this guy. Well, just get that guy and then simplify it. Like, okay, just get a million dollars for yourself while you're at it. Yeah, you got to dream big. And you realize maybe I'm not going to get a million dollars. Well, just get Bayne. What Bay is going to be off the board of the top four. Well, just get, just get Linderbom. Now, granted, I did wonder if the

bears were trying to free up some money for Tyler Linderbom. What I did not realize was that he was going to get $81 million for three seasons. That's an average annual value, 27 million. Is that a lot of money? Here's the funniest part. According to over the cap, the Raiders still have $82 million of cap space to work with. Did they outbid themselves?

Is my question, though. There's a very high likelihood they did, but that's how much they wanted him to work, Tyler Linderbaum, to work with what's likely as Fernando Mendoza. That's fair. That's fair. But back to the Bears and like just,

just kind of when you see what they did yesterday, I don't have any complaints about anything. thing they did. I'm not like looking at a guy like, why did you give that guy all that money? Now, that case could be made for a lot of other teams and a lot of other players. But I will say the prudent approach at this point for Ryan Poles, I'm okay with because it's not like you've gotten to the end of the road and well, you missed out on this guy, that guy, and the third. Well, and Brad Biggs made the point this morning on Mully and Haugh, and he's right to do so. The Bears were not going to win this off season. And that's a good thing.

because the teams that we mentioned, the team that had over $100 million available in Cap Space, the Raiders. Okay, well, why do they have that? Why do they have the first overall pick? And this is a situation that bears were in a couple years ago, as we know. It's because you had to do that much rebuilding.

It's because they have to find a new head coach or had to for the second year in a row. And so when you consider these things, yes, winning the offseason is good because that means you're in the right direction. But if you're doing that for the Bears, that means that you likely haven't signed enough marquee name free agents and that you didn't make the playoffs. So this is different now. This is the symmetry of the league.

Now the Bears are still $13.6 million under the cap. That's according to over the cap.com. The Raiders, as I mentioned, $82.287 million of cap space. Commanders have 79.8. Here's where it gets interesting. You've got a playoff team like the Chargers who have 66.8. I'm glad they play in the ASC. How about that?

Well, that's it. There are some teams Savily who have cap space. Like the Patriots go to the Super Bowl. They lose. They trade Garrett Bradbury, as we know here. But the Patriots have $37.1 million of cap space.

That's what you want to do. That's the ideal. You're on a rookie quarterback contract in Drake May. You get to the Super Bowl. Not ideal because you lose. But you've still got enough money to hopefully address what you need. Like, for example,

they trade their center to the bears because they're able to plug and play a center, who they drafted, who they think has had enough experience. That is my goal. I don't think the bears are there yet. There's still too many gaps that they have to fill in, as you and I, Marshall, have discussed. I think looking at what you just said, that model of, especially when a quarterback's on his rookie contract, I know that time is winding down, right? You've got a couple more years of that with the option year.

I want to see the bears on defense badly, whether we're talking about safety, whether we're talking about defensive line tackle. And maybe they're doing it with Shamar Turner. There's guys that they have now, but I want to make sure this draft coming up, they get defensive guys, even if they're not ready to be, you know, studs on day one. Two years from now, you should be able to say, we're very comfortable letting you go get your money elsewhere because we've got a guy still on his rookie contract who can contribute for us. This is probably a separate conversation for another day closer to the draft.

But there are people who say, well, third round picks don't matter. And I'll show you that they absolutely do if you know how to build a team. There are people who say, well, third and the rest. Okay, that's why we worry about, for example, spending important fourth round draft capital when you only have single-digit amount of draft picks on a punter. That's where it does matter. Or, for example, look at how Seattle drafted. don't forget that Jackson Smith and Jigbo is available at 20th overall.

Look at the past first rounds of the Seahawks and how well they've been able to draft, even in the 20s and how that has worked out for them. These are important and valuable picks. Mark Rodie is right. He's done a lot of research when it has come to the last several years and how teams who pick in the 20s and pick defensive linemen, you think you might be getting somebody and sometimes you don't. But you still have to give your team and your,

the best chance with who that player is. Ryan Poles maintains best player available. My challenge to that is always, okay, if it's a receiver then, are you drafting yet another receiver? They might, depending on what they get done in free agency. That's the bluff call and I don't want the answer. But that's where I say that whether or not you like it,

especially when you know that the game is coming to you on the defensive line class in the draft, that might be a different discussion. Just to reiterate, who was picked by the Bears yesterday, who signed with the team. Number one, Case Keenham is back. So Case Keenum is back, two years, $4.4 million deal with incentives up to $8 million. I'm very curious what the incentives are for him as a third string quarterback. I would guess it would be...

Is it like, you played in a game? Yeah. I think it's games played and or games started and then a yardage, touchdown total, win total. It could be any of those things. Yeah, very interesting. to know. Brackston Jones, and we'll get into this in our next segment here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie. For everybody who thought that he was going to sign a one-year deal, a prove-a-deal for a left tackle, which is rare in and of itself conceptually, that's what happened. So Braxton Jones reportedly

resigning on a one-year deal. Gare Bradbury, as we mentioned, traded over. Neville Gallimore got the day started for the Bears, signing a two-year $12 million contract. Most people think that's defensive line depth that the bears needed. Like, for example, Joe Tryon Sharinga, who they traded for. Devin Bush, as we mentioned, three years, $30 million. DeMarco Jackson, re-signing with the Bears. I am happy to see that happen. The NFL free agency tracker, for some reason, doesn't have Daniel Hardy on here.

Why, you got to do that to Daniel Hardy NFL.com. He also signed with the Bears. And then that big deal with Kobe Bryant, three years, 40 million. And I do like the fact that he comes from a championship defense in Seattle. No, I think that's invaluable when you talk about not only his production on the field, but he knows exactly what it's like to win, and it's a recent feeling. Recency bias matters. He obviously came to the Bears because he believed, one, he was going to get paid,

but also that he could contribute to helping the Bears do what the Seattle Seahawks were able to do last year. And when you look at where the Bears are right now, it always seems like a crossroads of sorts, but a very specific crossroads for this Bears team is, hey, our offense is on the move, it's on the rise, they hopefully have addressed the Drew Dalman retirement in an appropriate and an adequate way. Now, can you get the defense to take the next step forward? And I see a lot of slander right now on the text line

when it comes to Kevin Byrd and how good people think he is. But Layla, to just come out and say that he's past his prime, which he is an aging player, it doesn't mean he doesn't have good stuff. He's coming off a first team all pro season. I cannot see the text line right now because the computer got plugged me out. Mercifully, I don't have to see it. All right.

So 312 says Kevin Byer was bad three years prior to last year. He had two total interceptions in those three years. He lost a step. He did have a ton of tackles his first year here, but he's a free safety. That's not a big market for a 33-year-old free safety who struggles in coverage. Last year, he baited bad QBs. Kobe is a huge upgrade. Here's what I would argue.

Why not both? Yes. Here's what I would argue. Why are you fighting with yourself? I hope that other teams believe with this texter road. Because maybe that means the bears can get him back on an affordable deal. This is Rahimi Harris and Grody on 1043 The Score. That is the voice of Marshall Harris.

I'm Lailah Rahimi. Ray Diaz, Tyler Beuterbaugh and Brandon Vryer are our producers. Brandon helps us out, even though he's also on our morning show. also on Twitch, twitch.tv.tv slash the score Chicago. Our address changed in case you were wondering. We're not at 670 the score anymore. It's the score Chicago. That is also where we are at on our YouTube page. Our Twitch mob is up and chatting. I can't see our text line right now, which is probably a good thing, but you can text us and call us at 312, 64, 64, 6767. So when we come back, let's hear from Ben Solac on where Kobe Bryant fits in. And also, let's talk about,

out the new offensive line. Do you think they did enough? I'm very curious to know what you think as well. 312, 64, 64, 67, 67, you've got the score.