Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Full Show — February 12, 2026

Episode Date: February 12, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Marshall Harris discussed Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman’s early impact on the club and welcomed on Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk to discuss the latest NFL headlines.

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It's just sports. Gay thanks. Bye. Rahimi Harrison Grody. 10 to 2 on 104 3 The score. Three-time rising star. Modus Brous, thanks for coming on. No problem. Thank you guys for having me.

All right, first things first. I've gotten a hot news tip, Modis. I hear that you like to have some food after shoot around. What's your go-to to get the hotel spread going? It depends on what time it is. If it's in the morning, I'm going with four eggs with cheese, probably sausage, and some pancakes. I love pancakes. I mean, it's got love pancakes.

Load them up with butter, syrup. I mean, you really load those pancakes up. I'm not going to lie. I've never had butter on my pancakes. What? I don't know. Is it good? What you say?

Wait, what do you do? This is important news here. I go, I just go with syrup. That's it. I happen to know everything there is to know about maple syrup. I love maple syrup. I love maple syrup on pancakes. I love it on pizza.

I'd like to take maple syrup and put a little bit in my hair when I've had a rough week. What do you think holds it up, slick? Now, how much crap have you gotten throughout from your family growing up? It's like, come on, young modest. It's a little bit of butter and you're like, no thanks. No meat. No leftovers. No butter.

We never had butter for the pancakes in my house. when we were younger. That means you're a healthier household then. That's what I'm hearing here. Modis. You're young and can burn a lot of calories, man. Like, for those of us who can't, we need you to try to mix it up a little.

You know what? That's what I might start doing. I might start doing it from this day moving forward. They hooked me up. What's with all the butter? I'm shaving with it. And you know what I discovered? You can eat it?

No. My face feels so good. I'm going to use it all over my booty. Lela Rahimi, Marshall Harris. Mark Grody, midday's 10 a.m. to 2 on Chicago Sports Radio 104.3, The Score. This hour on 104.3, The Score, is brought to you by Cars for Kids. This is Rahimi, Harris, and Grody. Thank you for joining us on this Thursday, whether you're listening to us on the score.

See what I did there? Whether you're listening to us on 670, 104, YouTube, Twitch. What are you laughing about? Odyssey app? I'm just thinking of all the different ways. you can consume the product. You can. And we appreciate you doing it. I like to say 670 for distance, 1043 for local. You know, that's kind of how, that's my formula. According to everybody's science experiments that they've done for us, where they test the signal strength.

1043 for between the ferns and other taller inanimate objects. Next to our building. Yes. That's always my biggest example. We didn't have that before. So we're happy to have you. And yeah, Tomadus Buzell is here. That is an all-time.

Tyler Beterbaugh, Seinfeld episode, where Kramer's tanning and butter, and then somehow he gets involved in the Parmesan and the next thing you know is being viewed as a chicken. It all comes together. Now, doesn't it? Yeah, he was like basing himself in a big old tub. It's very disturbing. Is that the Kitty Rogers Roosters episode, too? I think so. Keep me honest on this. You know my Seinfeld game isn't the best. So I know we've got textors who have them. So 312, 64, 64, 67, 67 is our number. And yes, I think that, I don't, I think it was the Kenny Rogers Roosters episode, I think. I, it's been so long since I've seen a Seinfeld episode, alone like a specific can remember the details of it. It's like, it's tough.

After, after a couple days ago where we got the Dolores rhyming names, I feel like I've really got to up my game here. That was hilarious to read all those texts. Not safe for work by any means, but that's why we get the fun job. In the meantime, it's baseball season. Like how many times this week have we gotten a text or something or a comment? And it's like, why are you guys talking about football? That's baseball season. And I'm like, it is.

But not everybody was there yet. Why are you reading my text from Matt Spiegel? I'm joking. I'm joking. No, Matt was like scratching his neck doing the Dave Chappelle, like, got any more of that baseball season video? Got any more of that spring trading video? And he doesn't even want necessarily like home runs and batting practice.

He's like, I'll just take a nice sunrise in Arizona fall. League, like show us what the guys are doing at 6 a.m. in the morning, getting that early work in. See, and like even you, your fall football brain is still there because you said Arizona Fall League unconsciously. Yeah. That's because we're so used to it. If I'm talking to Brad Biggs, I'm in football mode. I do love it when Biggs breaks out of Sox thoughts, though. They're so good. There's a lot of thoughts about what's going on with the Sox. We'll be talking about that at 1045. Yes, we will. And in the meantime, we've got to talk about the Cubs' new edition. And I think you hear this often you know we hear oh you know like so and so's a leader they're going to do

all these things to help they're going to bring their eye their expertise and and i do think that that is true whenever you bring in a guy like alex bragmerter even when you bring in a veteran like say and i'm going to use this name ryan presley there's always discussions that can be had about your game you know and like remember the conversation ian hap had with presley where he talked about what he was seeing as a hitter and his slider. And that kind of stuff goes on all the time in a baseball clubhouse. I'm not going to lie. When you said Ryan Presley, that was not number one or two on my bingo card.

I thought you were going to say the guy drafted directly ahead of Alex Bregman in Dansby, Swanson. And then my second... Oh, that's their first, Danesby's Spring Training. Danzby. But look, my second guess even was, I don't know, the guy who's won World Series and also played with Alex Bruegman, Kyle Tucker because that happened last year. Right. And that is it. You know, a lot of guys talk ball. They like to talk about

what they're seeing out of their teammates or things they pick up. I think that's just part of a natural process that happens. And you and I have both hosted baseball and pregame shows of plenty with former baseball players and what are they doing? The same thing. They're like, oh, you know, so-and-so's doing this on this pitch or I'm seeing him

do this with his swing. That happens in a clubhouse. And I like that we romanticize it. I don't think it has to be done to be leader, but it is something when you hear about how Alex Bregman, even knowing all of that, is already making such an impact in the Cubs Clubhouse. There's reports with the athletic. Ken Rosenthal wrote about it this morning. Our Bruce Levine is in Arizona. Here's what he had to say about Bregman already getting to work before the man even actually had to be there. There's no more

impact that you can even imagine from a guy that was in, it's been in camp two days than Alex Bregman and the Chicago Cubs. He's going locker to locker, talking about each guy, knowing guys, even though he hadn't met them personally, talking about matchups that he's had against them on the field, talking to Hobie Milner yesterday, telling him there's a couple of different takes

that you can clean up that we were using to pick up your stuff when we played you. And those type of things, are so impressive to hear that this guy is a coach on the field as well as being an all-star caliber third baseman. I love hearing that from Brad. It is something that Ken Rosenthal had touched on as well, how Alex Bergman is making his new teammates better. And I think there's a fine line between like, oh, you're doing this wrong and oh, hey, here's something I saw. And what I immediately thought of was Alex Bruegman was a shortstop in college at LSU. And I feel like he's still

goes about his business in that way. You know, like still a leader on the field, even though he's at third base. But that kind of go about your business attitude, scouting reports, learning everything he can, be a sponge, reflect what you know, share information, that type of thing. The biggest thing for me is I understood Kyle Tucker's role on a championship team before he joined the Cubs. And you can say the same about Ryan Presley. He's out here recording the... the final out of a world series.

That tells you, like, these guys have important roles on teams who did what the Cubs are aspiring to do. And frankly, what every Major League Baseball team that's out here investing in its team is trying to do. And that's win it all, not just go to the playoffs, but win it all. But the tone of Alex Bregman in his even introductory press conference was very different than the first time we heard from Ryan Presley, the first time we heard from Kyle Tucker. frankly, it reminded me a little bit, but it went over the top

because I remember when Danesby Swanson was brought in as a free agent with the Cubs. This was more similar to that, but still dissimilar, and that Alex Bregman was letting you know from Jump, I am here to elevate every single player around me. I'm not just here to play third base and get at bats and try to put up a five-plus war. No, no, no, no. We have to make sure everybody on this team gets better than they were last year.

Marty Marshall, that you mentioned that introductory press conference from Alex Bregman. Let's go back to that introductory press conference you just mentioned, and Jed Hoyer talking about what Alex Bregman wanted to do immediately after he got here. Alex is going to be humble on this, but we didn't ask him to do this. And I think within two days of signing, he had asked for reports on every player and what they're working on to make sure that he was talking about the right things with those players. He asked for a meeting with all of the minor league staff that's in Arizona to talk to or hitting philosophy to make sure he was talking about the right things. He had already called almost all of our players to talk to him.

So these are the things that he's already talked about. And actually another thing, he came to my office yesterday and he said, hey, I hope you're okay. I committed to the WBC to play in May. I hope you're okay with that. And I was like, no, sure, of course. He's like, don't worry, I'll come in in the morning before we have workouts and make sure I'm with the guys. And so it isn't just a, it's in four or five days he's been a Cub. Like there's already been like, you know, countless examples of things he's working on that.

No one's asking to do. But that's how he thinks about his role. It's not just about getting his workouts in. It's about making sure he's integrated with the entire team. Hey, Alex, can you tell the rest of us about the Cubs team hitting philosophy starting in the minor leagues? I would like to know. It's kind of crazy that he not only requests all the information, he takes it in, but then, according to Bruce and others,

when he gets to Spring Train, he immediately starts applying it to individuals and letting them know, here are your tells, here's what I am seeing, how can I help you? What do you need? It's going to be interested to see how he infiltrates is the wrong word. I don't feel like he's assimilating the Cubs. I feel like the Cubs are assimilating to him.

I think infiltrates might be the right word. You can infiltrate with positivity. You can infiltrate with production. Can you not? I guess. Let's look. Let's look it up. There was a dictionary.

Hold on. There was a dictionary definition word we didn't get to yesterday that you were like, I want to read this out loud in the dictionary. Oh, I wish I remembered what it was. Yesterday feels like a long time ago. I'm not going to lie to you guys. You were correct. Go ahead.

No, you said it was a long day. Oh, that's what you're saying. I was correct about. Yes. It was just a long time ago. What happened was I watched that Bulls game last night. It was like a pallet cleanser, and I forgot about everything that happened before that Bulls game kind of had to reset my mind.

It was a good pallet cleanser or a bad pallet cleansing? You know what? Sometimes a pallet cleanser is just a pallet cleanser good or bad. It's like, have you ever, do you remember the first time you had malorts? Yes. It's a palate cleanser. No matter what you were eating or drinking before, all you remember is the malort in the feeling. And then by the time you get rid of that thought of the malortes,

because you didn't know what you were getting into the first time you ever had, Malort. Then, now you're a whole, you don't even remember before the Malort. That's what the Bulls was last night. It really was. Yes. The Bulls, the rest of the season might be a shot of Malort. We didn't get into that with Modis. I don't know if Modis is done, Malort.

I'm assuming he does. He's at age. He's 21. He's 100% probably done Malore. Yeah. 100% probably is not a thing. That's a dead. No, it is.

99.9% likelihood. 69% of the time it works every time. This smells like the inside of a baby's diaper. This smells like the inside of a fake leg. Infiltrate. Either to gain access to, oh, it does say surreptitiously. And gradually an organization plays, et cetera, especially in order to acquire secret information.

But see, I don't think it's secret information. I think that's where it really jumps. And that's why I said infiltrate and realized that's not the word I'm looking for here because he's not looking for secret information. He's looking for whatever information is made available to him and he's going to do the most with it. Well, that's it. It's like, hey, not only do you get me, you get my brain and you get our scouting reports. And there are pictures on the Cubs who have a preexisting relationship with Alex Breggman,

like Phil Maeton was just with the Rangers. He obviously has a long history in the league. He also has a history of facing the Astros. So he was quoted in the Ken Rosenthal article talking about facing that lineup. He said, all right, he said the paranoia was setting in a little bit. All right, I really need to deal this in, dial this in, clean it up. I just remember even in game, really working on it with Bregman, Correa, and Maldonado. You know, Alex Bregman, Carlos Correa, Martin Maldonado.

It was just like, get my glove angle a little bit better, so I'm hiding pitches from the guy at second base. the concept of understanding who you're working with and why, and then how a ball comes to you in the infield. That's something that I feel like the Astros have put in so much research into, just having covered that organization for as long as I did, the concept of how the ball gets to you in the infield and how you can use that, the seconds matter, you know, the nanoseconds matter.

And that kind of knowledge that he has organizationally, I think is going to really help as well. No, I'm, again, this is probably, probably one of, it's not my top thing, but it's one of the things I'm most interested in is to see the Alex Bregman effect. We saw the Kyle Tucker effect for a good two months before he got hurt and people need to remember Alex Bregman played less games and had less at bats than Kyle Tucker last year. And that's, he only played 114 games last year. But he was productive in those 114 games. And he's had durability, even if you look at the previous two seasons,

where he played a bunch of games. So that's not really the issue here. The issue is, hey, can we make sure Alex Bregman is as fresh as he needs to be at his elderly age in sports terms. And I think Craig Counsel is going to do a great job managing that because Craig Counsel, that's what he does. He manages. And that's when you're leaning into the guy you're paying all the money to keep everything in order. Well, and frankly, you know, I go back and forth with this too, and I'm sure you do too, having covered baseball, is so many times you're asking yourself, well, if this veteran, hitter phrased it this way to this this younger player you know like Alex

Bergman talking about PCA for example and and helping him with his approach to hitting and then you're asking yourself well where's where's the heading coach and all of this where are the assistant coaches I think the the thing is that was sometimes it just takes a different voice to unlock that for somebody else you know but it's something I think about often when it comes to how so many times like the people who approach hitting the best way or are sometimes the players who are still in the clubhouse as players. And they'll share that info. Yeah, you know a guy is your contemporary or maybe just a little bit older than you and he's been there, done that. The ears are wide open and so is the mind more importantly because

you can listen, but are you going to absorb what he is preaching to you? I think this this team has shown they're excited to have Alex Bregman as a part of their team. So it's positive. infiltration with Mallort. Pallet cleanser, always. And listen, after the first time I had Malort, never again was it the type of palate cleanser that it was the first time, because I didn't know what was coming.

Had no idea. I tasted elder flour the first time. Would you taste the second and the third and the fifth time? Pain. But accomplishment. Because you had done the thing. Yeah.

And like every now, and then you're just like, oh, I haven't had a shot of Mallort in a while. Better get on that. I am not. I just want to make sure that we understand there is a line between us and our thoughts on that. I am good if I never do another shot of Mallort or really anything for the rest of my life. I can't even tell you the last I'm had alcohol. It was two weeks ago for me.

I was at my friend's wedding in Mexico. Oh, that's different. It was good times. But that's why I don't do dry January. Like, I don't drink enough to have dry January be necessary. I want a drink it's in January. That's happening. Remind me to bring this up with Clay.

He did try January. He might still be going. Clay loves diets. Like any sort of like challenge, any sort of, yeah, he does. And I say that being just about Clay. I'm not saying that's something you should do. You do you. That's what's most important.

Adrohemi Harrison Grotie on 104. We broadcast live from our scores Hyundai Studios, brought to you by your local Hyundai dealers. We have two signals for you to choose from, 670 and 1043. We have Twitch that you can join as well. Twitch.tv. slash The Score of Chicago.

We are on YouTube. YouTube is also The Score Chicago. Ray Diaz, Tyler Beaterbaugh are our producers. Brandon Fryer helps us out. Grant Leader helped us out yesterday and I forgot to shout out Grant. So he gets one today. We also have Connor O'Donnell, Jacob Stutz, and Max Curtis, our video and social team working for you.

Next, we will continue with the Cubs talk because pitchers and catchers have reported. So how do we figure out what to do about the guy who got a raise because he was smart? But maybe still has to be managed a little bit better. We'll talk about that next. Rahimi Harris and Grody, midday's 10 to 2 on 1043, the score. Leaded first by Jackson Merrill, the pitch. Swing and a miss. Strike three, and that's out number one. Excellent pitch by Shoda.

As he goes at the breaking ball, he's not having a great, great. feel for that split so he goes with a little slower hook, throws it down and in, and Bogart's really not ready for that pitch, well out front of it. The dagger for Shoda? What are we doing here? We're getting out of control. This is Rahimi Harrison Brody on 104 to score, and now my hockey brain is combining with my baseball brain, and I'm still not over football brain, and I don't know what names are going

to come out of my head, and I apologize in advance, but one thing we do know, well is that Choda Imanaga was the recipient of savvy timing and a very interesting contract structure. Shoda had an option. We were all trying to figure out what it was at the end of last season.

It was a mutual. The club declined the option. Then he had the option to opt back in with a raise or test the market. And if so, the Cubs were going to get a compensatory pick. As we know, he did not test the market. And now,

to Imanaga got a raise up to $22 million is what he is being paid. And the concern is he started with a 265 ERA in the first half with an 093 whip and then had a 470 ERA and a 104 whip in the second half. Is that bad? It got worse in the playoffs. And the home run became something that was a common result of what we saw of him at the mound. Layla, look at it like this. well before the regular seasons ended.

What did I tell you about Shodemanaaga? He can't be a part of your playoff rotation. He gives up too many home runs, and we know by and large, home runs are the deciding factor in most playoff games, not all, but most. And when you look at what this guy did, first half versus second half, understand this.

He gave up almost twice as many home runs in the second half as he did in the first half. He gave up 11 home runs in his first 12-star. He gave up 20 home runs over his last 13 starts. And I think he still has a streak going of giving up a home run in starts. Am I correct that? I'm going to look it up to make sure. Yeah, I've just got the splits in front of me.

That's why I was able to see those easily. Let's look at the old game log. Well, so according to the game log, I'll tell you this. He famously did not pitch in the postseason in his last opportunity to pitch. The Cubs skipped him, did not throw him out there. He gave up three home runs over two postseason appearances, so he gave up home runs in each of those. And if you go back to the regular season and add his last nine regular season starts,

he gave up 11 straight starts, home runs. Yeah, you have to go back to August 5th against Cincinnati, who now has Ahoyaneos Juarez, to see the last game where he didn't give up a home run. That was a 5-to-1 loss. He still ended up giving up one-earned-run, at least in that ballgame. But that's fine. Six and a third, three hits one-on-run. That's the show that you thought you signed up for.

Yeah, not the eighth spot that he gave up to the Mets. You and I watched that show, actually with our guest at New and Clay Harbor, if you recall, at Old Crow. That was bad. The four earned runs against the Milwaukee Brewers was not great. That was two home runs and that, but that was only two-thirds innings in that outing. And that's the last time we saw on pitch.

that was on October 6th of last year. Sharda gets the raise. The Cubs end up having to pay him. And we've batted around the idea of a six-man rotation when it comes to trying to figure out how he fits in on this team. I think it's clear that as of right now, he feels like insurance. Because you look at the other starters in this rotation to start it off.

and I think honestly, unless something, I don't always say drastic changes, unless there's a return to what he looked like in the first half of the season, he's not in your top five pitchers. And that's including Colin Ray. I'm going to be honest with you. I mean, the other part of this too is Justin Steele,

we know it's probably at least two months before we're talking about a return from him. And that's what makes this tricky. And we still don't know where Zach Allen is going yet, so that also adds to the intrigue. And I think whether or not you see, say he feels like insurance, he needs to be insurance. Well, sometimes insurance is costly depending on where you live and what kind of weather

patterns are happening, like, you know, to get insured in Florida now as an arm and maybe both your legs. It's Matthew Boyd, it's Eduardo Cabrera, it's Kate Horton, it's James and Tyone, and then it's Shoda Imanaga. And you could argue it should be Colin Ray, the spot starter, the sixth swing man, ahead have Shodemanaaga. But the Cubs obviously, obviously, are very confident that they can fit Shodda

Amina's problems. Otherwise, why would they give him the qualifying offer? Yeah. They thought he was going to sign somewhere else. They did. I am convinced they thought that because of the pitching market, or what they thought about the pitching market, that he was going to

go to the market and then the Cubs were going to get a pick. Confident. Here's what we know. We know that that's $22.9 million of the Cubs budget that they don't have available to them right now. And if Zat Gowlin, who's still out here, looking for a job, was out here and the Cubs had an extra $22.9 million, maybe Zach Gallen was already a Cubs right now. Man, and that's it.

It's that, you know, we're not talking about the Dodgers payroll here. We're talking about the Cubs payroll. So that money does matter. And it takes up probably a spot for somebody else. And that's what the concern is. So Shota Imanaga was discussed yesterday appropriately as pitchers and catchers reported to Mesa. And Craig Counsel was asked about Shota and the process to get him back in his groove. With some of the factors that were in play with Shoda in the second half,

what's your optimism that he can kind of get back to the group he was before the injury, kind of the domino effect? Yeah, I mean, I'm very excited for Shota to have an outstanding season. And I really think, look, look, this is, he is going to respond kind of to the things that happened at the end of the year. And, you know, he wasn't happy how he pitched. And, you know, that's what great competitors do. They respond to things like that.

And he will absolutely respond. And I'm very confident in that. If you could pick one thing he kind of did in the offseason to sort of move forward, what might it be? Yeah, I mean, there was not, it's all very subtle. It's not, it doesn't have to be a big thing. I think that's, that's the, that's the difficulty of Major League Baseball is that these guys are at a level where the difference between success and, and, and struggle

is, is very tiny and the adjustments, they're, they're, they're small. And, and also sometimes, like, that's, that's why, you know, we, you think you can fix yourself like immediately but it's it's just a very subtle the subtle things like can get you off track and and sometimes you need to step back a little bit to to see that right and I think so I think as much as anything you know sort of probably needed a little bit of time to to be able to step back a little bit and that gives you some clarity as much as anything I mean that that sounds good but my biggest concern about Shoda isn't time, isn't time off. It's that his pitching profile is a high fastball tunnel with a splitter.

And that high fastball ranges in the 90 to 92 range. It feels like the location has to be so precise for him to get away with what he was trying to get away with in the second half of the season. And is that velocity going to tick up? There's no indication that it will. I mean, even in hearing that answer about Shoda and what needs to happen for him to get back to the guy that he was, there was not a bullet that let you know, this has to happen.

It was more of a, he just has to get away from the game and get a feel back. I don't like that. When the way you pitch is eventually going to lead to these results, you know the deal you're making. It's just a matter of how long you want to let that ride. Maybe the question is, How often do you want to let that ride?

Well, yes. Because the six-man rotation can kind of take away from having to deal with that every day and maybe five days' rest as opposed to four days' rest even can help Shoda regain something. And you see how I'm kind of grasping at straws? I feel like everyone in this situation is grasping at straws in the moment. I feel like we're just picking up where the team left off in the playoffs. We are, what did they do? You know, it was one game they prevented Shoda from being an opener.

another one they decided to go ahead or being an opener, being a starter. You know, there was an opener for Shoda. Another game they tried to balance it in a different manner. It was piecemealing everything you possibly could, remixing the opening day starter or the home opener starter.

No, he was the opening day starter. Yeah, he started the first game, but I think that has as much to do as being in Japan as anything else. But he started the home opener too, so there was that. But remixing, arguably, who should have been,

you know, your first or second best pitcher at that point and having to take that approach in the playoffs. And I understand it led to Jed Hoyer and Craig counsel saying pitching was a priority. But when you have to take those steps, how are we not just picking up where the Cubs left off when it came to trying to manage him in a way that would provide some results? I don't think we're getting any more clarity. I thought maybe we get a little something extra on, you know, start of spring training. but it appears that we're just getting started

and we're not as far as long as I would like to be in analyzing what the problem is. More importantly, what is the solution for Shoda-a-M-Naga on a one-year $22.9 million deal? I mean, that's it. It's hard to be so lamenting his raise, but when you understand that it could have been avoided,

that's what makes us so difficult. Like, he's on your team and you're going to have to use him. and you're going to have to figure out the best way to be able to do so while you're still waiting for Justin Steele to come back. It's crazy. After his first three starts this season, remember he had four no-hit innings and just wasn't stretched out in that game against the Dodgers in Japan,

but he gave up a run over his next two starts and went seven innings and then seven in a third. Didn't he still have four walks in that outing? He did have four walks. Yeah, so even then, even then you knew it was a little bit different of a performance than we had seen the year before. And so what is it going to be this year and this time around? And frankly, I know the ball flies in Arizona, but that's as good of an understanding as

to what he's doing as anything. Yeah, got to keep the ball in the park. That's goal number one at this point. Well, but even if he doesn't, then to have that urgency and have that feeling of knowing what it's like to see the ball go out of the park again and try to figure that out. but I'll be very curious to see how much he uses that splitter related to his fastball and if the fastball command is better than it could be after last season. And frankly, also tipping pitches.

Let's not forget that that was an issue too when he tipped all the pitches to the White Sox and they were able to tee off on him pretty well. Speaking of the White Sox, it's viral. We have to discuss it. Chris Gets traded away his most established homegrown hitter. for somebody who he has said multiple times was a switch hitter, except he wasn't. And it's one thing to do it in one media availability.

But we've got the receipts knowing it's not the only one. Let's examine next. Rahimi Harris and Grohney, Midday's tidal two on Chicago Sports Radio 1243 to score. It really is about being able to bring in a cunea, getting access to him. And, you know, we're talking about a player that's five plus years of control. One of the younger, exciting players in our game, you know, hasn't really gotten a runway at the major league level.

That was Chris Gatz talking about Luis Anhele Acuna, who was acquired from the Mets in the Luis Robert trade. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104-3, the score. and you've probably seen it by now. We've gotten questions about it. Are you guys going to talk about Chris Gets calling Luis on Helicunya a switch hitter four times in his media availability yesterday? Yes, yes we are. If it were only four times in one media availability, ex-user Sam Phelan, sorry if I mispronounced it, posted a compilation of Gets referring to Luis Gets, on Helicunya as a switch hitter, many times.

Not just a general media availability, Sox Fest, the recap podcast, and on CHSN. You know, he's got a lot of potential. He can play all over the diamond. He's a strong defender, base runner, switch hitter. He can do a lot of different things to help you win. I want to bring someone in that you're excited about, right? and our evaluations on Acuna are very strong, you know, for the reasons you stated. Very strong defensively.

Switch hitter. He can run. He's got great instincts. To bring in a player that is young who's got pedigree, he's got bloodlines with his brother, can play all over the field. He's a switch hitter. For him to have four home run nights. That would be fantastic.

Yes. This is a guy is high contact ability switch hitter. Oh yeah. Yeah, that it's one thing to make mistakes. Goodness knows. We are in live radio four and a half hours a day. Your brain turns to mosh and it's hard to keep track. Everybody knows that. As a GM, when you're supposed to keep track of thousands of players, that is also difficult. But when you say it in multiple different media availabilities and multiple times in the most recent one, that leads me to believe you did not know that he only bats right-handed. he's 5-8 by the way which normally I don't complain about because I'm 5-3 and what do I care but in this case when you're trying to evaluate talent when you traded away Luis Robert

who you signed a $20 million it starts to add up one Louise for another we know which one is better we also understand as you heard on the way into this segment about giving him a runway to kind of get his major league career going after playing part-time the last couple of years

for the Mets the thing that surprises me about this is that no one said anything after, let's say Sox Fest, right? Like time number one. Now I just hear that buzzer. Well, because anybody can misspeak one time. Two times, okay, that's not great.

But three times? Three times, that's your job is to know your players. And then the fourth time is like, hey, man, that's when they start compiling things. is like, I feel like I've heard this before and people start looking for it and sending examples of it to Sam. And then he puts that together. And I don't know if I'm more disturbed by the fact that he didn't know. And I'm saying he didn't know.

Like, did he really not know that he's not a switch hit? That's the question. Well, that's the bigger issue here because I've heard a lot of GMs talk about switch hitters over time. We talk to one every week here on the score. Shout out of Connect Roosters Tumbler on our set in half. if you thought that you were getting a switch hitter, which it sure sounds like he is, given everything going on with the socks and the fact that you were brought in from being the assistant general manager, where you didn't like the way that the minor league players weren't developing into major league ones,

when that's your responsibility. And then to add this on top, like already you were digging yourself out of a reputational hole a bit. And I give Chris Gett's credit because I think he knew that. He knew the jury Ryan's door for brought him in to, again, use the phrase short in the timeline. This doesn't help. This doesn't help. You don't have enough capital for this. And it was Luis Robert.

It's just crazy because I was excited to see, okay, what can it can you do? He's going to get some more playing time than he got in New York. He's only 23 years old. Maybe there's some untapped potential here. He's fast. He can play in the field. He comes from a good bloodline. It curdled me.

That did make me cringe a little bit. bit. Anytime you hear the bloodline, you're like, ah. We all just went, ah. Like, no. I'm going to go recency and say mostly. We do it because of the Baygent call. Yeah, the Bayesian thing.

For us, it's a different deal. It's Tyson Bayesian. But if you go further back, it's going to be even more disturbing. I can promise you that. Yes, yes, you are correct on that. It's, he did, he did give a statement. Chris Getz did respond this morning about an hour ago. He gave the statement to our Bruce Levine.

quote, so I probably have been getting carried away describing his versatility, he joked. He can play every position on the field. Why does it have to stop there? I called Luis on hell and told him that even though he's just right-handed, we still love him. He's socially graceful, Chris Gatz. He's trying to play it off. I admire those who are. I tend to come in like a bull in a china shop.

He's still going to be asked the first time a Mike is in front of him. So how did you make that same mistake four different times? He's going to be asked. It's not just four different times. it's multiple, it's multiple outings. It's Sox Fest. It's the recap. It's EHSN.

It wasn't just four times. But I like to cite the receipts, like four times documented. I don't know how many more times beyond that. I was like, did you at one point think he was a switcher? I'd have follow-up questions because I really want to understand his thought process there. I mean, we have that compilation from Sam Fieland, which indicates it wasn't just a training, spring training. Right. And so at what point did you realize he was only a.

right-handed hitter. Maybe that's the best question. And was it after you acquired him? That's more important. Did the name, is that what you fell in love with? Are we in a Thanassus scenario here? Oh no, you didn't. Oh, yes, yes, I did.

Is that the comparison you want to make? I asked the question, I didn't declare it. There's a difference. There's a difference. There's a remarkable difference. And you're triggered because you know how Thanasis' name used to get used on this show. You know? Yes.

Dan would just go, he can't play. With the NASS got minutes against the bulls the other day, I'll admit. I was like, ah, the NASSIS alert. Yes, absolutely. You know what I'm doing currently? Looking up the NASS. No, that was my first, that's like what I was going to do. But then I was like, well, let me go check something out.

I just asked the question. I did not say he is the NASS. I said, are we dealing with that scenario? There is a difference. No, because if he was the Nassas, he would be on the Braves. He would be on the Braves. That's where he would be if he was the Nassus. Let's be very honest with ourselves.

With the position players pitching against him, he gave his minutes. I just looked to see all of his other relatives that have played in Major League Baseball to see if any of them were switched. Oh, I thought you were looking up Yonis is on the relatives. No, no, I don't need to. I know enough about Janus and the Nassas. And what's the other brother's name? Now, I'm forgetting the other brother plays more minutes.

Yeah. So look, we all make mistakes. It's a concerning one because it's coming from who it's coming from and a guy who made his name in evaluating talent on the upswing. Developing. Developing said talent, yes. And so while that is concerning, I do want to hear Chris gets out to understand. See, my whole thing, and you guys know this about it, we've had group chats about different things that have happened. I just want to know how we got here. I need a logical explanation of how we got here. I just want to have a conversation. Yeah. Root cause and all. You know, you just want to find the root cause of this. That way we don't ever do this again.

How about that, Chris Gets? Never do this again. Ever. They have a closer for reasons I don't understand. So they can win those one-run games that they were horrible in last year. That's why. How many innings do you expect him to pitch per outing? The one-run deficits didn't just.

happened in the ninth. They have other, well, that's why Grant Taylor's supposed to be such an important part of this team. Every time I talk, I just keep hearing that buzzer. Like the closer, how many, how many innings do you expect him to pitch perouting? I don't expect him to necessarily lead the team in saves either. I think he's going to be utilizing whatever high leverage situation, seventh, eighth, whenever Grant Taylor's not available, he might be pitching those games.

Okay. guys, okay. It's a really damning sound effect. To add to that and the Switch hitter conversation, and it was multiple outings, and the Nassas all in the same segments, more painful than it should have been. Mike Florio joins us.

No, we like Mike Floreo, the creator and editor-in-chief of Pro Football Talk, with a lot of news about our favorite player on this show who's not a bear next on the score. He's the real deal. This is coming from a pure bloodline. Thy ticket, Lady Jennifer of Coolidge. Well, many thanks, good sir. Heareth my Discover card.

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Mike Florio. He used to be a lawyer, then he decided to take his talents to the internet. NBC Sports. I'm sorry, I'm late. I was talking to Robert Crass. That is at the time for an airing of grievances. Pro Football Talk. I got a lot of problems with you, people.

No, you're going to hear about it. On Chicago Sports Radio, 1043, the score. Mike Florio is always working. It doesn't matter if the NFL's in season or not. I think that the week after the Super Bowl is still somewhat the case. Doesn't matter, though. Mike's always working for you. He is the creator, editor-in-chief of Pro Football Talk.

He's at Pro Football Talk on X, and he joins us on the Circa Illinois Hotline, download the Circa Sports app today. He also is on Twitch, twitch.tv.TV slash The ScoreChicago. Mike, how are you? Doing great. How's everybody today?

Well, we're good. We joke that Max Crosby at this point has become some sort of Pavlov's dog type of reaction for us here on the midday show. He's our favorite non-bearer, I feel like, because everybody wants him on the bears. It's a big dream, I know. he keeps talking like he doesn't want to play on the Raiders. So that's why we keep bringing it up.

What's the latest that you gather from this dance that's been going on? I think the most significant comment came last week when Jay Glazer was making the rounds at Radio Row. He has spoken in the past to Crosby. Glaser had a summary of a conversation with Crosby late in the regular season as it relates to his reaction to being shut down for the final two games of the year because of an knee injury. played with most of the season. He takes pride in playing injured. Something happened in that moment where a guy who's been very patient with a team that constantly is rebuilding, he decided he was done. Glazer said last week, Crosby is done with the Raiders. I ran what Glazer said, past somebody in a position to know, and I was told, draw your own conclusions. I don't need to be invited to do that usually, but I did. I don't think he wants to be there. Now, there's a way

to go about it. He's choosing not to go flamethrower like Miles Garrett did last year with the Browns, although the Browns ultimately threw enough money at him to get him to change his mind. I don't think Crosby is going to be swayed by that. I think he's going to be caught by this principle that he wasn't able to do the thing he loves to do for reasons that seem to be part of an effort by the Raiders to ensure they'd earn the number one overall pick in the draft. They shut both Crosby and Brock Bowers down for those last two games, and they successfully finished at the top of the draft order and obviously the bottom of the league.

I think something's going to happen. I've got the knee injury, head surgery on, and that's going to take time to heal, but I don't know that that's going to stop anyone from doing a deal if the Raiders make him available. Part of the game is to make it look like you don't want to trade him in order to get greater value, but if you can get two, three, four teams at the table,

you don't need to act like you're going to keep him. You can do what the Texans did with Deshaun Watson. When they had four teams, you name your price, and you let them battle it out. So I think it's one of the stories to watch this offseason. And when you look at it from where the Raiders are right now, by the time they would get to a point where they would be competitive, because I don't think this is a quick turnaround. This isn't Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams. This is Clint Kubiak and quarterback TBD with a lot of holes in the roster.

By the time they'd become competitive, we're going to be close to the end, if not past the end, of Max Crosby's Prime. Sell high. Get what you can for him now. And then try to use those draft picks to build a contending team. I'm with you on that, Mike. I'm so glad we get to talk to you now that the NFL season is finally in the books. Here's my question. What's the range of what you think it will cost for a team to get Max Crosby,

if the three to four teams that you're talking about materialize and seriously want to go after him? What do you think the starting point is and what do you think ultimately it might cost? Well, Glazer suggested that Max Crosby could fetch more on the trade market than Michael Parsons did. And if you do it early in the offseason, if you do it before teams have spent their cap money, if you do it at a time where everyone can be a little more deliberate and the process can play out a little bit more and you can get more teams to the table. Maybe you can get more because at the end of the day, the options for Jerry Jones and the Cowboys when it came to Michael Parsons for the Packers and the Eagles. And there was no way in hell that the Cowboys were going to trade Michael Parsons to the Eagles. So you do it early.

you get at least a one, it's a one plus, a one plus what? That remains to be seen, and a lot of that's going to be driven by what kind of a competition emerges for Max Crosby services. But he plays the second most important position in football at the pro level. Quarterback and guy who disrupts the quarterback, those are the two most important positions. So could they get two first round picks? There's a chance they could. Now, one wrinkle is, hey, he's got a contract through 2029 at favorable numbers.

But usually when you see a high-profile player like that get traded, he walks through the door with an expectation that there's going to be some sort of a sweetener. So it isn't enough to just say, wow, the contract's really favorable. We're not paying him 47 million a year like the Packers are paying Michael Parsons. You're probably going to have to give him some money up front. You're probably going to have to give him a raise relative to the market. But even then, the guy is incredible. He works harder than anyone. He's got a will to win.

He's told us stories at the Super Bowl, how other players on the team, will say, I want to be like you. How can I be like you? And he'll say, all right, show up at the gym tomorrow at 5 a.m. And they come for a day or two and then they stop. So he makes that commitment to be great. And when you have a guy like that in the locker room, ideally with guys who are going to be influenced by that,

it's going to make your team even better. Well, and to be fair, Mike, I will say this. I think Bears fans drooling over the availability of Max Crosby comes from how they got Cleo Mac into coaching change, in Las Vegas, and lo and behold, Khalil Mack comes to the Bears, and it worked out very well. Mack wanted nothing to do with John Gruden.

That was well documented, and as that season unfolded, and the Raiders thought maybe they could prevail upon Kalil Mack to stick around. He was in his fifth year option at the time. He held out, held out, held out, and then that deal got done. So, yeah, I think it's smarter

if you're the Raiders to recognize if Crosby really is done. that he means it and your best play is to maximize the trade possibilities and do the deal. This assumes the Raiders are going to realize that they need to do it. It's hard for the rational mind to predict the behaviors of the irrational and all due respect to the current power structure there. The owner is still the owner. Mark Davis is still making these calls and there hasn't been a whole lot that he's done

by way of decisions over the past 15 years that would objectively be called rational. I'm curious as we're joined by Mike Floreo. He is the creator and editor-in-chief of Pro Football Talk, an article that you just published as we were coming on the air about Steve Tish and the fact that we know there's a Jeffrey Epstein problem for a lot of people right now. And Tish is one of the people who have been named. He said he had a brief association. But you've kind of uncovered that there's even more than that going on.

And the NFL has a serious issue. What can you tell us about that? Well, yeah, when the most recent Epstein files document dump happened 13 days ago, Tish's name came up. There were some emails with, you know, kind of skeevy, purvey content, objectifying women, suggesting that Epstein was trying to connect Tish with younger women. There's been no suggestion that anyone is not of legal age. but the whole thing just looks bad. The problem for the NFL,

and I don't know whether it's a problem, this may be the way that they avoid having to do anything, there's no criminal allegation, there's no lawsuit, there's no clear, objective wrongdoing. So I think, you know, like so many other things we see in today's society, everybody involved is going to keep their head low,

their mouth shut, and wait for all of our goldfish brains to focus on whatever the next scandal is because there's always something else, and that thing that seemed like the most important topic ever subsides. Now, these Epstein files, they have had staying power, despite the best efforts of many to try to turn the page to a different topic. They continue to linger.

And from the league's perspective, and this is something I'm going to write hopefully this afternoon, if they wanted to, if they truly wanted to, if they're serious when they say they hold owners to a higher standard than players, they could focus on the very, last item in the list of prohibited activities in the personal conduct policy. I'm looking at it now. It's under Article 1, Expectations and Standards of Conduct, the very last bullet point. Conduct that undermines or puts at risk the integrity of the NFL, NFL clubs, or NFL personnel.

I don't think it takes a major leap of logic to say an owner who is sending these skeevy, pervy emails that objectify women with the kind of language that was being used. Now look, does it go as far as the John Gruden emails? Maybe not, but we saw what happened to Gruden. And if owners are held to a higher standard than everyone else, I don't think it's a stretch to say that what Tish did undermines or puts at risk the integrity of the NFL, NFL teams, or NFL personnel. You just got to ask yourself, is this a way we want owners of these teams to be acting? So if the league really wants to do something it can. But here's the problem. You got other owners that won't want a standard like that to be applied to one, because then the concern is it gets applied to others. And that's why it took

them so long to finally wake up on Daniel Snyder. It wasn't until they thought Daniel Snyder was stealing from them through the visiting team pool and the alleged accounting irregularities that the commanders were doing to try to hide that money and move that money around. That's when it became a problem for the other owners. But other owners are not going to want that same standard to potentially apply to them. So they're going to be very reluctant to apply that standard to Steve Tish. Yeah, I think we're seeing that a lot, not just among NFL owners, unfortunately. Mike, I also want to ask you about something that has been a really big topic of discussion. As you know, you've gotten a lot of Bears fan feedback as well regarding Ian Cunningham and the comments that Matt Ryan made

about Ian being in charge now in Atlanta. I don't think it gets more. clear than that when it comes to this being a promotion for him. What's the activity that you've taken on this? And what do you know so far? Well, this all goes back to when Matt Ryan got the job as president of football operations. Someone from, I believe the Sun Times reported that if Ian Cunningham, who interviewed for the job Ryan got, eventually became the GM, the Bears wouldn't get the compensatory draft picks because Matt Ryan is running the football operations. So Cunningham gets hired. There's no compensatory picks. Everybody moves on. And then Ryan says that Cunningham is in charge of free agency in the draft. And that's what caused this to become an issue again. I asked the league about it earlier this week. And we've written one item on it. And the league's position was that because Matt Ryan is the primary football executive in Atlanta, Ian Cunningham's hire as GM doesn't qualify. qualify for the compensatory draft pick. So I followed up and I asked, well, why is it different

from 2022 when Terry Fontno was hired from the Saints to be the GM? Rich McKay was the president, CEO of football. Why didn't the two compensatory draft picks not get given to the Saints? And the league's response is basically then Terry Fontno was becoming the primary football executive. Now, Matt Ryan's a primary football executive. That's the explanation. Does it mesh with this idea that Matt Ryan is saying, hey, Cunningham's in charge. As one GM explained to me, this is a great safe harbor for Matt Ryan where he can have his cake and eat it too. If things go sideways, I didn't do it. Ian Cunningham was in charge of free agency in the draft. And you know what? Wouldn't be the first time that a high-level executive with an NFL team was in position to take the

credit when things go well and then when things don't go well. That wasn't me. That was that guy. Yeah, it's been a point of consternation here in Chicago, as you can imagine, and really just trying to set the record straight for future opportunities, whether it be the competitive story picks for a head coaching job or anything else. Mike, I'm curious, when you look at what's going on with the salary cap going up and now teams trying to sort things out, whether that's waiving players, whether that is restructuring contracts, how difficult of a process is that? for teams each and every year to go through what the bears and everybody else is going through right now? I think it gets overblown. It's very easy to create caps based by restructuring contracts. Most contracts now, second contracts, third contracts, big money deals. They have a provision in there that gives the team the automatic right to restructure. And it's simply, and I'll keep the numbers as basic as I can just so I don't short-circuit my own brain.

if somebody's due to make $30 million this year in salary, you take that $30 million, you reduce the salary down to the minimum for that player's years of experience, and the rest of it gets treated as a signing bonus, and the money gets spread over five years. And so 80% of those cap dollars get pushed out to future years. That's the easy way to do it. And every year, oh, what was this team? What was that team? Oh, they're never going to figure it out. And they always figured out. The Saints are the best example every year.

how are they ever going to get out of this cap mess and they get out of it? And the thing that helps teams is the cap keeps going up and up and up. So if you can take current cap dollars and shove them into future years when the cap is higher, the relative impact of that cap dollar is lesser. That dollar I would take this year means less in a future year because the cap keeps going up and up. So that's the key. If we ever get to the point where the cap starts going down, kicking the can becomes a problem. And we may get back to one of those times. I remember we used to hear the salary cap purgatory. There would be teams that like, you know what, we're just screwed this year and we're going to deal with it and next year we'll be back. But look at the Broncos.

They got to the break of the Super Bowl in the year that they were taking the bulk, I believe. It's either the bulk or close to the bulk. It's either 30 or 50 million that they had in dead money for Russell Wilson. So you can find ways around it. That's what these folks get paid to do. And yeah, they like to say, oh no, oh no, how are we ever going to do it? And then they do it. And it's really not as complicated as they would have us think. And maybe they have us think that. So we're all impressed when they finally figure it out. Mike, I have an ax to grind, and I have a feeling you might join me on this axe to grind journey. So a lot has been made about the Patriots' offensive performance. Whether or not Drake May was heard, he talked about getting

that injection in his shoulder before the game and the passing game being largely inept, especially in that first half. Why isn't Josh McDaniels getting? more flack for this, the assistant of the year in the NFL? Well, if Drake May really was hurt, there's your explanation. And this is one of the big problems with the NFL's current injury policy. It is so basic and bare bones, you can comply with it and create the impression of guys fine when he's not fine. Drake May said himself last Monday night, I'm not trying to lie to you guys when I say I feel great. And in reality, no, he wasn't trying. He was being successful.

because he didn't feel great. You don't get a pain-kelling injection because you'll want to. You don't do it preemptively. You do it because you have something that is causing you pain. And when you have that injection of Toridol

into your shoulder on your throwing arm, how is that not going to affect you? And Sims said that Chris Sims on PFT Live, he said when he was down on the field before the game, he was paying attention to Drake May warming up. He always watches the quarterbacks. I mean, he's a former quarterback. He tries to get a sense

for just how they looked that day. And he said he just, he sensed that Maine was never really going through the full drops. He wasn't really slinging in it. He was more deliberate. He was more careful. Yeah, and maybe because he couldn't really feel his arm. How do you throw a football accurately? How do you get the right touch, the right velocity, the right force on it?

If part of the apparatus is numb and you can't communicate from your shoulder to your brain and back again, what's really going on in there. So, you know, this should be a bigger deal. saw that Nick Wright had some things to say about it. It really is amazing in this age of legalized gambling. We don't demand more. And we just are content to have so much inside information that can be acted upon that deceives the public on what someone's true health really is. But I think at the end of the day, people who had known, if you knew that May was going to need a tour at all shot to play on Sunday, Seahawks giving four and a half suddenly looks a lot better. Yeah, yeah, it does. That is absolutely true. Mike Florio, thank you.

as always for joining us. Thanks, Mike. Have a great week. That is Mike Floreo, the creator and editor-in-chief of Pro Football Talk, joining us here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104-3 The Score. We're going to stay with football because Kevin Fishbane did a deep dive, our friend, The Writer for the Athletic. On the Bears, dare I say, because you just said it,

the cat purgatory that may result? It's temporary. It's purgatory. That means you get out one way or the other. But here's the problem. You don't want to have to do it with the Bears' most productive linebacker this season. So we'll discuss that next. Oh, could this vintage store be any cuter? Right? And the best part? They accept Discover.

Except Discover? In a little place like this? I don't think so, Jennifer. Oh, yeah, huh? Discover's accepted where I like to shop. Come on, baby. Get with the times. Right. So we shouldn't get the parachute pants? These are making a comeback. I think.

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your way. Whether you DIY or want the pros to handle it all, you'll have the confidence of knowing it's done right. From free expert design help to our 100% satisfaction guarantee, everything we do is made to fit your life and your windows. Because at blinds.com, the only thing we treat better than windows is you. Visit blinds.com now for up to 45% offsite wide, plus a professional measure at no cost. Rules and restrictions apply. I'm one of those people who will happily eat steak and eggs any time of the day. Breakfast, dinner, it's technically midnight, but I'm still hungry.

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See for yourself at ringcentral.com. Ring Central, voice of your business. Lela Rahimi, Marshall Harris, Mark Grody, Rahimi Harrison Grody on 1043, the score. On first down, over the middle. It's an interception of the year last week. His fourth puts six on the board and gives the bears the lead. That is courtesy of Fox. This is Rahimi and Grody on 104.3, the score and Tremaine Edmins, despite being on injured reserve, still did work. He still had the most tackles of any bear this season and the regular season, despite being on injured reserve. 112 combined tackles, hit 61 solo tackles, 51 assists. That's how you get to the number. The four interceptions, as we've mentioned,

Tremaine Edmonds had the season that I think a lot of us thought the bears would get out of him. with the Matt Eberfluse defense, it ended up happening with Dennis Allen's. I want to say, Tremaine had been surprised me this year. Yeah. Because I kind of cast him off as a guy who's just underperforming based on the contract. And then obviously you connect him directly with Roquan Smith and understand this is an all-pro player in Baltimore that you're comparing him to. And at some point, you're like, well, why didn't they just give Roquan the money to stay? We're not going to move up to draft and all the off-ball.

linebacker. Yeah, but to see him actually come through and look like the guy for the 13, I know he missed four, he missed four games, but for the 13 games to look like the guy that you thought that they were acquiring, that was good news for the Bears and a stabilizing force. Remember, on a Bears team that had a secondary and serious flux. And not just a secondary in serious flux. Like, there's a reason we're calling him the most, one of the most productive bears and the most productive linebacker for sure. T.J. Edwards was plagued by injury this year. Unfortunately, the most scary looking one happened during the playoffs, as we saw, you know, with the broken leg. Noah Sewell ended up going out for the rest of

the year with the Achilles. You know, there were so many bad injuries that the linebackers suffered as well. And for Tremaine Edmonds to step up and also have the season that, again, I think that's why the bears wanted him. You know, he flourished and he didn't say much when it came to why he wasn't producing before. But alluded, I think, in very subtle ways to being put in a better position to succeed this time around. And Kevin Fishbane, our friend from the athletic, did a story on the Bears' tough spot that they're in under the salary cap. I know it's more flexible now. And I know it's going north of $300 million, which is a great thing for everyone. But the bears still have so much money committed to players that there are very likely some cap casualties

they're going to have to occur. Edmonds is possibly one of them. According to over the cap, the Bears ranked 24th in available cap space and are $5 million currently in the red. So they're going to have to be some tough decisions that are made. Edmonds making $17.44 million in the cap hit just this last season. And it makes you wonder what's going to happen. It's the fact that you look at where he is compared to other linebackers at his specific position, he's the fourth highest paid one. And so you have to weigh what you got out of Tremaine Edmonds this season against the value of what you're paying

compared to what other teams are paying that same position. I know the salaries are going to go up, as you mentioned, because of the salary cap, but you still have to look at what are our priorities as an organization position-wise? Because we know what's going on with the secondary, specifically the safety position, and where can we shave some money off?

And I'm sorry, but he's the most obvious candidate just because of where we are in his contract, the timing, and the structure of the contract. Yeah, it's the difference between that cap savings and the dead money. That's the key here. And as we see in Kevin's article, and he included a lot of nice graphics too

on the athletic if you want to check it out. It's $15 million for Tremaine, as we mentioned, and cap savings. 2.437 million in dead money. That ratio is high. It's a low amount of dead money for the amount of savings that you can get. Two other names that deserve to be mentioned here on this list. Cole Commet is an $8.4 million cap hit. That's $3.2 million in dead money, so more than Edmonds. And then DeAndre Swift. I don't know why they would want to do this necessarily unless they see a clear upgrade at the position. 7.47 million in cap savings that was

lead to only 1.33 million in dead money. And that's when this gets hard. You know, we knew at some point that would happen. Think about the fact that Kevin Byard is up for free agency, the league leader in interceptions in 2025's regular season. Nashad Wright is a free agent. Jaquan Brisker is a free agent. All four of the safeties are.

So throw Jonathan Owens in there as well. There are some very tough decisions on the defensive side of the ball that have to be made. And as we've mentioned before, because of all the money you're giving to your line right now. So my first question is, what do you think the conversation is like right now, specifically between Ryan Poles and obviously C.C. Ben Johnson, but Dennis Allen.

Yeah. And Dennis Allen getting what he needs. He's a guy who moved, switched those guys position-wise. We can talk about Tremaine Edmonds, switching his linebacker position from what we had seen with T.J. Edwards. And clearly, when they were both healthy, and it was limited, they were more effective in whatever Dennis Allen drew up systematically. But I want to know after seeing a season of him and really only a flash, a burst of some of the other guys like Tyreek, what does he think about the way the bear's defense looks, especially since Shamar Turner? Like the draft guys he even got didn't really contribute.

Yeah, Shamar Turner out for the year, as we know. Zay Frazier. Ruben Hippolyte. Didn't do much. He was a healthy scratch many times. And when he did play, he got injured in the game he played in. Right. So that didn't help.

And he was far down the list. Yeah, it's not good. Which is why I wouldn't necessarily give the draft. And hey, that that's another segment we're doing later today. I think it comes down to knowing that you can extend some people, right? like you can extend a restructure. The more years you have left on the deal, the more you can kick that money out.

So that's the concept that we heard. Mike Florio talk about, does Kyler Gordon fit into that? Do you want to commit to more years for Kyler Gordon? Do you want to restructure some of that salary as a signing bonus? That's a possibility. We saw them do that with Joe Tuny on the other side.

He gets an extension and they're able to move some money around for him. So you go with the players that you can. T.J. Edwards, maybe you can do that with his as well. If you want to, Dio O'Dingbo. I don't think you'd do much with Dio right about now. He's one year in. Yeah, but no, that's what I'm saying. So the years left on the deal, you can do more when it comes to restructuring and freeing up money. But you're going to have to have some odd man out, you know, somebody's, there's a bunch of people on this team who were deals, you know, like Nishon Wright was a deal. Trimane Edmonds ends up being more of a deal because of the performance he just had.

And as we mentioned, that cap money hit is not much. So Dennis Allen, I guess you have to start with, I start with a line of scrimmage and then you move backwards. But when your secondary was the most productive unit you had, it's a very tough thing to do. The Bears made the playoffs not just because of Caleb Williams and the offense is an ascension, but because of the turnovers they created.

And when you talk about the secondary being the most productive unit, have. What you're not saying is that front was the least productive unit they had. And that's on both sides of the ball. That's on special teams. I'm sorry. Am I just what got to double-digit sacks? Austin Booker. But to the price of $25.085 million next season? Like, that's the issue. Jalen Johnson, by the way, at $25 million. But at least Jaylon Johnson was hurt and came back. And that was more understandable based on track record, the path that Jailen Johnson. Johnson took this particular season. Dio Dainbo, 20

and a half million for next year. Grady Jared, 18.9. Jonah Jackson, 19.5. I'm not mad about that. And when you look at the positional rank for some of these guys, like Dio Dingo getting the 14th most salary, like 14's not

high. 14 is about league average if you think about it. But what I'll say is, you got to get that type of production from those players when you pay them the money. You got to be at least getting the money that you're paying them that value in comparison to what other guys are getting paid around the league. 6-30, this is Adrian in Oceanside.

He's a texter who texts regularly. Wouldn't a restructure for Edmonds make more sense? Cutting him would create a need for two linebackers because that is a certain. Oh, I'm aware, but he doesn't have the years to work with here. So that's what makes it so tough. You've got to think about it in terms of restructuring for the years remaining on the deal. So that's why this is tricky. Yeah, and trying to figure it out, I like that we have Mike Floreo on because he explained how they try to maybe over-dramatize the restructuring of contracts because the clause is there.

We can restructure your contract to suit salary cap purposes. It's less about the actual idea of restructuring and maybe even about waiving. It's more about can you evaluate the talent if you were to waive a Tremaine Edmonds to say that you're going to get that level of production. from someone else. And to be clear, that is the last, this next season is the last year of Tremaine Edmins's contract. That's why this is hard. And usually you get to the last year of a contract, it's like, well, are you going

to extend him or are you going to let him walk or are you going to cut him? Those are like, that's a specific heading into the last year of a contract thing in the NFL, because you'd rather cut a guy early than late, and you'd rather get something for him than not. Yeah, that's the other piece of this. the hard part too is also as much as we've talked about the fungibility of say the running back position

or the safety position it's also a linebacker in a way the Bears thought that Roquan Smith was replaceable definitely expendable almost they tried they tried they did not do a good job of they did not replicate yeah the performances are

two different things granted Baltimore has a better front but how many teams don't have a better front than the Bears let's be honest. How many teams don't have a better front? Yeah, that's a good question. Or at least more effective, right? More consistently effective.

On a team that you expect, like if you're going to have 11 wins, if we go through all the teams that have at least 11 wins, where do you think the bear's front ranks? Oh, man. That's the equation. Yeah, that's what makes us hard. Because the ultimate lesson learned from this past Super Bowl, and really the last two is how important line play is,

you've got to be able to protect on offensive line. but also you have to absolute monsters on defense. That's how the last two Super Bowls were won with absolute monsters on defense. Well, and building from the trenches out, you know, and they thought that they had. They thought they had at least paid a lot for their trenches, and that's why this is so tricky, too. You know, when you've got guys on rookie deals who are cornerstones and they're on the line, that makes your life a lot easier. At least you've got Darnell right on one side.

But he's going to get really expensive quickly, too. Yeah, he's going to get expensive. Caleb's going to, this window is so important right now. This is one of those years. This is one of two years in which you can do more than you're going to be able to do after the next two seasons, a whole lot more because of the flexibility of the rookie contract of the quarterback. The other part of this too is, you know what I'd really like to have if I have all these tough questions facing my salary cap?

An assistant general manager, Phil Ian Cunningham's spot. They need one of those? Yeah. You think you need more eyes on scouting, especially when your draft board is going to have to be a lot different now that you pick lower in the draft, for example? I'll be surprised. Wow. But seriously.

I'll be seriously surprised if they don't have a new assistant GM by the end of next week before the combine. Don't make that bet with Mark Rody. He doesn't know if they're going to fill the job. At all? Yes, for the career. I can't see them not filling the job. unless they're just going to redistribute titles in another way. You've got to have a certain number of people doing a certain number of jobs because

that's the way front offices work. They do have a cap dude at the Bears. Like, don't look up Bears' cap dude. I don't think you're going to, I don't think you're going to get the result you want. But you're saying they have a dude. They do have a dude, yeah. So it will be interesting to see what they do to get their front office hole and their coaching staff whole for that matter.

I understand it's Matt Feinstein. So he's the vice president of football administration, and he spent his last five years as director of football administration. And now he's been promoted. I don't know that cap dude is part of the title there, but everybody's got a cap guy. Yeah, and sometimes the cap guy has wields more power than some situations than others, and then that guy has to leave when it's time to go home, see Minnesota Vikings. Yeah. Play the buzzer.

and lives in my head rent-free most of the time. Coming up next, it is halftime, and boy, do we have something for you. The Seahawks Parade and their social media posting were both really entertaining. And we might have to play some other sound effects, too. Next. What time is it is halftime? That it is halftime. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 1043, The Score.

And we started talking about Alex Bregman and, Now, he's trying to improve his team. Not just him. The team. Everybody eats. Everybody eats. When he eats, everyone eats. So he's trying to do that.

We also discussed the situation surrounding Shoda Imanaga and what the latest was on Craig Council. He said that Shoda needed rest. I hope that that helped. And then also Chris Gatz four separate times this offseason in multiple instances, not just one media availability, calling Luis Sanjell Akuna a switch hitter when he is not. not. We went to football in the 11 o'clock hour. Mike Floreo from Pro Football Talk was with us.

And then we also talked about the Bears' cap situation, which is not an easy problem to figure out. It's laptop. The Seahawks had their championship parade yesterday. And I feel like they did a very good job celebrating with some very old school vibe t-shirts. And then there was that one shirt of Sam Darnold just flipping people off. They did not, they did not censor any of it. Do you feel like they were unhinged yesterday? Because that's the, the immediate vibe was we don't give a fill in the blink. That's the whole thing. The whole thing.

Yeah, they did not G.A.F. As we like to say. Yes. I don't get a buzzer for that. I felt like I should get the buzzer. There you go. Anytime I make a dad joke or say something like it. Buzzer.

So Ernest Jones, who, uh, admitted that maybe he wasn't the right guy for this, stepped up to the podium and gave a speech. I'm going to keep it a buck. I'm probably the last person they should have gave the mic too. But we're going to turn up, man. First off, I want to say shout out to Jody Allen. Shout out to John Snyder.

We're making this all possible, man. Shout out to coach Mike McDonnell for helping us get to this point. Man, but also shout out to these bad ass who played this guy. game the right way. Hey! Not only do we have the best defense in the world, we got the best team in the world, and quite frankly, if you got anything to say for my quarterback, you got anything to say by my defense, you got anything to say for our own line, and you got anything to say by the

city of Seattle, I got two words for you. you. And we ain't going nowhere. And if that wasn't great enough, the Seattle Seahawks posted it on their social media without any censorship. No beeps. No bleeps. You don't get this raw celebration footage.

You're going to enjoy it. You're going to let it wash over you. You are going to be baptized with the Seattle Seahawks celebrating a championship. You know what I call that? That's some millennial in the club energy out of Ernest Jones right there. I mean, he was doing the little John. Yeah.

He was indeed. He was and he made me want to fight somebody on behalf of the Seahawks. I don't want to fight anybody about the Seahawks. How long do you think the discussion was about whether or not to bleep out the speech as opposed to just putting it out there raw? No, that's one of those you got to ask for permission or forgiveness. You ask for forgiveness. Oh, you think they just...

You just got to let it rip. I think you have to ask for permission if you want to keep your job. No, you take that Ernest Jones energy right to the internet. Okay. Okay. I'd be like, I'm going to send this. Send. They had a good time.

They had a tremendous time, and it really was that kind of energy at the parade. Might have had too good of a time, depending on who you are. Drinking your drinks. John Schneider, the Seahawks General Manager, stuffed it to the podium and said some stuff that, I guess in his line of work, it gets a little interesting. Ken Walker being the MVP, let's go! He tried negotiating with me five minutes ago.

It was really weird. Anyway, hey, MVP, MVP, MVP, MVP. Kenneth Walker the third. If you haven't had a chance to go see this video, he's in the frame when he's making this speech at the podium, John Schneider. You've got to see his face and the contortions that transpire while John Snyder is claiming that Ken Walker tried to negotiate it with him five minutes ago. I get it.

It's a GM joke. You know, the danger when nerds are becoming more prevalent in sports is this. Social graces. When you have to say anyway in the middle of a speech. That's when you're like, I need to pivot now. I need to segue out of what I just said because it probably wasn't the thing. that should have been said at this time. I mean, if you're around fellow agents and such,

you know, like our friends at Priority Sports, for example, shout out to the crew there, because I know there's a lot of P-1s. You know, they're laughing at that joke. They're like, oh, that's funny. But maybe not on the podium of the parade. I was the blinking guy meme when I saw this. You know, the flutter of blinking

because you can't believe what just happened. Yeah, that was me. But I enjoyed it. Look, Seattle, celebrate, man. I don't know when y'all going to get this again. Shout out to Jody Allen also, the caretaker of the Seahawks and the Blazers and all the things that the Allen family owns. As her late brother was like, hey, I'm going to need you to sit. When I pass away, I'm going to need you to sell all the stuff and throw it all towards philanthropy.

I like that. Well, and Jody Allen has participated in a lot of philanthropy. And I think that her record speaks for itself when it comes to the donations that the family has made. and then also keeping the team just one more year, look what happened, you know? What a celebration. What a celebration. I'm going to keep it a buck.

I'm probably the last person they should have gave the mic too. That's something I say every day before I step into the studio. When you open the speech like that, like I'm the last person, so I'm going to let it rip. And his face, his face was animated. I was like, this man is about to create some mischief here. And mischief he created. He could have been like, no takebacks.

I'm here now. You go take what I give you. Straight up. It's absolute. No chaser. It's enjoyable. Yeah. You like to see how fans celebrate the parades too.

Like my favorite was too short at the Warriors parade on the NBC. It was the NBC Sports Bay Area float. Like they joined him on his or he joined them on theirs. And I was like, that's the dream. It's to be on the parade float with too short. Is that the same? want, because you know, they've had several parades out there for the warriors. Yes, they have.

They have. Is that the same one where Draymond Green is absolutely toe up from the flow up doing interviews and he just lets you know, I am drunk, basically. Perhaps. Yeah. Perhaps. I just remember thinking like, they got to hang out with Too Short? Not fair.

Not fair. Too Short got to hang out with them. You know what I'd be yelling the whole time? What's my favorite word? Something we can't say on the radio. Why you got to say it like short? Oh, La Chien. I can't I?

I think so. I feel like that's probably fair. Some people are mad about the language. In many languages, people swear. That's a thing. It happens. You think kids haven't heard worse in school? I just want to throw that out there.

The most swear happy people are usually kids. Kids want to swear the most when they learn the cuss words. Also, have you not ever seen a championship parade the celebration. You're angry about it? Like, this is what people do. They're happy. They're a little tipsy and they're saying crazy things. I think they just, they've like listened to our show

for too long today without saying something negative about us. So they just had to go with the Seahawks language. That's my guess. I just missed Jason Kelsey's speech. Full Mummer's parade outfit. No one likes us. We don't care. Oh, that was like, hungry dogs run faster.

All of it. That's top championship parade material. right there. I don't know if anybody's ever outdone that man. It was amazing. No, I don't think so. He had the whole get-up.

I don't remember even remember what that was supposed to be. The Mummers Parade. It's the thing. How would you describe the costume? It is a costume. It was green. It's kind of like a bedazzled Henry the 8th.

There it is. That is the perfect description. Honestly. It was as if he was celebrating Marty Grob in a more regal fashion. How about that? Yes. Yeah, with like the Pantalonis.

They're poofy shorts. If you've never seen it, you got to Google that. Yes, bedazzled Henry the 8th. That's the best I can give you. Maybe Clay Harbor has a better explanation since he spent some time in Philly. He's welcome to join for that. And five on it and the whole hour. Clay's hanging out next on Rahimi Harrison Grody.

This is thy ticket, Lady Jennifer of Coolidge. Well, many thanks, good sir. Hereeth my Discover card. They accept Discover at Renaissance Fares? They do here. Discover is accepted at the places that I love to shop. Get it? With the times. You're playing the lute. Yeah, and it sounds pretty good, right? Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide.

Based on the February 2025 Nilsen Report. Have you or a family member been diagnosed with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer that can be removed by surgery? Consider talking to an oncologist about your treatment options. Why? Because knowing your options before you have surgery can help your care team develop a treatment plan that's right for you. Learn about a potential treatment plan before and after surgery at ask before surgery.com. That's ask before surgery.com and talk to an oncologist before your surgery. At blinds.com, it's not just about window treatments. It's about you. Your style, your space, your way. Whether you DIY or want the pros to handle it all, you'll have the confidence of knowing.

it's done right. From free expert design help to our 100% satisfaction guarantee, everything we do is made to fit your life and your windows. Because at blinds.com, the only thing we treat better than windows is you. Visit blinds.com now for up to 45% off-site wide, plus a professional measure at no cost. Rules and restrictions apply. I'm one of those people who will happily eat steak and eggs any time of the day. Breakfast, dinner, it's technically midnight, but I'm still hungry. Doesn't matter. There's just something unbeatable about a good steak hitting a hot pan, that immediate sizzle. the smell filling the kitchen, and then topping it with a fried egg where the yolk is deep yellow and just barely runny.

Unreal. Pure protein heaven. That's also why I love having Omaha's steaks on hand. The steaks are incredibly tender, super flavorful, and cook evenly, whether I'm searing them on the stovetop or throwing them on the grill. It's that steakhouse quality bite at home. Omaha Steaks has everything from their fan favorite filet mignon. Yes, the USDA certified tender one to burgers, chicken, pork, seafood, and even fully-cooked

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See for yourself at ringcentral.com. Ring Central, voice of your business. This hour is brought to you by Menards. Anybody in? Save big money at Menards. No buzzer. It's time for five on it. Rahini Harrison Rooney.

Bring you five topics on their minds today. On 1043, the score. Number one. On Wednesday, NFL.com, released its 2025 draft class report card. The Bears were ranked number one overall, and were given an A grade. What's your reaction to Chicago's draft class, getting the top ranking by the league's website? Oh, yay, NFL Bears, no way!

Like, that's so nice. Like, just the concept of it. It's kind of like us talking about the NFL honors last week, because we were like, what? The Bears are in the NFL honors. This isn't just the Walter Payton Man of the Year award, and there is no just to that. Let's be honest.

But I'm not just watching for Jarrett. I'm just not watching for the Legacy Award. I was watching for, like, play of the year and coach of the year and stuff. This is fantastic. So when it came to who won the NFL draft, I like that they said the Bears did. I just don't know if you can actually say it when you know, like, for example, we just talked about this. And Clay Harbor is here, by the way. He's in studio.

Say hi to everybody, Clay. Clay Harbor. Hey, everybody. How we doing? That's TV's Clay Harbor. You can catch him on CHSN, the big pro football show with Ruthie Polinsky and our David Haw. I think when you consider that Shemar Turner out for the year, he was supposed to be a big part of this defense. Ruben Hippolyte didn't produce as much as they wanted him to

and needed him to at times with the injured linebacking corps. Zafraser, unfortunately, Zay Frazier, was out for the year for personal reasons or reasons that we don't exactly know, which are okay. That happens. I don't know that you can call it far and away the winner of the draft, but I think when you look back at it, it's definitely at least a solid A. When you consider Colson Loveland and Luther Burton by themselves and then Kyle Menungai.

Like those three right there get you two and A. Well, that's what I was going to say, this is all relative. They definitely have the best draft class because of the production that they got in year one from those three players that you mentioned. Colson Lovell was out here catching up with and by the end of the year,

if you look at the back half of the season, now I understand Daniel Jones was out, but he played better than Tyler Warren down the stretch and certainly in the postseason because guess what? Tyler Warren wasn't in the postseason. Kyle Menongai was out here doing things as a seventh rounder that made you question some of the other running backs that were taken ahead of him.

Now, a lot can be said about that offensive line, but the offensive line play wouldn't be what it was without Colston Loveland being one of the guys who was added on as a tight end. So I really think when you look at what the rookies did, especially Luther Bird and the third, understanding he, in a lot of people's eyes, fell to the second round. The impact they made when they were in a position to make an impact

is undeniable compared to everyone else. Close second, though, to the Cleveland Browns who had a couple of monsters on defense. Yeah, they put some numbers to what you just said, Marshall. Colston Loveland, among all rookie pass catchers from week nine onwards. First in receptions, first in receiving yards, first in receiving touchdowns,

first in EPA per targets, and second in yards per route run. Who is first in yards per route run? Luther Burden. Who was second in all those categories I just mentioned? Luther Burden. The Bears got two of the best receiving weapons. think the two best receiving weapons in the draft. And then Kyle Munungi, you guys said it.

The guy was such a perfect fit in the scheme, such a good change of pace with DeAndre Swift. It fit perfectly in that system. The Montgomery Gibbs. Now it's obviously Swift and Menongai. And then Ozzy. If Ozzy doesn't get hurt, I mean, he had an excellent year when he took over as a second round pick to come in to play left tackle the level he did. I think Layla does have a point. Ruben Hippolytes, healthy scratch last four games. games. Only played in 12 games. I think you had 30 off defensive snaps. You look at Zay Frazier. Hopefully he can come back

and make some type of impact next year. And then you got to look at Shemar Turner. Even when he played, he wasn't great at defensive tackle. That's why they had to move him out to Ed Rusher. Ed Rusher, he did a good job of stopping the run. He was stout, but he cannot get pressure out there. They've got to figure

out a way to get impact from a second round pick next year. Well, yeah, and you know, Shamar Turner wasn't just a typical second rounder. He was pick number 62. So when you consider that, that's pretty high for what they expected out of him. Unfortunately, Ruben Hippelite, Clay, I think played to the projected draft grade. Yeah. Which was, you know, if the Beast, for example, had him as undrafted free agent rather than a fourth rounder.

Yeah, it looked like it. And he looked overmatching. The thing about Ruben Hippelite, that is slightly concerning, he's about to be 25 years old. This isn't a young rookie that you're going to see a ton of development. And he's already 25. So he's already, for some players, third, fourth year, as far as his age. So he should have came in a little more seasoned than he did. Still more hits the missing. Number two.

Five on it is brought to you by almost free teeth.com save on dental implants today. Here's question number two. This week, Bleacher Report published its list of biggest bust candidates for 2026. And Cubs outfielder Pete Crow Armstrong. is among those expected to have a bad season. How concerned are you about PCA's second half struggles from 2025 bleeding into this season? The nemesis for PCA was a lovely pitch that is many people's nemesis

called the slider. And PCA low swinging at bad balls, there's no doubt about that. And a lot of him he hit out of the park when he got the chance. But the league adjusted to Pete and adjust back we have not seen yet. So that's something that we have to be concerned. learn about. The chase rate, for example, was a big issue for PCA. That was to say the least. You know, he liked to swing at everything. So first and foremost, pitch selection had to be something you have to work on, especially in this offseason going into spring training. We knew that this was going to be a

massive adjustment for him. As far as one of the biggest bus candidates, though, I don't, I can't say that. Like, I don't know how much he turns, I don't think he's a bust, but I think you have to be very mindful of the league adjustment that was made and how much of it can bleed into this season, I'm going to give Pete at least a month and a half before I start to be concerned about whether or not he's made an adjustment. I'm talking a month and a half of real baseball time, not a month and a half of like spring training and baseball. So I'm talking like mid-May before I start to get impatient. Who am I kidding? It'll probably be the game that happens after the season opener.

But still, in my head, I'm going to go with six weeks. You're definitely going to have some type of reaction to what happens in that season opener. I guarantee you that. Somebody's throwing him a slider at the dirt. I'm going to be like, he'll earn nothing! The good news is PCA did show flashes in the playoffs. He showed flashes, not consistency that you want to see, but he was certainly better than the 634 on-base plus slugging that he put up in the second half of the season

in which he barely got over that Mendoza line batting 2-16 with. a 372 slug. That is rough. To watch him hit 25 home runs in the first 95 games in the season and then manage just six in the second half. And the thing is, 31 home runs is a fine total for a season. I would like to see a little bit more consistency. I would like to see the strikeouts down.

I would like to see more of the speed on display. He doesn't have to hit 40 home runs, but 40 doubles would be nice. Oh, that would be tremendous. 40 doubles, 25 home runs, and then still me 40 to 50 bags. 40 to 50? Is that too many bags?

No, no, dare to dream. Yeah, I mean... It's music to my ears. He had 35 bags last year. I think if he gets up on base a little more consistent rate, that should be a walk in the park for him. This man struck out 155 times

in 157 games. Is that bad? That's not good. This man only walked 29, times the entire year. And you said it, Marshall. Second half the season, 216, batting average.

The guy hit six home runs. Strikeout rate north of 25% after the All-Star break? These are bottom two, three, four, five percentiles in the entire major leagues. Okay, yes, you are concerned. I think the Cubs have to

have some options on the roster just in case this goes south. Is Talkman still out there in for agency? Is that a guy you think about bringing back up? Sorry. You've got to have someone just in case this continues. Yes, he's an excellent, excellent defender. Great fielder.

In the worst case scenario is, he's a great fielder that can't hit. He's a gold glover. Gold Glover, yes. He was an All-Star, you know. But the second half of the season, the guy was chasing balls that were bouncing to the plate. I'm like, what's going on here? And to me, that's concerning. Fair.

Mike Tuckman. Number three. This is 500.1.104.3, the score with Leila Rahimi, Marshall Harris, and CHSN's Clay Harbor friend of this show. Here's question number three. What did you think of the way the Bulls handled the roster against the Celtics last night? Hey, remember that time? I was like, oh, Anthony Simons is definitely getting more points than Nikola Vuccivic. It was supposed to be the revenge game.

The supposed revenge game. Remember that? I was like, ah, that should be fair enough, shouldn't it? no. Anthony Simons did not have his best shooting night, unfortunately, and neither did the rest of the bulls. So Simon's especially struggled from three. He was one of six. The team shot 33% from three, but he only ended up with seven points. So fail on my part because Vooch had 19. I think this is the search for the nine or ten guys. So when you're trying to figure that out, I don't hate the fact. that Anthony Simons and Colin Sexton, Modis, P. Will, and Gershon were the combo. But I think you're going to have to be really judicious about how you give out some of these

minutes. Like, do you want P. Will playing 35 minutes if you're trying to evaluate these other guys? You know, those are the questions I think that stand to be discussed when all of this comes up. Surprisingly, Patrick Williams did not have a bad game. Oh, no, he did not, which is, I guess, where he played 35. But what's the goal here? Well, number one goal is to showcase Patrick Williams and get him as many minutes as possible because one of two things is going to happen. You're either going to lose the game or he's going to play really well and actually start to build fundamentally some trade value or some I can attach him to something and get rid of him. That's one of the goals. The other goals is to find these guys that match the timeline.

Colin Sexton does not match the timeline. So why is he starting? Why is he playing 32 minutes? Is this just because Isaac Acora was made unavailable missing the last? game before the All-Star break. Gershahn Yabu Sele, I don't know why he's getting so many more minutes than Nick Richards. That's another thing.

I would just start Nick Richards to find out what he can do. He has not looked good the last couple of games. But you've got to find out, can he match? Right now, they're a mess. And they're going to be a mess until they get some practices. And even after they get some practices, there's still be much messier than when they get, I don't know,

Josh Giddy, Jalen Smith, the aforementioned Isaac Akoro, and yes, Trey Jonesback. If they have those four players healthy and opt to play them, they will win more games. I promise you that. What about the Rob Dillingham portion of this? He needs to be playing 35. So the guys I want to see play 35 minutes a game are Jaden Ivy, Rob Dillingham, and Modis Buzellas. Dillingham had 16.7 assists. Like he had a solid game. Like he showed up to, to me the most important thing is you got to progress Mottis. Like what is he? What are you doing there? He needs to come with me

this offseason and hit the weights. Let's get this dude strong. If he's, if he's, If he can get a mid-range jump shot, if he can get a little bit stronger in the paint, then I think this guy could be a superstar. But at this point, he can either go one or two directions. He's got to start showing it right now. Yeah, I take the super off, though. Just a star. Just a star.

Did yesterday mean nothing to you? I enjoyed having modest on our program. Yes. ESPN Shams Sharani reported Wednesday that the Spurs and forward Jeremy Sohan have agreed on his release to allow the 2023 All-Star. our rookie team member to become a free agent. Should the Bulls have interest in Sohan? So if the goal is to get these guys in the same window as a Josh Giddy and Amadus Buzellas

and I guess Isaac Coro as well, understand this. Jeremy Sohan is 22 years old. He'll be 23 next season. His birthday's in May. This is a guy who at 6'8 plays power forward and can do a variety of things. his three-point shot isn't great but he's a physical player he is athletic

he hasn't been getting much run this year he only has played in 28 games he had some injuries last year he is a guy that you probably want to take a flyer on one he gives you a little bit more size at 6 foot 8 two you can put him directly next to guys like modest Boozellis and Patrick Williams

for evaluation how does he look in comparison to those two players sohan is in his fourth season He's been playing in the NBA since he was 19 years old. That's why he got waived so that he could go find an opportunity with a new team. I think the Bulls are a perfect fit. If you're just taking guys and having open runs like Clay used to do when he found out he wasn't good enough to play basketball at the same level he could play football. When did that happen for you?

I'd say around, actually, it hasn't happened. I still have dreams that I can go out there and help the Bulls here. But I wouldn't mind this move. I mean, young guy career-wise, he's average 10. 10 points, five boards. He's got size, 6 foot 8. He's athletic. He's shooting 48% from the field, 28 from 3. I think he would add something. I mean, right now, I mean, let's be honest. They're not going to call it a rebuild. They're not going to call it Tankathon. That's exactly what it is. So let's give this guy a shot. Bring some size in there with this whole plethora of guards that you got in there. Marshall had even been a guard in my high school team. If you're not above 6 foot, Marshall, you can't play down low. I'm sorry. He plays like a center at 6 foot tall. But I think, this would be a solid move for the Bulls. Oh my goodness. The slander.

That was a layered attack. It was like the Seahawks defense. It was just waves of pass rush just now. I'm used to Clay just talking his noise. It's fine. Elias Schuster had a really good line about the Bulls and the Sports Illustrated article. He wrote about actually Sohan. He said the Bulls might as well be second chance you. last week with Isaac Okoro, Jaden Ivy, Rob Dillingham, that kind of ideas. So why not add some much needed? I just want to stress that. Much needed positional size. Now, Marshall likes to give

me hell and say that I think height matters, but I don't, except in this case, which is what I say every time. So, I think, height matters every time. You're right. It doesn't. We've been over this. I'm married a five foot nine man. That was not the reason we got the worst. Clay, how tall are you? Six four. How do you do with the? ladies. No comment. Yeah, exactly. He doesn't want to put himself on blast. But yeah, height matter. Clay, does height matter? To an extent.

What if sometimes the tall does are the other ones talking to you? Did you ever think about that? Oh, my goodness. That happens? Sure. Everybody's tall compared to Layla. Layla's like 5'1. I'm 5'3. How dare you? The weight you's shorter her two inches? Not fair.

But that's the point here is that the bulls need positional size. They have too many guards, as we know. They have like 98 guards, and then they have like not enough forward. So that would make it make sense. And yes, they are kind of second chance of you right now. Number five. It was announced yesterday that Kayla Williams will participate in the NBA Celebrity Three Point Contest on a scale from one to ten on the confidence meter trademarked. Do you believe Bears quarterback Kayla Williams can be Iceman on the court for the NBA Celebrity Three

Point Contest? Number one, I'm here to see Caleb Williams and Druski interact. Number two, Did you see the way he threw that ball into the stands when he was at the play-in game last year? That was a long time ago. That was one of the only highlights we had of that game. True. So I like Caleb Williams' chances to shoot a three or two. I feel like he's got that energy and the confidence. So I think on the confidence meter of him being on the court, if he can be Iceman,

I'm going to give it a six. Six on the Iceman scale. I'm going to give him an eight here. Here's why. The man is a competitor. He's like the same way Clay would try to like say he can make more threes than me. That's what Caleb's going to do, even though there's a professional basketball player known for three point prowess in said contest. That would be Jared McCain, formerly of the Sixers, now on the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Okay, the other participants, Richard Jefferson, you know he can shoot. He can't shoot, man. That's all he does. Exactly. BMX athlete Nigel Sylvester, streamer and entertainer Drewski as you mentioned

Jake from State Farm is in this contest. Chris Paul? No, no, like Jake from State Farm. I've got to ask if I was Jake from State Farm before. What'd you say? I said yes.

Perfect answer. Took a picture of somebody. No! No! You did Jake from State Farm such a favor. I mean, not that he's a bad-looking guy himself, but I don't think he's a Clay Harbor

build at all. This goes back to the Chobble Ganger discussion. Like, who do you look like? So back to this discussion, I'm more interested and, you know, this just pops up. Jared McCain does something that Caleb Williams does that they have in common. They both do their nails. So I'm more interested to see what that conversation is like between

them, who's got the better nail setup for this contest than I end the actual contest. I don't expect Caleb Williams to win because, again, Jared McCain is a real-life NBA basketball player. But I think eight, I think he can come in second. I've seen some of these other guys shoot. They're not as good. Quarterbacks, I don't know if this is like empirical

data, but it's quarterbacks in my experience are really good athletes and they can shoot, they can do all the stuff like we'll go play pick up basketball, you know, as a team. And for some reason the quarterback's always one of the best on the team. And when you got a nickname like Iceman, we know

where Iceman came from, George Gervin you know, with the finger roll, So I think Caleb, when the lights are brightest, he plays his best. I think Caleb's going to impress us. I'm giving him a six like Layla did. All right, well, I'm at eight because I got more confidence than y'all. You do have more confidence. That man is going to show out.

That is five on it. We thank Clay Harbor for being in studio with us today, so we decided he has to be here for two more segments, whether or not he wants to, but he said yes because he's a nice guy. We've got to get to a list that you talked about on the big pro football show on CSN. As much as we talk about cap casualties, What about free agent targets? So let's talk about that with Clay.

Bears talk next. Could this vintage store be any cuter? Right? And the best part? They accept Discover. Except Discover? In a little place like this? I don't think so, Jennifer. Oh, yeah, huh?

Discover is accepted where I like to shop. Come on, baby. Get with the times. Right. So we shouldn't get the parachute pants? These are making a comeback. I think. Discover is accepted at 99%

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Create unlimited AI receptionists across any phone numbers. system. It's all powered by one reliable platform for effortless AI communications. See for yourself at ringcentral.com. Ring Central, voice of your business. Clay Harbor, former NFL play. Clay Harbor, slot to the left. Here's big pass. And it's caught touchdown by Harbor. That's a touchdown. Clay Harbor makes that catch. And they've got Harbor for the touchdown. Football analysts for Chicago Sports Network. I think the bears have two really good tight ends. I've been in tight-in rooms, meeting rooms,

practice fields, game field. These two guys, three guys, you can even throw Dermasmyth in there, but Colton Loveland and Colk Met are extremely tough and physical players. These are guys that can do everything. Clay Harbor with Rahimi Harrison Grody on 1043, the score.

Dreams and Nightmares, that's Clay Harbor's theme. Also, the Philadelphia Eagles, which he was one. So, you know, that's how it works around here. This is Rahimi Harrison Brody on 104 3, the score. Talking a little bears kind of wrapping up the Super Bowl, wrapping up the NFL season. And I know we talked about this, your free agency targets.

But before we get to that, we were talking about the cap casualties too. Kevin Fishbane had a really in-depth article in the athletic. We were talking about the decision-making process. And Marshall brought it up. So like, if you're Ryan Poles, how do you face Dennis Allen? You know, and how does Dennis Allen try to champion for his guys? You know, what goes on in that type of discussion

where you're having to make so many decisions about guys who are free agents, guys who might have a really favorable cap hit for a team, like a Tremaine Edmonds, for example. Yeah, you go to your coaches and you say, how valuable is this player to you? Is this a guy you need? You think you can find a replacement at, you know, a lower price because we got to do some restructuring.

One thing that I will say is the restructure potential, which is the 2006 cap savings, through simple restructures, which is basically turning salary into a bonus. So what can you do with contracts based on just turning them into a bonus? And the bears are very high. They're the seventh team listed, $85 million that they can turn into salary cap via just changing that into bonus. That's without changing years on the contract. So sometimes you'll hear guys say it's more cash than cap.

So if McCasky, George McCasky is okay with paying more. Some rosters cost more than other rosters, even though you have to be under the salary cap, because the bonuses don't count towards a cap. So if George McCasky is okay with it, they have a lot of money that they can turn into bonuses. And also something I want to say is like the combine coming up in less than two weeks, that's when you find everything out. As a player, as an agent, your agent will go in, they'll have meetings with every team, and they'll go, okay, we like this guy.

We like this guy. As a player, that's the first time you'll find out when you're a free agent, does your team want you back? Does this team want you? Does this team want you? Does this team want you? That's when all the trade conversation happens. That's when all the free agent conversation happens. That's when as a player you find out, okay, there's going to be a big market. You find out, okay, there's only two or three teams interested in me. Unfortunately, for me, that was typically the case.

You got three teams for a lot of my other buddies. They'd be talking to me like, yeah, this team, this team, this team. Like, dang, man, you got 10. I got three. But all you need is three. You need three good ones that really want you and you can get a decent deal. It's just like house hunters. Collecting valentines like in elementary school and kids, you're looking over at a desk and

some kids got 12 Valentine's on his desk and you've got four. And you're like, why doesn't anyone want me to be there Valentine? I would say that Clay probably gets more Valentine's now than NFL team interest. I'm just going to throw that out. Burn. Yeah. We've been playing this buzzer the whole day and it's just living rent-free in our head. I love that buzzer.

It's very TikTok coded. Very TikTok. It's very FN. I do think, though, that that is an interesting aspect of the combine that we haven't really talked about because we have been, as Bears observers, so obsessed with who they going to get. How tall is Caleb Williams for real? How tall is everybody else for real? Who's jumping really high?

Underwear Olympics. The free agency aspect of the combine was not something that we necessarily discuss. But also, who's going to be number 10? and now you realize they don't have a top 10 pick. That's different around here. Very. Yeah, it is different, but I think there will still be some players available. You know, at some point we'll talk about my draft prospects.

I did that yesterday in the Big Pro Football Show. I had to give David Haw, Ruthie Polinsky, some of my favorite picks that will fall to 25. And I think there's some solid options, left tackle, edge rushers, because the class is deep in both those positions. Like that running back class was deep, and that's why they waited until the seventh round of two. take a running back. Absolutely. Yeah, I mean, well, I just, I got to tell you, it's not just that it's been a surprise. It's the marriage of the offensive line blocking so well and how he's run, Kyle Menagai, that helped make that work so well. Like when you think about that part of it, and let's just

shout out also the run game, Eric Biedemae was a real game changer, I think, in that room as well. Yeah, I think you got a really good running back coach, Studsville. The guy's coached 12, 1,000 yards rushers in his career. He's been a coach for almost 30 years in the league. He's a guy that will come in. He will command respect. He's been an assistant head coach. He's been an interim head coach. He's been a guy that's been a coordinator. So he's done so many things in football that when he walks in that room, you're running back, you're standing at attention. This isn't like the substitute teachers here now that Eric Bienemy's gone. This is still another guy that is an alpha guy. He's a guy that will instill discipline. He will have that right kind of

stuff that Ben Johnson likes, that players they will have to respect. I'm interested in what you have to say, Clay, and you kind of dialing up your own thing on Blake Pro Football Show. First of all, I'm just behind the scenes. Is this a producer directive or is this like you coming to them saying, hey, I really want to talk about these three guys? No, this is a producer directive. Say, hey, I want to, it's collaborative, but do something with three agency.

Go and find three guys that you think would be a good fit for the bear. free agency and it's very open window I could just say Trey Henry the top three guys have come to my head but I actually go I watch film I look at how these guys play look at numbers and I come up with three guys positional need for the bears that I think could be potential good fits and I think that's a good segue to get into where we're going as far as as the free agent targets I think the bear should consider my third guy Chicago you're not going to like this nobody's going to like this one it's a safety the reason you're not going to like it because this is a dude that ended the bear season.

His name Cam Curl. You know, Marshall, when he goes to gym, all he's doing is curls. Cam Carle can play. I do hamstring curls, thank you. Hamstring curls. But this guy can play. He's only 26. I turned on the film.

Like, this guy's playing in the box like Brisker, but unlike Bristker, he can also cover. No. Yeah, when I look at this guy, he does everything well. He's physical. He's good. You can put him in the box. You can play him deep. He's a strong safety, so you can still bring back Byard if he want to.

And he put some analytics with it. He was 15th among all safeties in pass rating when targeted in coverage. He was 16th in coverage grade per PFF. He was second in run defense grade per PFF. And when I turned on the film, I saw exactly that. It's a guy that fits a Dennis Island system.

We saw what the Seahawks were able to do. Nicky Meen Wetherspoon, two versatile players in the defensive backfield. You got Kyler Gordon. Give me another guy like Cam Curl that you can move around. I think that would be a really good piece for Dennis Allen. And you know what Cam Curl does that is really savvy is he makes in-game adjustments. Like you can see when he would start to like sneak a route or when he would start to jump

around. He's he's a detail-oriented guy when it comes to just how he's able to kind of start to pick apart a team when it comes to the routes they're running or what the route tree is for that specific game. I felt like that was happening against the Bears. And he also played 16 games at least the last three seasons. Like this guy's never hurt. He plays.

He is going to be healthy. I know that was one of the things with Briskar. I know he played 16 games. To get to number two, he's ready for this one. John Franklin Myers. Okay, this guy has three names so you know he can play. Is that how that works? Yeah, he's a defensive tackle.

He just means he was named a certain way. He's a defensive tackle. He's a three-four D-D, but he's a detackle. This guy's going to play three technique. Same position as Jervon Dexter. He can play little nose, but he can line up at six. He can line up outside. He can line up anywhere along defensive line.

He's 290 pounds, 6-4. Dennis Allen-type guy. The last two years, he's had, 14 sacks all coming from inside. So if you want a guy that can get some inside pass rush, we saw what that was able to do, Seattle. I'm not trying to steal the Seattle Seahawks blueprint, but that blueprint looks pretty good.

Okay? So this is a guy that can do a lot of good things for you. As far as interior rushers, fifth and sacks, eighth and hits, 21st in pressure, 6-4-290. Versatile player can line up all over the defensive front, so that's why I like John Franklin Myers. I'm sensing a theme here with

of versatility and more of not just getting guys, but getting chest pieces that could be moved around like Queens for Dennis Allen. Yeah, exactly. And he's a guy that will give you someone that can get that pressure that you're hoping Grady Jarrett could from the inside, that were hoping Jervon Dexter could from the inside. And I think he'd be a perfect piece in that Dennis Allen system. And finally... Hold on.

One more thing on him, though. Do you think because he's coming from a Broncos defense that was considered top five in the league that the price will go up for him. I think there could be a bidding more for this guy just because there's not a ton of interior defenders on free agency that are really good. So you might overpay, maybe like you did, Di-O-Dainbo. That's not good. But I think this guy is a player.

When I looked at Di-O, I said, I don't know what they're doing here. As a tight end, I'm like watching this guy as an edge rusher, I go, I don't need help. I'm a tight, I shouldn't be saying that. As a tight end, why are you bringing me this guy? He's like, oh, he's good against the run. I feel like he can block this guy in pass rush, okay? I shouldn't be able to feel that, Marshall. If John Franklin Myers lines up out there, I'm going, hey, give me a couple chips.

I need some help. So this dude can play, and I think he would be a better look, according, you know, as far as my history goes, and blocking guys like that. And finally, Edrusher, I know there's been people pounding the table saying, trade for Max Crosby, trade for Miles Garrett. I don't want to give up no first-round picks. I don't want to give up another big time player. You got Trey Hendrickson in for agency. You also got this guy. I turned on the film and I said,

how come nobody's talking about him? You're going to say, no way. I'm going to say Adafay Oway, okay? This guy can play. He started with the Ravens. He got traded to the Chargers, right? The only game you have to watch is the Chargers playoff game versus the Patriots.

This guy had three sacks and two four fumbles. I turn on the film. He's great at rushing the past. He's also versatile. He plays for a 3-4 defensive end. They might have him his outside line. He can play D.N. in a 4-3. He's not the typical build that a Dennis Allen likes, you know, the long, bigger, stronger

guys, but this guy is really good against a run. He can set the edge, but he can get some pressure too. I really liked what he was able to do after he moved from Baltimore to the Chargers. His win rate, after he made that move, was 16.5, which was 11th among all edge rushers. in the National Football League when he moved from midseason from Baltimore to the Chargers. So I would love to have Adafay O'A on the Bears. I noticed there were three defensive players when you talked about free agents. My issue is, do they have money to invest more into the defense based on where they already

have money going into this? Yeah, I had an argument. I said, yo, listen, people want all these new defenders, do it. The Seahawks didn't invest in the D-Line. Say, hey, Ryan Poles did that. He took his swings and he missed. Guess what? Grady Jarrett obviously got hurt. Maybe he can get better.

And when you're in your 30s, tough for me to see that. Before he even tore his Achilles, Diodangbo wasn't much of a player. Now you expect me to think he's going to come back after torn Achilles and be better. Shemar Turner, even before he got hurt and tore his ACL, didn't see much from him. A second round pick, and those two players, they did the investing in the defensive line. But like I said, if you're willing to go all in, if you're willing to maybe move some of this salary to bonus, you have the seventh most... I think Trey Hendrickson would be great.

Or, yeah. I'm saying cut Tremaine Edmins. You can get rid of Tremaine Edmins. I think you'd find a replacement. But I think there is a possibility for them to still have a decent amount of money in free agency if you do convert some of these salaries to bonuses. I have a question about the direction of why you're saying this. So I want to get to that on the other side of this break.

More with Clay Harbor Football Talk here on Rahimi-Harrison Grody on 1043, the score. Rahimi Harrison Grody The great Kevin Harlan I just pulled through the Taco Bell Drive-thru and I've got a couple of big nasty Supreme Burritos right here waiting to beat

You know the first thing they ask you Now are you using the app The app, no I just want my burrito I don't want to use an app Bring a lot of mild sauce Because I'm going to squirt it all over the way Put some hot sauce on my burrito baby Rahimi

Harish and Grody Midday's 10 a.m. to 2 on the score Time consumed The only one. They take the snap at 52. And now they've got them. It's Hendrickson. One play after nearly getting to him.

This time he completes the deal. I don't know, Jim. I got Ray Deas. You got me. Did you spill your drink? Almost. A little bit. It'd have been worse.

That's CBS in case you were wondering. That's Jim Nance. This is Rahimi Harris and Grotie on 1043, the score. And that is a call of Trey Hendrickson, and I keep laughing the whole time because of Kevin Harlan into the Trey Hendrickson into I don't know, Jen. Story of my life. I want to ask you Clay Harbor, who is in studio with us, the reason you picked your top three free agents, each time you said something about run fits, how much is fixing the Bears run defense a priority to you this offseason? Oh, it's massive.

I think when you look at the Bears, they're not going to survive. survive another year with the defense they had like they did last. You can't count on 33 turnovers. As much as you think, yeah, where does a team that turns over, turns over, gets turnover, takeaways. Every team I've been on, everybody's saying takeaways, takeaways, I know you emphasize, I know you practice it, everybody does. They're fickle. You can have guys that can intercept the football like Kevin Byard, you help you out a little bit more, guys that go after the ball, force and fumbles, but usually there's some regression to the mean in the takeaways. So how do you win football games? And you look at the Seattle Seahawks. I don't

keep going back to the Seahawks, the Eagles. These teams that are able to stop the run without having eight guys in the box, you can sit there and play cover two at times, stop the run. That makes your defense so hard to beat. It's almost like an unfair advantage. When you see what the Seahawks are able to do, then versatile pieces. See, Mike McDonald, you're able to really see his genius because he has Nick Eamon Wetherspoon, because you have Devin Weatherspoon, because you have all these guys in the defensive line that can move around and do all these different things, it makes it hard for an offense to really pick up who these guys are as far as your rule set goes. So Devin Wetherspoon or Nick Eman Worry can be a safety.

He can also be a Sam linebacker. He can be anywhere. So it just makes it really hard for identification. You put your mic point, find your linebackers. Okay, is that a DB? Is that the lineback? It's just very different. when you have these versatile pieces. Is that why Kyler Gordon is so important when you talk about next season? Is that enough a healthy Kyler Gordon, or do they need more in terms of the run fit, in your opinion, than what's actually current on the roster? How much can we expect to bounce back from the guys they already have?

Kyleor Gordon is going to be huge. If he can stay healthy, obviously he hasn't shown that he can do that yet. But once again, that's one of those guys to where you don't want to have to go base defense to stop the run when they come out with two tight ends. You want to be able to stay nickel like the Seahawks did. That's just going to be my court of the day like the Seahawks did. They go dime, they go nickel, they never play base. If you can still stay out there and Kyler Gordon's a guy that's physical enough

that he can take on a tight end and still get to his run fit. He can still tackle the ball carry. He's really good at that. That changes things for offenses. If you don't have that matchup problem where you can motion your wide receiver and get them on a backer, motion your running back, get them on a backer, motion your tight end, get them on a backer. That changes things. match isn't there and now you're going to have to scheme up different ways to try to find

advantages for your offense. The nine-year NFL veteran Clay Harbor is in studio with us on Rahimi Harrison Grotie. And I talked about this after the Super Bowl. Like we spent our whole show on it on Monday. I feel like I went to school when it came to not just the way they utilize their offense, but what we saw on the defensive side of the ball. Like field position matter. Mark Grady kept talking about how you could argue kicker or punter could have been MVP in that game. But they really did teach a defensive clinic. Like it was waves of pass rush. It was everything a defensive coordinator talks about. There was also a key aspect of it that I thought was so important and contradictory to what Ben Johnson says. He talks about the pass rush insurance that you get,

you know, when you want to sack guys when you have a lead. That is not what Seattle did, man. They were, they were, I think coming away with sacks at will. And when you saw that the way they were able to get the stops from the interior like you talked about. I just kept being out like, oh, early sack. Love it. Another early sack. Another early sack. And that's what really just impressed me so much about what they did. And you know what's also interesting when you look at Seattle and you look at Philadelphia, right? I think these two last Super Bowl shows you, you go back and it was the era of Tom Brady, Mahomes, Superstar quarterback. That's how you win the championships, right? Then you see Jalen Hertz. Then you see Sam Darnold win these

championships, when these Super Bowls. What does that tell you? These guys, minus the Super Bowl, their performance in the playoffs, both of them, maybe in the top 10? I mean, they're not top-level quarterbacks we're talking about here. So getting a defense like they have, that's becoming a run game. You saw what Kenneth Walker was able to do. Run game and defense matters, and I think the Bears got a good, solid run game offensive line. Obviously, we see left tackle matters too with how Will Campbell was bullied, but defensively, being able to pressure without blitzing is the best way to beat any quarterback. In Seattle, the stunts, the games that are playing,

they have double-mug pressures with the linebackers. The linebackers back out. They jump out to their zone coverages. Then you're sending defensive backs. Devon Weatherspoon, Eamon Warrior, you're blitzing. So there's becoming this change, this shift to trying to find a group of guys that can just get pressure, not so much just focus on having the Brady, the Mahomes. Now you're seeing teams win.

The last two Super Bowls with defensive. lines that are just big and can pressure the passer. Which one was more impressive to you, the defensive performances in the last two Super Bowls? Was it the Eagles or the Seahawks? I would say probably the Eagles, and I think that was because they didn't blitz Patrick Mahomes one time. They sat back Vic Fangio in the cover two shell and just got after Mahomes. And the best quarterback of this generation, they made them look pedestrian. You know, obviously the Seahawks defense did great. But you look, the Patriots were stumbling into this game. They played a lot of good defense. and I'm not going to hate on Drake May.

I would still take Caleb over Drake May. Thank you very much. But he is not the same caliber guy as Patrick Mahomes. I'm sorry. No, I think that's fair. And there's been some talk about whether or not Vic was going to come back. You know, because he's at, if he wanted to, he could retire comfortably financially, Vic. I'm sure.

What about his defense do you like so much? I feel like that's not a topic we've gotten into you with you. How do you feel about his defense and what makes it so deceptive? As far as Vic Fangio, his defense isn't really deceptive. Like that's the thing. He's going to give you a lot of cover too. He's going to sit back. The problem with his defense is they got good players and he knows how to play him.

Howie. Yeah, how he drafts good players. I mean, you got Jalen Carter on the inside. You got Jordan Davis. Jalick's Hunt was a guy that came on this year. And obviously they weren't the defense they were last year. But they just do such a good job of playing their roles and their keys. And obviously we saw how the bears ran on them.

That typically doesn't happen. They draft well, Nicole Dean, a guy that's a free agent linebacker this year. If you do get rid of Terrell Edmins, Tremaine Edmins, excuse me, he's a guy that you could probably get for less. But they just did a good job of drafting. Giad Campbell, they have players that play well in their system, and they put them in places where they can have success. You're not playing these guys out of place. It seems like Vic Fangio always has this guy in the right spot where he can make the most plays and you can get the most out of them. I think it's a fair assessment

When you get closer to the draft and we're just starting you're going to have narrowed down who you think the Bears can tape but you already have an out of the gate can we call this mock 1.0 for Clay Harbor

yeah 25 right and this is obviously we haven't seen the combine we haven't seen the pro days but from watching tape from gathering info I just think these two guys would be really good fits and these are two options at 25

some people have this guy mocked before, some people have this guy mocked after, but I found the left tackle for the Bears. His name is Caden Proctor from Alabama. This dude is 6'7, 366 pounds. He makes the mountain from Game of Thrones look small. He's got 35 and a half inch arms. He can tie his shoe standing up. This guy was a Feldman freak. He's a freak athlete. There's a list that they put out of the best athletes in college football. At 366 pounds, this guy benched over 500 pounds. He power cleaned four feet. and he squatted 800 pounds. I turn on the tape. I go, how can a 6-7, 370-pound man move?

He can move. He's not the most fleet of foot, but if you put him in darn all right as your tackles, your left-and-right tackles, you got two beasts. This guy's nasty in the run game. He's powerful in the past game. I think if you give him an off-season with Dan Rochard, he can turn him into somebody that can just eject players from that line of scrimmage and really build on that run game and is a strong, strong defender as far as his past. rush is concerned.

Interesting, you would use a first rounder on a left tackle after they used a second round. Yeah, that was the second round. Ozzie Tripillo is missing the entire season. Go take a look at the free agents in at left tackle. There's not one. Braxton Jones might be your best opportunity. Rashad Walker from the Packers, who was a former seventh round pick as a solid pass blocker, he's going to get paid way too much because he's the only left tackle.

There is no one in free agency. You've got to get a left tackle in the draft unless you think that Theo Bennett is your option for next year. Yeah, there's no such thing as a left tackle store. No. Unless you're Trent Williams and he is the store. So are you guys ready for number two? It's got to be quick, but yes. Real quick. Ed Rush, you guys have seen Miami, Rubin Bain, Ed Rush, there's another Ed Rusher on this team. His name is Akeem Mesidor. This guy had five and a half sacks in the college football playoffs. He's extremely agile. He's a big guy. He can stop the run, but he's a really

good pass rusher that just got overshadowed a little bit by Bain. Akeem Mesidor is a guy to keep your eye on at the combine when you start looking at him. He's a guy that I think would be a really good eddrusher to put on the opposite side of Montes-Swet and you don't have to give up any draft picks. But if those guys are there, you're taking the tackle. I'm taking the tackle. We need the left tackle. Yeah, yeah, I agree with that. Clay Harbor, this is always fun.

Thank you for joining us all season long. We're going to miss you, Clay. No, let's get together, guys. Let's go out and Glitch in the Matrix. Glitch in the Matrix. Yeah, I'm good on that. Okay. Glitch in the Matrix is fun.

going to go ahead and hang in. It's being at a casino. Let's get a workout in Marshall. Let's see what you got, man. Oh, dear. I'll work out with you. All right, let's see. I know you can't do much.

Okay. Bad knees. Perfect timing. You can catch Clay on the big pro football show on CHSN. It's usually at 530. Yesterday it was earlier. It was at 5. But that's usually the time between 5 and 530 for the big pro football show.

Clay, thanks as always. Appreciate it, guys. And coming up next year on Rahimi Harrison Grotie, we have Portage Indiana Mayor Austin Bonta to talk about the pitch and also just how the money for the Bears Stadium that they want to finance and really Bear City. Halis Harbor is the name. No relation to Clay. No relation.

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Next. This hour is sponsored by Riverfront Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram. Welcome to Hollis Harbor. Right here on the Chicago Land Shoreline. A fully privately financed site, zero taxpayer burden, zero debt on the team, zero compromise. Our offer to the Bears is to use this rent-free. Set minutes from major highways, a dedicated rail stop, and the shoreline itself, designed for arrival, access, and safety. The capital is ready.

The land is available now. Shovels can be in the ground as soon as June, 2026. the only variable left is the decision to move forward. That was the Portage Park Cisle Reel is what I would like to call it. The Portage Indiana Cisle Reel that we saw and that they sent to us here at 104.3 the score. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie. And the Portage Indiana Mayor Austin Bonta is kind enough to join us now live via the Circus Sports Illinois hotline. Download the circus sports app today.

And you heard the pitch to be able to have a stadium. funded where the bears and the public don't have to deal with the cost. And he's on Twitch. Mayor Bontah, thank you for joining us on Twitch, twitch.tv slash the score Chicago. Thanks for coming on. Thanks for having me. Really excited to be here. Great to be able to talk about the city. And more importantly right now, I think talking about the bears and what I hope is the best offer for them. Well, and you know what? You guys sent us mail. And so when you send an email and you send a pitch, we are reading and we are listening. So thank you. you for sending us the video. Thank you for sending us the information. Number one, how do you feel

that your pitch was received when you had the press conference yesterday announcing this plan? I think it's been received tremendously and with great interest. It was already making some news as of Monday and then, of course, the Tuesday morning. And it was as that attention was growing, we felt it was very important to get the facts out, give the opportunity to get questions answered. And that's where we, you know, called a press conference and it was exciting to see so much. much interest from the media to be able to come out and learn about what the city has to offer to the bears, to fans, and to the whole Chicago land region. I'm really curious as to how this came about. Can you tell us the initial steps? I mean,

was this you being approached by someone? Was this you understanding that the bears didn't have a home to see if you could get in the mix? How did this start? So it really started back in January of 2024 when my team came in. I'm on my third year as mayor now. And we're, we came in, our city had owned this piece of land, which used to be a lot smaller of a piece of land since 1995. And there's been different attempts over the years. Different companies have come and gone. Different ideas have been proposed of what they want to do with this land. In particular, how to create connectivity between 249 and Route 12. When we came in, what we looked at is that to the east of the land, there was all of this really great property, also undeveloped land, but it had

multiple different owners and it had multiple different shapes. And so in addition to not being very accessible undeveloped land, the ownership situation made it amazed to be able to get somebody to come in and develop it. So we knew from the start what we had to do over the last two years was start working with other owners to be able to buy the different pieces of land and that's how we've now ended up with over 300 acres at this site. It's an incredible site where the highways, the train and the waterway all come together to create this really great destination. And from the beginning, when we looked at this site back in January of 2024, we said, now keep in mind, that was two years ago. I think the Arlington deal or the original Arlington deal as announced was

maybe only a year old by then. We said, man, this would have actually been a great spot to pitch the bears. But, you know, timing doesn't always work out. So flash forward to December 17th, 2025, when the Bears announced the search has expanded to the entire Chicago land area, we said, man, this was on our minds from the beginning. We owe it to the Bears, the fans, our city, and the Chicago Land region to be able to offer what we think is the best site. Now, by the time that we got to the point that they announced, we already had acquired the land needed to make the land actually workable without the bears being on the search, the big question that we were facing as a city was step two, how to make this land accessible.

I've been working with my city council to figure out how to responsibly budget things like building a bridge over the waterway to make the site more accessible. We've been talking about how to go from the north side to connect the train better to the land. At the end of the day, the bears searching for a site gave us the ability to do step two, which is the connectivity, and step three, which is the development simultaneously. And that's why when people ask, well, what does your city get out of it with the Bears deal? Simply put, I think a question was even asked yesterday, if I remember it correctly, it was what happens if the bears don't pick the site? And what I said, we know that this is a high quality, incredible destination site where all the

different modes of transportation come together. And we have a plan to turn it into something incredible. The bears picking the site for our city just allows that to happen a little faster and with two steps happening closer together, if that makes sense. No, it does. Oh, but you were asking about how we reached the bear. or how we go about it from there. Portage actually is the third largest city in the region,

and we are a really amazing city when you actually kind of look under the hood and see what we've got. We have an international port. We've got a steel mill. We are one of the major areas of travel through the Chicago land region. 44 million people drive through our city every year. Not everybody stops. Many people do. We want to increase that.

But all that said and done, we're already situated in a great spot, and we have a lot of contact. So when the bear's search started, we started reaching out. No, it makes sense. Mayor Austin Bonta of Portage, Indiana is joining us to talk about the plan for Hallis Harbor that they announced yesterday. And that's another part of it for me. So it sounds like logistics demanded something be done with this land first. Then it sounds like there's a mixed-use development concept here.

When we say that, we mean, for example, stadium plus residents plus retail. You know, that's typically it's a mixed use property because you have the various uses of the retail and combination of residency or something along those lines. So what was the original vision? Was it going to be to pitch it to developers or something along those lines if it wasn't the bears? Yeah, so we always had a vision for this site once we were able to get the land together and create the connectivity to it to be able to master develop it, working with maybe one big developer, maybe working with a team of developers to map out a, community that is a little bit higher dense and very much based on its connectivity to the train, the South Shore line, and being the first base of real public transportation in our city, and then also its connectivity to the water, because it's got a navigable waterway, what we call

the Burns Waterway. Maybe we'll call it the Bears Waterway one day, but connects right to Lake Michigan. So it brings those two different features together. And one of the big things I know that when people talk about how is Northwest Indiana responding to the news about the bears considering coming to our side of Chicago land, two big things come to mind. One is what is the cost on residents in terms of taxes? And of course, we have a plan to address that that's getting a lot of attention. But then the second aspect is what does this do to traffic, right? You know, we've got all these cities in northwest Indiana. How much traffic is this going to bring in on game days, concert days? What's particularly neat about what we now call the Palace Harbor site is 99% of the 99% of

of our city residents live south of the highway and definitely south of the waterway that we're talking about building it. So really what we have the opportunity at Hallis Harbor is essentially to build an entire city crafted around this more dense, this more transit oriented development. And we've always talked about what would be the best anchor. And I mean, I can just say certainly the bears coming to the site would be the absolute best anchor to really build that community and that development around it. And I'm curious as we talk with Portage Indiana Mayor, Austin Bonta, as they make this pitch for Hallis Harbor and a stadium project in their city.

It's tax-free, allegedly, it's the bears aren't going to be in debt. The taxpayers aren't going to be in debt. Does that mean private equity steps in? Tell us how these gaps are being filled, because that's a lot of money someone has to come up with to build a stadium. Absolutely. And that was actually one of the things that was the biggest challenges for me is that we definitely see the benefit of it.

stadium coming into any city as far as what that can do for economic development. But we also know that when it's a city, whether it's a state, when taxpayers are funding a stadium and they're on the hook for that much, it can create trouble down the road. Portage being a city of, again, we're the third largest city in the region, but we're not a million person city. That's a lot of responsibility to take on or potentially to be in some issue with down the road. So I told my team it was very important that our pitch included some way to be able to minimize or eliminate taxpayer cost.

At the time, too, we had no idea on January 18th what the state of Indiana was going to do with the Bears' search. We wanted to start as quick as we could, and we ended up finding a partner who's offering an equity deal where a private company would build the stadium. We would be able to give it to the Bears rent-free, and then the stadium revenue that's generated from non-football-related, events such as concerts, trade shows, different events happening in the stadium,

over a long period of time would pay back the cost of building the stadium to the private entity. And we understand the private entity. Mayor Bonta is Lou Weisbach and his group is correlated or is subsidiary or part of J.P. Morgan. Is that correct? Lou has the financial resources to bring that together and he's been a very good friend to us and a great partner with us as we put this deal together. And we understand that as we bring it to the Bears and as the state of Indiana takes a look at it and what they want to add to it, we certainly understand that we need to be flexible starting from our current offer.

But it was very important for us that we had a viable, responsible deal on the table to be able to adequately finance a stadium of this size. So what's the timeline then? Because some of the concepts that we've seen are the numbers being thrown around. And tell me if you have different numbers. It's in the neighborhood of somewhere around combining infrastructure cost and development cost. It would be somewhere like $7 billion. You know, that's a number that's been discussed. So, five famously, $5 billion.

That's a recent stadium that was built. So what's the number and then what's the timeline to get that repaid to a private equity entity? So I would direct you to Lou or if you'd like to, you know, kind of speak to him about all the financial details of it. But to put it simply, what we're talking about is $5 billion for the stadium plus infrastructure and then a $2 billion sinking fund. to cover issues that could come up once it's constructed and once the deal is set up. And there are certainly elements of the deal as far as how much revenue is going to be paid over how much time to be able to pay back the cost of the stadium. That would be something that we would negotiate with the Bears as we get to that stage.

So like I say, we're very excited about that element of it. And at the same time, we're also super excited about the site being what we think is the best site for the Bears that we can imagine. Austin Bont to the mayor of Portage, Indiana, joining us here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie here on 104-3, The Score. Austin, I'm curious, what do you think separates your deal from other deals, specifically where the Bears, if they build the stadium, obviously, they get all of the money that comes in from the revenue in other places? So I think that simply put, what separates our deal from the other areas have been discussed about, I think that we have to consider certainly the unique, of the site, the Hellas Harbor site. It is undeveloped land.

There's no need to take out existing roads. There's no need to take out existing buildings to build. So that's one piece of it. The other piece of it is the ability for it to be a true, what do you call it, ecosystem of entertainment designed specifically for the bears, not over something that was existing, but undeveloped land in one of the most strategic spots in the Chicago land region. Certainly the northwest Indiana part of the Chicago land region. and where you've got the train, you've got the water, and you've got the highways all coming together

right in this particular well-traveled area that so many people actually don't even realize it's there. Well, maybe they realize it's there now, given the attention that the site is getting. Yeah, I definitely think you've raised awareness. That's for sure, Bayer Bonta. What has been the reception from the Bears? What have the talks been like? I can't go into all details as far as communication with the bears. I can tell you that they're definitely aware of the offer,

on the land side and on the financial side, we know that they are doing their study to see if it works for them. Certainly they want to make sure that it's good enough to be true. They want to make sure that it's something that they can plan based on and I'm hopeful to be able to say more about that communication piece as time goes on. What's the timeline here? We understand there's a lot of moving parts here, whether it's the Illinois legislature, whether it's the Indiana legislature. What are you looking at as a timeline to see if this is going to be viable or not?

What I've told residents, and I've been asked by many, like, how soon are we going to know something? I say, you know, it could be weeks from now. It could be tomorrow. It could be later this afternoon. Not specifically about the portage site, but ultimately this is the Bears decision. And ultimately, the Bears are going to determine what is the best site for the team, the best site for the fans. I'm hopeful that they're going to agree that the portage site is the best and that our deal is the best offer on the table. But there are also political and economic things going on that are definitely beyond our control.

and maybe outside of any one person's control that's going to ultimately influence where the bears go. Yeah, Mayor Bonta, that was one of the things that I was wondering about was representing a city into Indiana. You know, there's always the concern from, say, the Indiana teams, you know, whether it's the Indianapolis Colts who are adjacent. You know, they have a publicly funded stadium in Indianapolis, whether there's been any sort of, I don't know if communication is the right word, but have you heard anything from any of the other teams regarding, your plan to put this together for the Bears, just out of curiosity? We've not been reached out to the Colts, and my understanding of it is there are certainly Colts fans in Portage. There are certainly Colts fans, you know, in Northwest Indiana.

But ultimately, Northwest Indiana is Bears country. I have to remind everybody, every time the Bears play the Packers, it's a violation of our city ordinance to wear Packers hats, which always kind of a big stir. But we got to make sure that people are aware. Ultimately, the Bears coming to, what we consider to be, well, the Bears coming to Northwest Indiana is still the Bears coming to Bears country, and it's still the Bears come into Chicago land. We're proud to have that part

of our identity here. Austin, be honest with us. Does this feel like a long shot to you? I mean, you're late to the game, but the game is still a foot, if you will, but does this seem like a long shot to you when you talk to the people in your city? It really doesn't. And to start, it doesn't feel like it was late to the game for us because we started working on this on December 18th. I guess you could say December 17th because I was on the phone as soon as the statement from the Bears came out and we had people ready to go. It took us some time to put together a proposal that we believed was realistic and a proposal that we thought was workable. And we did send it out to the Bears sooner than it made the news. It recently made the news this week in a really big way.

and we definitely felt it was important to take the opportunity to get it out to the media and explain the details of our proposal. But at the end of the day, I can tell you that from the calls we've been getting and from the attention it's received, I think this is very real. Definitely more real than Iowa, but I think about as real as the other Northwest Adia sites. I think that that's fair, simply by geography alone, but for other reasons, no, that makes a lot of sense. So I do find it interesting, though, that you found out via the Bears statement that Northwest Indiana was a possibility. I was wondering if they had reached out to any specific entities. So not to you in advance is what you're saying. Oh, that's a great question.

And certainly, to put it simply, one day I'm sure there'll be books written or maybe one great book about the story of the Bears and how they ended up in the stadium that ultimately comes their home that we all know and love. But, no, we found out from the announcement from the Bears. I couldn't tell you because I don't know how many people knew ahead of time the announcement was coming. I just knew that when the announcement came out, we got to work. And then is there anything else you want people to know about the pitch that you made and what this project could be? One of the big things that I've talked about a lot, and I certainly talked about it in the press conference yesterday, is the importance of realizing that there is already muscle memory for fans who live in Chicago, fans who live in Illinois when it comes to coming to Northwest Indiana,

especially in the summer and especially in the fall. And in Portage, we know that because we've got beaches, we see the Illinois plates, we meet people who come into the city because it's a great destination in the summer. The travel time feels farther away when you look on it at a map. But if you're somebody who lives in Portage and you drive to Chicago pretty often like I do, you get used to that travel time. And I know people who live in Chicago, but they commute to work in Portage. and it's a time frame that they get used to with the travel.

And then you throw in the real opportunity for public transportation, the utilization of the South Shore line to have a site where you can walk off the train and then walk down to the stadium. I think it's something pretty incredible. And I think it's something that when more people think about it and I've seen it happen, they realize that this is something very workable for fans. And I think it's something that is very special for the Bears. Lou Weissbach and Austin Bonta with this presentation and the pitch.

Mayor Bonta, we thank you so much for joining us here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie to talk about Hallis Harbor. Thanks so much. Thank you, guys. That's Mayor Austin Bonta, kind enough to join us not only on the score, but on our Twitch channel as well. So at least we got some more answers. I feel like that's a very good thing. I felt like I have a much better understanding of how this came about and now what the move is next for them. and maybe the rest of Indiana.

Yeah, and the reason I bring up the cults is not necessarily because of the fact that they're simply in Indiana. There's a public money aspect to this as well. In fact, Illinois rep, Cam Buckner talked about it with the afternoon show, Spiegel and Holmes. So we're going to examine that part of it next. Thy ticket, Lady Jennifer of Coolidge.

Well, many thanks, good sir. Heareth my Discover card. They accept Discover at Renaissance. Sounds fares? Yeah, they do here. Discover is accepted at the places that I love to shop. Get it?

With the times. With the times? You're playing the loot. Yeah, and it sounds pretty good, right? Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide. Based on the February 2025 Nilsen Report. Have you or a family member

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See for yourself at ringcentral.com. Ring Central, voice of your business. Rahimi Harrison Grody, Midday's 10 to 2 on 1043, The Score. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 1043, The Score. And we just heard from the Portage Indiana Mayor, Austin Banta, about his pitch for Hallis Harbor and how we were all trying to figure out if the bears aren't paying, the taxpayers aren't paying, then who's paying? Private equity.

Yeah, it makes me uncomfortable. Private equity here, at this point, they're two bad words when you put them together. for me personally. It doesn't have a good connotation in public right now. That's for sure when it comes to how it, if it's buying red lobster chains, for example, or if it's getting involved in places, it isn't always met with the right. The results speak for themselves. I'll say that at times.

This is different because I think Louis Weisbach, this is not, I think, the first, stadium project where he's been discussed. There are other reports. But then also, do the bears want to get involved with a private equity type of investor like this? That's the other question, too. Better the private equity firms spend their money on stadiums than on, you know, single family houses. That's my personal opinion. There's also that. Yeah, the private equitization of America continues. But he answered the question. You know, we wanted to know who was paying and how and we got our answers. In the meantime, we're still trying to figure out what it is on the Illinois side. And state representative Cam Buckner was on with the afternoon show, Spiegel and Holmes, not

yesterday, but the day before. We didn't get to get to all of it because we had to talk to Modis Buzellis. So there were a couple of latent effects that Cam Buckner talked about when it came to stadium projects outside of Illinois and what we've seen. The biggest argument a lot of people make for if you really want a publicly funded stadium, then you let the public vote on it. Put it to an election. Kansas City Chiefs did that. It got voted down swiftly in Missouri. That was not a ballot measure that passed by any means.

It's poison basically at this point with where our country is because it's not just the people who say they'll give up a steak dinner for a new stadium. No offense, Tony and Juliet. Yeah, it's everyone is like that money, tax pay or money could be used differently and more effectively and address more immediate needs for a large group of people. And I think that's why they're like, why are we out here providing money for billionaires? Well, and that's it. It's the concept of make the profit private, but then make the cost public. And that's met with a lot of resistance. But a ballot is the best

way to get the actual sample of how the public feels about it. That's putting the power in their hands to let them decide for themselves. Now, Cam Buckner was asked about how reps downstate because there is a state funding element of this about how they feel about the Bears project. I've talked to my colleagues from around the state, many of whom live south of I-80, and they have questions about what's this mean for me,

what does this mean for my capital projects, right? The infrastructure and the roads and bridges that are, I'm trying to build it in my district. What does this mean for places like Eastern Illinois University and University of Illinois, folks who are looking at the state budget to be helpful for them as well. And so this is a point that is well taken because we've got to figure this piece out. You know, we talk a lot about Chicago versus Arlington Heights versus, you know, Gary and Hammond. But one piece of the puzzles that I often think about it and chuckle sometimes is that, you know,

my colleagues from Decatur, Illinois, where the Bears started off. you know, if we are in the fourth-foot bill that does not help them and their needs when it comes to mega projects and infrastructure and moving things forward, then maybe we've missed the ball on that as well. And so to me, this is a, while they say bears conversation, it's a broader conversation about development in the state and how we move things forward. I think he has a point when he talks about what this is. It's kind of a microcosm of where we are in this process.

And this process, the idea of it in applying it to many things, just specifically the Bear Stadium. Arlington Heights, for example, is not in Peoria's backyard. So they have every right to ask how they are paying for something that doesn't intersect with them. And I think that that's fair. That's the job of a representative is to listen to those of the state when you're a state rep, not just your constituency.

He also discussed, and we talked about this just a little bit ago, Kansas City Chiefs, didn't end up playing in Missouri. Their new stadium will not be in the state of Missouri. It will be in Kansas. It did not go to a ballot in Kansas. That was a deal they struck outside of a vote with the state. And this is where he also brings up what the ramifications are for the bears if they were to go to the state of Indiana.

So this is multi-tenticals here, but listen to how many different effects there are and the example used with Kansas City. I'm still in shock. I'm still in awe. I'm still waiting for, I want to date myself. I'm still waiting for Ashton Cusher to come out and tell everybody that they were pumped. Because I don't know how any legislature or any state government, especially one that claims to be physically responsible, can give a deal like that.

And what I think is going to turn out to be one of the biggest boondoggles and sports stadium financing history. And the crazy thing about it is that the state of Missouri is going to still get much of the benefit without any of the costs. which is close to them for standing strong. Wow. It's quite something. And is what Indiana is offering at all akin to what the state of Kansas is offering from your perspective?

I think they've made some overtures, right? They've said that they'll pay, you know, basically give them, there's a five being in our stadium for free. But here's some things that we should think about it and talk about and try to figure out. Number one, the bill that the Indiana Senate passed, Senate Bill 27, which is, now making this way to the Indiana house. There's no actual bonding in there. There's no actual dollars in there. What it does is it gives the state of Indiana,

the ability to create an Indiana sports facility authority. By the way, we've had one here for 40 years, right? So they're playing catch up on that. But the piece that I think is worth noting that none of this stuff happens in a volume, right? If you are the Ursa family, for instance, and it homes the coach, And you see what the bears are being offered in Indiana.

You know, you say, where's mine? Because you're not just going to be applauding this. You're going to be also negotiating behind the scenes. And you could believe they're doing it. If you're the Simon family who owns the Indiana Pacers, you're asking if a state is willing to invest to attract a new franchise, what does this mean for us in Game Bridge Stadium? And furthermore, if you are the athletic director, Scott Dolson,

at Indiana University or Meg Bobinsky at Purdue University who are looking at this deal and especially the IU who just won the football national championship. And wondering why your funding has been cut in a lot of different programs. When it's been cut, you've got pretty bad facilities.

I played both in Rossade and at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington as a suburb of the college athlete at the UMI. Both of them sucks, right? They're not great. stadiums and not great facilities. And so you're them, you're saying, okay, if you're going to do this up in Lake County, what are you going to do down here for us?

And so, you know, none of this happens in the bubble. Folks are looking in the mirror now to see where their part of this is. And all of this is layer. Once one door opens, you know, five other teams will not. Ro teams, NBA teams, flagship university. Everybody wants to know where they stand. And I think that's a part that we're missing. the Indiana's legislature is probably talking with that.

Listening to Camp Buckner really break it down and understanding that we talk about things in a very simplistic way compared to the multiple layers that all of the people involved in the conversations, the talks, the negotiations, the way they think about things, it's so much more layered. And he's certainly right about other people in Indiana,

other organizations in Indiana being like, hey, oh, I see all this, free cheese you're giving out, where's ours? It happened here. It happened here when you consider that public dollars were brought up with the tax incremental funds, for example, the TIF funds, that were part of the 78 project. Now, Joe Mansueto and the Chicago Fire decided to build with their own money, you know, a stadium on that site. We're trying to figure out if it was going to be big enough to hold a potential New Sox Park, for example.

But that's what happened. When there was public money to be available, other teams, rightfully so, like the Chicago stars, said, we deserve some of this money. And why not us? And they're allowed to do that. If there's public money to give out to sports entities, no, not everybody's going to fall in line and be like,

oh, this is the bear's money. No, that doesn't work that way, especially when your entity is supposed to be competitive. Well, we're making actual progress here. just compare this to the same time finding out the White Sox won a new ballpark. And the governor issuing, hey, you guys need to work this out between each other because we don't have money to just be throwing out here. So I thought that was interesting.

And to learn just that the bears now are probably going to build in Arlington Heights, that's the way it looks anyway, from my vantage point. They bought the land. They haven't sold the land. They haven't given it up. They bought the land with the intention of building a stadium there. I think there's a world in which they can sell the land, but to your point, it's already kind of predestined that way.

That's not predestined, chosen. They chose to, they chose to buy that land. They chose their destination. I assume it is the final destination. But, you know, it's interesting to hear everybody else kind of getting a voice out there and trying to chime in and trying to get something going their way. I said it before, and I'll say it again, this process. talking to other municipalities about what they can bring and how?

That was supposed to happen before. Before. Before you buy the land. It's become quite laborious, tedious, which are all things that can happen before you buy the land. Because if you have everything worked out, now bought land, built land, shovels in the ground. Well, also, it's just part and parcel as to how you do this. You strike the deal with the municipality first,

because that's when you have the leverage. Are you saying that's when you get the tax certainty in most cases? Certainty is a loose term. It's when you pre-negotiate some sort of tax rate. Yes. And that's why this has been such a sticking point and one that we continue to discuss. And unfortunately, reverse engineer as a public. But I'll maintain the most accurate way to get the public opinion is to let them vote on it themselves.

Man, put this on the ballot. History doesn't, it's not kind, but if you're really confident, then, you might be surprised as to what could happen. I think the bears understand, and therefore they are not confident. That's why there's no way this is ever going on a ballot. Yeah, I mean, in the past, like I'd say 20 years ago, you know, there would be times where the public would want that. I've mentioned, you know, in my home market, for example,

the ballpark in Arlington, which was built in the early 90s, was paid off early. But that was when supply cost and labor cost and all those things were much lower. And there was a much more aggressive and well. used tourism tax at the time. Money's weren't as tight as they are now for everyone involved. Right, but the population is bigger, so you have to factor that in as well. But the easiest way, if you want everybody to have power outside of just like people talking

about it, you vote on it. But then you've got to ask, why hasn't it been a vote? Why did Kansas City want to make sure, why did the chiefs make sure that they wanted to bypass the voting concept after doing it in Missouri when they talked to Kansas? Kansas. Always ask that question. Clearly, they knew it was not going to pass, much like it did in Kansas. That's when you start talking about corruption and everything else, because, oh, why are they so apt to bend the will? They call it lobbying now.

Oh, well, lobbying is one form of the, yes, you're right. I say that tongue in cheek. Coming up next year on Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104-3, the score. I want to say exciting, but then I want to say the rest. and I'm not going to do it. Ray, how would you pitch this? 49 is running back. Christian McCaffrey has defied the odds in more ways than one. And we will explain that next.

Fair enough. Can you imagine Lovie Smith doing the whole good, better, best thing? And saying bleep the Packers. Come on, guys, good better best. Never let it rest. I'll see you on Tuesday. Middays 10 to 2 on 1043, the score. The exciting whites meme, which is my favorite meme on the internet.

So that's what I was going to say. But then I was like, I don't know. But Danny said it for us. That was Danny Parkins talking about the podcast. Exciting mics. And Christian McCaffery, an exciting guy, was on the Bussing with the Boys podcast. Exciting guy. That's what we're doing.

How old are you now? 29. When these injuries happen, how frustrating is it for you? Because when they were kind of piling up and popping up last year, it's almost like universally like, okay, he's getting a little bit older, white running back, is, are we seen? What's that kind of two with age? You know what it has to do with.

Come on. Like, you're not supposed to be here, man. I'm not supposed to be here. You're right. You're not supposed to be here. But I mean, nine years later, it's like, it can't be. I'm not. Yeah.

No, you're right, though. People won't save father of time. I'm just saying in context, it's not like, hey, you're getting older, you've had some injuries, you're white. Wait, what? That doesn't, it just contextually, that part didn't make sense. Especially, I think it was number two on my list. I mean, think about the stuff you had to go through last year, being white. That's the exact mindset.

A white running back needs to have, too. He doesn't realize how big of a deal it is. Oh my god All right so Endangered species Never know they're endangered man Like the snow leopard What were you asking?

Christian knows all I was feeling legend I'm like oh the whiteness is catching up to him But the mortality of a Christian Up to us That's hilarious The best line is the most accurate one in that Endangered species never know they're endangered when he was laughing about it going through all this stuff because I'm white that that was also funny and appreciated it's almost like universally like okay he's getting a little bit older white running back what's that kind of doing age

you just said running back when you put white running back in it that put a little stank on it there was no way to get into that other than just getting into the sound that's what that was but that was hilarious like they they both had a good laugh about it that's what makes it good. Christian McAfrey knows the deal. He knows the drill. He knows everything that's being said about him at every step and turn. Well, he's self-aware. Yeah, he's able to play along. He gets it.

Not only is he self-aware, he's prone to get a ton of yards at the half against the bears or something, you know. I will never not think of Christian McCaffrey as the snow leopard. That's a great name. That is a great. Is that a nickname or they just come up with that on the fly? Endanger species never know they're in danger, man. The chuckling in it for me is also what makes me laugh. Endangered species never know they're endangered.

Oh, that's savage. And a bar at the same time. It really is. I know CMC is his nickname, but the Snow Leopard, they could add that. The snow leopard. They could add that. CMC, run CMC, because, you know, Bay Area, but... Is that really the only...

You know, some players have multiple nicknames? Is that really his only? I'm on his pro football reference page. CMA or run CMC. None of those are better than Snow Leopard. Snow Leopard is great because Snow Leopard, it hits. It really does. It hits.

I think that's what I'm going to be calling him from now on. That man is rare and fast. At least we're not saying he's a good route runner or he's sneaky fast. You know, all the coded language there that one typically says. What's some of the other coded language? Jimrat Oh, Country Strong. That's a little too obvious.

Oh, no. Country Strong can be applied to everybody. He's a grinder. From Alabama. A grinder. That's one. Heady player. It's really heady.

Yeah. Ray, did I hear you laugh through the soundproof glass? He's a very heady player. Okay, okay. We get what you're saying. That's like if I said, like, you know who would be really good friends with Christian McConnell? Or excuse me, it's Christian McAffrey.

TJ McConnell. I could see them hanging out. Oh, I just, that was all pretty funny. I'm glad they were able to have a good laugh about it. And the host with the bus and with the boys' podcast are both white guys. They were joking along with them. Clearly, the introduction itself of the, yeah, white running back. It's almost like universally, like, okay, he's getting a little bit older, white running back.

Yes, perfectly used there, Tyler. perfectly used there. Also, can I share some news for people who got excited about Jeremy Sohan? Yeah. He's not coming to Chicago. Shams reporting that he's actually going to join the Knicks after his release. Now, there were 10 teams, according to Shams, that were interested, but it did not mention whether or not the Bulls were one of those teams.

Also, hey, speaking of people on the move, this is a story that I've tracked just because it's weird. The Phillies are just outright releasing Nick Castellanos. They're like, hey, yeah, don't. It's like office space or something the way they're handling this. He's like, yeah, okay, I'll come into work tomorrow. No, we don't need you tomorrow. But just don't worry about it.

Don't worry about it. It was quite the breakup as to how that went. Well, they knew he wasn't coming back. He knew he wasn't coming back. But the thought was maybe you can trade and get a prospect or something for him, with a one year and $20 million left on his deal. But let me tell you something. When I say pedestrian for $20 million,

he had a negative 0.8 war last season, hitting $250 with a 294 on base and a 400 slug and know where to play. $20 million, nowhere to play, and you have that kind of stats? Have I got the place for you? Where are you sending him? I heard Ray laugh again.

I know where you're thinking. Back to Chicago, not the team he played for. No. Wait, really? No, they don't have room for him in their lineup. They have a bunch of young prospects who showed they can do stuff last year. They're already having position problems right now trying to figure out where they're

going to put people. Does he go back to Detroit or something? That could be the obvious, like, little homecoming for him, right? Honestly, you guys. The way he talked about hitting in that ballpark, he made it sound like it was the biggest cavern of all time. Like, what ballpark? Detroit.

Oh, okay. Like that, okay. Not socks. No, I thought you're talking about Citizens Bank Park. I was like, no, that is a hitter's park. No, Citizens Bank Park. You and I could have a home run to right field. Well, let's not get crazy.

But like Nick Castellanos, he wouldn't play for the socks because he was a, I don't know how to use this. I don't know that Sox killer is the right word. But I saw some pretty bleak games where Nick Castellanos, like, it was like something like there was one hit in the game. And like, it was by Nick Castellanos and it was a single. And I was like, this is our play of the game. It was one nothing ball game.

It was just Nick Castiano. Sox bully. Maybe not killing him, but a bully. Yeah, harasser, you know. A lawyer. I want to remind you guys, Nick Castellanos played all 162 games two years ago. And despite playing that many games and getting 659 played appearances,

0.8 on the war. Do you understand how bad that is? I do. Also, we've gotten a lot of euphemisms here. Coach's son, Jim Rat. Yeah, the Jim Rat. Crafty. Coach's son.

Shout out to all the people that said. Crafty's a good one. Crafty's a good one. Heady for me. It's still heady. High motor. High motor. Thank you.

Just, yeah. I'm glad we can laugh together. Where does the Kevin Harlan White come from? That was from a literal, like that was obviously a call, but I cannot remember the play. That's what I was trying to think of when it was playing. This has been in our library for years. And I cannot remember the play, but I remember when it happened. I was working here.

And we all, you know, had great fun listening to the highlight and playing the drop millions of times. Also, 772 on the text line. But is he a switch hitter? Talking about Nick Castellanos. No, he bats right-handed. I see what you did. I see what you did there. Was it Kevin White, but probably not, right?

No. No. It never was Kevin White. Sorry, Kevin White, but it never was. I didn't mean for that to be as savage as it came off. It was like Claywood. He was like Camp girl, but he can cover. And I was like, oh, dang.

Just, just drop the body. Damn. That was savage. Okay. So now that all that has been figured out, the only other people I know who might care about where Nick Castellano is going are next. Lauren's holds and Matt Spiegel. Let's do this.

Castiano watch next. What? Oh, could this vintage store be any cuter? Right? And the best part? They accept Discover. Accept Discover? In a little place like this?

I don't think so, Jennifer. Oh, yeah, huh. Discover is accepted where I like to shop. Come on, baby. Get with the times. Right. So we shouldn't get the parachute pants? These are making a comeback.

I think. Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide. Based on the February 2025 Nilsen report. Have you or a family member been diagnosed with early state, non-small cell lung cancer that can be removed by surgery? Consider talking to an oncologist about your treatment options.

Why? Because knowing your options before you have surgery can help your care team develop a treatment plan that's right for you. Learn about a potential treatment plan before and after surgery at askbeforesurgery.com. That's ask before surgery.com and talk to an oncologist before your surgery. At blinds.com, it's not just about window treatments. It's about you. Your style, your space, your way. Whether you DIY or want the pros to handle it all,

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