Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Interviews of the Week on 104.3 The Score: Aug. 31-Sept. 4

Episode Date: September 6, 2026

In Interviews of the Week on 104.3 The Score, SiriusXM Radio host/analyst Brian Hoyer joined the Rahimi & Grote Show to discuss Bears quarterback Caleb Williams' progress as he enters his third NFL season; Chicago Sports Network analyst Clay Harbor joined the Haugh & Payton Show to discuss Bears cornerback Kyler Gordon's injury saga and Chicago's outlook on defense; and Fantasy Football World host Paul Charchian joined the Spiegel & Holmes Show to share advice for your fantasy football drafts.

You want a career that pays? How about $40 to $75 an hour in total compensation, including health care and retirement? And getting paid while you learn? That's what the union building trades offer. St. Louis is booming with projects. And contractors need the next generation of skilled workers right now. Skip the debt-end jobs. Skip the mountain of student debt.

Learn a trade, earn a paycheck, build something that matters. Visit m-Ounion careers.com and start building your future today. Ryan Hoyer in the game, the backup quarterback, free agent out of Michigan State. All right, have an eighth play to drive. This is a third in goal. Hoyer, pump and throw. Touchdown. Jack Dor. Hoyer, packs the ball, throws to the outside. Jack from the gun. Moving pocket. Hoyer throws touchdown. Third and four. Running back covered. Second option covered.

Hoyer on a run. First down, touchdown. Brian Hoyer. Angel, Meredith. Brian Hoyer. Let's go, baby. With Rahimi and Grody on 104-3, the score. Forheemian Grody on 104-3, the score. Former NFL quarterback Brian Hoyer co-hosts the opening drive Mondays and 30s, Thursdays at 6am on SiriusXM NFL Radio, Channel 88.

And you can now listen to the score on SiriusXM, Channel 96. and wherever you go on the SiriusXM app, check out SeriousXM.com slash sports pass for more details on how to subscribe to SiriusXM. All new sports plan, we are happy to have on the score with us. Yes, the former NFL quarterback Brian Hoyer. Brian, welcome to Rahimian Grotie on the score.

How are you today, sir? Oh, great. How are you guys? We are doing well, man. And I do love looking at your resume because from 2009 to 2023, you, sir, started for eight different teams, the second most in league history. And we cannot forget the 2016 Chicago Bears for whom you played. And I was looking back at some of the numbers.

I know that wasn't one of the great years in Bears history under John Fox and Ryan Pace. But you, sir, had a string of four straight starts coming in for Jake Cutler, where they were all over 300 yards. Do you remember those starts fondly at all, Brian Hoyer? I do. I mean, I thought I was going to be in Chicago forever. I know that the result wasn't always great in the win and loss column, but that was probably the best stretch of football that I played. And that really was a testament to Dow Loggins,

who was the offensive coordinator at the time. I had a relationship with him. And we really worked well together to quarterback coach Dave Ragon, who's now out in L.A. as the passing coordinator with the Rams. So, man, I was a Midwest kid. I had played for the Browns, my hometown team, but I thought it was pretty cool living up there in Lake Forest and playing for the Bears, a historic franchise until Clay Matthews speared my left forearm and shattered it into pieces. What? What, Clay, oh, yeah, the Packer, Clay Matthew, I am sorry about that.

So, well, I guess I had forgotten about that. Clay Matthews doomed you. Well, that is, that is nasty. Yep, so it was a short run, but I enjoyed it. And I'm proud to say that I was a Chicago bear for sure. Dow Loggins wasn't afraid to tell you what he didn't know that I always noticed in press conferences. Like he would be okay with saying, yeah, we hadn't seen this defense before XYZ. But he also struck me as a creative play caller. What did you like about his play calling skills? Yeah, Dow was awesome.

He was my quarterback coach when I played for the Browns under Kyle Shanahan. And his, you know, he had a little bit of influence from a lot of different areas and a lot of similar systems that I was used to. And so we would get in there and talk about the game plan and talk about, you know, He was really great with the quarterback. What do you like? What do you want in the game plan? And I always thought that was great because I'm the one who's out there has got to execute it, right?

And so he had a really good feeling for that. He was always trying to learn. Even for me, you know, coming from that New England system, he would ask me about pass protections and, you know, route concepts and things like that. And so it's not surprising to me that he's now a head coach down there at Appalachian State. And it was just, for me and him, we had a really good connection

and it showed on the field. that's awesome i'm really good like i'm heartened to hear that you had a good experience here in chicago you never know and i always like to know that from the players that played for the bears even if it was for just a brief times we talked to brian hoyer here the former nfl quarterback on rahimi and grody on 104 three the score let's bring it to the year 2026 where we are sitting here right now what are your thoughts on caleb williams from one quarterback to another yeah i mean look he's he's truly entertained And he's definitely had a lot of growth.

I think the best thing that ever happened to Caleb Williams is that Ben Johnson was hired to be the head coach. He's going to be there to make sure he pushes him every day to get better. And I think the one thing, with all the razzle-dazzle, he's done a good job of protecting the football. So I'd love to just see him to continue to develop the growth as a quarterback. And, you know, you'd like to see the completion percentage go up. But he's definitely one of the most electric players in the league.

And I think having Ben Johnson in his corner, teaching him how to play the game has been incredible. And man, he definitely gave us some highlights last year to watch. I mean, I don't care if you're a Bears fan or not, the touchdown against the Packers where he drifts back to the 50 and throws it. I mean, that was incredible. And so if he can mix in a little bit more of playing within the system, I think that gets his completion percentage up.

And then relying on the athleticism, you know, when the initial read isn't there, that's got to be the next progression for him. I think you're right. that's the thing is what is what in your opinion is the hard throw for Caleb Williams to make when you know athletically he can make anything and then just seeing what he also does in structure. Yeah, I mean, there's no throw that he cannot make. I mean, he has that Mahomes type ability. I think even when you watch him at USC coming out, you're like, this is the closest thing to Mahomes that anyone's really seen. But the one thing about the NFL game is sometimes they're going to try to take that away, right? They're going to try to make you read coverage and then, cage rush you and the one thing he's going for him is he's way faster than i ever thought he could be and he gets out on the edge and they can't really catch him so i think when you have a coach

like ben johnson who's a guru and he's drawing up these plays you have to understand like there's there's a time and place for it and when the guys are open and trust me like the receivers and they've done a good job of putting some good guys good players around them whether it's burden adunzee loveland those guys are working to get open in the timing of the play and the structure of the play. And if they're open in that timing, you've got to hit them and keep them happy. And then no receiver wants to go out there and run the scramble drill, you know, 32 times a game. They want to run their routes. They want to look good against the DBs and they want to get the ball in time so they can catch it and run it. So I think finding a balance

of that is probably key for Caleb. No doubt about it. And they've talked about that too. They've told Caleb, man, you don't need to be exhausting your receivers on these scramble routes. Do the simple stuff better. I remember watching last year, DJ Moore, in a play, like, open, and Caleb doesn't see him, and you can see him throw his head back, and he's like, now I've got to go scramble. Like, those guys, they want to be revered as good route runners and all of that. And so if they want to be that type of player, the ball's got to come out on time. Now, if the defense has a good coverage and Caleb can use his athleticism and make a big play,

that's the time to do it. One of the things that they have said that the Bears have said over and over about Caleb Williams to take it to the next level, it is what we're talking about. about here, and that is reading defenses. How difficult is that to do? And this is a pretty general way of asking, but what is the key to being better at reading defenses? Because we've seen so many quarterbacks come and go that have failed to be able to be good at that. What is the key to being good at reading defenses? Yeah, I mean, look, I was fortunate enough. I came from an era where that was kind of taught to me, even at the high school level. And now it's tried to be simplified.

The game spread out. It's read concepts, not read defense. I would say the one thing is he's got Ben Johnson there to teach him that. So it is part of the game, especially when you get the NFL. And you can play without doing it. There's plenty of systems where they have these progression reads, and you really don't worry about what the defense is doing. You go left to right or right to left. But if you can get to the place where you see the defense,

and they're telling you where to go with the football, and that's, look, like I said, I was taught that way from high school level, college level. And then the first four years of my career was with Tom Brady, who you would argue no one did it better at reading the defense and having the defense tell them where to throw the football. So spending time with Ben Johnson. And also I always thought, like once you master your offense, now you really shift your focus to the defense and understand, okay, if I get this play called and it's cover one, this is where I want to go.

This is my matchup. That's where I'm going to go. If it's cover two, I'm going to work this zone concept. So there's a lot that goes into it. I don't think kids are taught at a low level anymore. I'm actually driving to my son's freshman football practice that I, surprisingly was offered the opportunity to coach him at last minute. So I'm out there coaching him to read defenses at the freshman level.

So it's got to come from coaching and then you've got to trickle up all the way up to the NFL. That is awesome. Okay. So what do you coach a freshman in high school on how to read defenses? What's your base? Well, to me, what I've always looked at is you have to find the safety. That's when the play is about to be snapped, those guys will give you the information more than any other player on the field. So I always had a checklist.

I'd come up. I'd look at the front. Some fronts would tell me there's a possible ability of this blitz coming. So, okay, you cross that off your checklist. Then you check the linebackers and the level that they're at. Then you peek the corners. And then ultimately, as I'm getting ready to snap the ball with the cadence, I am watching the safeties. And particularly one in general, which would be the weak safety.

that's who I would always watch. And then based on what he did, I felt like that would give me an indication of what the coverage was. And so I have him out there reading safeties. And sometimes it looks good. And sometimes he's like, oh, the safety did this.

And I go, no, he didn't. You got to keep your eyes on him. So I think there's got to be an emphasis of that of teaching these quarterbacks. Like, you can't just look at your receivers.

You have to see the defense as well. Okay. So what were you taught at freshman year, how to read a defense or just trying to run the play? Yeah. No, I had a great quarterback coach, offensive coordinator. His name is Nick Restifo. Sadly, he passed away last year.

But from the moment I was a freshman, he was talking about, all right, on this play, we ran the most class plays that you had out there, like a dig and a post. And he's like, all right, if the safety takes the dig, then you're going to throw the post. And so, you know, that's how I learned, gosh, I don't want to say how many years ago, 25 years ago. And that's how I learned how to play the position. and then it just continued when I got to Michigan State. And then obviously when I got to New England, that was the only way that they knew how to do it. So that's the way that I was groomed to learn how to read the defense.

That's great. That's a great conversation. I love it. We're talking to Brian Hoyer, the former NFL quarterback, the former Bears quarterback here on Rahimi and Grotia on 104-3, the score. I want to get to a couple of other things because the NFC North is a hot division, man. It's hard to handicap it.

how do you look at it? And you don't have to say the Bears, but who do you think is the best team in this division? And can't you place them one through four? It's hard. It's tough. The only thing that I'll say is, and this is just because of the quarterback position, I'd start at four with Minnesota. And that's hard to say because I think they're a really good team.

But I think they have the biggest question at the quarterback position. Can Tyler Murray come in and run that system and be successful? I don't know. The defense is going to be really good with Brian Flores and the things that. he can do defensively. They have a lot of guys coming back. And then I would say, to me, between Detroit, Chicago, and Green Bay, they're all going to beat up on each other. They're all going to, it's like it would be easy to see all of those series be split one in one. And I think the North, which, you know, when I was playing in it, it really wasn't that tough of a division.

Now it's become one of the toughest divisions in all football. So I think you've got to stay with Chicago at one. And then I'll say, I think Detroit bounces back this year. I think they they were really disappointed. They dealt with injuries with Kirby Joseph and Brian Branch. They get those guys back. Matt Campbell, I've always been impressed with. I'd say that they bounce back up. And then, you know, I put Green Bay at three.

But even with that, I think they're a wild card team. So it's probably the second toughest division in all football. I also want to ask you this. Brian, were you aware that Jed Hoyer, the Cubs general manager, has a president of baseball operations, has a Brian Hoyer jersey? Yeah, so it was so funny. He actually reached out to me through Kevin O'Connell back in the day and said,

you know, we're having our first son. I think they named him Beckett. So he had a Josh Beckett jersey. And he goes, I want to have a Hoyer jersey next to it. And you're the only Hoyer in professional sports. And I said, of course, I'm sure we're related somehow. So when I played for the Bears, Jed would take care of us. We'd go down to Wrigley, sat in one of the suites of him and Theo.

So it's a pretty cool story for sure. I just tell him now as my son grows up, like he's a baseball player too. Like when you're drafting and you see that name Hoyer come across, don't forget about that jersey. Fantastic. I love the bridge building. That's great. Yep, yep, for sure.

Brian, this has been awesome, man. Let's do it again sometime. We appreciate you. Thanks for coming on. And thanks for being a bear, Brian. We appreciate you. Yeah, thanks for having me on. I'll talk to you guys soon.

That is former NFL quarterback Brian Hoyer. And high school coach. Do the kids know how good they have it when they've got people like Brian Hoyer coaching their team? That's pretty real. He is the host, co-hosts, the opening drive, Mondays and Thursdays, 6 a.m. on Sirius XM NFL Radio, Channel 88. You could now listen to the score on Sirius XM, Channel 96. I've had friends around the country screenshot in our show to me, Leila, that they're listening to on Serious XM, which is pretty cool.

in L.A. who sent me a picture. It's pretty neat. I was on one of the I was on Mad Dog radio yesterday on Sirius XM. So we were doing the whole synergy thing. And wherever you go to get SiriusXM app, check out SeriousXM.com slash sports pass for more details on how to subscribe to Sirius XM all new sports plan. When we return, let's go to Lake Forest. Where Brian Hoare used to be flinging footballs around. We're going to bring in Chris Emma to talk Bears Next on Rahimi and Grotie on 104.3 of the score. Dohaas Mish. You want a career that pays?

How about $40 to $75 an hour in total compensation, including health care and retirement? And getting paid while you learn? That's what the union building trades offer. St. Louis is booming with projects. And contractors need the next generation of skill workers right now. Skip the debt-end jobs. Skip the mountain of student debt. Learn a trade.

Earn a paycheck. Build something that matters. Visit M.O. Union. Careers.com and start building your future today. What times? I actually saw a clock over. It's time for Clay Harbor. At Wembley Stadium, 90,000 sold out crowd in London. And for some reason, my heart's beaten, getting out of a limo to go date some girl.

First off, what's wrong with you? Football analyst for Chicago Sports Network. Former NFL player. Not a quarterback. I'm a tight end, but I've watched a lot of tape. I've been in meeting rooms with Tom Brady. I've been in meeting rooms with Drew Brees. I've been in meeting rooms with Michael Vick.

Quarterbacks know what they can do and what they can't do. and I know what a quarterback can and can't do and when you're supposed to expect them to be able to be successful. Clay Harbor with Haw and Peyton on 104-3, The Score. Welcome back. Happy Thursday morning. You're listening to Hall and Peyton Chicago Sports Radio 104-3, The Score. Jared Payton, David Haw here until 10 o'clock, and we are pleased to welcome in my colleague from the Chicago Sports Network,

Man About Town, and a guy who does a little bit of everything on a lot of different teams. Clay Harbor. Hey, Clay. Thanks for having me in. I got a little bone to pick. I don't know if that was Dustin, but I thought we were done with the Bachelor entrance here, man.

You know, come on. You told me it was fine, Clay. You said he was cool with it. It's okay, man. Hey, own it, man. Yeah, you got to embrace it. Embrace it. I've been trying to run away from this thing

for probably 10 years now since I did it. But no, it's fine. It's fun. But now we can get like color analyst work on Northern Illinois football, right? N IU football, baby, let's go Huskies. Let's go. And Illinois State.

And ISU. You got a lot of games. You're defending national runner. I want you to keep track of how many games you call this year because you're going to be a lot of them. And then the state championships this year for the IHSA as well. You're a busy guy, but you also are immersed in Bairdham. So you know what's going on at Howells Hall. And this week, I would call it a saga and it's ongoing.

And we've talked about it before on the big pro football show. and the Kyla Gordon saga took another turn on Wednesday when he released a video of him working out and looking fit and cutting and doing things and showing explosiveness in a way that doesn't depict a player who is injured or even hurt Clay

that seemed to be to me earlier in the show I called it a middle finger to the Bears who a day earlier had Ryan Pull essentially call him out publicly and label him soft. What did you think of what polls said and the way that yesterday, Kyla Gordon, responded? I think this is Kyler Gordon sending some form of a message. I'm not sure what that message is,

because if you're healthy, you would figure that he would be ready to play. So it's interesting. It's a message. You've got to decipher. It's like a code message. I don't know what he's trying to send, JP. Because obviously the bears need him at slot, and slot is one of five to rank my top positions on the Bears roster that I'm worried about right now,

it's slot corner. Okay, I think Malik Muhammad is going to have a good career. You got to realize this guy played 95% of his snaps at Texas at Outside Corner. You guys know how difficult that is to move inside the NFL, and he's going to take time. I hope Bears fans give him that. It's going to take time for him to become a good professional slot cornerback. I think Dylan Thineman, he played a little bit in there. you see the range, you see the speed, you see he's picking up things in his man-to-man coverage this preseason

it has not looked good. So that is a position that they really do need help. If Kyler Gordon's healthy, you're going to want to put him there. We all remember Dennis Allen's opening press conference when he comes here. I'm looking forward to see Kyler Gordon. This guy can do a lot of things. He plays in the run game. He's physical. He can cover. I don't understand the message he's trying to send. He does look healthy. Obviously, there's a big, difference between posting an Instagram video running and playing football, but it's confusing. And I think there's just a really big disconnect between the team and him. But Clay, my, it's hard.

How do you kind of mend this fracture that's between the player and the organization? Because when you listen to Ben Johnson talk, it's like, I don't know that guy. And to me, there has to be some type of trust. factor here. The bears are hoping to trust him. And at the moment, they just can't trust him at the moment. Yeah, exactly. JP, he's going to have to build some trust. He's going to have to get out there. He's going to have to start practicing. He's going to have to show that he's bought in, that he's willing to do whatever it takes to get on the field. And I don't think that's something that he's willing to do. And he's one of these guys. It looks like he has these outside trainers. And you know, you get into

trouble when you work with these outside trainers because they might see things differently than the training staff that this organization pays a lot of money to make sure that these players are ready to go are okay and they will tell you when they are ready to go there's a lot of money invested here there's a lot of imaging there's a bunch of stuff that goes on here and when there's a disconnect it makes the the GM and the coach really really concerned I've heard this before and guys that I do know where they do have that outside outside team that's working but that outside team is working hand in hand with the team at Hallis Hall. That's not, doesn't seem like it's going on.

That's not happening. And that's, that's the problem. Not only is the, that it's the issue between his team and the team they plays for, it's also between him and his organization. I just don't see how that fixes. And Clay, you spent nine years in the NFL. I just wonder how common that divide is among players who, I know you played several years ago, but I think in the last 20, and I've covered the bears for the last 23,

I can remember this as far back as 2006-ish, 7-ish. There were players who had their own teams and their own people they trusted, and then they had to integrate that with the teams training staff. So there's going to be conflicts of interest, and maybe, but seldom do you see it get to this point where it's played out as publicly as this has become? It's strange. and when you hear polls saying, I don't know if he's going to play for us again this year, I hope. And then you see Tyler Gordon post a video like that.

That's a huge disconnect because to me that video looks like he's at least close. Poles is saying, I don't know. So for me it feels like there is something else going on here that I don't think we know. I'm not sure exactly what that is, if it's just the confidence in his body, if it's just he thinks he's more injured than the bears do, that seems like something that this is really,

been blown out of proportion if that's the case. So for me, I feel like there's got to be something else going on here because, firstly, JP, as you know, NFL coaches and GMs, if a player is injured, they don't give you a lot of grief for this. They know this is a physical sport. This is tough. Players are going to get injured. They're not going to go out and say, hey, you've got to get on the field.

They're going to let you get back. But the disconnect happens when maybe he's not doing the recovery, right? Maybe he's going somewhere else, and he doesn't feel like, he's at a point to where the team does? What it seems to me, said he doesn't want to be here. That's what it seems to me. I mean, just flat out honest.

Because if you did, you would be back. You would be around more. I just doesn't seem like he wants to be here. But, okay, I get all that. Understand. Defensive line, though, has changed a little bit. And so you have some, you got Bannonberg, six-round pick.

You have some undrafted guys. they got rid of Jvon Dexter. You kind of saw that meaning that Ryan Poles felt good about the guys that he actually has inside of that room moving forward. What was your take on Dexter's departure to Atlanta and the guys that you've seen that are still in that room? I get both sides of this take, and I know me and David went out a little bit on the big pro football show, which makes sense. You got a guy that has played a lot of football for you. You had six sacks last year, five sacks the year before, and these guys got good pass rush. I look at Dexter.

he's big he's six foot six he's a good look he's that first dude off the bus tie his shoes standing up he's got a little wiggle too where he can get that pass rush if you get him one-on-one you know what he can't do at six foot six he can't stop the run when you're six six inside there it's hard for you to leverage and just watching this year's preseason tape i posted a couple of clips on x of jervon dexter getting pushed over five six seven yards on a double team he doesn't anchor as well is loving or Vandenberg, he doesn't. Contavia Street, even Neville Gallimore. That's not what he does.

He does other things good, but he can't anchor the same way these guys can. So that makes him, you know, makes it so he doesn't fit Dennis Allen's game. I told David this, I think maybe on the day that it happened, it was more of his pad level. You look at the other guys that you name. They get off the ball. Pad level is low. The one thing with Dexter always came up too high, which goes to your point, getting pushed back a little bit, and lets guys put their hands on your chest and your numbers to move you back.

Guys, he was, I get it. He wasn't a good run stuffer necessarily because he didn't have the body type. I get it that there were times where he wasn't the all pro caliber, pro-bo caliber defensive tackle that you wanted to see. I guess I pushed back a little at you, Clay, on the big pro show, was because, number one, he did show up every Sunday. Number two, he's a second round draft pick. that you are discarding, dismissing, giving up on.

And the number three thing is that you don't have, you're not dealing from a position of strength. I understand that they like their depth. I understand they want to come at the teams and waves. But when you have a position group where you can add a sixth round draft pick and an undrafted free agent and a journeyman in Contavia Street who is on his fifth NFL team and you're happy with that, okay, good luck.

But I do think there's some risk involved in getting rid of a player that was as durable as as Jervon Dexter was last season. This is why I like this. This is because they are watching the film and the tape and they're saying, I don't care who you are. I don't care where we drafted you. Does this make Ryan Poles look good?

Do you think he wants to get rid of Jervon Dexter? The last thing he wants to do is have Chicago say, you just got rid of your second round pick. You can't draft anybody. That's why I'm laughing over here with a smile on my face. Because you know what? It's a new regime. And the big dog upstairs, Ben Johnson, he's watching going, it's not what I want.

You just demoted Ryan Poles. I'm just saying, if we're going to give, I believe in my heart, he's the one making, he's the one making all the money. He's the one probably making all the decisions what he wants. See, now when you put it that way, I will say this. You don't get the sense in watching Javon Dexter, even though we did show up 19 times, that he has the same sort of maniacal focus that Ben, Johnson brings.

Exactly. He is not that same type of guy. And here's my Jaden loving story. I told you guys I was going to tell you. You know, I go to Lifetime Fitness, downtown Chicago. I didn't know that, Clay. You never talk about your workouts. JP, this sure isn't that tight.

It's just my arms are this big, okay? This is just, you know what I'm saying? I came from my workout. Anyways, this is a real story. A couple days ago, was it yesterday? It was two days ago. I'm on the treadmill. I'm doing my normal treadmill walk.

I walk uphill. I do uphill forward, and I go. flip backwards for a minute and I do this for 30 minutes. It's tough cardio. If you guys are looking to get in shape out there, try it out. But here's the funny part. I'm walking in my forward session. I turn around, I flip on the treadmill to do my backwards session.

I just see a big body on the stairmaster right behind the treadmill. It's Jaden Loving on the Bears off day, drenched in sweat. This is true story. Yesterday and two days ago, I'm getting old. On the Stairmaster, on the Bears off day. in Lifetime Fitness, getting extra work in on the Stairmaster. And I did like a quadruple take, and he looks at me like I'm crazy. I just pretend like I didn't see him.

I'm like, that's Jayden Loving. And I go and ask my boy from Lifetime. He's a trainer, Josh. I was a Josh. Do you know who that is? He goes, yeah, that's Jane Loving, a kid from the Bears. I go, okay, I'm not crazy. That's the type of guy this is.

This is an off day. You just made the Bears team. Did you ask him to work out too? No, I was just impressed. I left him alone, but that's the type of worker that you want if you're the Bears. And to go back to Dexer real fast, David said he's not good against the run. Okay, obviously I can tell you, but this adds some context, JP. Pro football focus, David loves him.

I know it's not the end-all be-all. He had a 44 run defensive grade. That was 108 out of 134 qualifying interior defensive line. And he's dang near on the back of the boat there. This guy was not good at the run. And then let's look at the Bears' rushing numbers. they gave up 134 rushing yards a game, 27th in the NFL. Five yards of carry?

What's two runs of five yards of carry? That's a first down. 29th in the league, a 29 run-stop win rate, which is 27th in the NFL. Rushing the passers are privilege. If you even want to rush the passer, you can't give up five yards per carry. So give me some guys that can clog some holes. And a lot of defensive line play comes down to desire. I mean, you need to have the traits.

You need to have the strength. You have to have the leverage and all the technique. I get it. But you have to begin with have the mentality. And maybe that's what is the most inditing thing about Javon Dexter is that they, in essence, labeled him by trading him a guy that doesn't meet the standard that way. Yeah. That's how it looks.

It looks that way and that they believe in all these guys. And to believe in a guy like Grady Jared that's going to be there and actually be serviceable for an entire year. which you're asking a lot of a guy that has a lot of miles on him. Look at all the guys that Ben Johnson has brought in. They're all the same type of players. They're maniacal football players. It's like he said,

if you take football away from these guys, what else are they going to do? And like Dennis Allen said in his press conference yesterday, I guess effort is a talent. And you look at loving, you look at Vandenberg, you look at even James Lynch, they cut, they bring him back.

These guys were given all types of effort. James Lynch, not the most talented guy. Did he say that? I see him. He said that. He said effort as a talent. That sounds like a billboard or a t-shirt. It should be.

And James Lynch is lying up at nine technique, JP. I see him at six. I see him at three. I see him at nose. I go, how are you going to get rid of this guy who's giving you effort? He's pressuring you. He just gives you a lot of versatility. So I know people haven't heard Neville Gallimore.

They haven't heard of Contavia Street. Obviously, Van denberg's becoming a folk hero already in Chicago. But when you see these guys effort, their pad leverage, their stance, their get-off, it was much better than Jervon Dexter, and guess what? He was on a contract next year. He wasn't even going to be here. So let's get a fifth round pick. Let's get a cornerback that can maybe help in the slot.

Even though he's never played slot in the NFL, I looked up the numbers. He's played like 10 total snaps. The NFL, he played in college. That's a different game. You play slot in the NFL versus college. I get that. They're going to pick on you. But would you feel more comfortable having that instead of going with a rookie?

Yeah, because he's actually had some experience. And last year, I think he played in one game because he tore his triceps or his Peck or something like that. So it's some give and take here, but he is a guy. I turned on a little film, Phillips. I think he's got good short area of quickness. He's a guy that you could, you see the traits to where he could play inside. He's five, nine, he's probably a little small for outside, but he makes up for it with his competitiveness. And that's what the bears like. All right. So we heard from Dennis Allen yesterday, and obviously the defensive line is full of guys that are either overachievers or they like the mentality. We know what he thinks about

Jalen Johnson because I thought that his compliments were intentional. And also I think they probably landed very well on a player that every now and then doesn't mind hearing how much he's needed as a leader and in that secondary. Where are you on Montez-Swatt? How realistic is it to expect him to take a step forward this year and increase his sack production? You've seen him in preseason at training camp. Where is Montes-Swat? David, I've been telling you the same thing about Montes-Swat for the last three years since we've been working together. And I think Montes Sweat is a solid, good, solid, professional

edge. He's going to set the edge. He's going to give you some sacks. He's not a guy that you really have to double-team, chip. And if you watch a tape, people say, oh, he's getting chipped because there's nobody else in the... He's not. You're not double-team, and you're not chipping him.

You're not even sliding to him that much. If I turn on the film, you know, watching it like a tight end, and I see sweat, I go, okay, he's solid. you know, if I turn on the film and I see Michael Parsons, I turn on the film, I see Miles Garrett, I turn on the film, I see some, it's not even close, right? So I think Sweat is a solid defensive end edge rusher. He's a guy that I think his ceiling is 10 sacks.

I think he can get there. Solid edge rusher, six foot six, long arms. We know Dennis Allen likes those big guys that can tie their shoes standing up. But he is not a guy that is going to carry a defensive line group to a bunch of sacks. He's going to be a solid edge rusher. All right, we got to talk about tight ends because the tight end in residence is in the building.

Clay Harbor here from the Chicago Sports Network and the big pro football show. We'll get to more of the roster, more of the bears. Keep it right here on Han Payton, Chicago Sports Radio 104-3, the score. You want a career that pays? How about $40 to $75 an hour in total compensation, including health care, retirement, and getting paid while learning? That's what the union building trades offer. St. Louis is booming with projects.

Contractors need the next generation of skilled workers right now. Skip the dead-in jobs. Skip the mountain of student debt. Learn a trade. Earn a paycheck. Build something that matters. Visit mounioncareers.com and start building your future today. I think you're really underestimating the broad sexual appeal that I have.

When I was just the the in the Danny Mac show starting in 2009, we used to bring on the great Paul Charcheon to talk fantasy football and he's out of presence on the score ever since. Charged that's 17 years ago. Oh, my God, has it really been that long? Yeah. Are you suggesting, yeah. Are you suggesting you've been on the air 17 years and haven't been fired?

Oh, oh, no, a lot of times. I was fired in there. Don't worry. Okay, all right. You know what I? Good, good, good. I was bent. I was sent to the bullpen for the era of vague employment,

charge it's all going to be in the book and then i uh and then i came back but yes 17 years that we've been talking fantasy football and you are back and at it as always and a new the new podcast is fantasy football world that is exciting um and i will certainly check that out but welcome back to the score listeners know you very well how's everything in the fantasy football universe and yours well it's ground zero for fantasy drafts i mean you know half of them two-thirds of them are going to happen in the next seven or eight days and so this is when everybody is getting all tuned up for their fantasy drafts, which is perfect. Can't help but notice that Lawrence is ducking me.

Obviously, you know, the unbridled and really irresponsible enthusiasm that he brings to the Bears every single day, didn't want any part of that, I think, now in this very difficult discussion about the fantasy draft status of Bears players. Understand understandable. That said, who's the highest bear on your board? Is it Colston Loveland among all the tight ends? Is it DeAndre Swift because running backs go so fast? Who do you got? Well, I'm going to reverse this a little bit. I'll tell you the order they're being drafted.

And if both of you, including you, Ryan, would tell me who you would take. You've decided you want one bear's pass catcher. Here's where they're going. Loveland is going in round three. He's actually going before Luther Burden in round four and then Romo Dunezay in round five. So you tell me, given what you'd have to give up, who would you take out of those three? Loveland in three, Burden in four, or a Duneza in five? The values is a Dunezay at five.

I don't think Loveland is a reach in the third round at all. Because Caleb's quarterback ranking when throwing last year to Colston Loveland was 121.9. Wow. That matters to me. and we know we saw the production he broke records he's the only rookie with eight for 135 i think in a playoff game no one had ever done that before from a value spot charge i i think roma dunzae is juicy in the fifth round i see a motivated rome i understand i i've been very high on luther all off season but then he got hurt and he's missed all a camp

and rome's had a pretty good camp um overall um so even though i'm so high on luther i I think Colston Loveland has a legit shot to be tight end one at the end of this season. In the NFL. In the NFL. So Loveland in the three in the third round, I mean, what tight ends are going before him? Only two, only two tight ends. And it's Brock Bowers, who is going number one at the tight end position, really on the presumption of competency with the Raiders, which is never safe. But, you know, the feeling is with Kirk Cousins, at least the quarterbacking is going to be, I get a big up.

and then the upgraded coach in Clint Kubiak. And then Trey McBride, who was one of the best players in all of fantasy football last year. And then Loveland's going after them. Their second round, tight ends, if you want Loveland, you've got to take him in the third round. And I'm taking him in the third round. I think the right answer is Loveland. You know, the tight end position has got a lot of landmines in it. Guys underperform all the time.

And Loveland just looks like an ascending star. So for me, I think Loveland is out of those three. I think Loveland's the guy, or the other way that I've pivoted is, I'm just going to take Caleb and not worry about who the target's going to be on a game-in-game-out basis. I'll just take the guy who's throwing the ball. And I think that's, he's been one of my favorite mid-round targets. You can get him in the eighth round. That feels like a steal for a quarterback who's got top five upside,

especially when you factor in his scrambling ability. So I think, you know, I think the answer sheet might, the real answer might, just be take Caleb Williams, you know, then you don't have to fret about which receiver it's going to be week in a week out. Yeah, round six in Chicago. By the way, all of you in my league, Ryan McGuff, if you're listening to this, I want Caleb Williams in the eighth

round, because I already know he's going to be overdrafted like in the fourth or fifth because we're in Chicago. Right. And everyone's sexy for Caleb Williams. We were with Adam Hogue on Monday who predicted a monster year for D'Andre Swift. And, George, like,

I don't remember a fantasy draft that is this heavy in talent through the first 20 picks in a long, long time. Where does DeAndre Swift factor into your equation? Because he didn't play in the preseason, but it wasn't because of health. And the way Ben Johnson runs the football, and Kyle Munan guy probably on the shelf for at least week one, he could be one of those sneaky mid-round guys. Yeah, he really could.

I oftentimes will duck the running back position through the first couple of rounds because I love the safety that comes with the wide receiver position especially. And then I'm looking for round three, run four, run five. I'm looking for running backs. And why wouldn't you target DeAndre Swift, the lead running back on an offense that should be a top five offense and maybe the number one offense in the league. So love Swift. And honestly, love him a young guy too because of this preseason injury. He's dipping all the way down to the 10th and 11th rounds and drafts and the kids really good and gets goal line. carries gets a lot of other use, and he can catch.

And so, you know, you could potentially really just get both, lock up the handcuff between both of those guys. And that is a totally viable starting scenario for you, not just now, but then you'd have potentially two starters. You could start Monkai anytime you need to tune in your flex position as well. So it's, it feels weird to talk about like, we got to go find bears. You know, we've been doing this for 17 years, Matt. It's never been find a way to get bear.

is on your team, but that is really the edict this year is find your way to at least one bear onto your roster. We've arrived, Church, seriously. We have so arrived. All those years of fantasy football chatter, be like, all right, which bear should we force onto our

team this year? Now it's a very different thing. You can find Charch's rankings at FFWorldshow.com, because Fantasy Football World is the new show. One ring on your rankings charge about running backs across the league. How many true load running backs are there these days? How many three down running

backs who always are going to go higher than others? But everybody's in a rotation just about. How many true load backs are there even existing in the NFL? Yeah. There's only about eight or nine. That's it. And the bottom one, which I always think is interesting. Like, who's the last taken of the true bell cow backs? And it's Quinn Sean Judkins in Cleveland. And for good reason, you don't want a lot of Browns on your team. But Judkins going off the board right now, running back 18, and he is to do everything in that offense. And for the love of God, they're not going to let Deshaun Watson pass, right?

They're going to do everything they can to avoid that. You've got a new offense, a new look offense that should be very run heavy with Todd Munkin, who came from Baltimore. They ran Derek Henry into the ground. And I'm not saying Quinn John Judkins is Derek Henry. but that's your that's sort of if you want to get that that sort of that last value workhorse back that's that's your last one that you can get you can get quinchon judkins in the fifth round of your fantasy draft there you go all right charges we let you go you got a couple sleepers give us a couple sleepers that you

really like that people can uh can surprise their friends with and and clean up with if you let the tight-in position go and you you wait until round nine round 10 joan johnson is the guy that you want to have He is the Saints tight end that actually on this station at this time last year, I was telling people to draft him. He finished third in tight end yards last year. Now, Joanne Johnson is back potentially often even in a better situation with better quarterbacking and a fantastic opportunity there. He is one of my favorite guys. And then if you're going to let that running back position go for a while, then I think you want to take a look at J.K. Dobbins, who's going off the board in the eighth round.

He's Denver's lead running back right now. That's arguably the best overall offensive line in football. Give him some consideration for where he's going. Round number nine seems like a great value for J.K. Dobbins, the starter for Denver. Charge, you're the best. Nice talking to you, man. We'll do it again soon. Appreciate you.

This has been a ton of fun, guys. Appreciate it. Talk to you soon. Bye-bye. You got it. It is 670 the score or 104-3 the score. We're broadcasting live from Gallagher Way before. Tonight's game here at Wrigley Field. We're here with our friends from IDOT.

They have educational activities and prizes right here in Gallagher Way. There are two score booths. One of them has that IDOT stuff for you. Visit it's not a game, Illinois.com for more info. We are just next to the Budweiser Brickhouse, which is a terrific place to go eat and drink before or after the game. And we are outside of Wrigley before Cubs and Brewers, but we got a lot of bears to discuss. You did something very cool on the recap podcast we're going to get to. And also, Ben Johnson detailing some stuff about Caleb that you need to hear.

That's next on the score. What if your next move wasn't another job, but a career? The St. Louis Building and Construction Trades are looking for the next generation to build what's next. Earn while you learn through a union apprenticeship. No massive student loan debt, just real training, real skills, and real opportunities. Many union trades earn $40 to $75 an hour in total compensation, including health care and retirement. With major construction projects happening across St. Louis and Missouri, there's never been a better time to get started. Build your future. Visit mounion careers.com today.