Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Mike Florio talks Drew Dalman's retirement, Maxx Crosby trade buzz

Episode Date: March 4, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Mark Grote were joined by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk to discuss Bears center Drew Dalman's surprising retirement from the NFL at 27 years old. Florio also discussed the latest NFL news and rumors, with a focus on the Vikings' quarterback situation and where Raiders star Maxx Crosby could be traded.

Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now is a man who's got a massive brain. 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 Kraft. 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. I want to keep talking Legos. Yeah, we want to keep talking Legos, too. except there's been massive Bears news that we have to get to. So we will discuss it with our guest. He joins us on our hotline.

He is the creator, editor-in-chief of Pro Football Talk. It is Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk on X. And he's on Twitch. Twitch.tv slash The Score Chicago. Mike, how are you? Doing great. How are you today? Good.

Oh, you got the fireworks. That's nice. Yeah, we enjoyed your conversation with Chicago guy. Carnell Tate, by the way, about Legos. that was fantastic. That was a lot of fun. And one of the things about having access to the prospects at Indianapolis, number one, it gives them some camera time.

It's different than the stressful nature of everything else they do. And it gives us a chance to get to know a little bit more about them. So we ask them about their families. We ask them about their hobbies. And I'm a fan of anyone who enjoys a good Lego set. And that's exactly what Carnell Tate told us. He's working on the Titanic. has been. He's got a five-foot rifle tower, and he's going to move on to the Star Wars collection

next. So it's good to see someone willing to open up about hobbies that some might wonder, is that really a hobby? For those of us who enjoy Lego, as you can tell by the Ghostbuster Firehouse that is back there somewhere, yes, it's fun. I love that. And when you said working on the Titanic, I wanted to say, aren't we all? Just my droll attitude, Mike. Hey, we got a, I guess you could say we kind of have a Titanic situation here in Chicago. It's been all Drew Dalman all the time, Mike. What do you think about your reaction to Drew Dalman playing in the first year of a three-year

$42 million deal for the Bears and Dolman dropped a whopper on the world. The 27-year-old has retired. What is your reaction? Well, the way it works under the collective bargaining agreement, the signing bonus that a player would get on a three-year deal of $6 million, the bears could, if they choose to do so, recover $4 million from Dolman. So in addition to anything, he's giving up by not playing, he could have to give back the $4 million. And my thought last night, when you consider the timeline, this happens right after Indianapolis. Is it possible that Dolman and his agent looked at his performance last year? took every snap, every snap in the regular season,

started 17 games and two postseason games, had his first Pro Bowl birth, arguably outplayed his contract. Is it possible this is part of a dance aimed at getting him a raise? The Bears say, no, he's in the final, just retire. I'm told that that's not the case. He's just done. And I'm a big believer in any player.

Once they decide they're done, then be done. Don't play if you don't want. want to play. The game's hard enough if you're all in. If you're anything less than all in, you shouldn't play. I remember when Vante Davis retired during a game and Sims and I argued about it on PFT Live. My point is, whenever that thought enters your brain that you're done, you shouldn't play. It's not in your best interest to play. You have to fully want it and desire it and be willing to do it in order to keep doing it. So that's his privilege. That's his right. He's entitled to walk away, but he may get a $4 million bill at some point that will go into the general stadium

construction fund. Well, yeah, that's it, is that it kind of, it really does put the onus on the teams. And I guess that is the true idea behind a signing bonus. That is, that is one way that it is actually true to the concept, is that it's up to the teams if they want to recoup the money. That could get awkward. Well, and on the surface, the signing bonus is a payment now in anticipation of services later. It's in advance on what you're going to do in the future, but it's also a salary cap accounting tool. But this goes all the way back to Barry Sanders. Barry Sanders had to pay back money to the Detroit Lions when he retired abruptly in July of 1999. And it's a given that if a player retires, especially in the early years of a contract where there's bonus money that

is yet to be allocated as to the ongoing years of the deal, it's a way for the teams to get some money back, they get some cap space back. And it's just, business at that point. And if a player makes a business decision to stop playing before his contractual commitment has ended, the team makes a business decision to collect money that had been paid under the assumption that the player was going to stay. We're talking to Mike Floreau of pro football talk here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 1043, the score. Well, and of course, this sort of shifted our attention just for like a minute away from Max Crosby because of everything that is going on with Drew Dalman. What are you hearing right now about Max Crosby and where he might end up,

where he might stay, all of that kind of stuff? And is it a possibility for the Bears? We were told last week, the scouting combine, two first round picks and a player is what the Raiders are looking for to trade. And which means they've not just entertained the possibility, they're engaging in conversations about what it will take. Now, I think their best move, because I've seen nothing to erase Jake Lasers reporting from four weeks ago that Crosby is done with the Raiders and Glazer has a pipeline to Crosby. If Glazer says it, Crosby believes it. And that hasn't been rescinded or retracted over the last four weeks. And I think what the Raiders need to do, it's kind of like what the Texans did four years ago

with Deshawn Watson. Identify multiple teams, bring them to the table, basically pre-approved them as a trade partner, and then let Max Crosby pick his destination. That's the right way for the Raiders to handle it if you can get multiple teams to the table. They can drop the facade of we want to keep him once they know that they can get three or four teams. The question is, are they going to take less than what they supposedly want in order to get a deal done? Or will they be stubborn and say to Max Crosby, hey, we didn't get what we wanted. You play for us or you play for no one. Mike, Diana Rucini reiterated today that the asking price is still two first rounders and a player.

What do you think of just that return for Max Crosby? I think it's a good return. It's what the Cowboys got for Michael Parsons, and they were trading Michael Parsons at a time when there weren't many suitors. No one in the AFC, by the time we got to late August, wanted Michael Parsons, because it's a combination of giving up the draft picks and signing him to an acceptable contract. By then, plenty of teams' budgets have been obliterated. They've spent all their money that was allocated by the front office and ownership to the acquisition of players that year. You do it now, you get a better chance of getting more teams at the table. But there's another factor here because I've heard the argument, well, hey, two ones and a player,

that's a good deal because Max Crosby's got a favorable contract. Well, that assumes he's not going to want a new contract. A player of that stature, if he's traded for that kind of compensation, he's going to want an adjustment because he got his current contract last year before Miles Garrett, before T.J. Watt, before Michael Parsons. So you've got Crosby at around 35-36, top of the market's now 47. He's going to want a new deal. So that's going to be part of this too. And there's also a big difference between the first 10 picks of the round and the last 10 picks of the round.

And that's why Tampa Bay is a team I'm keeping an eye on because they could give the 15th overall pick, which means more than the bear's 25th overall pick. And maybe they could throw in less come 2020. 27 if they're giving a higher pick in round one in order to get Max Crosby. Yeah, the payment part is, that's very smart because we all remember around here with Kalil Mack giving up what they gave up, which was two first rounders, a third round pick, a sixth rounder, you know, future sixth rounder at the time. And then they had to pay Kalil Mack all the money too.

So that is a smart thought on that. It's going to be interesting to see what happens. Another report that Layla just gave right before we went to the break and wanted to ask you about this, Mike Florio. This from at least Ian Rappaport and maybe others as well. Shepter. Yeah, Adam Shepard too. Okay. Yeah, it's citing sources that the chiefs are deep in talks on the trade of star cornerback Trent McDuffie to the Rams for pick number 29 and conditional compensation. Your reaction. Well, I think it's since been finalized and we know what happens by now. Here's how the sausage gets made when the deal is close. An agent.

will text four or five different people. They'll all tweet it within 30 seconds of each other. That's how the word is out there before it's official. Apparently, it's now official. The Rams just said yesterday through GM-Less-Skneed, they're looking to acquire a Pro Bowl-level talent in their secondary, and Trent McDuffie, I think, last year, was the first-team all-pro slot corner.

So this is a guy who has shown he has ability, and it comes down to how do you allocate your resources, how much are you going to pay a guy, what can you get in return for him? and, you know, the chief's making a very clear-eyed decision at a time when they've got plenty of needs that they need to address. They've got guys they need to sign. They've got guys they need to resolve their futures. They need to know what Travis Kelsey is going to do.

They got a lot of needs. They got no running backs right now. They could use another weapon at receiver. Their front seven needs to be bolstered. They've got some things to do while they try to improve this team on the fly. And as Patrick Mahomes recovers from a torn ACL. So it tells me that whatever McDuffie wants can track. fracturally, the chief said, we just can't do it.

Let's go ahead and trade it. Much like they did four years ago with Tyree Kill. Also, what about Trey Hendrickson, Mike? You know, the Bengals declined to franchise tag him. That seems like that was the most peaceful departure and breakup for both parties. But I have a feeling, number one, that he may have made a business decision last year when it came to his injury status. And then number two, that there's going to be a team that's going to want his services. I thought of Tampa there too.

Well, it got very ugly between Hendrickson and the Bengals in the last couple of years. He signed a contract, grossly outperformed it, and the Bengals are one of the teams that is cheap and highly unlikely to say, we'll rip up your contract. Even though the teams have the ability to rip up the contract of a player who underperforms, some teams don't like to fix a contract that is out of whack based upon the player, exceeding expectations. And it didn't make sense to continue the relationship, but I thought there was a chance that Bengals were sufficiently dysfunctional to apply the franchise tag just as a power play. Just to remind the players, specifically Hendrickson, but more broadly, everyone else who plays for the

team now and will play for them in the future of who's in charge. And we have a device available under the CBA and we're going to use it. They decided not to do it. And I think that's the right decision for the team. They can reallocate the resources to someone who wants to be there. And now Hendrickson is going to be one of the top players available, and we know how important pass rusher is. The most important position is a player who affects the opposing quarterback. Right here in our backyard, when I say that, I mean in the division, things going on with the Minnesota Vikings that they are reportedly going to release Aaron Jones and Javon Hargrave, and now Jonathan Grenard's name has come up.

What do you think about everything that's going on in Minnesota right now? Well, and with Jones and Hardgrave, it's just a matter of the Vikings are looking at their contracts and saying we can't justify this expenditure in light of being millions over the salary cap of 301.2 million. With Hargrave, he wants his contract to be adjusted and the Vikings can't do it. So they're looking to possibly trade him to a team that can. But this is the direct result of going all in last year and being ready to go with a potential Super Bowl. team at every position except one quarterback. And now they're in a mess. And now they got to, they got to slash and burn the payroll. They got to create cap dollars. And as relates to the quarterback position, it makes Kyler Murray extremely attractive to the Vikings because, number one, I was told last year during the season he'd like to play for the Vikings or the Raiders at the time they had Chip Kelly as offensive coordinator. That's obviously gone now. So the Vikings are a team that Murray would be interested in. And because the Cardinals owe him 36,

$6.8 million fully guaranteed for this year, he could go to Minnesota on a one-year, $1.3 million deal, make the balance of that between 1.3 and 368 directly from the Cardinals and stay in Minnesota for a year and see how it goes. And that would give the Vikings a very, very cheap option for someone who could come in, compete with J.J. McCarthy, or be the number two quarterback and play inevitably when McCarthy gets injured again. Well, and that's part of it, too, is we were wondering what was going to happen to Kyler Murray, Mike, and then we get the news that he's going to be released from Arizona. And of course, you know what I thought about was all the conversations surrounding Tyson Bayesian that the Bears

had at the Combine. Ben Johnson with a glowing discussion of who he is and what he's meant to the team. That hasn't changed, I think, from anybody in the front office. Does his market increase because of this possible movement that has been created by Kyler Murray? I think of anything, it hurts the market because someone would have to trade for Bejan. And I saw last week during the nonstop activity at the scouting combine that the Bears may be looking for as much as a second round pick for Bejan. Why am I going to do that if I'm a team? Why am I going to do that when I can get one of these guys who's already available in free agency

or is going to be cut? Kyla Murray is going to be joined by Tuataka-Bailoa, Gino Smith, most likely, Justin Fields. Kirk Cousins is definitely getting cut. So when you have guys you could pursue and not have to give up, a draft pick, whether it's a two, a three, or a four, you have to give up nothing to get these guys. I think that makes it harder for the Bears to get what they want and to make them willing to move Tyson Baygent. But he's an interesting wrinkle in all of this because he's young. He's shown potential and he's got a favorable contract for the next two years. I want to go back to

to J.J. McCarthy really quick if I can. And just to ask, what did we all miss with J.J. McCarthy? What did all the GMs at the combine? What did they? What's happening? What did they all miss? You have a pop-up ad. Is it you or it's me? It's not you with me.

You know what happens on YouTube? Like if you have, if you're watching a video and then when it ends, it spills over into another one. And then when that wins, it spills over into an ad. That's what happened. Sorry about that. Oh, that's okay. I remember two, it's been, it's only been two years ago, which feels like forever.

It does. was coming into the draft. I didn't know where he actually fit in the pecking order with all those great quarterbacks. And then all of a sudden, Jim Harbaugh starts hyping the guy up. And we all knew why he was doing it. He was the national champion quarterback in Michigan. But it seems to me like once Harbaugh really started banging the drum for McCarthy, then all of a sudden, McCarthy is rising up the draft board. And the Vikings could have picked him or Boe Nix. They were trying to trade up to get Drake May. I don't know if they would have taken Michael Penix, junior if he had been there at 10, but they rolled the dice on McCarthy. He got injured in his

preseason opener in 24, and then last year, you know, the guy didn't throw enough passes in college. And one of the knocks on McCarthy, aside from the mechanics, he's got one pitch, it's a fastball. And when you look at a team like the Vikings that does so much of its passing game across the middle where you have to layer the ball in over the hands of a defensive back, you can't throw a speedball, as Bruce Springsteen would say, right through a defensive back. You've got to be able to have different pitches. You've got to be able to put some arc on the ball. And look, maybe they've ironed some of that out.

The weird thing is they won five games to end the season. Do they see something in McCarthy based upon the end of the season that makes them reluctant to go out and get a guy who would supplant him? This next move by the Vikings is going to be very revealing. Is it going to be somebody who's there to be a high? high-end backup? Is it going to be somebody who's there to truly compete with him like Daniel Jones and Anthony Richardson last year? Or is it going to be somebody who, when he walks through the door based on the contract or whatever they have to give up to get him if they trade, is he

going to be the starter? That's going to tell us what they think of J.J. McCarthy more than anything else. Whoever that next quarterback is, we will know what they think of J.J. McCarthy. Mike Florio, thanks as always for joining us on Twitch. Thanks for the Lego Talk. And thanks for all the latest news and notes. Thanks. Thanks, have a great week. It's Mike. That is Mike Florio, creator and editor-in-chief of Pro Football Talk, joining us on Rahimi Harrison Grotie on The Score.

And coming up next, the biggest question I think all of us had is not only why for Drew Dalman, but why now? Carmen Vitale, friend of the score, Bears reporter, works on Marquis as well. She offered some big perspective that I think is worth a listen. Next.