Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Mike Florio talks NFL's 'warped' compensatory draft pick reward system (Hour 2)

Episode Date: February 6, 2026

In the second hour, Leila Rahimi and Mark Grote were joined by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk to discuss the latest NFL storylines and to preview the Patriots-Seahawks matchup in the Super Bowl. After that, Rahimi and Grote shared their takeaways from Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas' media session discussing the organization's direction after a flurry of activity ahead of the trade deadline.

This hour is brought to you by Cars for Kids. 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. Yeah, that's right. Our Mike Florio intro got a little different. Now that he's on 104, 3, the score with us, the creator and editor-in-chief of Pro Football Talk. He is at Pro Football Talk on X.

He joins us from the Super Bowl. Mike is on the Circa Resort and Casino Hotline, Circa, Las Vegas.com. Mike, thanks for joining us. I know we had to move your days because it's a busy time at the Super Bowl in San Francisco right now. Yeah, it's been crazy. We were actually live this week at noon Eastern every day just because I didn't want to start at 4 a.m. Pacific time. So it's been a crazy week and now we've transitioned to full-blown Super Bowl pregame show preparation mode. Well, and we also have some breaking news to discuss because this was out via Adam Schaefter just about 10 minutes ago.

The statement from the Browns on the resignation of defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz. Yesterday, Jim Schwartz submitted his letter of resignation as, as defensive coordinator of the Cleveland Browns, we would like to thank Jim for his contributions to our organization over the last three seasons. Our search for a new defensive coordinator will begin immediately. What do you think? Well, I'm not surprised. It felt destined that Jim Schwartz wasn't going to be there after Todd Monkin got the head

coaching job when Schwartz was one of the finalists. It was immediately reported that Schwartz was livid, and he was saying he's not coming back. They went through an awkward tug-of-war for a few days, maybe a full week trying to figure out what was going to happen next. And the way it was reported by NFL Network, he's resigning with the expectation he won't coach in 2026. That suggests to me there was some sort of a negotiated compromise where maybe they'll pay him

for this year and he won't go become a defensive coordinator with another team until next year. Because if you're under contract than he was for one more year, you can't just quit and go coach another team. They held his rights. He didn't want to stay with the Browns. And I think Todd Munkin, when you got a guy that was that close to, being the head coach. I don't think you want Monken to be

or Monken doesn't want Schwartz to be the defensive coordinator because then that just undermines him. It makes it harder for him to have any authority in the locker room. The defense could line up behind Schwartz, the offense could line up behind Monk and you could have more dysfunction in Cleveland, which has kind of been the name of the game for the past

several years in Cleveland. So I'm not surprised by the outcome. I'm a little surprised Schwartz isn't going to be able to coach anywhere else this year. The Raiders had emerged as a potential destination for Schwartz. I still think he's going to get paid by the Browns to not coach the team this year. And Layla and I were just talking about it before we came on. I mean, localizing it bears-wise. Al Harris, the bear secondary coach who did his job very well for the Bears this year, has gotten

some attention with other potential gigs. Have you heard his name or how prominent is Al Harris's name in NFL circles? And could he qualify to replace Jim Schwartz as the cleats? William Brown's defensive coordinator. Well, they're going to be looking now. We know how this is all driven. It's relationships, it's familiarity. It's what is the head coach looking for? What kind of a system do they want to run?

The way that Monkin explained it during his introductory press conference the other day, he's attracted to the players not the scheme, and the players are going to dictate the scheme. Now, I think Schwartz had a lot to do with it. They finished number one overall in 2023, and they were just one yard per game behind the Texans for the top defense in 2025. So they're just going to have to make a good decision here. And it all comes down to who Monkin is comfortable with, but they're starting their search now.

The Raiders are going to need to have their defensive coordinator. My guess is Clint Kubiak, who's likely to become the new Raiders coach. I already knows who he's targeting. And we'll just see. But there aren't many seats left as the coaching carousel starts to grind to a halt. Yeah, that was my thought was the timing on this is so late. You know, how much does that put Cleveland behind? But they also, you know, had that rash of people who didn't want it.

interview for the position. So the timing is what it is. I feel like this is just even more of an exclamation point on that. Most candidates for head coaching jobs go into their interview with a full list of the people that they would try to bring with them. It's impossible to guarantee that you're going to deliver them. So I'm assuming Monkhan already knows who he wants if Schwartz wasn't going to stay. And it would have been, well, of course, you know, the Browns are dysfunctional, but it would have been beyond dysfunctional for the Browns to just think, oh, we're just moving chess pieces around on a board here. All we have to do is make Monk and the head coach and Schwartz is under contract so he'll stay happily as defensive coordinator. It should have been obvious

to them he was going to be very upset, and this would be the likely outcome if they considered him seriously for the job and then didn't give it to him. Mike, as you know and our listeners know that when Ian Cunningham took the job as the general manager in Atlanta, leaving the Bears in the Rooney Rule, the Bears did not receive two third-round picks because Matt Ryan is the president of football ops, which classifies Ryan as the primary football executive in Atlanta. But this thing has reopened itself

because Matt Ryan himself says that Cunningham is in – Ian Cunningham is in charge of the roster, free agency, and draft decisions. So does that not mean that the Bears are now, again, entitled to third round picks? And can the Bears appeal such ruling? Well, let me take a step back and say that this entire conversation underscores how ridiculous these measures are that the NFL puts in place to try to obscure the fact that for decades the NFL's hiring. practices have been far less than ideal when it comes to coaches and general managers, given the demographics of the league, given the available candidates. And it's always talk, and it's these little band-aid measures that they try to create the impression that they're trying to have a more diverse

overall workforce among the 32 franchises. I had a good conversation with Demore Smith yesterday, the former NFLPA executive director, because he said for years, there's no accountability. And until there's accountability, nothing's going to change. And he has a great idea for the various states out there in which NFL teams are headquartered, their attorneys general could try to investigate and enforce the state equivalence to the civil rights law that the federal government surely isn't going to be inclined to enforce in a situation like this, and that could try to improve it. But my bigger problem is that there's even something like that in place where there's a –

because remember when they initially came up with this compensatory, draft pick reward, it was going to go to the team that made the hire. And the candidates were like, wait a minute. That stigmatizes us. It makes it look like we only got the job or the deciding factor was the team that hires us is going to get these draft picks. So they pivoted to a reward for grooming and developing and promoting minority candidates. So the whole thing is just a bad way for the NFL to try to fix the problem.

And just a mere fact that I've gotten 50 emails over the last week and a half from Bears fans who want the compensatory draft picks, it just shows you how it's all kind of gotten a warped under the broader question of whether and when and if the NFL is ever going to to modernize and improve and diversify its hiring practices. Well, especially when they use it as a shield. You know, they use the Rooney Rule

and they hide behind their diversity initiatives as a shield and then to not put them in practice. And for Bears fans to appropriately call this out, and I love that they've been, asking me questions, mark questions, you questions. That's the right thing to do because don't tell us in the

number three largest market in the country where we have these high expectations and we don't suffer fools. Don't try to tell us that that isn't a promotion for Ian Kenningham. He left, it's a promotion. The better question is, why is the NFL being

stingy with something they're not even taking away from anybody else? Like we're worth the good behavior to the faith and the spirit of the law rather than the letter? Well, it does bump everyone else down by a spot, and these teams are very, very sensitive to that. But you're right. If they're going to have these policies in place, they have to apply them, and any flaws in the application undermine the overall purpose of what they're trying to do.

And, you know, we do this every year. There are issues with the hiring numbers, and this year we have 10 head coaching jobs that were filled, and there were no black coaches that were high. the commissioner gets through the press conference where he answers the four questions. And then, you know, it's like Ponsetani Phil. It just disappears until next year when we do it all over again. No doubt about it. Mike, any issues with any of the NFL awards from last night?

Stafford, MVP, Jackson Smith and Jigba, offensive player. Mike Vrable ends up getting coach of the year. Of course, we around here, a lot of people were hoping for Ben Johnson. Miles Garrett, defensive player the year on and on. Any thoughts on last night's awards? I don't think any of the outcomes were surprising. The thing that interests me more than anything else, because I've been one of the voters for about three or four years now,

and last year they didn't tell the voters they were going to release all of our ballots, and then they did, which I think created issues for people who may have lied to candidates about who they voted for. Like, yeah, I voted for you, and then how comes the ballot? Oops, no, I didn't. Not that I've heard of at least one other person who was mad, because they disclosed all the ballots because that person had indeed told someone else that they had voted for them when they didn't.

This year they told us that they were going to release the ballots and they didn't. And because one of the voters made Justin Herbert the first place MVP finalist, I'd love to be able to see all the numbers and I'd love to be able to crunch them backward and see whether or not that one decision swung the award from Drake May to Matthew Starrett. It could be that that one ballot determined the whole thing. Well, and Sam Munson of pro football focus has said it was him. So Sam took the head. Because we've got 10 points for first, five points for second or right.

There's a, you know, there's a formula for how many points you get, but it was just a five point difference at the end between Stafford and May. You look at that ballot and it's possible that if you just flip a guy here or there, that's all the difference. And Drake May may have won the thing. And there's still a chance, even though a tie is very unlikely now because there's five people on each ballot and the points make it just much harder for two guys to end up with the exact same number. But it's possible it could have been May. It's possible it could have been Stafford in May and a tie.

Oh, and by the way, I miscredited Sam. He's formerly a pro football focus. But still, that is where a lot of us know him. At least he did the right thing and spoke out on social media and said why. Well, that's right. And it's funny, he disclosed his ballot, I think under the impression that the AP was going to do it for him. If he had known the AP wasn't going to do it this year, because I'm informed that they aren't going to do it this year, and I'm trying to find out why. Maybe he wouldn't have raised his hand. Mike, I also want to talk to you about some of the impeding incentives or requirements that the NFL owners are going to have.

I don't necessarily know that the reply of, we have no appetite for an 18th game on behalf of the Players Association was enough to quell. What you have said and I have said, like the NFL owners keep trying to push the matter of the 18th game and in exchange they've gotten all this other stuff in return. You know, the Thursday night football game that players said they were concerned about with recovery time.

The international games that they want to have, the owners are getting more and more and more, just were kicking the can down the road with this 18th game, which they're going to end up getting. What did you think of this latest episode of this discussion? I think the NFL is playing it very cool for now until there's a new executive director in place for the NFL Players Association that could happen as soon as March. And then at that point, I think the NFL will embark upon its effort to renegotiate the CBA to create an 18th regular season game and to expand the number of annual international games from 10 to 16.

that's another thing that the NFL really wants to do. And here's what we need to understand. Come 2031 when the current CBA expires, the NFL will lock out the players until they cry uncle on 18 regular season games and 16 international games and whatever else the NFL wants. Because we learned in 2011 that when it comes down to it, the players are going to take the best offer because they don't want to miss game checks. They don't want to not play games. So for the players, the final question isn't going to be 18 games versus 17 games. It's going to be 18 games versus zero games. And what kind of a war chest are the players going to have in place?

What kind of plans will they have in place to withstand a work stop when they've had so much turmoil over the past year? So the NFL has them right where they want them. And the NFL, I think, is playing it cool for now. And then at the appropriate time, they're going to make their move. And if that doesn't happen, 2031, the players are going to have to ask, do we want to play zero or do we want to play 18? Also, Mike, as we talk to Mike Florio, the creator and editor in chief of pro football talk on Rahimi Harrison Grotie, you threw this out there. And man, if it didn't hit, awful announcing just released the numbers of the viewership for the Pro Bowl

games. And it was averaging 1.9 million viewers on Tuesday night on ESPN, which according to this might be the worst ever when it comes to the rating that they drew. It's time for it to go. And my next level conspiracy theory here is they moved it from Sunday to Tuesday night to justify killing it because it destroyed the ratings, embarrassingly low. And there is going to be a number below which the NFL says there's just no point in doing this. So I think we're getting closer and closer to the extinction of the Pro Bowl games, which means we won't have.

and I guess I shouldn't complain because, you know, this results in page views and clicks and content for us. We won't have the drip, drip, drip of the Joe Flackos of the world becoming pro bowlers and the Justin Fields of the world declining an opportunity to become a pro bowler. Right. Mitch Trabisky was a pro bowler. That's what people have in their pocket as an argument when they try to sell Mitch Trabisky because he got in.

Shador Sanders made the pro bowl. Oh, my goodness gracious. If name the teams and move on, I think that's where we're going to automate. be, and we're in this transition period now where they're easing away from the old Pro Bowl game, and they're going to end up having a Pro Bowl nothing, just name the teams and move on. Pretty amazing, really, when you think about all the successes of the NFL and how we brag about the ratings for that they have, something has finally failed.

But 1.9 million is still very good. I mean, in this day and age, to have 1.9 million people tune in at the same time to watch the same thing is no small feat, but it is well beneath the standard the NFL's created for itself. I wanted it to work too. I don't know if you guys. I wanted to enjoy it. I wanted to be like, okay, let's watch the best of the best football players play flag football. I was like, nah, even with the fun interviews they had watching like the Certained brother or father and son on the sidelines, some cool stuff, it just didn't work. And maybe you're right. I am thinking about subscribing to your conspiracy theory that they knew what they were doing and they're

just ready to topple it. And one last point, too, to the extent they're going to force feed flag football upon us for the next couple of years up to the Olympics. Now, I think I'll do well in the Olympics because anything does well in the Olympics. Sports that we ignore for three years and 50 weeks until it becomes the center of the sports universe as part of the Olympics, I don't know that we're ever going to respond to flag football in any setting other than the Olympics. But they're trying their damned us to use flag football as the,

this next wave of internationalizing the game. Well, and they were trying to use it as a way to promote safe football play. Like that was part of it, too, I thought, is we really saw an advent to flag football whenever concussions became more of a discussion and that landmark lawsuit happened. Well, and some people see, and I think this is next, next, next level conspiracy theory, but some people see that to the extent that they can grow fight football and make it something that people will consume and follow and enjoy. If for whatever reason they come up with a test that shows what your risk of long-term

CTE is while you're still alive because they still can't diagnose CTE and a living patient, if there's ever a point where tackle football just is no longer sustainable, we just flip the switch to flag. And some people think that's part of why they're pushing for the growth of flag because it becomes worst-case scenario alternative to tackle football if we ever get to that point. No, I'm with you. and I love a next, next, next, next level conspiracy theory. I think if we've thought about it, they have too, and that's the point in my mind.

And they thought of everything. They sit around thinking of things, although some of the things that they should be thinking about, they probably don't. Oh, absolutely. Mike Floreo, we look forward to it, and we will enjoy the coverage all weekend on NBC coming up. It's going to be a lot of fun. I think the pregame show starts in about 20 minutes, so I've got to get going. Yeah, yeah, good to know. I hope the dance routine is all done.

See you, Mike. See you. That's Mike Florio, joining us live from the site of big game. I love it when Dustin Rhodes says big game 60 or like big game, whatever. I think that's hilarious. It's the big game. He's right. Super Bowl 60.

So Mike Floreo had to move his time. We're going to get into that Ian Cunningham discussion a little bit more. By the way, that is at 125. But coming up next, our tourist cartershova has addressed the media for about 20 minutes yesterday following a flurry of moves at the trade deadline. What did we learn? What is the direction? We're going to examine next.

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We didn't abandon anybody, at least not intentionally. I don't know. If somebody is abandoned, let us know. In the meantime, I'm trying to figure out What to make of the Bulls Press conference yesterday after a flurry of trade deadline moves where gone is Kobe White, gone as Iodosumu, gone is Nikola Vujovitch. And they got nine second round picks along with a ton of guards and many of them on expiring contracts, Jaden Ivy, Anthony Simons, for example, and trying to figure out what direction the

team is going in. And if it's still the search for the nine or ten good players like our Torres Karnas Chavez talked about at last year's trade deadline, or if this is him trying to pivot and finally accepting a different path. And I don't know that I know yet. I'm very happy that, as he said, to start things up, that they're not satisfied with being in the middle. I don't think that we can overstate the importance of saying that because it sure felt like they were pretty satisfied to be in the middle. or at best, at best, even at the peak of

DeMar de Rosen and Zach Levine at best what a team that could win a playoff series, maybe, and they obviously didn't because they lost a playoff series to Milwaukee. So I do think it's really important that they accepted that because we didn't think they were to do that, Leila. We ripped on, I'll just say I did, saying that, well, this is the plan that they sold their bosses.

They're not going to pivot. Marshall and I were saying that the Friday that you weren't here. They're not going to pivot. no way they're going to pivot. And they did. So we do have to celebrate that a little bit. You do. I mean,

I was never, I never subscribed. And you know this. If you think about it, like you'd find the tape. I never subscribe to the building is full theory, therefore they're happy or the, they just want to make the play in.

I think they thought that they were trying to do something without the first round picks. Like that's what I thought. I just thought that they value young players with experience. and Arturus Karnas Charnasovas doubled down on that yet again. You know, you can tell in their actions that that's the case. So that was still a priority. But, you know, they haven't signed a massive free agents to come here.

We were talking about this yesterday a little bit too. So did the plan change at all? Here was his opening statement where he mentions that the play-in, Mark Rodi, is not good enough. Good. So let's digest this together because here's how he addressed the media to start. When we approached trade deadline this year, we were focused on three things. First one is where we are and where we're going. The plane is not our goal.

A championship is. We know where we are in standings and we are not satisfied with being in the middle. As an organization or for our fans. At the same time, we are committed to building the right way without skipping steps. This process takes time, but we've already made meaningful shift in how we're approaching roster building and development. This process takes time. It's my responsibility to make this better and to move their organization towards something sustainable at the highest level. Number two would be building around experience youth and new mix of players.

We are adding experience youth alongside Josh Matas, ICE, Noah, Jalen. We are intentional about surrounding these core pieces with players who have real NBA experience along with upcoming draft picks. Pieces, we believe, can grow together over time. Evaluating long-term fits. And the last, but not least, obviously,

financial flexibility and draft capital, we've maintained, sustain flexibility heading into the off-season. That gives us real options, whether that's free agency, trades, the draft, or continuing investment in development. Flexibility allows us to be patient, but also decisive when the right opportunity presents itself. I believe you cannot have too many draft picks in terms of how you can operate for the future. Billy and his staff have done an excellent job keeping this group prepared and competitive. I trust him completely. We're aligned and the players are bought in. Everything we are doing is tied to building something

meaningful towards the long term. Okay. So that's what you heard. Arturis Karasov has also said he doesn't want to use the word rebuild. And I'm not quite sure why. I don't know when it became not okay to use the word rebuild. Like Ryan Poles did the same thing. He said, I don't want to call this a Why? It's a harsh word. But, okay, like... We'll use the word. The Bears were in a rebuild when Ryan Bulls talked about.

I wish he would have said it because that would have made it make a lot more sense. Arturus called it a stage. And he doesn't want to use the word rebuild either. And I think if there's one thing people understand and we'll get behind is the concept of a rebuild, because then you've given all of us marching orders. You told us what you're doing. Okay. Take it on the chin.

but if you love basketball or you love football or you love whatever sport you want to watch there's still always a reason to go to a game like you want to see how somebody performs you and I were watching Mac MacLung very intently last night we wanted to see if there were going to be some dunks there was a lob to modus I was very happy to see that Kalamura

behind the back pass How'd you end up in the post? Oh can you throw up a lob there's always a reason to go always and I say all of that knowing that maybe maybe you can't For whatever reason you think you can't give us the harsh truth about all of this. But via the actions that were taken, what I see you doing is, number one, it is a change that

you decided to get something for your expiring deals. Famously, two first round picks were on the table, or not first round, my word, two second round picks were on the table for Andre Drummond. Andre Drummond left anyway. Bulls on and be a free agent. They didn't take advantage of that trade in those assets, he walked and they didn't get anything for him. So that is a change from the actions that they have taken previously. But in the meantime, you're also just renting players to see if this group is going to work together in a way that makes it make sense. You could have kept Io. You could have probably gotten a first rounder for him. I know for a fact, you could have gotten a first rounder for Caruso. If Nikola Vucovich was a year earlier in this trade discussion,

even two years earlier, could you have gotten a first rounder for him? And that's where the hard part comes in. But then the other hard part of this is you trade away Dale and Terry, who is one of your first rounders. He was number 18. You have Noah Essingay, who is a project. I mean, that's it. He's a project. Absolutely.

You know, Patrick Williams, you drafted at four. He's in the second year of a five-year, 90 million deal, and he can't start for your team. Maybe he does now. But your drafting hasn't been as sound as you'd want either. And one of the guys that you drafted well and developed well just left the bill. and didn't at you at first in return. So I feel like there are some contradictions that are happening within the direction of what they want to do.

I really believed, and maybe you didn't, but I did believe. And some of it was even based on face-to-face conversations that we all had when we were in the suite last year with our Taurus, Karnas Chauvis and Mark Eversley, which was absolutely lovely, lovely gentlemen. Yeah, they wanted to tell us what they wanted to do. And it felt like that their core, that what they wanted to build around going forward, was Modus Boozellis, Kobe White, and Josh Giddy.

Those would be the key parts, the players around whom the Bulls would build. That's why I am happy. Like, that's why I do think they took a turn that they didn't expect to take. I believe that that's what their core, what they thought it was going to be. I also believe that tons of pressure mounted on the Bulls, dare I even say, from the puck.

public with everybody thinking that the Bulls are just good enough to get into the playoffs or just not advance in them. So I am happy that they did that. Where I agree with everybody else, though, is now you've got this opportunity, and you do. You've got real options. You've got free agents. You have money that you could pay. You have players that might work out.

Are those two guys, Arturis Karna Shovic and Mark Eversley, the guys that can take that flexibility, take the clay and molded into something special as opposed to something middling, which building around Bezellus White and Giddy would have been. Well, here's the other thing. Did they have to be convinced? Or did their boss have to be convinced? I think the boss had to be convinced, right? Yeah, was it ownership who had to be convinced?

But in all of this, in you trying to find your night or ten guys who I don't think they backed off of that idea, you're also... woefully without a front court here. What about Patrick Williams? Your four and your five are up in the air right now. Your three is modest. Congratulations. You know Giddy gets back.

Okay, that's an answer. We know Giddy's injured. He's being re-evaluated. So outside of that, you still don't necessarily, you may want to develop some of these players or you may want to kick the tires on some of these guys. And the three biggest money guys are the ones who have the expiring deals that you've acquired.

that you're going to have to figure out whether or not they fit your team. But it contradicts itself a bit when I don't know if there is faithful in their draft process, you know, knowing the results that have happened recently. And then in addition, you're hoping for something to happen in free agency. Joe Cowley appropriately asked the question about now second round picks are currency to you. I mentioned Andre Drummond. So what changed for him? You kind of smacked around the idea of second round picks for the last three or four years saying they are not good currency.

And now you have like 30 of them. So what change there? Well, you know, second round picks are currency in our industry and you cannot operate and acquire players and trade players. And I think, you know, we addressed it during the trade deadline. And, you know, hopefully they're going to contribute to, you know, our, you know, doing the draft, doing free agency, and trying to build this team. Joe, man, Sledgehammer with that, with that contrast. Slapped them around.

Just well done. He gave him a good beating every year. But the two function, honestly, and I think that that is pretty great. Absolutely. I just feel like Arturis is just walking around collecting stuff. I'll take some of that. Like, he's at Costco. just getting huge portions of things.

He's not really sure what he's getting. There's quantity. There's big time quantity here with even the players that we watched last night with the players that could be coming via some of the second round picks with all the second round picks with all of it. He's just he is stacking and packing. We just don't know if he's the right guy to make the moves now. Well, and he also talked about Arturis Kurnasov has talked about

how they don't have a lot of time to figure out with so many plays. on expiring deals, how this is going to work together. 29 games now? But here's my issue. I don't know how any of this is going to work together if you don't know who your five is and respectfully you're four. So what do you do in there? Like, that's it.

And is that where your free agency comes in? Are you hoping to sign a big free agent? Are you hoping to trade for one? And I applaud that they are trying to get as many assets as possible because I don't know that that was the way of the world for them previously. And it is the way of the rest of the association. Did you see Gershon Yabusheli in his 15 points on 11 rebounds last night? Yeah.

Yeah. Yabuselli was in, he was a bit locked where he was. And that seems to be very much a focus of the Bulls is if you don't get as many minutes on a team that's better, whether it be Jaden Ivy with the pistons or in this case, Yaviselli. And you want to come here and we'll give you a chance to see who you can be. That's what's going on right now. I just snacked around. there's just so many there's so many points to this that I think could could in a way contradict themselves

but it is okay to say this is a rebuild and if you need to kick the tires on some of these guys to see picking up expiring deals for others I just think again somewhere in there is probably a first rounder but that that time is past oh man yeah you know what you're right just one somewhere in there that isn't your own that you use that you use that you For no S&A, a huge project. Exactly. Just out of all of that, like just one to back us off of this theme. Like that you're breaking it down, but one would have been nice.

Well, and in the meantime, it's okay to call it a rebuild. I think there are a lot of people who would embrace the Bulls actually trying to rebuild. Dare I say even tank. I don't remember the last. I know. Take is crazy. You can't go to tank. Yeah, that tank.

That's another stuff. Take is not for the week. So the term that Ryan Poles used was remodel or construction. Yeah, I was just trying to think. The term is your wide receiver room was dudes like Byron Pringle and McIll Harry. Oh, man. And that's my point here. Like, you can call it whatever you want.

Valis Jones. But you've told us who your receivers are. Valis Jones was a third round pick for the Bears. Valis Jones might get a Super Bowl ring. He might get a Super Bowl ring and all the riches that come from. I don't know if any GM or the, you know, you get a little extra check. Yeah, a little playoff.

That's real stuff that the players. It is. That is some game changing money for them. Absolutely. Some guys get it. So like if the player was cut. I just remember this from being on the Cubs circuit when they won the World Series. Oh, the playoffs shares for the Cubs are a huge deal.

I mean, it was like, hey, this guy didn't play. You know, is Phil Koch get a playoff share? You know, the guys that are on the team early in the seed is Edward Jackson because he was just here. Now he's gone. Did we slip him a check? Yeah, because he's Edwin Jackson. Probably. Edwin Jackson is baseball.

But every single team gave him a check. Does he need more checks? I mean, that's what you get for moving all the time. How many teams did he end up playing for? I mean, literally 16 or 17 teams, something like that. So was it Jesse Chavez who passed him? Did he finally pass Edwin Jackson? We'll look that up in the break.

In the meantime, I said I think Baylis Jones might be getting a Super Bowl ring. He's on the Seahawks. But my opinion isn't as important as the opinion of our next predictor. Dave the cat gave us his Super Bowl pick next. The main reason I'm here is to really just say, fuck you, Valish-Johns Jr. What time, it's halftime here on Rahimi Harrison Grady on 104-3, the score. And for a second there, I didn't think I was going to get my headphones on.

But we survived. You are a survivor today. day, Leila, you are today, just in general. Survivor. You are a survivor. You're playing through it today. Thanks, Leila. Yeah, I'm not.

I just have the sniffles. I don't have a fever. I don't have like, it's just, you know, it's just sometimes you get stopped up nose and you just can't do as much. I'm not getting anybody sick. I'm just sitting over here. In the meantime, we spent the first hour talking about DJ Moore, talking about that Bears final offensive play against.

the Rams and miscommunication. Everybody seems to be in line on the same explanation as to what happened. I'm just hoping it doesn't happen again. I'm also hoping other people don't drop touchdowns. In the meantime, we also discussed the voting for the coach of the year, MVP,

the NFL honors, the Chicago Pope skit that happened. And then we listened to Mike Florio, give us the latest NFL news, and talked about the Arturis-Carnas Chavez press conference that just happened at the trade deadline. So this is the Friday before the Super Bowl, the big game, whatever you want to call it.

And I said, you know, here we are listening to the pick of the Charlotte, the tarantula, at the Brookfield do Charlotte picked, the Seahawks. There's always an animal pick or two, but we didn't get the most important animal to chime in on the Super Bowl picks. Dave the cat, Mark's cat, needs to chime in with his Super Bowl pick. So you set it up. Tell us how you did it. I did. I took two pieces of paper, one with the Seattle logo.

Color printout, by the way. Thank you. That's a good detail to add to this. And so the Seattle logo and the New England photo, and I placed them about, I'd say, five feet apart. Maybe not even that much, a few feet apart. And I decided the idea would be. I will let my cat loose. I will get his attention.

And I will, because he'll see this. He was in a different room at the time. Once he sees that there's cats notice disorder right away. Like if something is not what it was 10 seconds ago in the room, they will, they'll investigate the situation. Yeah, they're like, uh, hello, you're on my staff. I didn't tell you to mess up this room. Yes. And as you know, Layla, they also like, I think you're the one who told me this or informed me that they like box shapes.

Yes. They see that and they immediately are attracted to it. So these are two squares on my floor in my place. I let Dave lose to see which one he would go up to, two neutral papers. They've been dusted and tested for foreign substance, all of that stuff. Make sure they're two clean sheets. And so which one's he going to go to? He walked right up to the New England Patriots page.

didn't even give the time of day to Seattle. Didn't even in his peripheral give it a chance. Certainly didn't turn his head towards it. When Ray gave New England a little sniff, looked up, turned around, looked at me like, are we cool, dude? Are you happy? So forget everything you thought you knew about this Super Bowl because I thought I knew that Seattle was the better team that was going to win.

I don't know that now. Yeah. That's what I thought. My, not to preview our 145, but the Seahawks are pretty unstoppable here. And so for Dave the Cat to pick the Patriots, over a bird, don't cats always go toward birds? Well, Seahawks are pretty intimidating. They like smaller birds like robins and whatnot. Well, Seahawks, if there are anything like other hawks, they'll eat other birds.

They're birds of prey. Yeah. But that doesn't stop Dave the Cat. Dave the cat is also a predator. That's true. Yeah, so which predator wins. And so I thought for sure Dave would be like, oh, that's a bird. I'm going to pick them.

But then no, he picked the red tail of the Patriots hat. Unbelievable. Like just left no doubt. And normally, like he would have, because it's disordered to him, he would have gone up to both. And he just didn't do it. So bet accordingly, folks. Now, if you want to see the video of Dave making his Super Bowl pick, where can you find Apparently it's now up on the score page, score Instagram page.

It's on the Rahimi underscore Harris show Twitter account as well. That's where you can find it right now. It's also on mine for a few more hours, Mark underscore Grody. You could find it and just watch the confidence with which Dave. And if you want, really pay attention to the detail. When a cat's tail is doing what it was doing right there, which just sort of floating back and forth a little bit, and you see a little curl at the top,

that means he's very interested. That's when a cat moves its tail slowly like that, interest. He's very interested in the Patriots. 219 says the Seahawk is a fictional bird. I just thought it was a hawk that lived by the seat. That's what the Seattle folks refer to it as. But we got Seahawks here in Seattle.

Yeah, I just thought it was a hawk that lived near the coast. I'm not so sure it isn't. I think the Texter might be wrong. Oh, well, that happens. I might, but Texter asking me, Mark, Hawks are real. They are. Mark, did you put your money on the Patriots? I think I'm going to.

What is it? They are four point underdogs right now. Is that right? The circuit lines are printed out for us on the bar over there, and I hadn't checked the spread. You know it's a good reason to bet on? Because I just think the Seahawks are going to win. Well, there's just better.

They are. But let's not forget the fact that the Patriots have Thomas Brown on their staff. So he is their passing game coordinator. The fact that CHGO talked to both Thomas Brown and Andrew Janoco. The Seahawks are four and a half point favorites. Did they talk to Kyris Tonga? Mm-hmm. The fact that you broke out the Kyris Tonga reference.

Oh, yeah, man. I had high hopes for Kairas Tonga. So Charlotte, the tarantula, goes Seahawk. Dave the cat goes Patriot. Do we need another animal to break up the tie? Do we have any more animals? Well, I don't know about an animal, but have you heard, have you guys seen the little girl that around the whole playoffs

would pick who she would win in the playoffs, but yet she was wrong every single time except for one. So when she picked the bears, everyone was devastated before the Rams in love. She picked the Bears to beat the Rams? Yeah. Oh, no, that's terrible. I think she got one right out of the entire NFL playoffs. Because that's, you know, that happens.

Yeah. And that happens to season pickers. You know, March Madness is coming. And that's always the case with March Madness. You think you know what you're doing? Not so fast. So everyone was based in their betting picks doing the opposite of what she picked. But you got a pet?

I do. I got two dogs. All right. I'll get them to pick tonight. Okay. Okay, so from KCCI in Des Moines, Seahawks are Patriots. Blank Park Zoo Lion makes her Super Bowl 60 pick. And apparently, Blank Park Zoo officials say their animals pick the eventual Super Bowl winner 80% of the time.

And she picked the Seahawks. So Dave is really going against the grain here from the first. rest of the animal kingdom. I find it refreshing that, you know, somebody had to go with. So if Dave is to be right, can I go into next year boasting that my cat is right 100% of the time? Dave thinks he's right 100% of the time. I got to tell you, like, just going through this thing, I figured it would be fun and I'm

not going to take it seriously, but sometimes weird spiritual things happen in life, Leila. And I think the fact that that cat, you got to see the video, just went right to to it. I know I see you texters. Like Dave is wrong. First of all, how dare you? Uh-huh. 312 says opening the circus sportsbook app and dropping $5 on the Patriots as we speak.

Thanks, DTC. A cat doing its own thing? I also love the continual reports about AM versus FM. 815. Also in Gurney for work. Finally able to check out the FM broadcast. And wow, you all sound years younger. No joke.

No smoke. Okay. I've been the same age. Whatever it takes. But that's interesting. That's a new one I hadn't heard before. It's like a radio filter. Like all the filters. I just, what do we sound like before?

We sounded super old. Okay, so Seahawks are real birds according to 630. Of course they are. They're technically known as Ospreys. Yeah, Ospreys exist. That's a thing. And doesn't Osprey just distinguish itself from other birds because of the claws? Ospreys, I know, have a mating ritual that's fun,

where one will bring the other a stick, and then the Osprey will kick the stick away. Oh, really? The old stick trick, huh? Yeah, I like it. If I got a stick for a Valentine, I'd be cool with it. I would do the same thing, though I'd yeat it. Yeet.

You know what? On my walk home today, I am going to drop a stick in front of a woman. Just to see what happens. I have given you this. Well, I get slapped? Probably. I mean, maybe, maybe not. Maybe she's like, oh, I see you drop this stick.

And then the next thing you know, love is abound. She's like, oh, you know the stick trick? I'm like, oh, yeah. That is one way to see. That's one way to see your people. Can you imagine? Yes, now I'm picturing this and it's hilarious. I like it.

Five on it with our most pressing questions. Next.