Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Nick Baumgardner: Bears are in '1st-world problems' tier heading into NFL Draft

Episode Date: February 16, 2026

Marshall Harris and Russ Dorsey were joined by Nick Baumgardner of The Athletic to discuss the Bears' outlook as it pertains to the NFL Draft.

I don't think the process changes. You're going to identify the guys that fit what we want in our football team, which coach hit, and you just keep trying to acquire those players. We know what they look like. We know how they act. They know how to talk. And we'll continue to do that. I think that's part of the thing is, one, can you self-evaluate and be critical of yourself

and your team to make sure that you know what you have in the building? And then can you just keep pounded away and stick into your process? You make tweaks, of course, but stick to the process of bringing in the right types of people. You tell them, Mr. Poles, let them know what a good draft class looks like, because you can finally do that. It took a little while. But we got there. It's a ramp up. It's a ramp up.

You need some experience. That is Ryan Poles talking about the draft process and building a team and what it takes and going out and getting the guys he likes. For more on that, we welcome in Nick. Baumgardner. He's the senior writer and NFL draft analyst for The Athletic. He joins us on the Circa Sports Illinois hotline. Download the Circa Sports app today. Nick, joining us on Rahimi Harris and Grody, Russell Dorsey Inn alongside Marshall Harris. And Nick, it's about that time, I guess, right? What number of mock draft are you on right now? Two or three? Two or three. I did the first three-rounders, so we're in the third-round area. So we're that deep into it now.

What's so great about this is that you're saying two or three, and I'm still thinking about one because the bears were actually in the playoffs, and that extended our discussion of the actual football season. I know. Back in the day, you guys have been looking at this stuff in November, right? Like, after Thanksgiving, it had been like, okay, what's draft looking like, right? but it's like I'm in Detroit so I know that feeling where it's like it's a lot better to to have something else to think about maybe in January than what your team's going to draft.

But hey, look, it's draft season for everybody now. So that's good. Good for us. Yeah, you're thinking about depth and stuff like that now as opposed to. All right, where are my start is going to come from? So here's my thing, Nick, as you're going through and you're going through your draft prospects and trying to grade guys and see where different fits are, for people who are, for people who are now switching their brain over to, okay, combine's coming, draft is coming.

What's a theme that is big in this year's draft compared to, let's say last year's draft. Yeah, I think this year's draft is really unique in that the linebacker class. It is like for the first time in a while, it feels like there's more teams in the NFL that are more willing to lean into these hybrids and these special, like, unique athletes. And there's a lot of them this year. This is like, this feels like the deepest linebacker group. we've seen in quite some time. The two guys at the top, Arvel Reese and Sunny Stiles, both from Ohio State, both 64, 240, and both kind of similar, you know, guys.

They can get all over the place. They can run. They can fill different, and wear different hats up front. They can rush off the edge. The best case there might be like a Micah Parsons, right? And there's a lot of guys in this class like that as you go down the list. So you can go all the way down into like Pittsburgh as a kid, Kyle Lewis, Kyle Lewis. I can never remember how to say his name. He's like six foot, 225. right, but he was one of the fastest players at the senior bowl, runs like a safety, but he's like 225, 230, kind of like what we see with Nicky Menwari there in Seattle, right? Obviously, he's a special case with his explosive and as fast as he is.

But this class has a lot of guys who can kind of do different things, wear different hats, and maybe make defenses more explosive at a couple different levels. And we're looking at this, and you mentioned linebacker, big discussion going on right now in Chicago, as I'm sure you know, is whether or not the bears should move on from Tremaine Edmonds and relieve themselves of some cap pressure right now. Is this linebacker class deep enough that they could get a quality guy to replace him in the second or third round? Yeah, I think it is. You know, a guy like Jacob Rodriguez, the kid from Texas Tech, who was all over the place in the playoffs and all season for Texas Tech is outstanding.

And I don't think he is going to make it into the first round conversation. same conversation for Jake Golda, the kid from Cincinnati, who didn't play in this shrine ball. I think he was getting over a small injury here or there. But like those two guys right there, in other years, Anthony Hill from Texas is another one. And other years might be like first round guys, but in this year they're going to be bumped down.

So this, it reminds me a little bit of like a couple years ago or maybe it was last year, the running back class was so deep that it was like, just wait, take your time, see what happens. I think it was last year because the bears ended up doing it. They waited in the Kalmanungi. So this is a lot like that. Yes, right. This is a lot like that.

Maybe not as deep in some cases in terms of the explosion that you can get at the bottom of the draft. But, you know, into the fourth and fifth, I think you can still get really good linebackers. I'm always so interested, Nick, in seeing what teams try to trade up and get a quarterback if they're in need of one. And by all accounts, this is not necessarily the quarterback draft outside of Fernando Mendoza at the. So here's my question for you. Let's say I'm a team and I need a quarterback and I want to get one in the draft, but those big time prospects that are usually in the top 10 are not there. What do I do?

Yeah, I mean, like this is, and I got to say also for folks, this is about to be the norm, I got to think, right? Like these guys, a lot of these guys are staying in college. They're getting paid. Trinidad Chamblis, the kid from Ole Miss is still trying to sue his way back. I think he's going to get back. And he's going to make more money in college. than he would have as a second round pick this year.

So a lot of that has changed sort of what has happened in terms of, can we wait until next year? Can you keep doing this? Because I think a lot of these classes are going to be similar to this. Some of years might be different. But in this case, this year, you've got a guy at the top, like you said, like Mendoza is a legitimate top 10 quarterback, you know, top 10 pick, you know, a guy that you can take up there and feel safe and kind of like Cam Ward last year.

You can take him. He can be on a bad team. He's not going to be ruined by it, all that stuff. after that it gets dicey though like tie simpson is the hardest one really to slot because he has first round talent absolutely but he's only started one year and only about three quarters of it was good you know the last quarter of it was pretty bad yeah so when we look at him it's like you know do you know where do you want to gamble on him do you want to wait and see if you get like the jackson dart thing do you want to wait and see if you can sneak a sneak one in in the 20s or you know and kind of play chicken with people or do you get nervous and jump up and over draft him And in that case, it might be a while until we see the next quarterback come off the board.

Those are the two at the top of this draft that probably will be in the first round. Everybody after that, I think, is probably further down. We are talking NFL draft with Nick Baumgardner. He is the senior writer at NFL draft analyst for The Athletic here on Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104-3, the score. Nick, I'm looking at this spot the Bears are in right now. They're at 25. They don't know what's going on at left tackle necessarily. after Ozzie Tripillo goes down, and then they also need edge help.

They need somebody who can affect the quarterback. And so if you've got the 25th pick in the draft, is it more likely that you're going to get a stud at offensive tackle or a stud at edge? Because I understand this is a deeper edge class, although Caden Proctor sounds like a guy who could be there at 25. Yes, like that's what I'm like, it's really tough because I do feel like you could get still maybe a good tackle there

or an interesting prospect. like Cade Proctor has got a lot of work to do. He's a kind of a boomer bus guy at times. You see that size and that athleticism, all the uniqueness of how big he is and how he moves. But he's also very inconsistent. Like his pressure numbers were really bad at times, very streaky. He was bad in the playoffs. So it's very up and down. We'd take a good offensive line coach and all that stuff, which teams can do that and it can end up not being that big of a deal. Monroe Freeling would be another one that kid from Georgia if he lasts down there, another really good athlete. But I would probably say Edge. I would probably say, I think you've

could probably get the better value because there's more of them. You know, I guess it depends on what you want to do, though, too, because do you want to wait and say on that one, too? Because I think you could get more inside the end of the second or third round if you wanted to do that earlier. You know, so a guy like a key messador maybe to me in the 25 range would be one that I think would fill a couple different hats to get from Miami, the other edge opposite Ruben Bain, super physical, super violent, sets an edge, gets it done, was a big sack guy,

despite not having a ton of desirable measurables. It feels like he would fit everything Ben Johnson's about, to me. Zion Young would be another guy down there from Missouri. We can do a bunch of different stuff. But a lot of edges in this group. This is a solid edge class again, which is kind of a thing every year now. Nick, you're talking about value. You're talking about the depth that some of these positions.

And when you are in the range the bears are in in the low 20s, I'm starting to get that trade back vibe. Is that something that many of those teams in the 20s because of the depth with some of these positions might do? That's always something that they're always on the look for. Like we just said like if a team wants to best around down there or trade up or trade out for Ty Simpson, or like Chambliss was the one for me.

Like if he was going to make this draft or he was going to be in this class, he was a guy that I thought would have been like Jackson Dart, a great example of sit there, bottom of the first, somebody comes up and trades into that spot and takes him. I don't know if they would do that for Garrett Nussmeyer. I don't know if he's quite on that level. I think he might be a stretch. Maybe he has a great combine and changes people's minds.

I don't know. But beyond that, I think that they're going to try, but I think it's tough. Like the two things that I would look for, though, in terms of teams wanting to trade around, like if some guys start falling, if Jeremiah Love starts falling, Caleb Downs probably isn't going to fall too far. But if those guys start sliding, Kenyon, Sadiq, the tight end, really special as well. That can kind of mess with things, right? That can kind of mess with the board and, you know, change people's, you know, whatever. So that's when trades can kind of start

happening in my mind. So it's possible, but I don't know how likely it is because that third quarterback is not really jumping off the page. You mentioned safety, Caleb Downs. I don't think the bears are going to get up high enough to get him. But they do have a need at that position. And I'm wondering with the way the safety class looks this year, how far back can you go and still get a good safety because the bears might be needing one, maybe multiple. Yeah, the bears are in the First World Problems Group now because this is what you do. You just, like the Ravens have done this for so many years. You just wait because there are really good safeties.

And we never know where these guys are going to be drafted, right? Because of like people don't value it as much as they should. But Caleb Downs is no worse than the second best player in this draft. Like there's no, I think he's the best player in the draft. And I mean, we're talking about him as a guy that could be there at like 10. which is crazy to me. And then the same conversation with some of these other guys too. But that to me, like the safety class, that's what we're talking about.

McNeil Warren, the kid from Toledo, Dylan Theanaman, the kid from Oregon, the other two. Both those guys, I think some teams will probably have them graded in their top 30. I think those guys are good enough. Like those guys are big. They can play multiple safety spots. They can come up in the box and hit as well. But if they slide down the board, all of a sudden you're looking at like Nikki Minwari went off the board last year in the second round.

And I don't know if teams have learned their lesson, but like, you know, one of these years, Malachi Starks was the best safety in the draft couple years ago, last year I think it was, and went to the Ravens at the bottom of the first, right? So it's like, one of these years, teams have learned their lesson, but I don't know when, you know, Brian Branch went into the second a couple years ago. I think the Bears earned another good spot there, too, to maybe play the board, be patient. And, hey, if you love a guy, like, if McNeill Warren is sitting there and you love him, just jump the line and take him and don't be afraid and just be like, that's our guy. We think he's going to, you know, change the back end for us. I think that they're in position to do kind of whatever they want back there. Nick, you're at mock draft number three.

And I know everybody has their guy. So I want you to tell me you've done each of these mock drafts. Who's the guy you keep coming back to and saying, nah, Tim. Like, this is the guy. It won't change from now till April. This is the guy that people are going to regret not drafting. I think it's Caleb Downs. It's either Caleb Downs or Jeremiah Love.

But to me, it's probably Caleb Downs because I just, I think he's so unique and special. And there's going to be people that get caught up in his size. He's not real big. He's barely six foot. If he is that, maybe 200 pounds on the nose. But in terms of the fearlessness, the intelligence, that kid could play, you know, eight positions for Ohio State and be fine, you know, and get it done. And he was like he was their best get it done guy at all spots. When things were falling apart, he was the one who would fix it.

He played middle linebacker basically for Jim Knowles, the one year there before he left. And then Patricia moved him around a bunch last year, too. I think to me, he's the best football player, period, in the draft. You know, Arvel Reese is more talented. Some of these other guys might have more physical gifts, too. But, like, that's the guy that I think some teams might. Like, if he falls to, like, the Saints or something at 9, I think that's one where teams might look back and be like, well, what do we do here?

You know, that was not smart. Saints, a team that could be on the move in the right direction based on how they finished last season. Nick Baumgartner joining us here on Rahimiyers and Grody on 104-3, the score. He is the senior writer and NFL draft analyst for The Athletic. You mentioned Jeremiah Love, and I'm really curious about him. So many people connecting him to Kansas City Chiefs because, let's face it, they've needed a running back for a long time. Is this just a match made in heaven? Like, how would you describe the Chiefs and Jeremiah Love?

What do you think translates the best from his college work at Notre Dame to now being in Kansas City? I mean, it would be perfect. I think that his ability to catch the ball out of the backfield and just be a receiver is something that Andy Reid, I really feel I could have a lot of fun with. I mean, let alone the fit with Mahomes and some of the pressure he could take off just by being a, you know, a standard three-down back who can get you yards. you know, he's, he is in the class of, and he's bigger too, but he's in the class of the B. Jean Robinson, Gibbs, Shamir Gibbs, you know, Christian McCaffrey, the guy who can be on the field, all three downs, you can move him around, you can play another running back out there with him,

put him in the slot, let him do some different stuff, just like was the best down-to-down playmaker in college football offensively this past year. I thought he should have won the Heisman. I don't have any problems with Mendoza winning it. It's a cool story. Love was the best, like, for me, when you turned it on and said, like, who's the best player out here? It was almost always offensively. It was him. So I really feel like he's another one, almost in the same conversation as Caleb Downs, where it's like, if teams don't want to do this, I think you might end up regretting it. I don't even know how much, like every running back needs help.

Like, Gene T last year, I still think he's going to be a good player, but he goes to a terrible situation. I think love is almost good enough to where he could even make a bad situation a little bit better, right? like if he didn't go to the Chiefs and went somewhere else. He's a special player, so I think he's one to watch for sure. Last year we saw Ted McMillan going that first round, and it felt like what we saw in the NFL, we kind of saw in the process leading up to the draft. Who is that guy in the first round amongst the wide receivers,

or is it multiple guys that could have that type of impact this year? Yeah, this is a cool receiver group, too. the three, because there's three at the top that it's going to be, I would think, a debate well through the combine, and it might be one that, you know, teams have different guys, you know, all the way through draft night, depending on what you want. Cardinal Tate from Ohio State, the big six three, 200-pounder, maybe 210, whatever he is, that played opposite Jeremiah Smith, a big guy who can play like a small guy, but also was great in the air and play all three spots and do all that good stuff.

Jordan Tyson from Arizona State, who that's, he's the most complete. When he's healthy, he's had some injury issues in the past. when he's healthy, he's the most complete receiver in the class. Physical blocks, like he's a very good blocker, like a bigger Amin-Ross, St. Brown, if we can think about that, like a bigger version of that. And then Mikey Lemon from USC is the smallest of that group. He's probably about 510, 511, maybe 190, but like fearless, awesome in the air. Another guy who could play all three spots and block and do all those good things.

All three of those guys, I feel like are like top 15 players in the class. wouldn't surprise me if somebody in the top five or six, like the Giants or somebody says, it's perfect fit for us. Like, you know, we're going to do this and we're going to, away we go. So those are special players. I think that, again, like Ted McMillan, when we see receivers like that, it's smart to do it,

especially when you've got a young quarterback who needs that, you know, like these young guys come in and they're ready to go. So this is a really exciting receiver group, especially at the top. Nick Baumgartner giving us all kinds of insight, the senior writer and NFL draft analyst for the athletic. You can find them on the artist formerly known as Twitter. At Nick Baumgardner. That's his at. He joins us also on the Twitch stream. So if you're

looking there, you can follow the Twitch screen at the score Chicago. That's actually our handle for everything these days. At the score Chicago. One last question before we get you out of here. Fernando Mendoza, any way he doesn't go number one overall? I don't think so. I think The Raiders had waited way too long, you know, to pick a quarterback, and they got lucky here. I mean, this guy fell into their lap. I think that he's, I think he's the real deal. Reminds me of, like, a more athletic Jared Gough, you know, like, he's just a really sharp guy in the pocket, stands in there. We'll take a hit.

Accurate, smart. You know, some people during the season didn't know, like, a lot of scouts, they didn't know what to do with that, all that positivity that comes out of him, right? Like, he's just, it's like, relentlessly positive. But I think when, as time went on, you started. to hear like, you know, it's like people like him. He wears on people. You know, he's magnetic and it works. So I do think that he'll be worth it.

And he's a guy that you could, I think, plan in there and build your team around. So I think that special quarterback, I think he's one that unless they get a great deal, you know, the Raiders, I think, should probably have their guy. All right. Nick Baumgartner, we appreciate you stopping by. Go follow him on X, the senior writer and NFL draft analyst for the athletes. Thanks so much for your time, Nick. you've been fellas anytime

All right so that's Nick Baumgartner we're going to switch Cross things up if you will Back to the old NBA Because there's a commissioner there Adam Silver who has been Longer held it as maybe the favorite Of the commissioners

For a long time If you start looking around And obviously Goodell Obviously the other sports A hunk of metal comes to mind But Russ Dorsey He took off his chef hat And now he's going to put it back on

Because are we cooking Adam Silver, is that what's going on? I have thoughts. He's not sure that Adam Silver is the right guy to lead the NBA into the next decade or so. We will have those thoughts and more. It's Rahimi, Harrison Grotty on 104-3 the score.