Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Should veteran pass rusher Bradley Chubb be on the Bears' radar?

Episode Date: February 17, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Mark Grote discussed whether the Bears should pursue veteran pass rusher Bradley Chubb in free agency after he was recently released by the Dolphins.

Rahimi Harrison Grody, Midday's Tyndall 2 on Chicago Sports Radio, 1043, the score. That attracted the attention. Alan is sacks. Chubb jumped on top of them. Bobby! That was a sack by Bradley Chubb. Careful, phrasing. This is Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 104, 3.

the score. And as much as our listeners and we all love to dare to dream, we talk about Max Crosby all the time. And did somebody say Max Crosby? No. We're talking about Bradley Chub this time. We will be talking about

Max Crosby at noon. I got five on it. We will be talking about Max Crosby. What we guarantee on the show is we are never more than a couple hours away from talking about Max Crosby. Shout out to all the Max andistas out there. Text us. 3-1-2-6-4-6.6.6. 6767 if you are a Maxenista.

What's up with these Maxinistas? Yo! We don't want to punch you in the face, though. Unlike, like, tornadoes and other natural disasters. That's a big callback to a show that doesn't exist anymore. Oh, I hate tsunamis. Multiple shows that don't exist anymore. I just want to kill him.

I just want to punch him in the face. Yo! It's a tsunami. I hate it. Snobami. Oh, no. And now, we are random FM morning show talking about natural disasters.

Hey, how you doing it, everybody? Hey, man, did you hear about this natural disaster that just happened? I mean, read about a crack in the earth. Apparently, it's called a fault line. I hear those help make volcanoes and stuff. I just get down to the ground and just start punching it. Now, I know that technically volcanoes make them, and sometimes they all come from, you know, the core and stuff, but just go with us on this.

One thing that is kind of tectonic in the NFL is the fact that the Miami Dol have a lot of money that they are unloading from their team. It's not just Bradley Chubb. It's also Tyree Kill. This is, by the way, franchised tag day in the NFL, so we've got to keep an eye on that today. Just in case, you just want to see who is of value to a lot of the teams in the league. But Bradley Chubb is reportedly going to be available. So that is the situation when it comes to the 29-year-old free agent.

he will soon to be a free agent. It's a pre-June 1 move. Miami will incur $23.8 million in dead money while saving $7.3 million. That is what you call not ideal when it comes to the cap math. Are we considering cap math here? I think a little bit,

because I feel the same way about the likelihood of a big name pass rusher for the Bears when it comes to the discussion surrounding Chubb and around Max Crosby. According to the cap percentages on SpotRack for 2026, this is apt to change at any time. We know with the restructure or whatever. When I combined the cap space that Dio O'Dangbo, Grady, Jared, and Montez-Swez contracts take up,

just those three combine, it's 21.27% of the Bears cap space. I don't know how you look at any of these scenarios and not understand. that that's staring you in the face. There's only so much you can restructure. And even then, you still got to pay people. I'm really glad you because we're going to get into that, too, later on with Kevin Fishbane. I mean, he laid it all out, like the potential release candidates,

contract restructuring candidates, but the point is well taken. The bears are over the cap right now. They are in the red. They don't have the room right now with which to work. Now, they can finagle some things to get there. As far as Bradley Chubb is concerned, look, this guy, it's pretty simple with him. When he's healthy, he's good. But there have been five seasons where he played eight or fewer games.

That's the concern right there. But when you can go through his career and when he's played, he has been a winner getting to the quarterback. Now, I don't know if you consider the eight and a half sacks that he had last year, but he did play in 17 games last year. The year before that, he got skunked. He played in zero games. ACL, right? I believe you're right.

Yeah. 11 sacks, though, the year before when he played in 16 games. And then in 2022, he played in it. So when he plays, he's good. He is a 29 years old. So he's still like presumably in the prime of his career. So I like him if you get past the fact that he is, he will miss a season. He will miss games and a lot of games.

He's had, I think, for all the concerns about Max Crosby's injuries, Bradley Chubb has also had very concerning injuries. You know, I think there's a difference when we're talking about a meniscus versus an ACL. I'm not a doctor. I don't play one on TV. But what is more severe than the other? For example, and that's not to say that both injury histories are concerning. But when you consider Chubb's injuries compared to a guy like Crosby,

I think the relative value will show that Crosby is still considered a better value. But Chubb is the recipient of good timing. You know, he has had a couple of very good years. The two full seasons that he did have with the dolphins in 23 and 25, 20 sacks total, eight force fumbles. Like that's a big part of this, as we love takeaways talking about the Bears' defense and their success they've had. And then 117 tackles too.

Yeah, that's a robust body of work. but it's two out of three. And that's what makes it tough. Yeah. I like him on the overall, though. Like if he's a yes for me, like if you're asking like the production that he can provide overrides for me. And it's worth mentioning,

but it does override the potential injury risk with a player like that at that age. What about the fact that he also played all 17 games after the ACL? Yeah, that's a great point. There was no rest there. There was no reset. There was no setback. Zero and 20. all 17 games last year.

That's big for what teams are going to consider right now. No doubt about it. I also got to watch his first training camp because back then, if you remember, in 2018, the Bears had a, what do you call it, mixed practice? Joint practice. Joint practice. A mixer.

A social. Where everybody gets in a fight. Let's all get to know each other. That was great because we got to cover practice in beautiful Colorado. Had a lovely time. I remember hanging out. City by the bit.

Oh, yeah. I remember, for some reason, I remember riding through the hills with Adam Johns and Patrick Finley. We went to the Red Rocks place and all that. Oh, yeah, it was just absolutely low. Oh, I've always wanted to do that. Yeah, it was cool. That's so cool. That concert venue.

Oh, yeah, I've wanted to go there as well. The acoustics I hear are top notch. I think Cypress Hill is doing Red Rocks this year, by the way. Really? That's a Mark Grody interest. Totally. Totally. That's a, you mentioned Take the North.

That's a Take the North band right there. TTIN. Because TTF, because we famously, famously said the bears aren't going out like that. Famously, everybody knows that we said that. That's right. You know who I'm very glad you also asked Cole Commet whether or not he thought the counting crows were going. I did. I did ask him that.

And then he came back at you with the hot take of he didn't like the weekend. About which I am with him on that. There's just something about that doesn't calculate. When you know me, I listen to and give new music a fair chance. There's a lot of new music that I like. Nobody loves B96. I don't dislike them at all. They are definitely on my preset.

You know who I think would be with us on the It's All Coming Back to Me Now, World Series Talk? You know who I think we get the bit? Who? Ryan Dempster. Oh, yeah. Don't you think? I feel like he would get the Celine Dion reference.

I think he would because he was a big part. He was around that 26. He was on the airplanes. He was hilarious. fellow Canadian. He was the guy on the Cubs championship team and during that year that just made everybody smile and laugh because he's Ryan Dempster.

I guess we got to see if it's all coming back to him now next.