Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Transition: Is it time for the Bears to move on from Tremaine Edmunds?

Episode Date: January 29, 2026

Marshall Harris and Mark Grote welcomed on Matt Spiegel and Dan Wiederer for the daily transition segment.

Every time I forgot to put lotion on my ankles, I think about that one photo of Kevin Durant's ashy ankles. I had 35 on 12 shots that night. That is way more important than my ashy ankles. I don't know. He's all about the ashyness. That's Kevin Durant. As we wrap up, Rahimi, Harris, and Grody on the score. Thank you to the people who participated in the show, who listened to the show, who watched the show,

including our producers, Ray Diaz and Tyler Buehderbaugh doing a great job like they do. Thank you's to the great work of our video producers, Connor O'Donnell, Jacob Stutz, and Max Curtis. Our guests were great today. We had Clay Harbor bringing in bullet points. He had a three-part plan that he brought us today. He was great in the noon hour. Ricky O'Donnell out here throwing haymakers.

I mean, just swinging for the fences. He's really good. Wow. I mean, like, I felt like a lot of people needed that. Ben Verlander was on the show today. I asked him about Justin of the Verlanders, and he's still available. He's still out there, Spee. I didn't know you had that conversation.

I'm a fan of Justin of the Verlanders. Just sign him and let him start pitching in July, and then he can be a weapon for you in the fall. Oh, there'll probably be a lot of teams who will be thinking that way. That is the voice right there of Matt Spiegel, one half of the Spiegel and Holmes show, and Dan Weiderer. He's back for more. He did four hours of radio yesterday. Welcome in to Spiegel and Dan Weederer, gentlemen. Hi.

Hi. Hi. How are you? Good. You're doing okay? You're recovering nicely. Ready for more. Okay.

More what? More all of it. More all of it. You guys, a couple of Take the North podcast buddies. Well, not really. Not really. As I just told Dan, I was like, don't worry. Don't worry Mr. Radio TV.

We got the podcast covered. But Mark Podash will be joining me on Take the North today. Oh, I like that. Come on. Which Dan endorses heavily. That's tremendous. I do. We did a good Potsy impersonation off air the other day when we were setting this up,

and he should be good today. Yeah, yeah, I never thought about it. A lot of people think that, you know, it's crazy. I think about this stuff, but I think about this stuff all the time. That's our guy, Mark Potters. He's a delightful man. He is a delightful man. So we'll get his hot bears takes here in a second.

I saw you react a certain way when I mentioned Ricky O'Donnell and throwing the fire in the punches today. He's a delightfully acerbic man. but I'm interested in where he is because he was feeling it the way I was feeling it during the 5-0 start when I was like, hey, look at this, the system is the star, and they really got a thing, and Billy's coaching his ass off, and maybe this is going to be a little different. And then, and then here we are. He says our tourists should be fired. He said that several times.

He says the Bulls are the worst team in the NBA that is trying to compete. He said that the Bulls have the worst contract in – who was the contract? Patrick Williams. Oh, yeah, Patrick Williams. It's not the worst. There's some bad contracts out there. So if they're worse than him, it's because they're hurt. It's because the players hurt.

So he's the worst actively playing contract. He's out there. You see him every game. And what's he doing? Nothing. I mean, he's had a few good games this year. When I say good games, I have severely lowered the bar to what a good game looks like. Yeah, save it.

We have a guest on our show this afternoon at 325. That guest's name is. Marshall Harris. No, I understand what he was doing. So don't, we're not going to talk Bulls here in transition. We're not going to do it. Fair enough. Because I did this yesterday with Jay Zawaski.

This was my big and bright idea. This is the kind of wacky sports idea that gets you on all sorts of lists. So this was my big idea was that I want people to come in and make the case for why we should pay attention to their team now that the bears are done. So Jay Zawaski gave us the state of the rebuild. He gave us an overall holistic answer on the state. day to the rebuild and why the Blackhawks are viewable. And that's what we have coming up interestingly timed

today. After that loss last night, at 325, Marshall Harris. Of course they waited until today to ask the question. Because today, wait until like after the Derek Rose game, I'm cooking them. Hey, by the way, after the win in Minnesota, you're cooking them. Could have been any time. So did do it today? Did Jay Zawaski inspire

you guys? Are you guys often running into the Blackhawks now? Is that that all it took? cleared out my schedule. We're going all blackhawks all the time. I want to know if it worked. It actually warmed my hockey heart. Did it?

To talk to Jay Zawaski. First of all, he's a warm and lovely guy. He and I share a lot of wonderful hockey history, having worked together for much of the Black Hawks dynasty. But yeah, you know what he said, which really actually resonated with me? Is that, you know, we're used to, the last time when the Hawks were really good,

Taves and Kane were like the final pieces. like, oh my God, they got these kids. And now they can add that to Seabrook and Duncan Keith and some other infrastructure that was here. But Dard was the first piece for this. So they're slowly building everything else around him. And now we're at a point where the infrastructure is kind of built up. And then Kyle Davidson talked today and said, like, you know,

he feels like the team has made a nice big step. So, yeah. All right. Jay got me a little bit. Okay. And so Marshall will be joining you guys later on today to see if he can do the same thing, right? Good luck, Marshall. Yeah.

We're all counting on you. Listen, I understand how recency bias works. I understand. But I'm looking forward to it. Good. All right, good. So yesterday, I heard you guys talking about doing the quick yes or noes on guys on whether or not they would be back. Did you disagree with any of them?

It was a tough exercise. I think in the heat of the moments, it's hard to like, like, Tremaine Edmins. Yeah, for instance, that's what we did at 5 o'clock. It was a good conversation. Went down like seven or eight different bears on whether they'd be back or not. And Dan Weider, who knows stuff, as opposed to me, just went ahead and weighed in. and we discussed. Yeah, no.

I put myself in your position and I'm like, like if you're really doing the yes or no thing, like there's obviously nuance and there's a discussion to be had, but just going along with the exercise, it's getting harder and harder to make a case for a guy like Tremaine Edmonds in terms of the needs and the position. It's not an elite position. That's a off-the-ball linebacker.

That's a Matt Eber Fluescott. Like when they really, and they brought DJ Edwards and Tremant Edmonds were two decent signings. They really were. But is there room at the end for these guys? And you've extended TJ already, so you've already allocated more money there and more years there. And so it's complicated. And it is an illumination of how difficult this off-season is going to be for the Bears. It is.

And like if we're really looking at linebacker specifically, and we talked about this a little bit earlier, one of the good things is or one of the areas where if you wanted to let Tremaine Edmonds go or do things differently in your linebackers' room, the Bears did show that their depth is decent. in DeMarco Jackson doing what he did when he got a chance. In Amad Ogbog, Bog, Bamega, and a couple of games. I know he wasn't always active, but he had a couple of double, at least one double-digit tackle season. But the problem is that T.J. Edwards, who has two years left on his deal, by the way, at 10.8 mill for each year.

Yeah. While Tremaine Edmonds has just one year left on his deal at 17.4, and you had the dead cap would be like nine. They could save 15 under the cap. They could save 15 under the cap. Which allows you to go make some other investment. Right, and so TJ's already under contract, but the problem is he's hurt and was kind of slow before that because of the little injuries. You have no idea what TJ you're getting. I felt like that was an issue, though, of him just trying to come back so quickly and not being in full short.

I mean, let's be honest, guys, you get to the back quarter of any NFL season. Ain't nobody moving at full speed or very few people are moving at full speed. Yeah, but he's 30 years old. Yeah. And he's never been explosive athletically to begin with. That's not been the profile. He's a smart linebacker. Right, no, he's not slow.

He's kind of like, I don't want to get crazy here. Reminds me a little bit of Lance Briggs, because Lance Briggs didn't have crazy Erlacker speed, but he was quick, and he knew exactly where to be, and he was a sound tackler. Another wrinkle to all this is the ability to do some of what Dennis Allen did in the playoff loss, which was go dime, and use your defensive backs to be weapons, right?

And do the different things with your safeties and your slot corner and do some of that stuff. And so then that opens up this door of, do you really want a whole ton of depth of the linebacker when you could maybe allocate it elsewhere where you've got playmakers and guys that can do some things when you get really creative, which they did very well in that Rams game. I like DBs who can tackle, I'll tell you that. Absolutely.

And how much of that is happening around the league? Because there was a while where nickel wasn't happening and then nickel has become pervasive, but those are actual positions. I wonder what the percentage of dime defense is over the last three, four years in the NFL. It's a good question, yeah. And the evolution of it all as teams became more run heavy again. And now you get the ebb and flow of all of it over five-year periods. And it's going to be really interesting to see which way this goes.

Yeah. Because only the really smart, facile coaches can do it like Sean McVeigh did and just go to three tight ends on a dime. Literally a dime to pivot like that. And like the Bears did on that two-point conversion in the Packers game, where they got the Packers and heavy personnel. Yeah. Spread everybody out. Both the two tight ends. One went wide one way, one the other way.

Jimmy touchdown. Yeah. My favorite part about this is Ryan Poles' words finally coming to fruition two years later. It is going to be really hard to make this roster. It is. Harder to make the roster, and it's going to be harder to make upgrades, too, because you've got a lot of money invested, and the draft capital is not where it was. You know, we're not used to having a first-round pick in Chicago that's not in the top ten.

You guys are going to be waiting a long time on Thursday night of draft weekend to hear who the Bears pick. You can argue the biggest key for this year, coming forward is going to be getting just the same production you got out of this past year's draft class in this one. If you can get cheap labor like that, you're in really good shape. And that's what, you know, three or four

guys ended up the season hurt. That's why we, at some point in time during our show, like one of our themes was, okay, really good, what you did, like just talking about the offensive players, Colston Loveland, on his way. But more. Now more. Luther Bird and the 3rd, really good.

Awesome season. Really, like, maybe even a rep, give a little more now. A little more. Like, Roma Dunesay, a lot more. Like, Roma Dunesay is one of those guys who, I can't say going into next year, I know exactly what he is as a receiver. I know he's not bad. That's not where I'm going with it.

But is he a guy that was worthy of being drafted in the top 10? That I don't know yet. But to continue on with the theme and the motif, more, more from all of these guys. And that keeps you from having to go outside the best. building and say, yeah, we still need to bring in somebody who can give you more. There's more to be had out of these players. And ultimately, you're going to have to hopefully get those guys to second contracts, which then means that you have to be looking ahead with foresight of, oh, yeah, we're going to want Colston here for a second contract. We're going to want Rome here for a second

contract. We're going to want Caleb here for a second contract, which that's the one where it's that's the big one, because it is like, that's going to be very, very cost-heavy. And that's why I'm okay with kicking the proverbial can down the road under Caleb's rookie contract, because if you can restructure some stuff and figure out how to do that, it just gives you more flexibility right now. And because once he signs a deal, it's going to be Patrick Mahomes territory. You got to make it happen, Caleb, because we can't afford all these playmakers. Yeah, 100%. I'm like, you have to then become the number one pick. I looked at my first NFL mock draft today.

Oh, wow. Are we there? We're there, man. I got the email from NFL.com. Bucky Brooks is out. Then I realized Daniel Jeremiah's has been out. So the two of them are right there in the top 50 prospect list. It's like, yeah, it's a draft.

Mock draft 1.0 is out and I look down and there's an Ohio State defensive tackle in Bucky Brooks's draft going to the Bears. Daniel, I believe, has the Oregon safety going to the Bears down at their pick. And I just was looking and I saw that, did you guys watch Washington play at all this year? I watched him a little bit, Washington, the University of Washington. Not much. They got a wide receiver named Denzel Boston, who I just absolutely

freaking loved. Great name, by the way. It's very strong. It feels like, because it feels like David Boston and other... Daryl Boston. Denzel Ward and Daryl Boston's

like all these guys. It's very footbally. But they have him going last to Seattle. And he is a Romadunesay clone physically. He's a big-bodied classic X like supposed to be a goal line weapon. I've watched that guy and he's been awesome

because you, as you just put it out there, Grotes, and you said, Romo Dundzee had a time, top 10 wide receiver talent doesn't look like it yet. Not yet. Like I'm still, like I've got a lot of patience still. Like another full year.

He was hurt. Who knows how? Because that foot injury was from the beginning of the season. It didn't sort of reerrupt. He didn't miss games for it. Multiple foot injuries. It's important to note multiple foot injuries. Those are from Rome's own words.

The injury that bothered him early was not the one that bothered him through December. The good news is, I suppose, is that from the time that that game ended, he's been feeling it. He has been hurting, not physically necessarily, but emotionally over that game. I mean, I straight up, I gave him an out because one of our colleagues, as we were walking to the locker room, said, are you sure that ball wasn't tipped that Roma Dunesay dropped in the end zone? I was like, oh, I didn't see that because he thought it was a wobbler. So I brought that up to Roma.

I was like, hey, did that ball get tipped or something? I was making excuses for the guy. And he's like, nope, I messed up. And he's basically been saying that in his exit interview, his final day at Hallis Hall, all that. He's basically been saying that since the end of the time. season so speaks he knows he knows he knows bears have pick number 25 if you want to host on the clock this year just saying spigel just come out and saying all right i love it i love it i might be i mean but it's been a while since they drafted down at 25 right like the years that they

that they haven't had their first round pick they've just been out of the first round all together so you just ignore Thursday and now it's like oh i got to stay up 10 30 so guess what at 25 that might be the first safety off the board sure you know like at 25 my might be the third or fourth defensive tackle at that point. But like if you're thinking about, you know, the edge rusher, that might be the seventh edge rusher off the board. I was thinking about that as soon as – and so you bringing up the mock drafts, that's just another beautiful thing about this particular season is that because you're in the

playoffs and you're thinking about other things, other teams have been thinking about other fan bases. Tony's giving about this for two months. That's why I brought it up, man, because it hit me today. I'm like, wow, I haven't given a crap about that. It's senior bowl week. It's Thursday. Right.

I mean, I'm so used to doing a much. Monday segment from Senior Bowl in the afternoons here. It did freak me out a little bit, listening to your segment at 5 o'clock and just playing along with you guys. And I probably might have ended up with the same conclusion, but it did freak me out that you guys left the covered bearer of the starting safeties. You guys both had, well, I don't know, speaks, maybe you. I know you, Dan, at least had Bayard and Bristker, Gonzo.

I need Bayard here. You said Bayard stays. I would like Byard here. I know you would, but you were being realistic, though. tag, I'm worried about the price tag. And Kevin, in his own words, in locker cleanout day, saying, like, I've got one more opportunity, really, to go, you know, make the best for my family here coming off an all pro year.

So you're not just going to take a low-ball deal just because, right? Like, Kevin wants to win. He's going to play for a contender next year. You hope it's the Bears, but there's going to be other suitors. So the question is, do you feel like you've set a culture enough to withstand the loss of a guy who helped you set the culture? That's a great question. Perfectly put. It really is.

It's a team captain. It's a team captain that produced also. And if we're talking about Tremaine Edmunds, not potentially, that's another guy who was great for the Bears locker room this year. Grady, Jared is a big voice. I'm just talking about guys that are left in the locker. Jared will have to go from one level to the next. You know, Joe Tooney, we don't hear from Joe Tuny a lot,

but I get the feeling, Dan. I don't know if you did, that he was well respected by his peers in that locker room. Well, respected, very different leadership style than tired. He's very quiet. Also, Protector of the Year finalists, one of the six finals for Protector of the Year. year. But who's in your defensive backroom that helps you set that culture if you let Kevin Byer go, Al Harris, who might be staying here?

Sean Wright, if he's back. I don't know if he's going to stay here. He's talking about having to pay a pretty penny for something compared to what you paid this year. Sean Wright is at the top of the list of guys. You have to be like, he's probably not going to be bad because he really needs the payday. Correct. Well, then Jalen Johnson's like he's got.

Should be. Jalen Johnson is who he is probably at this point, but it might have to go. I'm not saying that's bad by any means, but he might have. have to take more responsibility for the second day. What I do think is this coaching staff and this front office understands the value of those kinds of leaders. And so they won't just let a guy like that go in KB without being like, okay, we've got other answers that can provide that leadership pulse.

Ryan Poles name-checked Kevin Byrd. He wasn't name-checking people on defense, but he name-checked Kevin Byard in terms of bringing guys back. That told me everything I needed to know. Well, he acknowledges the desire to. Right. And then you've got to figure out, does that price tag work? Yeah, I mean, Poles was like, it's no secret.

I think it's the way he phrased it. There's no secret. I think I asked him the question about Brisker and Byer. And Bayer was the only one who did speak. Brisker by name is my point. Yeah, he said, you all know, paraphrasing, how much affection that we have for Kevin Bayer, the player, the leader. Yeah, but he also said they have four safeties coming out.

He did tell me that. He did tell me that. He did. I huddled up with him afterwards. I said, how dare you correct me during a press conference? I said that to him. No, no, he was right to say that. Elijah Hicks is still there.

And by the way, Jonathan Owens. Yeah, and Jonathan Owens, I wish Eliza Hicks was more prominent because he would be a good leader. Like, really, I don't know how much you talked to him, Dan. Yeah, no, he's vocal. Maybe that's part of it. He's energetic, but he's been primarily, he's been a special teamer and then a guy that can come in and buy an emergency start, which he's done pretty well. Like, you haven't felt awful when Elijah Hicks has had to start. Well, maybe if you've got out of Harris back and you're going to resign Elijah Hicks and then you draft one,

Bucky Brooks has two safeties going in the first round and you entrust that guy, then maybe you're rebuilding a culture and you can do it that way. Here's what's going on on the show today. We will check in on the Hall of Fame business. We want to know how Operation Shame the Voters Out of the Shadows is going. Alex has a spreadsheet that we will update. We're going to meet Coach Dan.

Coach Dan Reederer is, we're going to find out what kind of coach he is. We've heard rumors. We've heard stories about Coach Dan, and there's a local Chicago athlete who ties in very nicely to that. Talk about that Bears coaching staff and the personality mix at the top of the hour. At 325 Mars Hall Harris. Mars Hall Harris will be in here and he's going to make the case on the Bulls.

Dave Wonstead will be here at 4 o'clock and this just in. One more person to come on the score and talk about the late great Terry Boers. Dan McNeil will be on the show today at 5 o'clock. Danny Mack will be on the show today. at 5 o'clock. So looking forward to that amongst everything this afternoon. Guys have a great show,

and Spiegel and Holmes are coming up next. Alex Coon is here. Tanny's Open gets us rolling next on the score. And this segment's brought to you by DeZone.