Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Best of the Bears: Chicago has defensive weaknesses to address in NFL Draft

Episode Date: March 28, 2026

In the Best of the Bears this week, Marshall Harris and Mark Grote discussed how Chicago can address its defensive holes in the NFL Draft and examined general manager Ryan Poles' history in drafting players on that side of the ball; Matt Spiegel and Laurence Holmes discussed the state of the Bears' defensive tackle position; and Leila Rahimi and Grote discussed how quarterback Caleb Williams could become quite the recruiter for the organization.

Thanks, everybody. The Bears. You're listening to the best of the Bears. He's it for the touchdown. And the Chicago Bears have taken the league. A weekly mix of 670, the score's best NFL talk to get you ready for game day. Philosophically, I feel the same.

It's going to be the best player available. I know that may not be the most popular thing. Because people see kind of like on my board have yellow tags where we need to fill in. but at the same time, I do believe, especially in early rounds like one, you really got to stick to best player available. We saw that last year. I know there's a lot of questions.

You got Cole, why would you take Colston? I think we found out that it helped us along the way. So we'll continue to lean in that philosophy. Welcome back into Rahimi Harris and Grotie Ryan Poles, the general manager of the Chicago Bears at the Combine. He'd got it right last year. He did. Best player of.

available. I don't blame him for pointing to his 2025 resume and say, see, we did it. We took the best player available, and he's right. It was a little bit of a surprise that they went with Colston Loveland. Really, the big surprise was that they didn't go with Tyler Warren in that spot, but I think that we can all

agree that we're pretty happy with that. Luther Byrd in a second rounder, which probably took some people off guard as well, and then Ozzy Tripillo as well, one of those second rounders. So, yes, it was... It's a pillow. That's right, Chris. I'm a I do appreciate it.

This segment on Rahimi Harrison Grotty is being brought to you by almost free teeth.com save on dental implants today. Marshall, I think that we probably both agree that this is in the Ryan Poles era one of the more important drafts when it comes to the defensive side of the ball. Because for whatever reason, they haven't done a whole lot when it comes to beefing up specifically the defensive. defensive line and all parts of it, whether the interior, the defensive end, there has not been a splash made. And unless you are one of those that thinks that Dio Dengbo, that we ain't seen nothing yet, watch the film, let's see what he can do coming off of torn ACL, let's see what he can do. If Shamar Turner, a second rounder, if he is the truth with the energy that that guy has,

but you would agree that this is probably like he's got to hit on something on that defensive line this year in this draft where the Bears do have a couple of second rounders. Nobody hits all the time, but I will just want to really stress this. They hit last year offensively on the draft. And if they get something like that for defense this year, all's good in the world of Ryan Poles. The problem is I don't see the evidence that that's what's going to happen based on what we've seen through his picks. You talked about the interior, the defensive line, whether that's detackle, whether

that's edge rush, it just has not happened through the draft. Now, Austin Booker is someone to keep an eye on. I will say that, in fairness. He's someone to keep an eye on. He may take another leap in year three. And that's what they're expecting because they have to draft and develop. But if you just lay out the needs of the bears right now after that first wave of free agency and understanding what they need, both in the secondary at safety and upfront specifically, and maybe even at linebacker, depending on what they decide to do, who falls to what, where, and understand they have three picks in the first two rounds, I would imagine two at least of those picks would be defensive players.

And so they need to hit. And I'm just really concerned that offensively, Ben Johnson has been the North Star. Defensively, who is the North Star for the Bears within that organization with these specific needs that they have? Well, I guess down to San Alan, if we're going to do the coaching analogy that Ben Johnson is the offense as Dennis Allen is to the defense if he has that much say and what they're doing. Let me just go through here. You mentioned the drafting for Ryan Poles through the years on defense. Last year, I already mentioned Shamar Turner. Jury's still out.

I'm not going to sit here and predict that he's going to have 10 sacks and be a revelation, but he has a second round talent. I think that's fair, and clearly that's someone that Dennis Allen okayed because of his versatility because we've already seen him play on the inside and the outside on the defensive line. Right. So, actually I'm looking very forward to seeing what Shemar Turner is. If he stays healthy and he's full boat and he's

in the full rotation, that's a guy that I can't wait to see what the ceiling actually is. I'm just going through the defensive players that he's drafted. Ruben Hippolyte as a fourth rounder. The jury still way out. He's fast. He's really fast. That's about it. He's been unimpressive.

I mean, when I say unimpressive, He was a fourth rounder that at the time of the draft, everybody was saying, oh, they over drafted him. There's been nothing to let us know that that's not the case so far. Now, it was one year. It was limited duty. But when he got it, remember all the people that were hurt? Linebacker-wise, he never was able to step up and make an impact in that position. Right, you're right.

And that's a great point because you had A. Man, Ogbong, Mamiga, who stepped up. The Marco Jackson got himself a new deal with the Bears, you know, probably earned a, maybe earned a starting spot. this year. Jack Sanborn's back, right? Jack Sanborn is back! So when you add all that up, and I get it, he was only a rookie, and he was a fourth rounder, not a second or third rounder, but I would have expected more of an impact, and I'm very curious to see where the developed part of draft and develop comes up.

The other defensive player that they drafted last year was Zay Fraser, the cornerback, the very tall physical quarterback, who obviously had dealt with some personal issues last year. He was there. He was in the locker room. I saw him all the time. but let's see if he can make an impact. So that's none of that, nothing hits last year as far as the defense is concerned.

2024, you already mentioned it. Austin Booker was a fifth round pick for the Bears in that draft. He's your only hope from 2024. 2023, you had, all right, man, like jury is out on Jervon Dexter. Two guys, Jervon Dexter and Tyreek Stevenson, were both second round picks of the Bears in the year 2023. What I'll tell you is the jury has been sequestered, and now they are being forced to make a decision,

and they're not going to get to go home to their families until the decisions made. That's what 2026 is for Dervon Dexter. You would agree with that assessment? I would agree with that assessment, man. This is not a bad player. Trayvon Dexter, by any means, was he second in the Bears and sacks last year?

He's not a bad player. That's not a big number, by the way. I know. He has not made the impact he was expected to do, considering he was a second round pick and the size that this man has, which maybe has hurt him too with the leverage. But there's Drivon Dexter. Tyreek Stevenson, same deal. Wow, as he had an up and down career. He was my pick to be like their comeback player of the year after what went wrong in 2024. It didn't happen in 2025, but he still has time to show something, anything. Now, the guy that was drafted directly behind him, we know how that turned out.

right behind you're talking about Zach Pickens yeah yeah Zach Pickens yes Layla's favorite yes yeah Zach Pickens didn't quite work out I remember watching because that I was obviously glued to Jervon dexter and Zach Pickens it's pretty exciting when like multiple defensive linemen are taken right and so I was glued to those guys Zach Pickens for a while looked like the better product out of the two of those guys and then Zach Pickens just went down Hill. I don't know what the where are they now. Is he even in football anymore? He's got to be. Probably

still is. So that was the year 2023. Dexter Tyreeks Stevenson, Zach Pickin. So they went heavy, heavy on the defensive line that year in terms of the cost and the breadth of those picks. So again, this is, all GMs

are allowed to improve. And then his first year, polls his first year, he certainly hit on the defense, at least in the secondary. Kyler Gordon and Jaquan Briscoe were very good draft picks, second rounders. The only defensive lineman they took that year was Dominique Robinson, who was a fifth rounder who was no longer with the Bears, who got every opportunity. Terrific athlete, good locker room guy, but that did not work out.

See if things go better for him on a Houston Texan defense that's known to be stout, so maybe he fits in better with a bunch of guys who really are good at what they do already. Yeah, no doubt. And so you can conclude from this that Ryan Poles has struggled with, in terms of the draft, the defensive line. And one could argue as well that he has struggled in the guys that he has signed. I don't have that list in front of me, but we could play that game at some point in time as well. Let's better educate ourselves on the overall philosophy of the Bears when it comes to the draft, not just the offense, but the defense as well.

And the man to do it, the reason I need to point that out is because it is an offensive voice that we are going to hear from right here. Dan Rochhar is the Bears' offensive line coach, and he's going to provide insight on the overall process for the Bears. Rochard with Foster Swift Sports Talk discussed on their NFL draft process last year. In our short meeting, it's all about football. And the one thing that we want to get out of it is what's the knowledge of the player coming in? Does you really have a good foundation to learn? And every university is a little bit different, or college settings a little bit different, in the sense that some guys are coached at a really high level,

some guys maybe not as high level, maybe we've had multiple transfers from college to college to college and things are maybe just a little bit off. What's in there? So in that 15 minutes, you're trying to really hone in on in a short interview, hey, what's this guy's football IQ like? That's really what you're driving at. And speaking on last year, because, you know, we were in the market, we thought we were in the market to go early.

We had the 10th pick and all of that. went to Colston, which was a heck of a pick, we're all doing that as positions, coaches. That's really what we're driving at for our head football coach, our GM and those in the room to be able to go, man, this guy's got good football makeup. Or there's some real concerns. And the more concerns there are, the less clean they are, the more work you then have to do after the process. That's bringing them to campus for, well,

we call 30 visits. You get 30 prospects to come to campus and you can spend an entire day, meal setting, whatever those things are, to do more leg work. And then a process like this, where you're on Zoom, hey, how much more can we gather? And I always like to, you know, in the process, I always like to go back to if I know, if I know somebody that I really know at a college that's worked with the player and they can give me an insider information about what this like. Like, how's this guy handle injury? Is he going to be able to fight through it or are we going to be dealing with a guy that's, you know, in the clubhouse? Because the availability is so important in this game. That is the Bears offensive line coach Dan Rochard with Foster Swift

Sports Talk. I assume that that's a podcast that he was on. But anyway, it sounds to me, Marshall that he's talking I mean this that's all very smart stuff that go beyond the surface I don't know that that's necessarily unique because the thing that we've learned in the draft is that they want to know everything about these guys how smart they are who they hang out with who their girlfriend is or maybe I'm just talking about that movie what movie are you referring to is that the Kevin Koster special draft day yeah yeah yeah yeah and all that stuff. But I get where he's coming from.

You want to go deeper than just what the player does. What stood out to you there from Mr. Rochard? Whereas I'm listening to it, and it makes sense because I'm never turning down data. I'm never turning down more information on a player. And if you're a player on prospective coaching staff, a team and organization, I mean, go back to Caleb Williams' dad, right? He's trying to figure out all the nitty-gritty about the bears and how they ended up. you know, being a graveyard for a lot of quarterbacks over the course of a long period of time.

And the same certainly applies when you're talking about the millions of dollars and the hopes of your own livelihood depend on how good this player is at the next level. And so all of the stuff he talks about there, it's all well and good. But the bottom line is, do I trust your ability to evaluate defensively what's been going on? And that's a question talking about Ben Johnson, Ryan Poles, and ultimately Dennis Allen, because they're the players that he wants. And I point back to like the Dio Dingbo as an acquisition because he fit what Dennis Allen likes as far as traits despite not having necessarily the actual performance on paper documented of where it says, hey, he's really good at getting pressures, not so much sex, but we think we can turn the pressures into sex. That's a lot of hoping and wishing based on the actual contract that you gave him. He also likes versatility, obviously.

I mean, we've seen that with safety. It's already talked about it with Kobe Bryant, that he can play all sorts of different levels of safety. Heck, the guy used to be a cornerback. Even if you look at somebody like Shamar Turner, they can't decide where they want to use them. The beauty of, if I may use that for Diodangbo, especially when he was with the Colts,

he would bounce around the line. And you want that versatility with your players. It's just a matter of turning in into something real. Textor brings up something interesting. And you're always welcome to text us here on Rahimi, Harris and Grotie. 312, 644, 67, 67. We even pick up phone calls every once in a while. 312, 64, 67, 67.

From the 312, Tyreek is a safety, Tyreeks Stevenson, that is. you'll see an Edmund's type of production increase when he has changed positions. That's interesting to me because the other guy, who I actually should have mentioned as part of the Tyreek Stevenson draft two years ago, I guess that would have been in the year 2023. Terrell Smith was another guy. Don't forget about Smitty.

Smitty's still there. Smitty, the cornerback who Dave Wonstead once said, I'll never forget this because I was intrigued by his thought process. Dave Wonstead said that you could turn Torell. Smith, Smitty, into a safety as well. You think they got some funny stuff up their sleeves maybe this year? Or would that be wise? Or do you think it's just stupid and they should draft the safety?

Well, yes. They should draft the safety or it's just stupid and they should... Well, I think they should always be drafting for the future, even if that safety's not going to play this year. They don't draft for need, Marshall. They draft best player available. Best player available. Even though everybody's mocking safeties to the bears. If Dave wants that is saying it, and as long as it's a bruiser,

of a safety, I'm good with them taking a safety early, right? Like if it happens to be a first round safety, that dude better be a playmaker, though. That's my point with that first pick. If you're going to keep it and you're going to draft someone, it can't be someone you're debating about is he going to have an impact this season right away? He's got to be a dude. No doubt about it. Yeah.

Like we don't, and you said probably the most, no, no, this is the most important draft that Ryan Poles has had. Point blank and period. Because when he was drafting all the other times, he was trying to build towards a winning. He has a winner right now, on paper. They won the division last year. Now you've got to supplant that.

A lot of teams get to the mountaintop for a moment and then fall back down. His job now is to sustain it. And the players he takes defensively in this draft will determine whether or not they can keep this going. We're going to have more Bears talk today at 1 o'clock. market right now on your phone because we're going to be talking about Caleb Williams and which

quarterback tier he belongs in this year. He was towards the bottom last year in the preseason, at least according to Mike Sando, who is the quarterback tiers. He is on record with that that he's been doing for decades, or maybe not decades, but at least a decade. So we'll do that at one o'clock. Coming up next, we are going to talk with Richard Deich, who writes about the, the He does a podcast here on Odyssey called Sports Media with Richard Ditesch. The main reason that we wanted to have him on is because he just wrote this cool feature story on our friend, Kevin Harlan. We'll ask him what he learned about our guy who was a regular on this show. And there's just so much bouncing around in the broadcast area, whether baseball or the NCAA tournament or Charles Barkley or Bruce Pearl.

There are myriad things to discuss with him. Do you know where to find your games? Like every night when you're trying to find your games? your games. It's a game I liked it. This guy knows where all the games are. Richard Deich is next on Rahimi Harrison Grotie on The Score. Go in Odyssey Sports Station. The score! Get comfortable, being uncomfortable.

It's time for Ben's vision. Our mission starting this spring is to win and to win now. Projecting how the Bears roster will take shape under Ben Johnson. Ben's vision is going to be principle. These are the type of players that I need. That's the vision. If it doesn't fit Ben's vision, are you willing to move on with certain guys? Really enjoy hearing Ben's vision. Couried roster, free agents, and the draft.

Our entire organization's fired up about Ben Johnson and its vision for winning football. Ben's vision. I cannot wait to get to work with Spiegel and Holmes on 1043, the score. Ben's Vision is brought to you by Village of Bedford Park.com. Now's the time to envision your business in bedford. Park. And what we like to do for Ben's vision is we like to talk about the Bears position by position. We ranked them. We went through where there is a lot of need. And then we talked about how the Bears have looked under Ben Johnson at the positions that we are

discussing and what they might be looking for looking at going forward with the draft and with free agency. With the defensive tackles on the Chicago Bears, you have a few under contract at this point. You've got Javon Dexter, Senior, you've got Grady Jarrett, you've got Shamar Turner, who they also kind of moved outside for a little while before his injury, and then he got

a couple of new guys who are really depth pieces, Neville Gallimore and James Lynch. Do we count Dio in that group too, because he can and has been kicked inside? It's a good question. I suppose he's able to.

and he counts towards your depth and your options. We counted in the... I would say that he's... Motivated diio. Different guy. But he was signed to be a defensive end and he fits the profile of what a

Dennis Allen defensive end is, even if he does move in certain sub-packages. I think that is true. Alex Kuhn does a tremendous job scouting the college possibilities, but he also did a really nice job on the shared group document with the defensive tackles in delineating what Ryan Poles and Dennis Allen want from the position.

So Dennis Allen, he's not a guy who historically has had your Andrew Billings types. Which is why Andrew Billings is not going to work here anymore. Your Ted Washington types. 700 pounds of ass. Yeah. Like, your guys, you're space eaters. you're what I used to hear referred to as a Coke machine. Give me a Coke machine.

With legs. Yeah, with legs over there. That is not the Jerry balls of the world if we're going back. You're speaking my language. I know, right? But that's not what Dennis Allen has usually had. He wants guys who can shoot gaps and create disruption in the offensive backfield, whether they are the three technique or not the three technique.

Like for a while we had it, okay, the 3-Tech has to be able to do that and shoot that gap. And then the other guy can be your more classic nose. Now, Dennis Allen kind of wants both guys to be able to do both things and also wants to have guys that he can deploy on twists and stunts and play games that he loves to play on passing downs. Yes. And the thing is, is that I always wonder where I'm at right now with the position of defensive tackle, just from a pass-rushing standpoint, is where, are most quarterbacks uncomfortable and it seems to be when there is

pressure in their face, when there is a guard or center being pushed back into the pocket and you have to reestablish it. Now, we saw Caleb do one of the damnedest things ever in the game against the Rams where that exact thing

happened, which is why, like, you know what, at some point on an off day or something and maybe we can even do it tomorrow. Can we go back over that play? Here's why I want to do it. Because the Rams did everything right on that play. What do you need to do? Well, we're going to get pressure up the middle. What about your ends? Well, the ends have got to make sure that they keep rush lane integrity so that Caleb can't get to the outside and do something special. They did all of that. And then Caleb was like,

I'm going to turn and run, and then I'm going to flip my hips, turn back towards the end zone, and deliver a 52-yard pass to a wide-open, cold commets. Not many people in the league can do that. Not many people in the league could even attempt that. When a quarterback has to turn his back to the end zone that he's going to, that usually ends in disaster. You know that Sean McVeigh doesn't think the Rams did anything wrong, and they didn't. And Dennis Allen would like to have a similar kind of result on big plays like that. I neglected to mention Cantavius Street.

Yes. So look, all of a sudden, if you count Shemar Turner in that spot. And where is Cantavius Street? It's over in Ktown. So just a little west of Pulaski, but... Right over there by Colmar. Yeah, east of Cicero. Absolutely.

So they got six dudes there. So here's the thing. They've got a bunch of different dudes, and a lot of them are your... smaller kind of gap shooter types. So Alex is thinking that maybe indeed they are, if they're going to be looking at defensive tackle, they're not looking for another gap shooter, that maybe they are actually going to look for a space eater, a 300 plus pound dude. See, I want to discount that because of the history of Dennis Allen.

And the Brian Breezy of the world that he drafted, in Rankins, guys that are under 300 pounds from his time back in New Orleans that were seen as upfield gap shooters. I think that the problem is, like, you look at this class, and there are some really good players who are in the mold of that, like, run stuffing nose tackles. So do they, does he break the mold of that, or does he go after another gap shooting three tech? Well, here's another thing that I'm wondering, since we are now starting to put together a book on Dennis Allen, how hybrid do his defensive tackles have to be? Like, are they guys that are just going to play two downs? Are there guys that he wants out there for three downs? Because we saw him rotate a lot of guys on the defensive line.

And sometimes, I think, to great success until he found some. I know I'm mixing apples and grapes here, but we saw with Daniel Hardy, we saw him kind of get in there and do stuff, that he's been able to just kind of mix and match depending on where things stand. And I wonder how much of that you want to do with the defensive tackle.

Austin Booker, same thing, where Austin Booker was a rotational player. And then he did enough to say, no, you're going to be out there 70, percent of the time. I'm looking at the snap counts from 2026 and the bears on the defensive line at defensive tackle always played at least four guys. Always. And down the stretch, down the stretch, they played four guys more than 20 percent of the time. Chris Williams was mixing it in with Andrew Billings and Grady Jarrett and Javon Dexter Jr. There were times

earlier in the year where Jonathan Ford got mixed in, sometimes because of injuries, sometimes not. And the aforementioned Shemar Turner. So he's going to lean on four dudes. But it's an interesting thing to think about. So Shemar Turner is why I have this question. Because Shemar Turner strikes me as hybridy. Like, I'm not sure what position he plays. You look at the rest of the guys that have been brought in by this regime. James Lynch, Neville Gallimore. You look at a, a, Grady Jarrett. Those are smaller, quicker, defensive linemen that seem interchangeable. So all of the players that he has brought in so far have fit the mold of what history has said about what he values in defensive tackles. Well, Ryan Poles and Dennis Allen are now working together to fit

the Dennis Allen vision. As informed by the Ben Johnson vision, we've seen Ben have an effect, I believe, on the personnel choices at safety. Does he have effect on the personnel choices on the defensive line as the head coach? Can he effectively change how Dennis Allen has done things in the past? It's really interesting because Grady Jarrett's making $18 million this year, 18.9, as a matter of fact. All the other defensive linemen are cheap by NFL standards. James Lynch is at a 1.1. Cantavia Street is at a 1.2. that'll buy you a nice piece of property over on

Cadavius Street. Shamar Turner on the rookie deal at 1.6. Dexter on the final year of his rookie deal at 2.1. Neville Gallimore up at 4. They're not spending a lot of resources there on the defensive line other than Grady Jarrett's money. I wonder

if Grady Jarrett is a candidate to restructure. Like just looking at it without going too deep into the contract because they could use some cash, right? They all also need some cash. They could use some cap cash, is what I'm saying.

And he's a $19 million cap hit for this year. So is it possible that you say to him, well, let's make that a bonus? And if we have the money, if they have the cash available to do it. It's conceivable. That is certainly conceivable. What's odd is like, I don't know what they're going. to do anything money-wise. Like, I haven't even considered looking at the available free agents on the

defensive line. A lot of the big names are gone anyway. Whether it was John Franklin Myers, who people had dreams about, he's gone. Love that law firm. You know, I mean, there's a lot of dudes at D.T. that are gone. Even some of the lower-end dudes are now gone. But some of the bigger names, like Javon Hargrave was suddenly available. I thought, oh, is this an opportunity to pounce on that? No.

So are they done with free agent acquisitions of consequence? I think they are, Spee. I think that what you're talking about now is you're adding more lottery tickets. You're adding like, hey, you know, this guy, he might turn into something in our system with our coaching. And that's what they did with Cantavia Street, Neville Gallimore, and James Lynch. Yeah. So, I mean, so that's the way that they're looking at it. It's kind of crazy.

Alex, are there players that you like for them? Yeah, I think that there are players that fit the mold of what Dennis Allen is looking for. And if we're just looking in the top 60, where they have two picks, or three picks in the top 60, I think one of the names that has been mocked to them the most is Peter Woods out of Clemson. At six, two and a half, two hundred ninety eight pounds. He played at three 15 last year. And he is one where if you're watching him, you're racking your brain at the tape. and Matt Miller said he's the most polarizing player in the entire class because if you look at 2015,

he looked terrible. But if you look, or 2015, 2025, he look terrible. If you look at 2024, he looks much better. And all of the Clemson players on the defensive side of the ball went through this. And the reason that he, the reason that I think that he in particular has the ability to look more like 2024 is the way that he was used. Last year, he got almost half, of his snaps at nose tackle, and he just didn't, doesn't have the length and the ability to take on double teams to play that position effectively. But in 2024, his first game of the year, he, they're, uh, Clemson's playing Georgia and he's lined up at defensive end. He got a hundred and 222 snaps in 2024 at defensive end. And some thought he may be a candidate to be a top five

pick going into this year. Now, his, his stock tumbled because of his, his stock tumbled because of his utilization, I would feel comfortable if they took him at 25. But if they don't, there's another player that fits the mold of what they're looking for. And that's Grayson Halton out of Oklahoma. He's more of a three tech who's undersized and can really disrupt, right? Yeah. And both of these guys are in that same mold. So I think those are the two names to keep an eye out on.

If, in fact, the Bears decide, you know, what, this defensive tackle class is not loaded with what we want. So we have to use one of those first three picks on one of them. 25, 57, and 60. I've been expecting all three of those to be defense. I know this is a question that we have all at some point answered over the last two years. What is a three technique? No. Well, yes, but no. How much faith do you have in Jervon Dexter. Because he had a decent year last year from a production standpoint. I've always felt like he was mismatched for what Iber Flues is running, but that's not

what Dennis Allen is running. Is this a better fit for him? And can he be more effective in what it is they do now under Allen than he was with Iber Flues? I don't have any more momentum on the here comes Javon Dexter breakout train. I don't, there's no more fuel. available for said train for me. I mean, maybe there are for others, but I thought last year we might have seen more.

I thought the year before that, we might have seen more. I'm at the point where I'm, I just think Jervon Dexter is what he has shown us, which is intermittently effective and productive. Alex? Yeah, I think that you have to bring in some sort of insurance policy in case he's not a good fit for this defense. And I think that the concern right now is, He doesn't quite do exactly what Dennis Allen wants from that position.

Jeez. So I think you have to take somebody at this position in the draft, whether it is early or whether you're using one of those fourth round picks or even a couple of those seventh round picks. Just to be clear, on the free agent list, there are still a few dudes, whether it's the former saint David Aniamis. who is age 33, whether it is DJ Reeder, the former Lion and Bengal, who does remain available. Like, there are a few dudes like that. Jonathan Bullard, another former saint, among others.

Like, there's some dudes at the Interior Defensive Line Spot that are still out there and could be available post-draft. But free agent signings have dried up considerably, and here we are. And we know that this is a defense that did struggle against the run last year. Don't you think there's a misnomer or there's a that the way you stop the run is by getting big fat guys and putting them in the middle. Like they help. They really do help. But it's a group thing.

Like the way that Kobe Bryant and the safeties are going to attack the run now, the way that the linebackers are going to attack the run now. And using speed. Like it is a group effort, a group tackling effort to stop the run. It's interesting that last year the Bears, they did take their mentality to the place of, we want to take the ball away. Now can they add to that and go, let's also rally to the football in the run, that everyone's got to be accountable. Everyone has to be a part of this thing. I do think, and I know this is a lot to put on one player, I do think Kyler Gordon not being available, played a big role in their run defensive problems. know that people be like, well, wait, he's a nickel.

Yeah, but he's a willing one. A willing tackler, a guy that comes up and make plays who isn't afraid to get up there and get his nose bloody to come up and make tackles. Him not being there, I don't think was great for them overall. It starts up front and I'm not abdicating responsibility to the defensive line. I'm just saying that one of their better tacklers was not available. And then when you saw him return, you saw the type of. impact that he can have. Yeah, I think that is true. I think that is true. And I think he had a big effect on Dennis Allen's strategic thinking, which affected everything. All right, so Alex has given

us a couple of good names. We know that there are some free agents available, and we'll have to see how the draft is going to play out on the defensive tackle. Everybody comfortable here? Do we need to say anything more about Neville Gallimore or James Lynch or Contagius Street? No, I just think that it has to be stressed that Dennis Allen wants to use. use these guys in stunts, jumping from gap to gap. Stunts, dog. He wants to use them lining up at different positions. He wants to play games with the offensive line, and he needs defensive tackles athletic

enough to do it. I love it. That was Ben's vision, and it's brought to you by Village of Bedfordpark.com. Now's the time to envision your business in Bedford Park. now we come to the part of the show that is a little uglier than most segments. We have to again dissect the relationship between Frank Thomas and the White Sox. If you haven't heard, Frank has filed a lawsuit against the White Sox. And we are going to discuss that next here on the score.

How do you score the Cubs? I score the Cubs on 104-3 FM. Listen to Pat and Ronin, crystal clear quality is next level. Getting loud at Wrigley. I score the Cubs on my smart speaker at home. Whatever I'm doing around the house, Pat and Rodner with me. Can you believe it? I score the Cubs right on my phone on the Odyssey app.

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Mark Rodi jamming out. Laylorahuey with you. And we listened to what Kobe Bryant, the Bears biggest free agent acquisition so far, had to say to Kay Adams regarding the business of the Bears, how he came to be with the team, and once again reiterated the feeling of being wanted. And I think part of the reason he liked this option for him,

coming from an excellent Seattle defense, which we've discussed. He himself had a very good year. A lot of fans are excited about this acquisition. Is not just because of him being wanted, but who he was going to work with. So we knew that part of the reason Ben Johnson, the hottest name in the coaching carousel of the cycle, whatever you want to call it, the offensive genius who left Detroit's building, we knew that a major, major reason why he chose to come here. was because he wanted to work with Caleb Williams.

Well, he's not the only one. Listen to what Kobe Bryant had to say. It's always tough leaving, you know, Seattle. Just what we've built for the last two years with Coach Mike, you know, all those are my brothers. You know, like I said, that was definitely the toughest thing about it, you know, leaving those guys. But just like you said with, you know, Kelly Williams,

just the special talent he is, the leader he is. he actually reached out to me. He was the first person to reach out to me when I did sign. And we were texting back and forth, you know, just catching up, getting to know each other and stuff like that and just, you know, telling him, you know, what we could build and, you know, just going off of that. And, you know, just for him reaching out to me meant a lot, honestly.

You know, me playing safety, him being quarterback and, you know, him recognizing my game and vice versa. Elite talent, he's just scratching the surface. Honestly, like I said in the press conference last week. I'm excited to, you know, watch him play and watch him be great this year for sure. What was the welcome message? The first text was it tell I yeah It was it was legit like he did him be like yo just

You know hit my lines and you know we texted and um Yeah I told him I got to come to L.A and go to a Lakers game so He's a he's a LA guy yeah I love this maybe he can help you with the negotiations with I sure I might have them you know pay for the number for me so That's exactly that's right Kairn, it's on you Well, well well Well, how the turn tables.

Would you listen to that? The quarterback is a selling point in Chicago. That's what it really made me think. The selling point is huge, but also the Caleb Williams, the leadership and now the ownership of the team, something he did not have in his first year with the Bears. Like the leadership was a little bit shaky, and I don't know that everybody bought in to his ownership of the team. And that's what you want. Not just when the Bears signed him a new offensive lineman, not just when they draft a wide receiver, not when they bring in Colson.

When he's talking about the defensive guys, that's a different Caleb Williams, who I think has rehabbed his reputation. based on that first year and some of the stuff that was written and maybe some of it like there might have been points of it that were true he's kind of, he's not a complete product I don't think in any way, shape or form yet, Caleb Williams. Right.

But boy, has he come a long way in a year plus. I mean, that's it. You know, that's, I don't think that's something we would have heard last year even. You know, after this rookie season. Would not have. I didn't. I also think that, I also think that

as a rookie you can only do so much you know, the NFL hierarchy and how it works. And even if you're a quarterback, I think the job and the culture still dictates an inherent humility and understanding that you're not going to be the dude in year one. You know, you're learning the ways of the team at that point. You're learning the ways of the NFL. His dad illustrated the hardships that he went through

from a tape viewing standpoint, for example, how lonely that must have felt for him. So when I consider all of those things, I don't, I don't fault him for not wanting to come in gangbusters and say, you know, hey, I'm the guy, Rookie quarterback. Let's go. I'm going to do this. You know, that's not really, you do, but you do it with deference to your veteran teammates. Oh, he had Keenan Allen and Mercedes Lewis, too. Excellent, excellent resources.

Two excellent resources. Who pushed him as well. We know Mercedes-Lewis did. And I just don't think Caleb Williams knew how to be an NFL quarterback when he stepped into that locker room. And, you know, of course, we can blame the coaching staff. I just don't think he knew how to do it. He needed that year to go through it, the ups and downs and many downs. And then the perfect, seemingly the perfect coaching staff is around him now.

Yeah, it just seemed like communication was a massive issue all the way around. And we've heard other former players under that head coach when they were with him as a defensive coordinator in Indianapolis. know, they think of Zire Franklin talking about communication with Maddie Bufluse being terrible from what he made it sound. So it makes sense as to why that was an issue. Now, initiative is something else that you take upon yourself. But all of that said, we're seeing these actions in years two and then ahead of three. The other part is think about how Kevin Byer just spoke glowingly about Caleb Williams and how impressive it was for him to watch. Football players are fans of football. They all have favorite players they like watching. They all have games they

tune into. So if you love ball and you play it, maybe you want to play with that dude. Like I always think of the way a lot of people describe certain basketball players. Like for example, they may love LeBron, but I always say like your favorite athletes, favorite athlete. There's something to that. And for Caleb Williams to be a part of this in this way where people want to play with him. When was the last time you could say that? I think about how I used this example yesterday. There were a lot of buccaneers who took discounts because they wanted to play with

Tom Brady. That's the end-all be-all example. It is. The Bears had a little bit of it with, and I mean a little, with Jay Cutler to get guys like Brandon Marshall to come to the Bears. And maybe that's where my example stopped with Jay Cutler. But I do think that when you identify a team that has. as a quarterback.

That's a pretty good direction to go in as you are listening to Rahimi Harrison Grotie here on the score. And Layla, I mean, we all saw like through Kevin Byrd's eyes. And I heard you guys talking about it yesterday. It was great with you and Marshall. We all saw what Caleb Williams did in real time. You know me. I was very skeptical of Caleb Williams.

I was very much just taking every game for what it was. And a lot of times it didn't look great. And then it started looking great. He didn't want to be here. Yeah, same. I was worried that Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams were going to make it out of training camp the way things were going. I was there watching the relationship between Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams. And the tough love was real.

But we all saw what happened with Caleb Williams. The light came on at some point in time this season and announced a matter of getting it up to the next step. Well, and that's it. And frankly, I think the outreach goes a long way. if you're going to a new place and the head of your department gives you a call and says, hey, you know, it wasn't just your supervisors that wanted you here, but we're happy you're here too. Doesn't that make a difference to you? I'm sure it would. Of course. So to also just have that connectedness and the ownership, you can't say it doesn't matter. Like similarly to Kobe Bryant telling

us in the media and Kay Adams the feeling of being wanted matters to him. You can't tell me that doesn't that doesn't reflect on the field, that the way he plays isn't going to motivate him knowing that. Yeah, you're wanted. And then the other part, too, that I don't even think we've mentioned with Kobe Bryant, that he has mentioned at a handful of times not going back to his introductory press conference,

he wanted to go to a place that could win. And he looks at the bears as being a team that is on the verge, maybe not just because of Caleb Williams, but because of a lot of things that he's seen, considering the defensive coordinator, that he's going to play for, considering the head coach that he's going to play for. People watched what, like being in the playoffs and winning a playoff game and then taking the Rams down to the wire, everybody saw that.

That makes all the difference in the world in terms of a destination in Chicago is back on the map. Yeah, we're used to the opposite. You know, we're used to showing the dysfunction for the world to see. But this is a different time. Capitalize on your playoff run. capitalize on your your playoff capital

capitalize as the city you know everybody should agree when they hear Kevin Byard and the Fox crew or Kevin Byrd and the Fox crew say they love to be in Chicago

and you hear Al Michaels and you hear Kirk Herb Street on prime football talk about how much they wanted to be here that's everybody Oh yeah Yeah it's about time some of that started turning around

Seriously like it's it used to just be a place where they come and love being in the city and eating the steaks and enjoying the pizza. And now the football is pretty good. Well, and if you need proof about how sports is sometimes your best marketing tool to an audience who doesn't normally get your marketing, look no further than Alabama football and the enrollment into that school since Nick Sabin started coaching there. That's why a lot of schools put the finances into it.

So to be on the other side of this, where your quarterback is making this a destination, free agents want to be. New times, fun times. I have something that I would like to reward our audience with. Layla, as you know, I get to perform a podcast with my friend Dan Wheater. It's something called Take the North. We're going to do a Take the North live episode, the second year in a row, second annual. Now, it's a special show.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'll call her six and seven to the score contest line, 312. 540-0-670 will win a pair of tickets to a special edition of Take the North Live with Dan Weeter and me, Mark Grody. It is on Thursday, April 16th from 6 to 8 p.m. In our sick, Blue Cross, Blue Shield Performance Studio 312 540-0670. That is correct. So don't say we never get. you anything.

That's right. We're giving you to take the North Live podcast tickets, and I actually think it's going to be great. Maybe you guys can hassle Grady and Dan Wheater and ask them some questions. We did last year, and that was the, we realized that was the best part of the show. We went into the audience and had questions. We'll have a great guest. We'll probably get a draft expert on.

Dan and I'll give our opinions, but we will make studs take the microphone into the audience like we did last year for our overflow crowd, and hopefully we'll have the same this year. See? it's just like when Oprah would do that with the audience. That's what I was thinking. Represented. Oprah still teaches us a lot of lessons.

Coming up next year, I'm Rahimi Harrison Grotie. Let's get some tournament talk in because the Illini looked solid yesterday to say the least against Fran McCaffrey and Penn. So Jeremy Warner, the publisher of Illini Inquirer.com, will join us next to talk about the second round of the tournament.