Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show
5 On It & Jeremy Werner previews Illinois-Wisconsin matchup (Hour 3)
13 Mar 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The score. I got five. It's time for five on it. Rahimi Harrison-Roney. Bring you five topics on their minds today. On 104.3 The Score. I got five on it. Number one. Did the Bears have the weakest offseason in the NFC North? I don't think the Bears had the weakest offseason, Ray, and anybody else who cares. I think, though, the Bears should be proud that they didn't win the offseason.
Because when you win the offseason, that usually means you have a bunch of money to spend and you have some sort of high draft pick. Oh, my goodness. The Nuts on Clark team is here and they have cool letter jackets.
Chapter 2: Did the Bears have the weakest offseason in the NFC North?
Hi, Nuts on Clark team. They're always so nice to us. They provide popcorn and goodies, and we love them. So shout-out to the Nuts on Clark crew. Shout-out to Andy Gersher, too. Yeah, Andy's a great guy. Gersher, what are you doing, man? Andy's here. Andy Gersher from WBBM, everybody. Oh, yeah, come on in. Hi, guys. Nuts on Clark folks are here. Hi, guys. Good to see you. How are you, man?
Nuts on Clark. What's your name? I'm Robert. Hey, Robert. How are you, man? This is live, guys, just so you're aware. Yeah, hi. How are you, man? Nice to meet you. Hi. How are you? I'm Mark. You're listening to the Nuts on Clark crew. Yeah, that's Layla. Hi, Layla. Nice to meet you. They got cool Letterman jackets on. Oh, my goodness. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Some popcorn. Thank you so much.
This is... Oh. This is perfect. Oriole Shamrock. Oh, my goodness. Is it really? Wow. Thank you, guys. Thank you, guys. This means a lot. Thank you so much. Thank you. We appreciate Nuts on Clark. Our Nuts on Clark crew just coming in. Thanks, you guys. You want a sip of my coffee or anything? I heard Grody sneeze earlier. You're probably better off. Thank you so much. Take care, guys.
So that was a live hangout with Nuts on Clark and Andy Gersher from WBBM. How about that? So getting back to what happened in the division regarding free agency. I don't think that the Bears had a week free agency, week offseason. Number one, offseason ain't over yet. We got a draft. Number two, we have the obligatory press release where they say, hey, we signed X amount of players to this deal.
And one of those last year was Nashawn Wright. And look how that went. The glad I called that guy guy oftentimes may come through, as we've seen. So in the meantime, I think the Bears just couldn't make the same kind of splash as they did even last year. The priority last year was clearly improve the offensive line. They didn't have enough to do it through the draft.
They went through free agency. It was spending and it worked. They had to fill gaps this year. They had to fill the gap of left tackle with Ozzie Trapillo being injured. They've reportedly signed, although it's not official yet, Braxton Jones. They traded for Garrett Bradbury. That was filling a need. They had to replace the need of having to get rid of Tremaine Edmonds.
They had to trade DJ Moore. I don't know that that's weak necessarily. I think that's just what happens when you've been a GM in the league for as long as Ryan Poles has been now. And now you're going to have to start getting rid of some of your own guys. And that is the real test of a general manager. The most real test. That's what ultimately, as you know, did Ryan Payson.
It was because he overpaid for some people who he really liked, like Jimmy Graham.
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Chapter 3: What frustrations did Ryan Poles express about compensatory draft picks?
And then he also had some really bad cap casualties. So, it's not weak. But the good news is, you're just not going to win the offseason because you have games you have to win instead. And that's a good thing. Ray, can you read me the question again real quick? Just how I need the momentum. Did the Bears have the weakest offseason in the NFC North? Okay.
Well, I'm looking at what the Packers have done. They snagged Javon Hargrave while we were on the air yesterday. Yeah. They traded for Zyre Franklin. Yeah. Sky Moore, the wide receiver, kick returner is there. They got out of the Rashawn Gary contract. Yeah. So that's all stuff right there. Detroit, they bring in Cade Mays. They bring in Isaiah Pacheco. Pretty good.
As Layla has mentioned now multiple times in previous days, Larry Borum gets a deal. I told you Larry Borum was going to get paid. Yeah, in Detroit. Kyler Murray scares me, and we'll get more into that probably later on. So I think the Bears have had – I think the Bears are right there with all of those teams.
No, I don't think the Bears had – The Cade Mays pickup from Detroit was pretty good. Right, yeah, I mentioned that. Isaiah Pacheco, yeah. Yeah. I mean, I don't – yeah, it's hard to judge. Yeah. Yeah, the Kobe Bryant and Devin Bush signings were good, and I've been using this word. I said it on Take the North yesterday. I said it to Joe Bartosz when I walked in of WBBM.
It's been a reasonable offseason so far. That shouldn't get anybody excited necessarily, but, Ray, it's been reasonable. If you want me to take you backstage, my thinking behind this, posing this question today, was the Kyler Murray signing. You have an elite receiver there in Minnesota. Two really good receivers. Yeah, two. But you've got a quarterback in J.J.
McCarthy that couldn't get the job done, and maybe Kyler Murray does make a difference. We talked about that on the show yesterday. O'Connell's done it before with Sam Darnold. The thing about Taylor Decker not being on the Lions anymore. That's why I don't know that we can say anybody had a particularly weak offseason. No, I think the Bears might have had the best.
That doesn't mean it's been good. It's just been subtle. Subtle's a good word for it, too. It's probably not a good sign, is it? I think the Bears may have, unless Kyler Murray becomes what I fear he might for a year. Yeah. He's got to be good there. You always have to worry about Kevin O'Connell with a quarterback who had proven talent. He's loaded with talent.
Murray's a former number one overall pick, and it's not like he was bad with Arizona. But don't forget about what the Vikings had to unload, unload to get out from under that salary cap number. I mean, Grenard, you know, they got rid of so many good players. They did restructure Aaron Jones. Did you guys get psyched out by that?
Do you remember when we were like, oh, huzzah, Aaron Jones is no longer a member of the Vikings. And it's like, they have redone his contract so he could stay in the NFC North and bother the Bears. One of the thickians, as Luke Getzey called him when he was in Green Bay. Aaron Jones, one of the thickians. What is that supposed to mean? As in big, thick, strong legs. He meant it as a compliment.
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Chapter 4: How did Illinois perform in their previous matchup against Wisconsin?
He still has some time, though. He's here for special teams more than anything, and depth, depth, depth in the safety room. Jonathan Owens, I don't know what's going on with him. So, yes, of course, at this moment, I am worried about the safety position, especially considering how important the safety position was last year.
My hope is that the safety position is not as important this year as it was last year, because typically you'd prefer it to be the guys up front that are the most important, that are getting the tackles, that are getting the sacks, that are making life easy for your secondary. Yeah, just look at the Seattle Seahawks defense, and that's how it's supposed to go.
The tackle shouldn't be happening in the secondary. Or Philadelphia.
Chapter 5: What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Illinois basketball team?
They do. But if you've got it right, if your guys wrap up, if you roll up the right people at the line of scrimmage, the LOS, if you will, then you're not going to have your secondary making as many tackles, and that's a good thing. In the meantime, I thought Kevin Byard would be here. And I kind of wonder if maybe Kevin Byard...
I think he got to call a shot when it came to playing for two incredibly good scenarios for him. So when the GM name checks you, you usually think that that means he's coming back, and that did not happen. He ended up going to New England, where I think he got a fantastic scenario for him.
Chapter 6: How does the depth of the Illinois roster compare to previous years?
I am also concerned about the depth behind new Bears safety Kobe Bryant because of the same reasons. We don't exactly know what's happening. Like, for example, the Cam Lewis signing, for some reason, isn't official yet. Did you notice that as well? I did not know. I think you mentioned that
backstage but you know like that's another guy isn't official yet cam lewis is an official and cam lewis at least as of last check yesterday wasn't even listed still under the bears on the nfl free agency tracker and i don't even know how much that matters but it's something that i've made note of
Well, another thing you should make note of about Cam Lewis is that he's only had 10 starts in the last two years, did play 17 games last year with just four starts. So again, these are nice depth pieces, but you don't look at either Elijah Hicks or Cam Lewis and say, yep, he's going to be playing alongside Kobe Bryant.
And I don't necessarily think the plan can just be, oh, we'll draft a new guy to start at safety. It could in 2022 when your team wasn't going to be very good, but I don't necessarily know that that should be the plan. For a team who has playoff expectations? You're saying you wouldn't want them to pick? Because if you drafted a guy at 25th, hell yeah.
Chapter 7: What impact does Pro Day have on player prospects from Illinois?
If you draft a safety at 25, you should expect him to start. But maybe you're saying you wouldn't want them to pick a safety at number 25. No, I want edge at 25. I still have that desire because it's a deep class, and I know you've said it's a toss-up that you don't always get what you think you're going to get, but at the same time, I like their odds with the availability. Think about Brisker.
He was a second-round pick, and the Bears had two second-round. Exactly, so you can get starters in the draft. But that's when they were bad. There wasn't an expectation of win-loss there in a learning curve. Yeah, but don't you think, especially at number 25 overall, first-round picks are starters, right? Should be. Yeah, so I think that they could do that.
If they chose safety, if that's what they're doing, if they take somebody at 25, I would expect that player to start next to Kobe Bryant.
Chapter 8: Who are the key players to watch in the upcoming Illinois game?
Number three. This is five on it on 104.3 The Score with Leila Rahimi and Mark Grody. Here's question number three. Will Team USA take advantage of the second chance in the World Baseball Classic that was gifted to them by Team Italy because, as Vinny Pascantino would put it... You're welcome, USA. We were thinking of you guys.
In honor of Vinny Pascantino, who I don't like when he's playing against the Sox, but who I did enjoy listening to on Team Italy, unlike Bryce Terrain, who I don't like watching on Team USA. Yeah, screw that guy. I have espresso in honor of Vinny Pascantino. And I think that it's going to be easier sailing for Team USA against Team Canada. Michael Sirocco is on the mound for Team Canada.
The Team Canada show. Now, I thought that there was a chance that J-Mo would be on the mound. We never got to go to the All-Canada show, Ray. Four buttes for that. All right. Ray gets buttes now? I'm honored. We'll get you some rays maybe someday. I'm good with buttes and bears. Buttes, bears, and Battlestar Galactica.
I think the other part of this is you're going to see a different lineup out of Team USA. I don't think Paul Goldschmidt, for example, is going to start. Goldie. And I think you're going to get a similar lineup to what we saw in their game prior to Italy. So I do think they'll take advantage. And also, I hate to say this, but public scrutiny is sometimes... That'll leave a mark.
And Mark DeRosa, I've worked with Mark DeRosa as well. He's a wonderful guy. He made a mistake. And I know that the way he's saying he made it is suspect, but I think he's learned his lesson. Well, the question is, will they rally around Mark DeRosa or are the players also walking around like, what? the hell? What the hell's up with our manager? The guy doesn't know what's going on.
So I'm hoping that the Americans are properly angered and motivated by all the talk that has been going on with these guys. And don't forget about Canada's starting pitcher tonight. It is scheduled to be Mike Soroka.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the former Cub, the former Chicago White Sox, and once upon a time ago, I know he's kind of like a punchline around here, he was kind of a stud prospect for the Atlanta Braves back in the day. So he was a something, but was not a something with the Cubs and the Sox. Whoopsies. Yeah. The old Canada show. That's good. I think they might be mad at us. Who?
I don't blame them. The All Canada show? Yeah. Why? Because you guys were going to go there and then you didn't? No, as a country and us. Oh, right. Wait. Also, when you said manager, what are they doing? Did you hear Spiegel randomly make reference to Tony LaRusso's hiring yesterday? I thought I heard somebody say that maybe it was on the- He like rambled into it. I lost it.
I don't know if I heard that, but I did hear somebody, I don't know on which show, saying that Tony La Russa would have been a good choice to be manager of Team USA. Oh, my God. Just don't let him walk a... Don't dump him. Don't let him intentionally walk a pitcher or a batter mid at bat. Just don't let that happen, especially when they're one pitch away from ending in the inning.
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