Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show
Clay Harbor breaks down Bears' options in NFL Draft (Hour 4)
09 Apr 2026
Chapter 1: What insights does Clay Harbor provide on the Bears' NFL Draft strategy?
Clay Harbor, former NFL player.
Clay Harbor, slot to the left. Here's Mick's pass. And it's caught. Touchdown by Harbor. That's a touchdown. Clay Harbor makes that catch. And they've got Harbor for the touchdown.
Football analyst for Chicago Sports Network. I think right here with these free agents, you buy the floor and you draft the ceiling. But like you said, David, the Bears are very up against it with the cap. So... You've got to make sure that you get your draft in place and then see who's out there. But I wouldn't mind them doing both. Draft a guy and sign a guy.
Chapter 2: How should the Bears balance drafting and signing free agents?
Clay Harbor with Rahimi Harrison-Grody on 104.3 The Score.
It's our week to hang out with Clay Harper, and we always love having him on. He's in studio with us right now. He's at Clay Harb's 82 on X, the nine-year NFL veteran co-host of the Big Pro Football Show on CHSN with Ruthie Polinski and David Ha. Clay, good to see you. Thanks for coming in.
Anytime, guys. Biked over here from my place in River North. Beautiful day outside. You know Marshall don't get outside enough when he's like, oh, is it nice out there? I'm like, yeah, man. Take a step outside. Look at the sun. Get some vitamin D. You know what's funny about this, Clay?
I actually just took my vitamin D. You know I walk to work every single day.
Chapter 3: What challenges are the Bears facing with their salary cap?
1.3 miles each way. The temperature tends to change by the time, I don't know, 1 o'clock rolls around compared to 8 in the morning when I'm walking here.
All right, never mind then. Good job walking to work. But maybe you should jog to work. Take a nice run. Maybe interval sprints.
I did suggest to Marshall that he go on the Ray and Layla Vegas walk, but it takes you into some shady places in Vegas. And I'm not even kidding. Ray and I realized that when it was too late. So then we had to turn around. Marshall doesn't want to go on the walk.
Yeah, I don't want to go on the walk.
You're in a fitness challenge. We told you what we wanted to do.
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Chapter 4: Who are the top free agents that the Bears should consider?
I go to the gym and lift, unlike Clay, who just posts videos of him working out for 15 seconds and then quits.
I'm not even going to get into this because I know I got a lot of draft takes I want to talk about. But you know good and well that I'm lifting. Just check out my combine numbers, too, from back in the day. Here we go. Yes, sir.
Glory days. Bruce Springsteen, Clay Harbor, that was his soundtrack, has been ever since. So, Clay, let's talk about the draft. But actually, before we talk about the draft... There's guys still out here that can be had free agent-wise. And there's guys out here that we're learning don't want to play for their current team.
So I'm looking at the New York Giants right now and a man named Dexter Lawrence. Tell me outside of the draft if you see a path for anybody joining the Bears that makes sense to you.
So...
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Chapter 5: What positions should the Bears prioritize in the draft?
There's always this second wave of free agency, the third wave of free agency. I know one time when I signed with the New Orleans Saints, I signed after the draft. I had an opportunity to go on some minimum deals other places. I go, let me see how this plays out. I'll sign somewhere after I see who they draft. I don't want to go and sign with the team.
Next thing you know, they draft two tight ends. the third and fourth round, and then I'm like, okay, they're not going to get rid of a third and fourth round pick. So there definitely are guys out there that will wait to see what happens in the draft. They're going to watch it, and they're going to pick the roster.
If I'm signing a minimum contract, why would I sign before the draft when I can just sign after the draft and see where I can go? So that's something that you can do. As far as Dexter Lawrence is concerned, I'm sorry, Chicago. I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but... Paying high draft capital for a guy that's already upset with his contract.
Chapter 6: How does the Bears' current roster influence their draft decisions?
You'd have to pay him. You'd have to sign him to a long-term contract in his eighth season. This doesn't seem logical to me. The Bears are up against it in the salary cap. Marshall Harris is making more than the Bears have available in their salary cap. And I'm not saying that's not a lot. But for the Bears, for NFL... team, their salary cap is extremely limited.
They don't have the guys like a Patrick Mahomes or Lamar Jackson that you can just say, okay, we'll restructure this guy. We're fine kicking the can down the road. We're going to take the dead money hit later on. No, you've got a Dio Dangbo who's out of...
guaranteed money after next year you got a Grady Jarrett who's out of guaranteed money after next year and these are guys you don't want to restructure you don't know what's going to happen with them so I think you got to pass on Dexter Lawrence I think he's great but his production has dipped he's six foot four 340 pounds great run stuffer but I think you can get that guy in the draft if you want him and you're keeping a draft pick
I think that's fair. We talked about it a little bit yesterday just because any sort of line production is on the mind of all of us.
Chapter 7: What are the implications of trading up or down in the draft?
And there were a bunch of different viewpoints as to, number one, he is a steal right now, but that's why he doesn't want to be there. He wants to get paid what everybody else is getting paid. And then the other part is figuring out, say you get him, does he even fit a Dennis Allen prototype for interior defensive line?
No, he doesn't. Dennis Allen, if you look at the prototypes that he likes, it's strange because he wants a big, long, edge-setting, edge-rushers, right? Those guys out there that can really have the length, explosiveness. And then inside, he likes guys like Grady Jarrett. You know, the smaller guys, quicker, more explosive, and that's what he's shown.
But Dexter Lawrence is a guy that's scheme transcendent. You know, there's a few guys, like if you like the skinny, small receivers, or tight ends, excuse me, you're going to like Rob Gronkowski either way. I played with Gronk. He's going to fit your scheme. You're going to find a way to get the most out of this guy.
Dexter Lawrence is one of those scheme transcendent players that can play in any scheme, but like I said, you're going to have to pay him a high-end contract. He's going to want something like Jordan Davis got $26 million a year.
Chapter 8: What final thoughts does Clay Harbor share about the Bears' future?
I'm sorry, you remember what Mike Greeney said on ESPN, Adam Schefter? They're broke. They don't have any money. They're broke. I don't know if that's true or not, but I'm just saying the Bears really don't have that much space.
I think their cap broke. Like, they're at the top of their cap. And that's what it is. They're not going to do the thing where they extend and try to restructure money into perpetuity. They don't want to do that. And I don't blame them. They're out of money.
The way he said it was so sad, too. He was like, no, bro. Like, at the end of the day... I ain't got it.
Well, they spent it. It's not even that they ain't got it. They already spent it. And that's what I feel like we've got to accept here.
And that's what happens when you invest in guys that don't hit. And I still have faith. I know Grady Jarrett's getting up into his 30s, mid-30s. But I think he can have a decent comeback here. Watch the tape from the end of the season versus the beginning of the season.
I wasn't looking at you like this because of him, but you said, I still have faith. I was making sure you weren't going to add Dio Odingo to the end of that comment.
You've heard Ryan Poles talking to the local media in some of these interviews, and he's talking about, yeah, we still have a lot of faith in Dio. We still have a lot of faith in Shamar Turner. And I'm thinking this whole time, he said Shamar Turner would have been on the same path as Luther Burton and Colson Loveland. I went to every training camp practice. I've watched every single game.
I'm sorry. If the guy wasn't there in my career, nine years in the NFL, I've never seen a guy go out there and not look great, tear his ACL or his Achilles, and come back the next year and look better. Okay, that's just something that doesn't happen. If you have a guy that's productive, he tears his Achilles, and then you say, hopefully he can get close to the production we had last year.
If you have a guy who's not productive, eight games, one sack, one quarterback hurry against a backup tackle, I might add, Minnesota, starting tackles out that game when Dio Dangable got the sack. For me, it's irresponsible roster building to try to say that this guy's going to come back even as good as he was and to think he can come back and be better.
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