Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Did you anticipate, you know, a trade could happen first off? And second, what was your reaction when you found out this is where you were coming?
I didn't I didn't take a trade off the table in my mind throughout the throughout this time.
Chapter 2: What prompted the Bears to trade DJ Moore?
So and when it happened, I was like, OK, it's the business side of things. And then I heard it was the bills and then I got super excited and I'm ready to roll.
DJ Moore at his introductory press conference after being traded to the Buffalo Bills. I get why you're excited. You're playing with an MVP in Josh Allen. And they had a serious problem not having a playmaking receiver. So now you're salivating at the mouth, Mr. Moore, about all the targets you're about to get in Josh Allen's offense. So I completely understand that.
And this seems like a win-win trade for everyone involved. whether it's the teams who get what they need, Bears getting an additional second-round draft pick this year, whether it's the Bills who get what they sorely had been missing in a playmaker at the receiver spot, a veteran in DJ Moore who is still very much in his prime. Josh Allen's got to be happy with this decision.
And ultimately, the Bears, they look good because they have more opportunities for their younger receivers to now step up. The problem is... They need all of their younger receivers and would-be pass catchers to step up.
This is Rahimi Harrison, Grody, Russell Dorsey, alongside Marshall Harris here in the 11 o'clock hour to talk a little Bears with you and what Ben Johnson had to say in his media availability from the NFL owners meeting. But let's be honest, Russell. We know the Bears, they have to figure this thing out if they want to take the next step as an offense. They do. They do.
And it's not going to get easier without DJ Moore. I will say that I think... there's a huge opportunity for Colston Loveland in this second year of his career, in his second year under Ben Johnson in the system with the Chicago Bears. Because we don't know, like there's not an easy answer for who the Bears' number one receiver is going to be in 2026.
I think a lot of people had started to say, you know, towards the end of the season, it looked like Colston Loveland was the primary target on a lot of different routes. And he seemed like that security blanket,
for Caleb Williams and I think it's easy to kind of see into the future and say you know this could be a guy that has 80 plus catches a thousand yards 10 touchdowns because you know Caleb Williams is going to be looking for him but also the with the guys on the roster he could be the best playmaker they have
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Chapter 3: How do the Bears benefit from trading DJ Moore?
Oh, no, Colston Loveland is definitely the best playmaker that the Bears have right now. Amongst pass catchers, yeah. Yeah, well, no, I would just say period. As far as when you talk about Caleb Williams reaching his potential, understand this. Colston Loveland was targeted three times less than DJ Moore last year and played one less game than DJ Moore.
Colston Loveland had eight more catches than DJ Moore last year and had just as many touchdown catches as DJ Moore last year. If you look at what he did first half of the season versus last half of the season, it's pretty clear to me Colston Loveland is going to be the ultimate chess piece for Ben Johnson.
Not just looking back at how he's used tight ends in the past before he got to Chicago, but just as far as where Colston Loveland was taken in the draft as the first player drafted in the Ben Johnson era, and understanding if you're looking for mismatches,
Scheme-wise, because of Colston Loveland's physicality, what he brings as a tight end as opposed to being a receiver, I think it's clear he's going to surpass both what DJ Moore did last year, both his own numbers as the leading receiver for the Bears last year, but even with what you hope will be a Roma Dunzey who kind of gets back to where we expect him to be in year three, I think Colston Loveland's second season is going to be better than Roma Dunzey's third season as a Bear.
I don't think that that is unrealistic to say. I will say I think sometimes we forget how good DJ Moore was as a bear, as a player. And I do think if you don't, let's say, draft...
Another wide receiver to be the third guy in that room that you really like, or maybe there's a cap casualty somewhere between now and the start of the season where you're like, OK, this could be another productive receiver in that room. You do you are going to feel good. His absence. Right. Like that's not just a dude that was a legitimate playmaker in your offense.
We saw what he did, especially late in the season. And, you know, a leader in that room to a guy that had a lot of success in the NFL. And now that that. We'll call it the pass catcher room if we're including tight ends and wide receivers that just lost a lot of experience. And who's going to be the guy to step up in that experience role in that leadership role?
I know Cole Komet's been in the NFL for a while now, but there has to be somebody else that's there who can also be productive and not just, you know, a sounding board. And I keep going back to Ben Johnson and his post-season comments about how this will never be the team again. This is over and done with.
The next team will be very different from this team because each NFL season is its own chapter. Correct. In the same book, but a very different chapter than the previous chapter, even if there are some of the same cast of characters involved in it. And all you have to do is hear Ben Johnson talk about –
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Chapter 4: Who are the potential receivers stepping up for the Bears?
When a team respects you and what you've done for the organization, they do try to find a good fit for you or somewhere where you will thrive, not somewhere where you go to die. And I do think they did that for DJ Moore here, where they send him off with an NFL MVP and says, hey, man, we want you to be successful. We appreciate everything you did while you remember the Chicago Bears.
That's Russell Dorsey here on Rahimi Harris and Grody as we are talking about the NFL owners meetings and Ben Johnson, the head coach of the Chicago Bears, speaking to the media yesterday. And so DJ Moore's gone.
There's going to be an ongoing conversation about who steps into his specific void as the leading receiver, the leading voice in that receiver room, the leading receiver statistically, whether it's touchdowns, catches, targets, anything. It's all something that we're going to see evolve over the course of time.
Meanwhile, Ben Johnson, he was also discussing about, hey, Caleb Williams, he needs guys he can depend on. Here's what he had to say about how they will evaluate who will be the next main target for QB1.
Opportunities start to show up now because DJ had the most skins on the wall in terms of production throughout his career and so now that opens some windows, some targets. Where does it get distributed? You already mentioned Rome and Luther, certainly, but also it's a competition between the receiver room and the tight end room and the running back room.
I think it's going to be really healthy for our guys in the spring in the training camp to look to carve roles for themselves and see how they can be featured in our offense. It was disappointing with some of his drops last year. What did you see in that regard? How do you get that? Whose drops? Rome. Rome? You know, that's something. something that we'll talk to him about.
I don't think that was a thing with him coming out, and so I don't want to speak that into existence. That's something, as an entire offense, we're going to emphasize here in the springtime, getting back to our fundamentals, back to the basics, as simple as that sounds, and catching the football is part of it.
And so we'll make that a big point of emphasis, and I think we'll see improvement from that. It's one of those things, both him and Colston, as young players, as rookies, that didn't have a full offseason last year. It took us a little bit longer to get them going. really the production that we had hoped for. And so by mid-season, the confidence had grown.
I know I certainly felt better about putting them in different spots, running different routes. And I think Caleb had developed the rapport by that point. And so that's where you started to see things take off for Luther. He's exactly what we thought we were getting out of the draft last year. This guy's a dynamic playmaker. He's got some of the best run after catch in the game right now.
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Chapter 5: What role will Colston Loveland play in the Bears' offense?
He's really, really excited to get a full offseason going and look to develop a bigger route tree.
And you hear Ben Johnson talking about it, about Colston Loveland and Luther Bird in the third, specifically getting that full offseason. Remember, they didn't have that last year coming out of the draft. They were both hurt dealing with injuries heading into training camp, heading into the regular season. It was a few games before we even saw Luther Bird in the third out there on the field.
And that's why I love this question I'm about to pose to you, Russell Dorsey. Third and eight game on the line. Who am I going to? Prioritize your reads one through three. Who do you want the primary target to be? I'm Caleb. Are we in shotgun? Are we under center? I mean, whatever you want to draw. Are we in the red zone? Because I do think sometimes it's going to be different. Okay.
But you know what? I'll forget that. Scrap it. Scrap it. It's fourth and eight. Okay. Fourth and eight. You need a first down to keep this game-winning drive alive. You're down. You're down. First read in the progression, I'm looking for my tight end with the good matchup. So I'm looking at Colston Loveland, and then I'm going to Luther Burden, and then I'm going to Rome.
So Rome's third on your list. That's why I asked the question. As of right now, off of what I've last seen with my eyes, that was the— In terms of playmakers, it went Colson Loveland, Luther Bird, and then Roma. Is that recency bias? And why I ask this is because in that last game— I think that's the lens you have to look through. On the opening drive, they had Roma Dunze for a touchdown.
He doesn't catch the ball. And I think that's gonna, like, you have to show me that you're the guy that deserves- Can he get back to the top? Yeah, for sure. Okay. For sure he can. Like, by the time, a year from now, we might be having a different conversation. But Rome has to show that I can be the number one guy in that room.
But for right now, with the information that we have, with what we've seen- He wasn't the most dependable when you talk about being able to catch the football consistently. Right. On that fourth and eight, maybe he drops the ball and now it's turnover on downs. Right. So I would say my progression would be Colson, Colson Loveland, Luther Burden and then Roma Dunzey.
But it could be flipped by the time we get to the New Year. All right, so that's what I wanted to ask. I have it a little bit different. I have Colston Loveland one, Rome Madunze two, and then I have third, Luther Burden the third. But that's just because I feel like Rome is going to be that guy next year.
I mean, look, Luther Burden the third could outperform Rome Madunze, but let me tell you something. In my eyes, that would say more about Roma Dunzay not being good enough than it would about Luther Burton III taking this huge leap. Only one of those guys was taken in the first round in the top 10 of the draft.
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Chapter 6: How do the Bears plan to fill the leadership void left by DJ Moore?
He talks more than baseball, although he has that podcast, The Relay with Russell Dorsey. He's got the merch. The fact that you have the merch, I don't know if I'm more mad that you got the merch or more mad that you got the merch and didn't offer me none. I could do a hat. Is it merch if it's not? Because somebody actually hit me on my website and asked if it's... They're watching on Twitch.
Shout out to you. And if it was available for purchase. I don't have merch available for purchase right now. So I appreciate everybody that sees it and likes it. But this is more for like... just so I can walk in the room and let people know I have a podcast about baseball, the Relay with Russ Dorsey. Ray, Tyler, would you rock maybe a Relay with Russ hoodie?
Would you add that to your collection? Oh, absolutely. Especially if it's got that white color that he's got with that. Okay. For everybody out there that is now wondering and is going to hit me on various platforms, I need time. It's something that's coming, but this was just more of a, so I feel good about this project that I have going, and then I can promote it. Who are you, Kevin Warren?
You need time? Yes. Who has their thing first? Do I have merch, or do the Bears have a stadium? A year is a lifetime. A year is a lifetime. That's a great question. Okay, the last piece of sound I want to hit here is because apparently Ben Johnson, he loves y'all, right? And he knows that you love him. City of Chicago, over 3 million strong in the Chicagoland area. He has been outside.
He has been in public. And he has heard everything you have to say about how much joy the 2025 football season brought you as Bears fans. At the same time, he don't want to hear about 2025 no more.
I think you've got to gauge the pulse of the guys when we get back in the building, but I know us as coaches, we're going to be hyper alert for any signs of that. That is part of the thing. When you lose so many guys to free agency and you bring in a new crew, that does help with the entitlement and complacency. I do know this, though.
It's been a long off-season in terms of you go downtown or you go somewhere and everyone's patting you on the back and telling you what a great job you did. You don't want to hear it. You don't want to hear it anymore.
It was great for the first week, but now our sights are turned, and we've got a monumental task at hand because this division only got better so far this offseason, and we still have the draft to come. Our guys, we've got to go back to work just like we did a year ago. It doesn't get any easier. It's going to continue to get harder.
They're going to feel that pressure from the coaching staff so that when we get to these games in the fall, that we're going to be ready for it.
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