Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show
How much better are the Bears with the NFL Draft now complete?
27 Apr 2026
Chapter 1: How have the Bears improved after the NFL Draft?
Rahimi Harrison-Grody. We are the best show in this town to have the coach and or quarterback sit right here. Because we're here for a good time. We are here for a good time. We're fun. We're funny. We're serious sometimes. Sometimes we cry. Sometimes we laugh. Like, this is perfect. If you wanted a high chance of a drink spilled all over the studio, we are definitely your people.
Middays 10 to 2. Maybe we're the show for you.
On 104.3 The Score.
i think jeff king hit it a couple days ago and that's that's really we're looking for high level competitors guys that if you took football away from they really don't know what to do with themselves it's it's a huge part they eat it they sleep it they breathe it and uh i think we're able to identify those type of guys and when you have guys like that they usually find a way to come out on top
There's another Iceman we can discuss. This is Rahimi Harrison-Grody on 104.3 The Score. That was Ben Johnson. He and Ryan Poles spoke after the draft on Saturday, and they gave their wrap-up speech. But I want to go back to something that Ryan Poles talked about because he was also available on Friday, and that's been the point of contention, the point of discussion.
When we listen to everybody who called in talking about their Bears draft grades, the third round is really where this got...
i think debated and that's where the variable came in so here's what ryan poles had to say not only about the third round but about the second round and as to why they didn't end up going with any sort of defensive line help in that particular round right it seemed like defensive line may have been a need coming into this draft a little situation where you guys just didn't view it the same
or if the board just didn't go that way? Yeah, the board, the class, a little life at the back of the round. It's different. But it's really how the board shook out. When we made that turn into two, we had a good sense through our research that that was going to kind of be a hot spot at the very top of two. It wasn't really possible to get up that high without giving up a ton.
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Chapter 2: What were Ryan Poles' key statements about the draft?
And at the end of the day, we just followed the board.
And as we've mentioned, five edge rushers went among the first 13 picks in that second round. And I feel like that's when the Bears may have seen that market pass them by just based on where their draft picks fell at 25 and then not another one until 57.
I'm definitely okay with the idea that they didn't trade up necessarily, especially in the first round. Because I think, was it you who was saying, take a big shot, go up, get out of the direction?
Yeah, I was like, my thing was that day was, if you're going to trade up in the first round, let's talk about Reuben Bain. Let's talk about one of those top dogs.
And Ruben did fall a little bit. He did. So that is something that they could have considered. But you can't be mad about what they ended up with with the 25th pick in that Dylan Thienem, an area of need, obviously a highly regarded. A guy really with no holes in his game is there, a day one starter. I don't have a problem with that. I just knew the gap. And maybe he knew that, too.
And that's why the draft went the way it did.
To give him some credit when it came to the price, too, consider what New England gave up just to get to 55 to get Gabe Akas out of Illinois. Patriots gave up 63rd, 131st, and 202nd. So that's three picks. You know, we've got 63, the fourth round and the sixth round just to get up. So that is a high price.
And if Foles didn't think that that was a price the Bears wanted to pay, that also makes sense. I think that the dissonance for me goes back to, okay, that's what you did in the second round. You didn't have to go with a tight end or... a flyer quite literally when you consider his, his four to eight 40 speed and Xavier on Thomas in the third round.
And I think that's where this, this gets tricky. There were defensive players available on the line in that third round, still after the bears picked. Texter at the top, the Bears have glaring need. Why didn't they trade up in the second or third rounds for a good defensive lineman?
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Chapter 3: Why did the Bears skip on defensive line help in the draft?
Now, it's a sad statement to say that impact does not exist considering what the Bears have. But I just think that that's the way they graded it. And part of me is like, good, don't fail.
force it you don't have to go draft one of those guys in the second or third round just to please the masses and give the appearance that you're trying to make the defense better when you know you're not especially if they're mediocre right right don't force the issue just because the need is glaring they think they force the issue and i've said yeah if we're grading teams on sticking to their board good on you but as i've maintained i don't entirely trust their board
That's fair, too. Offense got a lot of marks up after last year, there's no doubt. They might have forced the issue with Shamar Turner last year. I don't know. He was a second-round pick. He was. That's what I'm saying. Last year, they did do that. To rely on variables. You asked and answered safety position made sense, right? You had a need. You also wanted a high-quality player.
Congratulations, you got both. And at 25, yes, you deserve all the credit in the world for that. I frankly think you deserve credit for picking who you did at center. But in the meantime, there's a gap there. And that's when we see this happen. It happened the same way as I mentioned with Kyle Medunga. One of my tabs, one of my 250 tabs open on my phone.
That's a lot of tabs.
I don't want to hear about it right now, but one of them is a quick reference to the story Dan Weterer wrote last year, which was how the rush of running backs and how the run on running backs translated into the Bears not getting a position until the seventh round.
And it's similar to what we're seeing with defensive tackle, but the difference is we know the league says running back is more fungible. Sure. And that's what makes this tricky. So congratulations on sticking to your board. But defensively, I'm not sure that your board is as sound as you think it is.
And furthermore, to have to rely on players where, number one, Dio Dangbo has had not one but two Achilles tears, and we don't know if he tore the same Achilles.
Dio Dangbo.
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Chapter 4: What are the implications of the Bears' draft strategy?
that Shamar Turner and Dio Dingbo are going to be ready soon and are going to be ready for the start of the football season to actually play, not just be working their way back, but be ready day one to open the season as starters. Otherwise, this really doesn't make sense, unless they're going out and getting another edge or tackle through trade or free agency.
Because as you mentioned earlier in the show, Mark, there's options out there as far as guys on their, not last legs, but definitely on the backside of their career.
Yeah, you have... Wait, which Bosa is it? Is it the Joey Bosa? It's got to be the Joey Bosa. Joey of the Bosas. Is he the one that's available? You have Cam Jordan as well. Is AJ Epinesa still available? Yeah, you mentioned him in the pre-show. Yup, good call there. How old is Cam Jordan? 36, 37? 37. But still very productive. No, wait. I think he might be turning 30. Okay. Sorry about this, Cam.
Sorry we're doing you like that. Jadavion Clowney. 36. Oh, man. Cam Jordan should run after me for saying he was 38. I'm sorry. Yeah. I wouldn't mind if they brought in Cam Jordan, honestly. I mean, that was a lot of people's first thought. Those were tweets I got on Saturday. I wouldn't mind that. But that is where we are right now in terms of that.
And yeah, they are depending on these other guys to get better. And as Kevin Fishbane said correctly... It ain't going to get worse, right? It's not going to be worse than it was last year. Stop putting that out there. Why do you believe it can't be worse? Because it was so bad. It was the Bears D-line ranked 29th in pressure rate, 31.5%, rush defense, bottom five. Did they rank 32nd?
There literally is room for them to get worse. Yeah, there's room for them to get worse. I choose to be optimistic. I choose to be pragmatic. How about that? That's fine. They're not going to be as bad, I don't think. I love that. Comma. I don't think. I was just waiting to finish the sentence. You want to hear what Brad Biggs thinks? Of course. We got time.
Let's listen to... Brad Biggs was on this morning with Molly and Ha, and he thinks that the Bears roster might be better than last year.
I think it's going to be better. You know, when you talk about all the young guys that played last year, and they had young players get a lot of experience. When you talk about, for all the players, it was year one in the system. So you saw them kind of develop along the way as they got more comfortable, as the coaches got a better understanding for what they had.
So from that standpoint, I think they're better. I think if you ask a question like that, you probably got to at least acknowledge the cap situation that the team was in, right? Knowing that they probably weren't going to be able to be ā quite as aggressive in free agency as the Bears have led fans to expect annually by their actions most years.
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Chapter 5: How do the Bears' new players compare to last year's roster?
I've got mad respect and mad reverence for Brad Biggs, but when he's talking about who did they lose, I'm like, who did they add? I think that's my retort to that. Who did they lose makes it sound like... Two safeties. They lost two safeties.
They didn't add, they replaced. Technically, they lost every player who had double, at least more than one interception for the team this season. Now, we know that that's not always going to be there, and it is a variable of a stat, swings, like a pendulum. But they lost, like left the building, anybody who had at least two interceptions for the team.
They better hope Devin Bush is out here creating takeaways, because that's how their defense survived last year, was off of the takeaway. And my issue with the defensive line and everybody else is like, say everybody is healthy, right? Are you saying that...
from 29th and 30th or wherever they are in all these different categories they're going to make this significant jump to say i don't know top half based on people just being healthy i can't see that because i didn't see from what i saw the say if you extrapolate out what dio dingbo did when he was healthy what shamar turner did now he's got a little more growth room but still i i can't see this jump that people are envisioning and people being the people at house all
And we've gotten a lot of, I think, a lot of very good feedback. Like dissension, that is good. Disagreement, that is good. And then also there are the texts that say stuff like this from 773. Get ready for 42 to 35 losses against the really good teams that can actually score. So basically a replay of the 49ers game. Yep. I mean, Big 12 coming at you.
I feel like that might be the case, but I hope I am wrong.
Pac-12 after dark. The revenge.
RIP. Oh, now I'm sad about Pac-12 after dark. Well, it's dark here and we have some fun quick hits for you about these Bears draft picks. There's a lot of random interesting stuff happening with this draft class. So we will let you in on it next.
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