Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show
How much do you trust the Bears’ draft process when it comes to defense? (Hour 2)
23 Mar 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: How confident are fans in the Bears' draft strategy for defense?
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 the best player available. We saw that last year.
I know there's a lot of questions like, yeah, 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 Grody Ryan Poles, the general manager of the Chicago Bears at the Combine. He got it right last year. He did. Best player 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 Bird in the second rounder, which probably took some people off guard as well, and then Ozzie Trapillo as well, one of those second rounders. So, yes, It's a pillow. That's right, Chris. I do appreciate it.
This segment on Rahimi Harrison-Grody is being brought to you by AlmostFreeTeeth.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 line and all parts of it, whether the interior, the defensive end. There has not been a splash made, unless you are one of those that thinks that, die-oh-dang-bo, that we ain't seen nothing yet. Watch the film. Let's see what he can do coming off of a 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 D-tackle, 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...
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Chapter 2: What does Ryan Poles' draft history reveal about the Bears' defense?
And I'm very curious to see where the develop part of draft and develop comes up.
The other defensive player that they drafted last year was a Fraser, the cornerback, the very tall physical cornerback 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 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, 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 decision is made. That's what 2026 is for Jervon Dexter. You would agree with that assessment?
I would agree with that assessment, man. This is not a bad player. Jervon Dexter, by any means, he did, was he second in the Bears and Saks last year? He's not a bad player. That's not a big number. I know. He has not made the impact he was expected to do considering he was a second-round pick in the size that this man has, which maybe has hurt him, too, with the leverage.
But there's Jervon Dexter. Tyreek Stevenson, same deal. Wow, has he had an up-and-down career.
Tyreek. He was my pick to be 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?
You're talking about Zach Pickens? Yes. Yeah, yeah, Zach Pickens. Yes, Layla's favorite. Yeah, Zach Pickens didn't quite work out. I remember watching because I was obviously glued to Jervon Dexter and Zach Pickens. It's pretty exciting when multiple defensive linemen are taken, right? And so I was glued to those guys. Zach Pickens, for a while, looked like the better product overall.
out of the two of those guys, and then Zach Pickens just went downhill. I don't know where are they now. Is he even in football anymore? He's got to be. Probably still is. But, yeah, so that was the year 2023. Dexter, Tyreek Stevenson, Zach Pickens. 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 –
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Chapter 3: Which defensive players should the Bears target in the upcoming draft?
and they can give me insider information about what this is 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 in the clubhouse? Because availability is so important in this game.
That is the Bears offensive line coach Dan Rochard with Foster Swift Sports Talk. I assume that's a podcast that he was on. But anyway, it sounds to me, Marshall, that he's talking. I mean, 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.
Wait, what movie are you referring to? Is that the Kevin Costner special? Yeah, Draft Day.
Yeah. I know all that stuff. But I get where he's coming from, that you want to go deeper than just what the player does. What stood out to you there from Mr. Roshar?
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 a prospective coaching staff, a team, an 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 sacks, but we think we can turn the pressures into sacks. That's a lot of hoping and wishing based on the actual contract that you gave him.
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Chapter 4: What are the implications of drafting best player available versus filling needs?
Coming up next, we are going to talk with Richard Deitch, who writes about the media. He does a podcast here on Odyssey called Sports Media with Richard Deitch. The main reason that we wanted to have him on is because he just wrote this cool feature story on our friend Kevin Harlan and We'll ask him what he learned about our guy who is 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? It's a game I like. This guy knows where all the games are. Richard Deitch is next on Rahimi Harrison Grody on The Score.
Rahimi Harrison-Grody. Midday's Tindall 2. On Chicago Sports Radio. 104.3 The Score. Wouldn't have a lot of time now. Bill Self and his staff making sure they know. No fouls.
This is going to be Darling. He's got to go. Darling puts it up. Oh! St. John's is going to the Sweet 16. For the first time since 1999.
Our guy, the voice of Kevin Harlan calling St. John's' last second win over Kentucky 67-65 as seen on CBS. Dylan Darling with that last second layup. Patino against Self and the man narrating it. Kevin Harlan doesn't get any better than that.
As a matter of fact, Kevin will be one of the topics of our next discussion, which we are happy to report is with, here on Rahimi Harris and Grody, with the one and only Richard Deitch, host of the Odyssey podcast, Sports Media with Richard Deitch, also Sports Business Journal contributor. He is on Zoom right now.
You could follow him on X at Richard Deitch as we welcome onto the Rahimi Harris and Grody show on the score. What's going on, Richard? How are you?
Fellas, it's always great to be here. You know, whenever I'm on your station, and I love Chicago because it is very, very similar to my city, Toronto, I always like to, you know, CM Punk it up, where you say something like, you know, where else would you rather be on a Monday afternoon than in the great city of Chicago, Illinois?
I love the sell, Richard. That has got me excited, and it's my show. We appreciate you stopping by. This Kevin Harlan story was so interesting to me because people don't understand how much this man has to travel. I think the travel piece of this is the most iconic of the things he's doing. Obviously, he's a great broadcaster. We have him on the station all the time. Can you walk me through this?
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Chapter 5: How do recent drafts impact the Bears' current defensive lineup?
We could talk about Kevin Harland for an hour probably. He's one of our favorites.
favorite guest but we have finite amount of time with you Richard so I want to get into the college basketball the tournament coverage so far and I'm tempted to just ask you the general question of what do you like and what you don't like and you could take that and run with it too but I do want to ask one specific question a what did you think moment of
the game the first round game where you had brian anderson who had no voice he had laryngitis for the game but you had charles barkley and dick vital doing a sports talk radio show is the way it felt what did you think of that game and if you'd like to take it in different directions too on things that you liked and didn't like like so far about the ncaa tournament and the coverage on the many networks
Yeah, so listen, I'm happy for both Barkley and Vitale. They've wanted to work together for a long time. And in television, prior to like, let's say the last five years or so, last three years or so, networks did not want their talent on another network. They always thought it was like a... like a significant competitive imbalance.
They wanted to keep their talent, um, very specific to their mediums and they've gotten better at this. I think they now realize that all publicity is good publicity. And if you allow your talent to go on another network, it's just going to end up being good publicity for you. It also helps, um, with your own talent relations. It makes your talent happy.
So I'm glad that by talent Barkley got to do a game together. Like, honestly, would I want those guys to do a full season together? No, like to be very blunt, like I, At a certain point with Vital, and this was even Vital on his prime, it's very good for me in doses, but I wouldn't want an entire season of the sort of over-the-top histrionics and the love affair from Mike Krzyzewski.
At a certain point, it's a little painful for me. I do love Barkley, though. I like seeing him on different outlets, so I thought that was cool. In terms of the tournament itself... I think CBS and Turner now – and I wouldn't say they're on autopilot, but I really think they do a very good job on the production. Like the tournament just like is really, really fun to watch.
They don't miss calls. It's – they have a great feel of sort of when to show the crowd. when to show the game. And also, I think they have their best group of broadcasters in terms of the teams that I've ever seen. There's really not. I mean, if you go through the first five broadcast groups or even six, they're all good. And they could probably all do the finals if they wish.
I think I, no offense to Jim Nance, but Ian Eagle's a better basketball broadcaster than Jim Nance.
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Chapter 6: What role does coaching play in the Bears' defensive strategy?
We may not know their, they may not be front facing. So they may not be famous people per se, but there will be people who lose jobs. And then inevitably the consumer usually pays somehow at the end of this because the sports rights go up and they're going to pass that on to the consumer.
So if you have something like Paramount+, I would expect the price of that two or three years from now to go up. Generally speaking, when it comes to media mergers, the consumers end up paying and people lose their jobs. That is just a history of what happens and that's what I'd bet on.
Richard, a couple of baseball things. First TV, then we got a radio question for you as well. So I think I have it straight now with baseball this year that NBC slash Peacock will have the Sunday night game. Fox will have their Saturday games with our guy Adam Amin. Of course, Jason Benetti on the NBC call. ESPN will have weekday games. TBS will have Tuesday games.
Have they sorted this out properly? Who's the real rights holder? And who's your favorite broadcast team out of this bunch?
Yeah, the winner of all this is Rob Manfred who just used the gif basically of the guy like throwing money into the air and like catching it because that's what MLB has always done. They don't really have a consumer-friendly national policy. You have to have multiple different outlets to watch all this stuff.
Now, away from the traditional greed of all sports organizations, I think some of the names you mentioned are great. I love Adam Amin, like you guys do. I'm a big, as we say in wrestling, I'm a big Jason Benetti mark. I think that was a great hire by NBC. You guys obviously know him in your market for his days with the White Sox.
That's a great hire, and that feels already to me like a big broadcast opportunity. And I expect NBC to put on a good show for that. I'm glad to see ESPN remain in baseball because I think it's important for the sport to have a relationship with ESPN because even though SportsCenter is not the same as it used to be and ESPN is not the same, you still want to have like them.
be interested in your sport because they're just too powerful an entity where you don't want to be buried. And MLB's got a really good story to tell. So I think, you know, of all the sort of the teams you mentioned, I think they'll all be fine.
I guess the one thing I'll just be paying attention to, this is more of like a nerdy kind of sports media thing, is Benetti's not working with a singular partner. Every one of those games, he's going to basically be working with local analysts. And it'll be interesting just to see how that sounds for
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Chapter 7: How does media coverage affect the perception of the Bears' draft decisions?
As a matter of fact, it's a pretty good chance that he's going to end up on a short-term injured list by the middle of this week. Subsequently, we talked about the hopeful outcome. Rise of Matt Shaw, about whom Marshall and I are both very optimistic. We talked about the Bears' ability or inability to draft defense, and specifically defensive line.
We went through all of Ryan Poles' drafts, if you'd like to go back and check that out. The NCAA tournament for a couple of casuals, as we call ourselves here. Marshall and I, at least, will speak for ourselves. Casual college basketball fans. Somehow, someway, the both of us were glued to a lot of those games, so we discussed that. We talked, of course, about the big Illinois win.
No funny stuff with a nice 76-55 win over VCU as they advanced to the Sweet 16 to take on Houston. And we just had a great conversation about the media weekend With our Odyssey teammate, Richard Deitch.
It's nap time. Yeah, you know, I don't know if you noticed, but the weather got a little bit better on Saturday, and people were outside. Mark, I am people, by the way. I was outside.
And you're a people who doesn't typically like to leave the, except for when you're exercising, the abode of your fine place.
And I don't know if you know, but in the news lately, there's been a lot of unsettling news. There's stuff going on with the Middle East. There's a war happening. A war happening, whether people want to admit it or not. Gas prices are surging. There's a lot of negative news, but you have to take in the news to know what's going on. But sometimes you just need to get away.
And I have a dual story here, one of a place where they're letting you get away, and my own kind of spin on that, which I took advantage of this past weekend. So let me first tell you about what's going on in Raleigh, North Carolina. J.C. Ralston Arboretum in Raleigh provides what they call a shield. They're offering... Bathing in nature to unplug and get away.
And I found this fascinating because we're all too plugged in. Can we agree on that? Yeah. Every day we have to look at our phones, look at our screens. We're addicted to screens, whether it's for good, bad, worse, whatever. Yes. You can get positive things and negative things as well. The negative hurts. Every Sunday morning, they have a certified forest therapy guide, Sean Ramsey.
Jingling a tiny brass bell, calling her a dozen or so charges to gather for meditation, breathing exercises, and to commune with nature. Mark, when was the last time you communed with nature? I don't know. And I think that is the answer for way too many people. And I get it. We live in the city. It's city life. But there are beautiful spaces in which you can go.
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Chapter 8: What are the predictions for the Bears' performance based on their draft choices?
Can we do that? Is there a way we can do this?
No, that will never, ever happen. That's the past. We're not going back to that, are we? Yeah, except for intermittently. But I will say, you're right. The vibe post-run, because it's interesting you mention that. That's cool that you ran in the Shamrock Shuffle. I was invited to. I didn't think I was ready for it. But I was driving back from the city. In our neighborhood. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
From the suburbs.
post run luckily or else I would have probably been one of those frustrated drivers and just at that point it was done it was over and I saw dozens of people as I was driving down State Street wearing the and there's a Shamrock Shuffle hat right there hold it up for the Twitch audience right there there's a Shamrock Shuffle hat that all people walking hand in hand in groups did they give is there a medal for this or is that just oh I have a medal you got your medal medals at home it's
morale is high after those runs people feel good about themselves after that so you're right whether it's to and i know you're talking about a separate incident of unplugging not everybody did that but just talking about the shit and the runs that go on in the city there is that feeling i know a lot of people drives people crazy because of the traffic and just everybody running around but it really is a nice thing about this city and the marathon will be happening again you
Anthony Rizzo and Jake Arrieta will be running in this year's marathon. Oh, is that confirmed? Yeah, I think it is. Okay, okay. I didn't say something about a turn there, did I?
No, that's correct.
Man, I've been spoiling stuff.
And Jake Arrieta, too.
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