Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show
Mike Florio talks Drew Dalman's retirement, latest NFL headlines (Hour 2)
04 Mar 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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He used to be a lawyer, then he decided to take his talents to the internet. NBC Sports. I'm sorry I'm late, I was talking to Robert Kraft. That isn't the time for an airing of grievances. Pro Football Talk. I got a lot of problems with you people. No, you're going to hear about it. On Chicago Sports Radio, 104.3 The Score. I want to keep talking Legos.
Yeah, we want to keep talking Legos too, except there's been massive Bears news that we have to get to. So we will discuss it with our guest. He joins us on our hotline. He is the creator, editor-in-chief of Pro Football Talk. It is Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk on X. And he's on Twitch, twitch.tv slash thescorechicago. Mike, how are you? Doing great. How are you today? Good.
Oh, you got the fireworks. That's nice. Yeah, we enjoyed your conversation with Chicago guy Carnell Tate, by the way, about Legos. That was fantastic. That was a lot of fun. And one of the things about having access to the prospects at Indianapolis. number one, it gives them some camera time. It's different than the stressful nature of everything else they do.
And it gives us a chance to get to know a little bit more about them. So we asked him about their families. We asked him about their hobbies and I'm a fan of anyone who enjoys a good Lego set. And that's exactly what Colonel Tate told us. He's working on the Titanic. He has been, he's got a five foot Eiffel Tower, and he's gonna move on to the Star Wars collection next.
So it's good to see someone willing to open up about hobbies that some might wonder, is that really a hobby? For those of us who enjoy Lego, as you can tell by the Ghostbuster Firehouse that is back there somewhere, yes, it's fun. I love that. And when you said working on the Titanic, I wanted to say, aren't we all? Just my droll attitude, Mike.
Hey, I guess you could say we kind of have a titanic situation here in Chicago. It's been all Drew Dallman all the time. Mike, what do you think about your reaction to Drew Dallman playing in the first year of a three-year, $42 million deal for the Bears, and Dallman dropped a whopper on the world. The 27-year-old has retired. What is your reaction?
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Chapter 2: What led to Drew Dalman's surprising retirement from the NFL?
Well, and that's part of it, too, is we were wondering what was going to happen to Kyler Murray, Mike. And then we get the news that he's going to be released from Arizona. And, of course, you know what I thought about was all the conversation surrounding Tyson Bajent that the Bears had at the Combine. Ben Johnson with a glowing discussion of who he is and what he's meant to the team.
That hasn't changed, I think, from anybody in the front office. Does his market increase because of this possible movement that has been created by Kyler Murray? I think, if anything, it hurts the market because someone would have to trade for Bajan. And I saw last week during the nonstop activity at the Scouting Combine that the Bears may be looking for as much as a second-round pick for Bajan.
Why am I going to do that if I'm a team? Why am I going to do that when I can get one of these guys who's already available in free agency or is going to be cut? Kyler Murray is going to be joined by Tua Tagovailoa, Geno Smith most likely, Justin Fields. Kirk Cousins is definitely getting cut.
So when you have guys you could pursue and not have to give up a draft pick, whether it's a two, a three, or a four, you have to give up nothing to get these guys. I think that makes it harder for the Bears to get what they want and to make them willing to move Tyson Bajent.
But he's an interesting wrinkle in all of this because he's young, he's shown potential, and he's got a favorable contract for the next two years. I want to go back to J.J. McCarthy really quick, if I can, and just to ask, what did we all miss with J.J.
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Chapter 3: How does Drew Dalman's retirement impact the Bears' future?
McCarthy? What did all the GMs at the Combine, what's happening? What did they all miss? You'll find out. You have a pop-up ad. Is it you or is it me? It's not you, it's me. You know what happens on YouTube? Like if you have, if you're watching a video and then when it ends, it spills over into another one. And then when that one ends, it spills over into an ad. That's what happens.
Sorry about that. Oh, that's okay. I remember, it's only been two years ago, which feels like forever. It does. When J.J. McCarthy was coming into the draft. I didn't know where he actually fit in the pecking order with all those great quarterbacks. And then all of a sudden Jim Harbaugh starts hyping the guy up. And we all knew why he was doing it.
He was the national champion quarterback in Michigan. But it seems to me like once Harbaugh really started banging the drum for McCarthy, then all of a sudden McCarthy is rising up the draft board and the Vikings could have picked him or Bo Nix. They were trying to trade up to get Drake May. I don't know if they would have taken Michael Penix Jr. if he had been there at 10.
but they rolled the dice on McCarthy. He got injured in his pre-season opener in 24. And then last year, you know, the guy didn't throw enough passes in college. And one of the knocks on McCarthy, aside from the mechanics, he's got one pitch, it's a fastball.
And when you look at a team like the Vikings that does so much of its passing game across the middle where you have to layer the ball in over the hands of a defensive back, you can't throw a speedball, as Bruce Springsteen would say, right through a defensive back. You've got to be able to have different pitches. You've got to be able to put some arc on the ball and...
Look, maybe they've ironed some of that out. The weird thing is they won five games to end the season. Do they see something in McCarthy based upon the end of the season that makes them reluctant to go out and get a guy who would supplant him? This next move by the Vikings is going to be very revealing. Is it going to be somebody who's there to be a high-end backup?
Is it going to be somebody who's there to truly compete with him, like Daniel Jones and Anthony Richardson last year? Or is it going to be somebody who... When he walks through the door based on the contract or whatever they have to give up to get him if they trade, is he going to be the starter? That's going to tell us what they think of J.J. McCarthy more than anything else.
Whoever that next quarterback is, we will know what they think of J.J. McCarthy. Mike Florio, thanks as always for joining us on Twitch. Thanks for the Lego Talk, and thanks for all the latest news and notes. Thanks. Have a great week. Thanks, Mike. That is Mike Florio, creator and editor-in-chief of Pro Football Talk, joining us on Rahimi Harrison-Grody on The Score.
And coming up next, the biggest question I think all of us had is not only why for Drew Dahlman, but why now? Carmen Vitale, friend of The Score, Bears reporter, works on Marquee as well. She offered some big perspective that I think is worth a listen. Next. It's Toyota Truck Month. Time to get a truck that works as hard as you do. Tacoma. Tundra. Built for the worksite. Ready for the trail.
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Chapter 4: How does a signing bonus affect a player's retirement decision?
That's it. That's it. See, I am very sensitive to one arm guys. I put this together and I didn't even hear the one arm thing. All right, you're Bucky, Grody. Now it's you. Bucky LaRue, the one arm player on Family Guy. Based on how you hear lyrics, this is actually a big win. I guess you're right. And Donnell Wright did basically play the entire season with one functioning arm.
Don't mess with me on one arm, guys. You know, you guys are right over me on a lot of stuff. But one arm guys, look at me, okay? Grody, who's on your Mount Rushmore of one arm guys? Name them right now. Sykes. Bucky. Bucky LaRue. But that's a no arm guy. That's a no arm. But Bucky the Avenger. Oh, yeah. Bucky the Avenger. So you got three. So I got one more. I got nothing for you.
Who's my other one-armed guy? I'm trying to think. What about the other one-armed guy? 3, 1, 2, 6, 44, 67, 67. Who's Grody's fourth one-armed guy? We have a selection here from the text line from 847. Winter Soldier has one mechanical arm. There you go. I have no idea, guys. My Marvel and that universe knowledge is terrible. I'm not great at it either, but I know a one-armed guy when I see him.
It's probably insulting to Lawrence that I called it that universe. See, if Marshall were here today, he would be able to help out with this conversation. That's true. Do we have a way to get Marshall on the show? He's downstate. He's working on high school basketball. Oh, is he in Bloomington Normal right now? Is that where he is? Is he in my own? Well, all of central Illinois.
You're claiming all of it? Well, I've worked in Lincoln. I've worked in Peoria. I worked in Springfield. I worked in Bloomington Normal. Yeah, I got some anchors in central Illinois. Shout out to all our one-armed guys downstate. Yeah, shout out to all our one-armed guys downstate, y'all. 630 has the right answer. Drummer from Def Lepp. Oh, that's it. That's it.
The one-armed guy from Def Leppard. Oh, 847 says Winter Soldier is Bucky. I'm so sorry, guys. My Marvel Universe is really bad. With all the two-armed players that have existed in baseball, why, why, why would you put a no-armed guy at second base? Why? Why? That's from Family Guy. I always get the name wrong. Is it Bucky LaRue? Let's hope so. It's some form of that.
There's a Family Guy for everything. There really is a Family Guy for everything. But I think it's Bucky LaRue. But we'll figure that out.
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Chapter 5: What are the latest updates on the Vikings' quarterback situation?
No arms, nothing. How do you file stuff? Well, I guess per... Mentally. Like, how does that happen? So you're asking me to tell you how my brain works? A little bit. I mean, I don't know. You would probably be better at telling me how, as a radio partner, like, understanding my isms and the way I comport myself and things that come out of my mouth. I don't know.
I don't know my own psychological profile. That's up to other people.
Chapter 6: What trade possibilities exist for Raiders star Maxx Crosby?
It's Bucky LaGrange. Bucky LaGrange. For Family Guy. Bucky LaGrange. Thank you, team. Thank you. Who is Bucky LaRue? Bucky. Come on. I wasn't that far off. And he's back. As bad as I am at remembering lyrics and names and things like that, I wasn't like, I'll take close for me at this point. He had the soundbite correct. Caleb Williams did mention it. Yeah. See, and nobody else knew.
That's right. I was right. You were. Anyhow. I know. There's no good way to segue out of that. You want me to segue? You want me to do it? No. Okay. Well, I mean, you can. I got us into this mess, so I can get us out of this mess. I can tell everybody here on Rahimi Harrison Grody that Drew Dahlman retired yesterday, and one of the voices of reason on the score yesterday on...
on the afternoon show of Spiegel and Holmes was our good friend Carmen Vitale. As you teased, she joined the show and gave some of her insight as close to kind of maybe knowing what was going on as anybody. So here's Carmen Vitale. How was that? Was that good? From everything that I talked about with some people around the Combine,
Um, I kind of became privy to this a few days ago, but without knowing if it was actually going to go through because the Chicago bears were trying to kind of steer Drew Dolman in another direction. They wanted, they obviously did not want him to retire. This was not something that they inherently saw coming either. Um, you know, he's at the height of his career. He's 27 years old.
He just signed a contract last year and was, uh, for all intents and purposes, a part of one of the best units in the entire league last year. But what the notion that I got from people kind of close to the situation close to Drew was that, listen, he's his dad was a player. His dad was a coach. He has seen what this game can do to you in your life after football.
And for better or worse, this man is a Stanford man and he's very, very smart. And he knows, you know, what, what that, like what that toll can be. And he's seen it firsthand. And I don't think there's any kind of, substitute for seeing that and being faced with that reality every single day when it's a parent of yours. I mean, that's how you have to think of this.
He's seen the effects and he sees them every single day and he has to constantly weigh whether or not it's worth it for him to end up like that and how much longer he wanted to push it. And the answer was, I guess, not past this past season. Very good information from Carmen Vitale. And she also posted a tweet that got a massive amount of views talking about just that perspective itself.
Drew's dad was a player and a coach. He's seen firsthand life after football and the effects the game can have. If anyone is going to make an informed decision on when it's time to hang him up, it's Drew. Happy for him and sad for the Bears. And I feel like that echoed a lot of people. He's lucky enough to be able to make this decision for himself. Absolutely. Absolutely.
And the only thing I would say about this, and again, disclaimers needed. We don't know what's going on. If it's a health reason, and that is totally understandable why he would step away from it. From hearing what Carmen said, and it's all very reasonable. His dad played, he understands, and he was an offensive lineman for the 49ers. He played in the league. His dad coached in the league.
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