Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show
Would acquiring Maxx Crosby make the Bears a Super Bowl contender? (Hour 1)
03 Mar 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What are the Bears' chances of acquiring Maxx Crosby?
This hour is brought to you by Vasectomy Clinics of Chicago. Rahimi Harrison-Grody. 10-2 on 104.3 The Score. In my snoopings, I noticed that the Lions on the player survey, the offensive coordinator got a C. Do you think Ben Johnson knows that? Looked it up and has pinned it up? Maybe just on the refrigerator with a magnet on there? Just a C? Grade C?
Because you know he's still pissed off about that 50 burger. There's no way. He got swept. He was also really upset about the last game of the regular season. Can you say a simpler game plan? Hold him back at all? Nope. Come on, Ben. What do you think about that? Huh? Taking your shirt off at the Bulls game? You think this is funny? No. You think this is some kind of game? I'm sorry.
Making jokes about your quarterback? What do you think this is? He's saying, you want a piece of me? I could drop you like a bag of dirt. You want a piece of me? You got it! I imagine he's going to get Cubs season tickets this year, which will be a blast to see him with his shirt off in the left field bleachers. Why do you think he's in the left field bleachers? Absolutely. Right field sucks.
Good, bad, or best. It's over, Denver. South Park whooped your ass. You better shut your mouth before I shut it for you. What do you want to do, huh? I think Ben Johnson's having fun. Flashes the camera at the Bulls game. He's outside. He's telling people how much he loves Tyson Bajent. He's driving around from Indianapolis back to Chicago for the Combine. He's just out here. He's doing things.
When does he go back to being that dude, though? The scary dude. Training camp. Yeah. OTAs. So, OTAs. Maybe minicamp. Listen, it's kind of scary to see him turn it on and turn it off. Like, he's got this public persona, as you mentioned at the Bulls game. I mean, you could argue he sparked a 27-0 run.
Like, there are things happening right now with Ben Johnson that if you go back, what, three months? Yeah. It's a different person than I remember being stern with everyone about everything. I think coaches are right when they say players will test you. You know, players will see what they want to get away, what they can get away with, I should say.
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Chapter 2: How would Maxx Crosby impact the Bears' Super Bowl aspirations?
And you have to, especially after... a training camp last year where they said steps were skipped that you you'd better bring it so i i trust that he knows when to turn it off and when he's allowed to to have a good time how much of a good time do you think you would have if the bears got max cross i was about to ask you the same question
I don't know that my brain right now is ready to bend to understand and comprehend what Ben Johnson would be like at a Max Crosby introductory press conference. And yes, we have probably been the show here on 104.3 The Score who has carried the Max Crosby flag. The first show, we've had it the longest. We have run with that flag. I think at this point we're doing laps around Soldier Field.
We love us some Max Crosby talk. And our listeners do, too. I think it's their favorite non-bear. I think he's number one. But I don't know if it's chicken-egg, if it's correlation-causation here, but DraftKings now has the Bears as the favorites at plus 200 to get him from the Raiders. Via trade. Is this the same as when the Bulls were the favorites to land Giannis Antetokounmpo?
Is that the same vibe? Probably, because here's the other highest marker on the board, second highest. Staying put with the Raiders is a plus 350. So the Bears are more favored to get Max Crosby in the betting markets than Max Crosby staying with the Raiders. Is that you putting your money where your hope is? Is that what's happening here?
Is this like when people started to bet on the Bulls in 2021 and 2022 when they had that nice run where DeMar was just hitting game-winning threes? And it was good money. It was a good bet to buy to have them win the Eastern Conference, which they certainly did not win. I put money on the Bulls this year, so don't ask me about that one. Marshall, how did that go for you?
It did not go well, but we can get to that later. What I will say is Chicago... What was the bet, though? I put a bet in at 40 wins, 45 wins. I had Billy Donovan coach of the year. Several bets. Several bets. Several bets. You're a value guy, though. I am a value guy. I got all those at respectable prices. I will not be getting any of that money back. I will tell you this, though.
The Twitch mob is already roasting you. They should. Roast away. Hey, look. I admit what I deserve. How's that 46 looking? It was 45. I'm tired of Mully and Hall. I've been out here, specifically Mully, trying to stretch the win total. I think Speaks was at it, too. 50 wins, Marshall? I was like, no one ever said anything about 50 wins. I heard 63. Okay. All right. All right.
What I'm saying is the Chicago Better has so much power when it comes to the way this thing moves. What about the Chicago Best? Listen, from plus 650 to plus 200 in one day in 24 hours? Here's what I think we can agree on. The likelihood of Max Crosby staying with the Raiders, I actually think at plus 350, that's amusing to me.
I know John Spitek has said all the right things, the Raiders general manager. I know he's acting like he's going to be there.
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Chapter 3: What do the betting odds say about Crosby joining the Bears?
I understand that that's a guy who's young enough to where you could build around him. He's far and away your highest paid player, over $35 million a year. which is why I think it's tricky if the Bears want to try to do this. Like, you're going to need somebody from that movie The Accountant to help you guys out with your cap, if that's the case.
The cap is, for everybody who says the cap is non-existent, Ryan Poles doesn't feel that way. Just so you guys are aware, like Ryan Poles has said, and he was quoted as such last week at the combine that he can't, he can't be kicking the can down the road. So that's something he's been mindful of.
The cap may be non-existent to you, but to Ryan Poles, he's on the record as saying that's something that he, that situation he doesn't want to get into. So if that's the case, you're going to have to have some absolutely creative accounting to get this done. Isn't that what Matt Feinstein's for, though? To get the creative accounting done? He's the cap guy.
I mean, and you need a cap guy on your team. There's no doubt about that. But they can only do so much when you're GM and he's still got two bosses and Kevin Warren and George McCaskey. When your GM says he doesn't want to get into a situation where he's mortgaging the present for the future. So there's that. Or the future for the present, rather, in this case. Either way kind of applies.
I just think when it's Max Crosby... You figure it out. That's your job as the general manager. If Max Crosby's available, if you've got your rookie quarterback, sorry, not rookie quarterback, but if you've got your quarterback on a rookie contract, figure it out. Like, okay, we're talking about odds, right? You're talking about the second highest odds are him staying in Vegas.
What are the odds moved to if the Bears get Max Crosby on this team? That's the odds I'm thinking about. Well, and in the meantime, what is the likelihood? Like, what's the real likelihood? Here's some quotes from Ryan Poles that make me think this way.
Pulse said, this is a unique situation where we've gotten our roster in a position where we have a lot of talented players, a lot of guys getting paid well, and that puts some constraints on the cap. Yes, it does. And we already saw one team who was over the cap in the Lions make a move that...
You know, you could argue kind of starts a different path for them with David Montgomery getting traded over to Houston. Now, David Montgomery jokes about whether or not he said he wanted to get traded, but it's a done deal now. So polls continued on Tuesday of last week. So this is a week ago at the combine saying this. So we got to make some tough decisions.
When we win games, you create these relationships. There's leadership guys and there's guys that were captains and mean a lot to our organization. But when you're kind of put in a corner, that's what the league's been and has been. So I think he understands he's not going to do something extreme when he's already invested so much in the defensive line. But I think we're all in the same spot of.
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Chapter 4: What are the financial implications of trading for Maxx Crosby?
I make the case that the defensive line was the weakest part of the team, point blank and period, even with Montez Sweat not being awful. And the most expensive. That's a tough thing to marry together, right? You underperformed as a unit. Also, we invested as much, if not more money, into this part of the football team than we did anything else. And I understand injuries happen. I get it.
Grady Jarrett had to have surgery. Dio Dingbo out for the year. I understand all that. But the reality is, if you're going to win in the National Football League today, you have to have a well above average defensive line. And here's the other part about what polls had to say. There are some things you can do. You've seen that before. You all have seen that before I got here.
You can accelerate and then after it goes away pretty quick. So you've got to balance both. Unfortunately, that's not reality in terms of picking it and you do want to go all in and hurt yourself. Do you want to go all in and hurt yourself down the road? So he said that. Our mindset is to do both. Win now and then be able to sustain that and have flexibility. It's not going to be easy.
Hey, Layla. So the GM said it himself. He's not willing to put all the chips in. He's not worried about the 20-32 Cubs, but he kind of is. Who do you have as the gold standard as far as general managing in the NFL? Howie Roseman. Does he seem like he's worried about the future when he makes all his deals? You know what makes him able to do things in the way that he does?
Because he drafts really, really well. That's it. He drafts well, and he's not signing players to contracts like that either. And so what I'm saying is... He's like a Montez Sweat deal. You've got two different paths here. Three if you want to count trades. But free agency in the draft to build your team and make your team better. He's got elite three technique on his rookie deal.
And we know the story behind that, don't we? Yeah. It should have been a warning now that I look back at it. Well, so my point is, Ryan Poles is telling you this is the way I have to do it. And no, I'm saying to Ryan Poles, no, this is the way you're choosing to do it because you don't know how to do it the other way. And that is the concern. Well, I think there's also different mechanics.
The Eagles have had private equity take a stake of their team, right? So they have had that buy-in. The Bears board is still comprised of family. They've kept that in-house. So outside of Pat Ryan. So... Based on that alone, it's a different setup entirely. There's no better way to view that than when you've seen what they do at the stadium.
But your GM, who's in charge of all of this, basically said that he didn't say he's not going to do it, but he leans toward not doing that in his statement that he made. would it surprise you at this point if he did it? That's the question. Well, and then here's, here's the other part that he said. So let's listen to Ryan polls in his entirety.
When he said, I hope eventually to have a quarterback situation where we've got to pay a young quarterback.
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Chapter 5: How does the Bears' current roster influence the Crosby trade discussion?
So that comes into play as well. I think we're getting closer and closer to clarity on that side of things, which helps us to start build those models to, to make sure that, again, we're doing the right thing for us moving forward and we are not putting ourselves in a situation where we've got to make really tough or bad decisions down the road that hurt us. This is a good decision.
It's just a matter of how you construct it down the line. But already some of the decisions that we thought were good, you knew that when you traded for Montez Sway, you were going to have to extend him. And especially after he had that 10 and a half sack season. So he changed the defense that year. But now you have a different defense. And that's what makes it so tricky. They clearly...
believe that Montez Sweat would be more productive than he has been. And when I say more productive, I'm not saying that he didn't have a productive season, but when I say more productive, I'm saying someone who's in the Pro Bowl discussion, someone who's in maybe even an All-Pro discussion, and not getting the consistency. Go back to early in the season. He's got to win his one-on-one matchups.
Like, Yeah, we know. And he wasn't doing it consistently enough. And that's just one guy. And yeah, you can put faith in Austin Booker and some of these other guys. But at the end of the day... Got to extend Austin Booker in a couple of years. Next year, right? That is a little further down the road. And that's fine. But the idea here is to get a game record when a game record becomes available.
The Packers went and got Micah Parsons. Now, he got hurt. I get that. But before he got hurt, we were all sitting here saying, that's a team that is scary and could win the NFC. Well, and then for the people who just say, like, 6-3-0, you can cut bait on all of the high-priced defensive line players next year and save significant cap.
If you want to join in on the conversation, 3-1-2, 6-44, 67-67. You have to juggle things this year. Then next year, the D-line would right-size, and you move on with significant cap space next year. Okay, cool. Montez, what's a $35.485 million dead cap hit? Since you think that that's an easy way out of this. Dio Dangbo's getting paid 20.5 and he'll be a 22 million dead cap hit next year.
So I don't necessarily think that it's as simple as what you think it is. Grady Jarrett's going to be 18.92. Well, his dead cap hits 21. So they're already over. So I don't think that that's as simple as a thought process as you may indicate. So 630 on the text line, he is me and I am him. The cap is non-existent when you actually enter a competitive window. You pay off the loans down the line.
I'm a firm believer in that. Same way if we're talking baseball, I'll trade the prospects to win now. I mean, based on the salary cap growth, that's a good argument you can make. Given how much it's grown, even in the past five years. And that's the way Howie Roseman has been operating.
He understands that the bill will come due one day, but as long as the salary cap continues to grow, as long as there's not a pandemic stopping the revenue that's incoming.
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Chapter 6: What are the potential risks of trading for a high-priced player like Crosby?
Develop draft picks. These are the things that have to happen for them to take advantage of the next, let's say, five years. Which is why, yeah, the odds may be saying the Bears are the most likely team. But it's also probably why the next best odds are at 350 plus 350 for Max Crosby to stay with his own, with the Raiders.
But if you're Spytek, I just don't know how you don't let him be free somewhere else because you won't be good when he's at his best and then use those picks and those players to help build your team. That's what I would do if I was the Raiders without a franchise quarterback. Get rid of the guys who cost all the money and rebuild your team through the draft.
So this is from Kevin Fishbane, and this is just another thought. He and Dan Wiederer had an article in The Athletic about it, and he said, after hearing that quote that I read you guys from polls saying it's not going to be easy, Fishbane said, on the surface, my gut reaction to that was, this is not someone willing to sacrifice the future for one player.
Then again, and here's the $35.8 million question. Is Crosby the exact type of player worth that kind of haul? Yes. So there's a comp to be made here that sadly is in front of our faces. So we should probably do that next. In the meantime, this is Rahimi Harrison-Grody on 104.3 The Score. If you want to call and chime in on our conversation, we welcome you at 312. 644-6767.
Our producers are Ray Diaz, Tyler Buterbaugh, and also Brandon Fryer helps us out as well. You can join us on Twitch and YouTube at, our address changed, TheScoreChicago. Our Twitch mob is up and chatting there as well, so you can join the conversation there if you like. And then our video producers are Connor O'Donnell, Jacob Stutz, and Max Curtis, along with Cody Westerlin. So...
There's an easy comparison here that might be the easiest way to sell all of this. I'll do that next. I've been playing tackle football since I could walk. Yeah, Max Crosby's gonna let you know. And yesterday, just yesterday, the Bears were at plus 650 odds per DraftKings to land Max Crosby. They have now moved to the favorites at plus 200.
The Raiders, his actual team, are second to the Bears at plus 350. When Chicago gets organized, you guys can really move a market or two. Yeah. This is nice work. Yeah, unfortunately. Go team. I don't like the plus 200 there. That's not a smart bet, is what I would tell you on that. I want to read you this comment, though, Layla, from 920.
Trading for Cosby would be a panic move by the Bears, acting as if they're not used to being a winning team. It would jeopardize the future and in the best... Oh, now I've lost the plot. Best future put them back to where they were a couple of years back. More than Crosby is needed on defense, teams will be able to focus on him and reduce his impact because there's no one else to worry about.
It happened in Dallas during the playoffs with Parsons. Stay calm. Trust the process, including drafting players for future success. Don't panic because we were finally a quote-unquote good team last year. Yeah, okay. Except the process has netted you a pass rush that we just talked about, which is very expensive, injured, and not effective. And yet, one of the highest paid in the league.
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Chapter 7: How does the Bears' defensive line performance factor into the Crosby conversation?
Miles Garrett is here to tell you that the Browns beat the Packers with Micah Parsons. But... Given that the Bears have, I think, more weapons. They won the season series. They beat them in the playoffs. I know it took everything they had, but so do most NFL games. When you consider how the Bears are on the upswing, and you consider that we haven't seen the realized Caleb Williams yet.
We saw Colson Loveland in his rookie year, Luther Burton in his rookie year. All the tools and the weapons the Bears have. How much of a difference would Max Crosby make? I think it would be the same type of conversation if he were on this team. Now, they've got four safeties that are all out of contract now.
They are likely getting Tremaine Edmonds out of the building and releasing him for a cap casualty. TJ Edwards isn't healthy. There's a lot of issues with the defense right now. But does that change how you feel about him on this team? Doesn't change how I feel about it. Look, I'm being very blunt.
If you have a chance to get a game wrecker to pair with a quarterback who's not getting paid as much, you do it. And by the time the quarterback is getting paid, some of this other, I won't call it dead weight, some of this other weight that's heavier and more dense than it should be at some of these other defensive line positions can be gone from your team. How about that?
Is that a better way of putting it? When people are talking about the 2027 cap hits, that doesn't apply. Crosby's available now. Yes. If he's still available in 2027, then it's a different discussion. But this is what the scenario is in front of you right now. And the reality is, if you don't go get him, and someone else goes and gets him, guess what? He's no longer available to you.
You better pray it's not in the division, and you better pray it's not in the conference. Brian Baldinger added to the drama yesterday when he was on our afternoon show with Spiegel and Holmes. Listen to this comp. I feel like Max is worth anything, like everything. Like that guy is just a difference maker. He's just a culture builder.
Like he sets the tone every day in practice from the day, you know, from the moment he walks into the building. I do the SAC Summit every year in Las Vegas. I'm around him a lot. Like it's just, you know, I mean, he watched ā You know, Jordan's show during the pandemic, and he changed his entire life. He wants to be Michael Jordan. He wants to be the best that's ever done it.
And he just has that level of commitment. I guess The Last Dance is what it was, right? Yes. But he watched that thing. His life changed in those 10 episodes. And he wants to be Michael Jordan. And... To do it in Chicago, I mean, you know, I went to school in Michigan. You know, that would be, I think that would be a great fit.
If you could make something like that happen, I see that the general manager, John Spitek, is shooting all these rumors down, but the rumors are out there. Like, you have to make the phone call to John Spitek and just find out just what it takes. He's got a rich contract, but he's worth every penny of it. Nobody will play harder. Nobody will make your defense better. He's just a difference maker.
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Chapter 8: What are the listeners' views on acquiring Maxx Crosby?
And my first thought was, even as he got into the story about wanting to be Michael Jordan, how the last dance changed his perspective about sports and playing football. And we already heard what he said on his podcast with Caleb Williams. How can you not want this guy to be on your team in Chicago? He's flirting. There's no doubt about that. You bring up Jordan. You bring up the last dance.
Talk to Caleb Williams. But that's not a conversation that he had just had with him. That's him going back off recollections of years of those two guys knowing each other. And he's going back basically to the pandemic and talking about the production that you've seen since then, how it was influenced by the story of Michael Jordan and his documentary, The Last Dance. It is. And you know what?
When you hear Max Crosby talk and the cut that Tyler Beterbaugh played coming into our segment is a good indication of it. That seemed like the right motivation for the right personality, married with the physical gifts that Max Crosby has. And you always wonder, well, why do some guys, why do they only get to play 50, 55% of the snaps and other guys are like, you can't get me off the field.
I think we've gotten since the end of this season through the words of Max Crosby and others describing Max Crosby, an understanding of why he is the latter guy, not the former. Well, this is what this season is about. You know, Lawrence Holmes called it lying season where the GMs all lie.
Then you're just trying to figure out which one is lying the least or which one you can just predict the best, not even lying the least. Like, do they have a tell? Do they have a bluff? And he's creating a market for himself. He shouldn't have to, but he is. But I don't think Max Crosby's lying in anything he's saying. No, I'm not. Max isn't a GM.
Yeah, I'm just making sure we mark the delineation because I think, yes, GMs do lie. And you know what? Miles Garrett told me last year he wanted to trade. What happened after he said he wanted to trade? Miles Garrett got a significant ton of money. He got like the Scrooge McDuck swim in the coin vault money. Hey, life is like a hurricane. I mean, sometimes it bees like that.
And then he got the single season sack record. So I'm just saying, sometimes you got to say what you got to say to get what you want. They paid him. He was happy. And then they beat the Packers in a mysterious game. And then he reminded Micah Parsons of it. And then he got the single season sack record. Yeah, he signed Micah Parsons. He just on his own podcast.
And his girlfriend did very well at the Olympics. Chloe Kim. Yeah. Congratulations. Really good year for Team Miles Garrett. Outside of the record and all. Yeah, the record. But they still beat the Packers. They did to be the Packers. Thanks, Browns. I like Miles Garrett. I do, too. He's a funny guy. I do, too.
That would be, as much as we talk about Max Crosby, and I get it, the plan Bs, and we're going to go over that in a little bit. For everybody saying Miles Garrett, if we're going to go to this place, if we're going to go to the glamorous, dare-to-dream, crazy space where nothing's stopping you, then you might as well. 312-644-6767. Share with us your dream concerning Max Crosby. Do you want him?
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