TRADE RUMORS: Bears Explore Deep Safety Class at NFL Combine as Trade Rumors Heat Up! | CHGO Bears

Dandy besties Adam Hogan, Greg Braggs, Jr. Braggs in the stands, Braggs for life, Braggs is my hero. Braggs is having a great week. Nobody has stayed as positive through the trials and tribulations, the ups and downs of the NFL Combine the way Gregory has. Adam Hogue's been on a video call with the Indiana State Legislature for the last three hours. Wrong. Two hours? Illinois. Illinois, whatever. You were on the Illinois Legislature call for six hours today and none of what you're saying is accurate. You had the most, I've never seen anybody that focused for any legislature calling the history of legislature. Well, you have to be. It's not like I'm listening to football. I don't know who these people are or what they're saying or what it all means. It was the tunnel vision, guys. I'm letting everybody know that Hoag's on his game today. I am going to share something hilarious you might have already seen going on on Twitter today from that committee meeting in the Illinois House Revenue and Finance Committee. Have you ever heard of a worse sentence, Greg? I say this... I don't know. What did you say yesterday? Steven, I say it was a lot of confidence that I was the only one on the show equipped to be on that call today. Oh, please. Do you know my history? Well, that's what I'm saying. I thought you would be more interested in it, and you're not. I'm not interested, but I'm capable of being on the call. I was the news director at WLBKAM. That's not a real place. I showed up to city council meetings and or in theory. Thank you, Katie. Ho gets a coffee. Nobody else gets a coffee. Well, one of us gave her our credit card. Did you give her your credit card? Oh, couldn't have bought coffee for all of us, Ho. I'm kidding. I don't need any coffee. I'm more caffeinated than I need to be. I don't need a coffee, and I would not be qualified to be on the call that you were on. Yeah. Well, first of all, I was not qualified. That was kind of the point I was making. Okay. I thought you did a good job. Well, thank you. I do have a lot of notes to share with you in a little bit, but we're not doing that off the top. Most people want stadiums talk off the top. No, we can. Let's talk. I want to talk trade rumors because while I was doing all that, I'm getting tweets and texts about the latest players on the trade. I'm starting to wonder, guys, if something is going to get done while we're here in Indy. It could happen. So who do you think that would be, Adam? Well, first of all, so Jordan Schultz, right, was the one that reported that it's not just Tyson Bajan, that DJ Moore is actually on the trade block, and then also Jervon Dexter. Which makes sense. Dexter has just been sort of an awkward fit since he – and I've been saying this like over and over again. I think if he ends up in the right team and the right scheme, he can be a really good player. But I don't think that scheme has been the Bears, whether that was Matt Eberflus or Dennis Allen. And he still puts up somewhat decent numbers despite that reality. So I could see – my point is I could see why other teams are interested in Jervon Dexter. And depending on what you can get, maybe a mid-round pick, I think it might be worth doing. I think that I agree, but I also just think when you hear Ryan Poles say at the beginning of the week, maybe the most profound thing he said was, we need to be faster on defense. We need speed. And that includes getting off the ball on the line. That's exactly what I was going to get to is straight line speed. I'm sure Trevon can get downhill, but getting off the ball, getting off the line of scrimmage, that isn't his strong suit. It hasn't been since college, and it feels like it's gotten worse all of a sudden, like in the last year, which is disappointing. And so I just don't know if he is the right fit to a Dennis Allen defense. And so it's interesting when you talk, the last few days we've talked about the amount of holes this defense still has to fill, but now you're floating Tremaine Edmonds and Jervon Dexter, and that's creating new holes while you've got, there's a lot, There's just so much work to be done on the defensive side of the ball. Look, a couple things. Number one, Jervon Dexter is a great guy in that locker room. Absolutely. And he's been very good to us on the show, and everybody likes – All four guys being rumored to be traded are good guys. Right. I got it. I'm just – listen, there is a human part of this that I don't want to just completely brush over with Big Dex because he's been very good to us. That was close. And – Yeah, no, I agree. I agree with that. Just hold on. Let me finish the point real quick here. I don't think when they're talking about speed, they're talking about speed off the ball. That's a whole different conversation. I think they are. I think they're talking about all levels of the defense getting faster. I hope they are. Listen, I don't care about speed in the middle of the defensive line. I'm talking about somebody who's a monster who can impact plays. He just hasn't done enough of that at the end of the day. He's three years deep, so you're going to have to make a decision. Are you going to pay him or are you not going to pay him? I think the Bears are telling you with him being on the block that they've made the decision that they're not going to pay him anywhere close to premium money if anybody would step up. So that's why this is happening right now. Plus the fact that who knows how aggressive they'll be in addressing that position in both free agency and the draft. I would think that they would target that area. You wouldn't be just relying on Grady Jarrett. So it makes sense to me what they can get. And it's not going to be a, you know, there's no sexy return coming here for big decks. Can you get a fourth round pick? Can you get a fifth round pick? Whatever it is. But if they're moving on, they're moving on. So get what you can. Yeah. Look, the Bears are making it very clear. They're open for business. Ryan Poles has made a habit of this down here in Indy. I think it makes it more fun for everybody, including us. Now, usually the trades, though, have come the week after the combine. That's also sort of the hit before free agency starts. So there is a week in between. That's next week, and that would be great for us from a content perspective. But I am starting to wonder because we saw a trade today between the Titans and the Jets. My guy Tavondre Sweat that I like got moved to New York, you know. So we'll see if this stuff starts to heat up a little bit. And it wouldn't surprise me if the Bears weren't part of that discussion. I think he would have fit in what the Bears are trying to do here. Maybe. You know, obviously you make calls for everybody, but it wouldn't have surprised me if that was somebody that the Bears thought could be in the equation. All right, let's move on to DJ real quick here because I – look, the guy had 50 catches this year. That's the least amount that he's ever had in his NFL career, which dates back to 2018 when he was a rookie with the Carolina Panthers, okay? DJ's making a lot of money. DJ, when they talk about him positively, they say things like, you know, the locker room really responds to the way DJ's gone out there and grinded through injuries week in and week out, and he's been a leader. I don't think the locker room, like that's just to me is kind of a crazy combo. Like you're telling me that locker room's looking around like, oh, man, I got to raise up my play because of the way how tough DJ is. It just doesn't – it almost seems like they're searching for a compliment for him on some level there. but at the end of the day if you move you know just like they said about Tyson on some level like if you move him out who is that sort of steady guy who you can rely on that you know is going to be there because is Rome going to be healthy is he going to be super impactful in year three we don't know the answer to that is Luther Burden going to become offensive guru so to speak and really know the offense and be ready to truly be that number two at at worst week in and week out that's it That'd be a big jump for him. So I still am slightly skeptical, but I do know that these guys are not sure if they're going to be here for sure. The rumors are hitting hard as far as the players are concerned. They know that this is real life. Well, some counterpoints to what you're saying. The first thing I'm going to push back on a little bit is I get why the amount of catches keeps going up, and it's not like that's irrelevant. It's going down and it keeps being brought up is what I meant to say. And I'm not trying to dismiss that because it is – I do think it speaks to somewhat of a lack of chemistry at times and perhaps even fit in the offense. That being said, I also think it's a little unfair to just bring up the lack of catches because I think if you look at his three seasons in Chicago, it's not hard to make an argument that his most impactful catches came in 2025. 100%. His production might have been down, but he had the biggest impact on winning and losing football games than he had in any of the three years that he's been here and came up clutch in massive moments, including against the Packers. So it's just my guess is if he is to be traded, it's because other teams are acknowledging what I just said. that, okay, it might just be a fit issue there right now, maybe a chemistry issue, but there is still, when you look on the tape and you turn on the tape and you see a player who's clearly grinding through a lot of injuries and yet making clutch catches in huge moments and can still be dangerous with the ball in his hands or, and I liked how Nate Tice put this the other day on Hogan Johns because I don't think he gets enough credit for this at times, his ability to make big plays vertically and stretch the field. He can do that too. It's some of the more intermediate routes that I think is inconsistent at times. Like on the interception at the end of the year, right, that we keep talking about. I mean, I think he's clearly a luxury within what this offense is. I mean, initially when they signed him to the contract, they did. They wanted him to be the number one wide receiver. That just hasn't happened through the evolution of what Caleb Williams has become as a quarterback and then the hiring of Ben Johnson. Well, I would actually say he was their number one wide receiver. But the thing is they got better wide receivers. But that's my point. Yeah, like now they have a better wide receiver. But that's my point, and that's why, yeah, you'd love to just have DJ Moore on your roster as one of the wide receivers. You have multiple guys that can make plays if somebody's injured. You still have that depth. But the problem that we keep going back to and that, you know, you guys teed up with polls is what the salary cap situation is. and he's one of the quick fix solutions if you can find a way out of it that's going to open things up. That's a great point. To be able to get and address all these holes on the defensive side of the ball. So it's not about whether or not, of course you'd want to keep him on the team, but how are they going to build this team going forward and keeping him on the team when you know that Luther Burden and Colson Loveland are going to have an elevated role in this offense getting started week one, where this year it took them halfway through the season, and then obviously you're hoping for a big year three out of Roma Dunze. It's just from a team roster building standpoint, you can make a fair argument that you've got to get rid of him to open up other things. Do you guys have any guess on what they would be willing to trade DJ for? I mean, would it just be based around a Max Crosby-style deal if the Raiders would be willing to do that, Or is it more like, if you're willing to eat the money, man, we'll drop you for a fourth-round pick? I mean, do you think either of those work for the Bears? Does anybody have a guess on that? Because I don't have any real information on what they would be looking for for DJ. All I know is that the players are definitely wondering what's going to happen. Okay. Well, let me spin this on you, actually, because I – A, there's a little bit more stadium news that just came out, so we're going to talk about that. You're going to reverse Uno him? Well, here's the thing. Are they trading Beijing or not? Everybody wants to know that from you specifically. You earned this spot as the head of the Beijing guy, and now you have your moment to step up and address this. I want to give you the floor. Okay, thank you. Which evidently the house floor just ignored the Bears opportunity there, so we'll talk about that in a second. We'll get to that in a second. All right, as far as Tyson is concerned, and yes, I've done ample research, reporting, and discussions on as many levels as I possibly could on this. So, look, number one, Tyson does not want to leave. He loves it in Chicago. He loves being with Ben. He's got two years on his contract. Whether he plays or doesn't play next year, you know, if Caleb has to miss time, being with Ben for another year, I think, you know, as far as— Being with Ben is a good thing. Being with Ben is a great thing. He'll be 27 years old after the year. The guy keeps himself in the greatest shape that you possibly can. He certainly has 10 more years to play, can have a 15-year career in the league, which he's obviously a guy that's going to want to do it as long as possible. So he does not want to leave, for one. Now, obviously, if he got an opportunity to start, I'm sure he'd be super excited about it at the same time. The Bears, from my understanding of it, is if they get blown away, then they will highly consider dealing him. But they're going to have to be blown away. Now, so somebody is going to have to believe that Tyson is a starter. And as I started this conversation a couple of weeks ago when Ian Cunningham got the general manager job in Atlanta, that would be a guy who knows Tyson incredibly well. How much does he like Michael Penix? That part I don't know. But I do know that he thinks really highly of Tyson. So would the Falcons come in and with that relationship with Poles, would they work something out that feels good and you're helping Tyson? You know, maybe. But as Poles said the other day, they still would have to replace him. So I don't, you know, I think I would still say the chances of him being dealt in my mind are not very strong at all. I think he will be here. But that is, I think, the whole full circle of what's going on with Bajon. Well, maybe we can, at the end of the show, force one of the PHNX guys to come over here and talk about it. But I know that they were – They're the favorite to get Malik Willis. They're willing to pay the freight for that. That's what it seems like. They suggested, if you played out this hypothetical, that – They don't get Willis? Right. That they would – to trade for Tyson Bajan. Their offer that they presented was a fourth-round pick that could turn into a third-round pick. Yeah, I already turned it down. I turned it down immediately. They're not going to do that. And then I walked away from them when they brought that up. Look, that's a non-starter, right? Here's the thing, though. Now I'll add some of my own. I do think that there is going to be a market here, though. I think the question is to what you just said. What is the actual market? Where does it drive to the point where the Bears are willing to take a draft pick for everything they'd be giving up? That you just kind of tie this all together. I think that's the big question right now. But I think when you look at the quarterback market, the options that are out there in both the draft and in free agency, and here's another thing. I think that that relationship with Ben Johnson and what Ben Johnson says about him publicly carries weight. Because there isn't a ton of film out there on Tyson Bajor right now. But right now, if you're not realizing this, being tied to Ben Johnson is a very good thing. Whether that's Declan Doyle being his OC for a year, right, or just the whole league. they might not totally know what Tyson will be as a starting quarterback when he gets that opportunity I think he is going to get that opportunity at some point but right now they do know that Ben Johnson loves him and that carries weight and it might actually help the trade value it could um but I hopefully they hold to a good price because I think it's more valuable to keep him on the roster in case you need to have him it's a luxury to have him here you're only paying them five million a year right it's a it's just a very hard guy for them to let out of the room i would think i and and and so the idea there's just a lot of people that act like that position is just so easily replaceable and i think that that really there's one organization that should know it's not geez louise that's what i'm saying man i mean think about where we're at right now where we're talking about other teams wanting the bears backup quarterback potentially Absolutely significant draft capital. Right. It's wild. It's a bizarro world. So maybe I can give some grace to Bears fans for, you know, not really hitting the nail on the head in terms of this conversation. But it just blows my mind that we went so many decades of quarterback futility and now we have a healthy room and people are so quick to just be like, oh, well, we'll just get a different guy. You know, they're going to have to identify if they feel confident enough that they can identify that there's somebody through the draft that they can develop. But that's going to take time. Tyson Bajan, in case you need him, is ready to go. Somebody coming in, that's going to take years. Look at how long it took for Caleb Williams, the number one pick in the NFL draft, you know, to really start to get up to speed. And they still have much more to work on. Well, and Crystal, don't listen if you're out there right now, and I don't mean to just dunk on everybody here, but I'll just do it for one second because it was, you know, I've been telling you this guy is a legit player for a long time. And if you had said back in the day, listen, I think Tyson's better than Justin, you would have gotten smacked by 95% of the fan base. If you put Justin and Tyson out there right now, who the NFL would want. The league thinks Tyson's better. The league thinks Tyson's better. So listen, we've been right about Tyson and what value he has, and it continues to grow. Now, if the Bears cash in now, well, that's a great story. That means Tyson's getting a chance to, at bare minimum, compete to be a starter with a real chance to earn it, and the Bears get value. Or they hold on to a great story. It's a great job by Poles and Ian and whatnot identifying him and developing him, and you've got a guy who knows quarterbacks who loves him. That's why I mostly view this as a win-win. And I think either way, they're only going to move them if they get significant draft capital. Now, if they don't, if they do it for what you just said, fourth, they can maybe come a third. I'll go on this show and be like, that's a terrible trade. I don't like it. And that's where it concerns me with Ian Cunningham because we've seen in the past when you bring up Justin, they took a lesser deal because Justin preferred to go to Pittsburgh and he wanted to do right by Justin. That was different, though. They didn't want Justin, but they didn't want Justin to be around or to be a backup. Then we're going to keep him in that state. I understand that. There also wasn't much of a market for Justin. I understand both those points, but still, like, I do think there is that side of Poles, and he even talked about it on Monday, of, like, we know he wants to get his opportunity, but we got to think of the team first. Let's just make sure that that's number one, and then number two is doing right by Tyson. All due respect to Tyson. Of course. But he's under contract. Of course. So the Bears need to make sure they're doing right by themselves, and if this turns into a situation, where him and Ian get in a room and there's some sentimental value there because of their relationship and we're not getting the best deal as an organization because of that, then I would have an issue with that. You know what, as much as Ben, the one difference maker though is that Ben's here now. As much as Ben might love Tyson, I don't think Ben's going to, he's a little too cutthroat to be like, make a disadvantage. They're not going to do that. I would be shocked. Here comes Steven. All right. I'm getting fired up right now with the chat, so I'm just going to put a headset on and address it instead of having one over there. What's the chat saying? A lot of the chat, Travis McKnight in particular, is saying that Tyson's not good. He has six interceptions. We're talking about numbers from 2023. That's 22. 22, thank you. And that's really sad about you, Travis, because he had been in the NFL for all of four seconds, and he came... Brust into a starting role because Justin Fields got injured. On a terrible team. With coaches that were not Ben Johnson. My argument, sorry to cut you off, Carm. No, I'm getting my point in, Carm. Look at Sam Darnold. Look at Sam Darnold early in his career. Did that look good? Did that look like it was going to work out at any point? No, it looked terrible. It looked like it was over. This guy just won a Super Bowl. Now, I'm not saying Tyson Bajan is winning a Super Bowl next year, but you can't just judge a guy off a few starts like that and just crown him as like, ah, he's a bust. He's not good. He's not worth a third or a fourth. Listen, I get that it was the preseason, and I kind of joke around about it. And thank you, Stephen, for shouting out what's going on. Hey, man. Just let the record show Stephen delayed that break. That was Stephen. Did he not look good in the preseason last year Did he not throw five touchdowns against one interception Did he not lead a game drive and a fourth and goal with a sick throw I mean come on No offense to who was it Travis He's allowed his opinion. The opinion that matters right now is that there is a trade market for him. So the NFL is saying that they don't agree with Travis. Right, which is what I told him the other day. Did you call him? Yeah, I said it. You called Travis? No, I said it on the show to Travis. Travis and Cornell have been pissing me off all week. Well, and I appreciate the passion for everybody who watches this show and comments on the show. But, you know, sometimes you're so deep in your corner and opinion that you're not really able to see what's going on. Maybe that's me too. That's never happened in the history of the show. Not to me. I'm always the most well-bodied. There definitely was not another quarterback that there was a lot of fans that insisted was great, and then he got traded for a six-round pick. That didn't happen. The best irony, obviously, and it's been said before, but the best irony would be that the Bears trade Tyson Bajan to the Falcons for two third-round picks. That would be... But they should have had those picks anyway. That would be the funniest outcome here this week, is that the Falcons... I see the humor. All right, we're way late for a break. The stadium conversation for what? No, nothing. You're good. You're good. We're 25 minutes of the show and haven't taken a break. He pointed at the Bishop Fitzgerald Carm sound. That's a great, great, great, great interview. He wants to play that. No, I want to play the Dylan Thienemann interview is what I thought we were doing in the first segment of the show. No! No! We're going to stadium. We're going to break. We're going to break. But first. Got to give a shout-out to our good friends over at Xfinity. We're missing the Xfinity loft here this week down in Indianapolis, but I'm never missing out on Xfinity. I do miss it. I'm a loyal Xfinity customer, have been for a long time, and you should too, because if you're looking for reliable and intelligent Wi-Fi that can keep it at the same price for five years, well, that's the Xfinity five-year price guarantee, and that is what you're looking for. Basically, it's a Wi-Fi that works completely in sync with your old household. You know how everybody's always fighting over the Wi-Fi, got too many people on it, then it starts running slower. Well, that's not how it works with Xfinity. All your devices are working in perfect harmony for five full years. And here's the best part. No annual contracts, no hidden fees. And Xfinity's best equipment is always included. So lock in your price and unlock the possibilities with Xfinity. Learn more at Xfinity.com. Xfinity, imagine that. Select plans only and restrictions apply. Hey, whether it's on the field or in your financial life, The best teams win by delivering excellence at every level. That's what they do at Old National Bank. They believe every play matters, just like Ben Johnson believes every play matters. Absolutely. Every interview matters at the Combine, which is why we should play my Panchero's interview. Go ahead. From everyday checking to long-term planning and commercial banking, our team is here to build momentum and help you move the ball forward. It all starts with a plan tailored for you by professionals that you trust, from simple tasks of bigger financial moments. You can count on Old National Bank to coordinate your needs with steady, knowledgeable guidance that brings clarity and confidence to each step. It's a partnership designed to help you feel supported, not just today, but well into the future. So whether you're celebrating a big win, rebuilding after a couple nights out at the combine, or gearing up for whatever comes next, Old National Bank got your back with tools, insights, and an expert crew that always is always in your corner. Old National Bank member FDIC, where relationships and results matter. Old national. All right. Let's get to the meat of the show right now. Actually, there's so much meat on this show that we can't even do. We don't even have a meat of the show because the whole show is just absolutely loaded up with talent. You're not allowed to talk about it. The loaded baked potato part of the show. How about that? Yeah, that's better because you're a baked potato, and you're not allowed to talk about meat on this show anymore. Why are you guys like a combination of a 7-year-old and a 10-year-old? Us? Yes. Yes. I should be able to say the word meat without your head going, I didn't say anything. That's not what I'm saying. You said a different word yesterday. Because yesterday when you tried to talk about meat and steak, so don't talk to us about beef. We're talking to you. I'm talking to you. What the hell is going on with the stadium? What a transition. Tell us. So, yeah, so the very latest is that the House, the Illinois House, adjourned without voting on this on the House floor today, which was— The old no-vote move? Well, it just wasn't there yet. And so this is—I highly recommend people go read my story from last night that went up. It's free to everybody. You don't even have to be a diehard. But this was basically what was expected to happen today. So adding to the awkwardness of the timing is that the Illinois House is adjourning for two weeks here until March 18th. You got the primaries are coming up, spring break, like whatever. Spring break. Yeah, I know. Well, they're calling it spring break. But the reality is, like, they needed something to get done today to at least show that there's some progress being made. because meanwhile the indiana senate here i don't know if it's happened yet is supposed to because it's going on right now it's supposed to pass their bill today and send it to the governor's desk so it's just awkward now that for two weeks nothing's really going to happen here but at least to catch you guys up it did go to this revenue and finance committee which is what it didn't it was supposed to last week and then it didn't and then they canceled the committee it never even happened so this was at least discussed today and i also thought that it was significant guys that the the representative that actually submitted and filed this bill which is now house bill 910 it was a shell bill that they added all this new language to last night and this is now the new bill as i reported last week the one that was supposed to be in the committee a week ago was never going to be the bill that was actually going to be this mega projects bill that they were talking about. So this is the new bill, and the fact that it was filed and sponsored by Cam Buckner, to me, mattered, because he's been representing the city of Chicago's interests in all this in the negotiations, which is another thing. He's in the negotiations. Some of the stuff that was happening last week, the bill was sponsored by somebody not in the negotiations. So there's all these little things that even I'm learning here as this process goes on. But so I do view this as more almost just like symbolic action. They're all saying they're making progress. The governor has said it. You know, the Bears kind of had that in a statement, you know, that was given to Cranes. And then Cam Buckner said it this morning, even on the score. You know, they're making progress. But there needed to be some action going into this two-week break that there is some actual progress. So it did pass out of the committee 13 to 7, but there were a lot of questions brought up, fair questions, bipartisan questions, honestly, that there just weren't, there's not enough answers to yet on how this bill, this megaprojects bill, affects the whole state is going to really be fair to some of these other communities that might have, you know, a company come try to do a megaproject in Rockford versus Chicago. or downstate somewhere and all the different ramifications. When we all know that this is being moved because it's for a Bear Stadium. You know what I mean? And a Bear Stadium is very, very different than a random company coming in and, you know, putting in a new $500 million business. Yes, that's still a mega project, but the way it impacts the community is way different than what this is going to be. So there's just some little loose ends like that where you could tell, and I watched this whole thing over two hours, or most of it, there's too many unknowns that need to be figured out here. So they did pass through the committee, but it just seemed like there was no chance it was going to pass through the House, and they didn't even vote on it. Am I allowed to try to ask a really dumb question? Yeah, I'd love you to. Why can't – I mean, you talk about how this bill would affect other businesses that want to build. Why can't they pass a bill that's just specific to the Bears? So someone actually, I was kind of coming in and out, so I apologize. I don't really know which representative it was. But someone basically said that. Like, if this was just an Arlington Heights specific thing, like, I'm all for it. But this thing. Why can't they do that? Well, because right now it is not legal for a local municipality like Arlington Heights to agree to a tax deal, which is essentially what this is, right? the tax certainty we keep talking about, they legally cannot do that locally with a private company, which is what the Bears are. So they need this legislation, and I don't know the full answer to that question. Can they just do a one-time thing to make it legal so that they can do this? I mean, I imagine they can do, you can write a bill. You could write a bill. I'm getting a little, yeah, the Bears bill. I like that idea, Greg. I also, I'm getting a little bit of a headache here. Would you say it was a step forward or a step back or a non-step? How would you – on a very basic level? I think it's a step forward. I think it's mostly a symbolic step forward to create more runway here. And what's Indiana going to do with their deadline? Do we have any idea? At the second, I don't. But to me, all signs are pointing to the Senate passing. There hasn't been any opposition really in Indiana to all this. But it doesn't seem like Indiana is going to hold the Bears' feet to the fire that they'll pat. Well, that's what I was going to bring. Now, that's just me bringing in a hypothetical. Right. Because that is an option for them to do is be like, hey, we need more commitment from you. Right. You know, to push this all the way to the governor's desk and sign it. Now, maybe that's what they do. They hold it at the governor's desk so it's ready to be signed at any point. But I haven't seen any indications of that to this point. Right. Now, can I bring up the more kind of the funny, unexpected thing that happened in this community? Sure. You'll like this. I'm listening. So listen up. So the acting CFO, chief financial officer, right, of Chicago, of the city of Chicago, his name is Stephen Marr. He's the acting CFO, and he just, like, got on the job this month. Okay. I don't know what he did before. I'm sure he was prepping for that job his whole life. So he, the way these, and I'm learning this on the fly a little bit too. I am definitely not like some government reporter. Don't get me wrong. But when they start the conversations today, there were three opponents to start the discussion. Like the people that are going to get to talk and be like, this is why I don't think we should do this. So Stephen Maher is representing the city. I don't know why the CFO was the one representing the city in these discussions, but he was. and he basically gets up there and um made this all about the bear stadium which i can't really blame because the awkwardness of this whole thing is like the people leading the discussion are like this is not a bear stadium thing this is a mega projects thing that's going to affect the whole state and then everybody like keeps going well it's about the bear stadium is kind of what we're talking about here so he's definitely talking bear stadium and all of a sudden he's like we as the city of chicago want to be back at the table we want an opportunity at the table carmen you would have loved this yeah you know he's representing the city he's like we we need our opportunity to still make our pitch let's go if we have that time we can do this and so representative tarver who's the chair of this committee was like and i don't blame him for this either he's like uh and he had a bunch of things ready he had facts ready to go he's like you know in 2023 um you guys had these negotiations with the bears in april of 2024 you had that press conference that we still talk about with Kevin Warren and you're announcing all this stuff. I don't know if you've noticed, but it's February 2026. Three years just went by. What opportunity? You had your opportunity. Nothing happened. That's amazing. And meanwhile. And depressing. I couldn't figure this out. I know this clip has kind of gone viral on the old interweb a little bit. While this Stephen Marr was talking, he was like. He's just chewing the gum. But I didn't see any evidence of the gum, you know? So I didn't know. I'm like, does he have a mint in his mouth? He's just mouth smacking. Is he like chewing his tongue? I don't know what was happening. Maybe it was a potato chip. But yeah, that clip is going around on the internet. So you know what? I have to say, it brought a little levity to the situation. Everybody was like, let's get this back on track for what this is supposed to be, this mega project spill. But yeah, Karm, I guess. It's not completely dead in Chicago. Hail Mary is still there, but you better call up Stephen Maher and start campaigning with him. Stephen, I'll be on the horn after the show. Let's go Hail Mary Chicago. All right, so a moderate symbolic, whatever you want to call it, step forward towards Illinois, and the hits keep coming. We could lighten it up along the same lines. We have Rich Eisen. Why don't we break and then go to some of this stuff? We have one more to take, and we also have Dylan Thienemann, safety that is rejected a first round potential first round pick and greg already drafted him daniel jeremiah's first mock draft that he put out here this offseason he had the bears drafting dylan thenaman uh obviously you're probably familiar with him through the big 10 played at oregon last year played a couple years at purdue uh we had a great conversation with him or at least a good one so why don't why don't we why don't we go to break and when we come back we'll go to that because that was today, you know, with what we're doing here. Obviously, we're talking about the stadium. It's going on right down the street, conversations at the Capitol. Obviously, you have all this trade conversation that's buzzing around with all these organizations here. But at the end of the day, we're also here to cover the combine, and the players that spoke at the podium today were DBs, safeties, and tight ends. And so we had, you know, the opportunity to talk to some of them. So we'll come back and hear from Dylan. I guess Greg's tossing into this break. Yeah, we'll come back and hear from Dylan Tiedemann. A shout-out to our friends at Hooters. It's actually awesome being down there at the Combine because there's a phenomenal Hooters right there. Did you go to the Hooters? I've been to that Hooters. I haven't, but it's the best lunch spot in town, and I might just go there right when I get out here. One time when I was here for the Big Ten tournament, that was the designated Badger Bar. Well, I bet you did. Weekdays, by the way, the Hooter faves are $9.99 or less. The boneless wings, the OG wings, the blackened chicken Caesar salad. How about the original burger under $10 for lunch? Come on. Let's go. It's available every Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. And let's get back home. You can cheer on your favorite team from any of the 11 Chicagoland locations. Let's name them. Aurora, Countryside, Downers Grove. Joliet, Lansing, Meadows Park, Oak Lawn, O'Hare. That's my location. Orland Park, Schaumburg, Wells Street, my favorite. Check them out, originalhooters.com, originalhooters.com. And a little bit farther north from there is Ray Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram. This is your chance to score a great deal at the auto show sales event. Still going on, guys. Head over to RayCDJR on Route 12. You know where that is in Fox Lake. Huge inventory of new Chrysler Dodge Jeep and Ram vehicles right now. You can get 0% financing for 72 months on new Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram models. Plus, you can shop over 125 vehicles priced under $20,000. With a friendly team of brand experts, their team is going to help you during each step of your car shopping journey. That's how they help me. They help Carm. Got the Jeep Grand Cherokee L. Great ride down here to Indy in that thing. Get all of our gear down. Carm didn't want to ride with me this year, though. I took it personally. You get a 2015 Honda Pilot right now at Ray CDJR for under nine grand. Let's go. There you go. If you had that, I would have written down with you. For more information, visit Ray CDJR today on Route 12 and Fox Lake or online at RayCDJR.com. They've been serving the community since 1963. It is our pleasure at the Combine to bring in an actual player who, Dylan, we all think that you are going to be a Chicago Bear. You belong in Chicago. You grew up in Indiana. The Bears are probably going to move to Indiana. They're not doing that. Let's not talk about that. But congratulations on your success at Purdue and then at Oregon. What's it been like for you this week just to actually feel like, oh, my, like my dream is this close? It's been awesome. I mean, being back in my home city, been comfortable here. So it's been a great experience to go through. I want to give a behind-the-scenes, by the way. Greg has been following Dylan around for the last three hours. You've been very sought after on every media network. Great effort by you, Greg. Well, obviously, I do Boilers coverage on the side. and obviously a big fan. Congratulations on everything. So I'm just curious, you know, obviously you transferred to Oregon and you had the opportunity to kind of play in some different things, in the slot, in the box, single high, right? And so I'm just curious from your perspective, like what were you most comfortable with and what was that like to go through some different kind of coverage looks and try to find what was best for you? I have the most reps probably at field safety or free safety. But, I mean, I feel really comfortable in all the spots. At Oregon, we're able to get so many reps. We do two spots, so I'm able to constantly get reps. We've got a ton of walkthroughs, and I feel like they just made me very comfortable. Go ahead. I was just going to say, obviously with Chicago, and you're meeting with everybody, so I'm sure Chicago's come knocking. And Dennis Allen's defense, I really feel like you're a really good fit for that because they are looking for guys with versatility that can do those different things. Do you see it that way? I feel like I have a lot of versatility. I haven't watched the defense like super specifically in detail, but I feel like I can bring a lot to the table. What do they want to know when you talk to them, the Bears? It was more just talking through some ball and then just a few basic interview questions and just getting through the film. Your journey is super interesting to me because you have two older brothers, right? Yeah. And so they play at Purdue, right? And so here you are and you're getting recruited everywhere but yet maybe I'll stay at home. You had a great opportunity to go to Northwestern. You passed on that. That's okay. But then ultimately you make this decision like, okay, I'm going to transfer. How hard was that for you? Both those processes seem like difficult decisions. It was extremely hard. Making the decision to finally leave, that was my home. I grew up going there ever since I was a little kid. Before my brothers were even at college, my dad would take us to Purdue games. We'd just go walk to Purdue. extremely grateful for my time there but I felt that for my future my development I needed to to go somewhere else so so I've talked to a bunch of guys this week they're like you know some started community college and then they got to you know Kansas State and but then they wanted to get to the SEC like they felt like they needed to be on the biggest stage to get here was that kind of how you looked at it like I have to compete at the highest highest level and show you that I can handle it from from there so I can actually be legit to be drafted wherever you're gonna go yeah basically yeah what you said kind of um competing with the the athletes and um some of the bigger teams i feel like that that very helped me and set me up for the next level it's like professional sports man who was like when you were you know the big tens got a ton of talent right and who were the receivers in your opinion that you were having to spend the most time i was listening to you at the podium talk about your process of tape evaluation throughout the week and you really break it down into different increments. Who was the ones that was the biggest challenge to really go over and make sure you were ready for game day? I would say USC. Real, like, pass-heavy offense. Like, they're also great running the ball. I want to say that when they played us, they averaged over, like, 300-yard passing, 200 yards rushing. So just great offense overall. And they got two elite playmakers, Jacoby Lane and Makai Lemon out there. So we had to switch up some things we were doing on defense and just make sure to account for those guys. When did it feel like the light went on for you in terms of that kind of preparation that you talked about? I mean, again, you were really breaking down into the nuanced plays, the cut-ups of the quarterback, you know, the third downs. And when did that light go on for you in terms of that pregame preparation? It started in high school, freshman year. I mean, most freshmen don't watch that many film. and I didn't either, but I felt that the more film I ended up watching, the better prepared I was and the more confidence I had out there on the field to go out there and perform So each year I kind of added something new to what I doing and kind of just kept developing over the years through Purdue and then arriving at Oregon and that was the process I really settled on. Well, you got a hell of a process this week. I know you got medicals here coming up and a ton of things to go, so we got to let you go. But final thing, you did go to high school with Braden Smith. I did. What's it been like to watch him? He might have the all-time assist record. Or what's it been like to see him kind of rise through it? It's been awesome. I'm glad he's doing what he's doing. I mean, he's a dog out there just performing just like he did in high school. You ever play him one-on-one in high school? No, no. He would beat me. I'm not even going to try to lie. Act like I have a chance. But, no, he's a great guy. Well, really appreciate your time. I know you're busy. But big fan of yours. And congratulations on all your success. And, once again, thanks for coming over here with us. Appreciate you. Appreciate you having me. Who's your favorite bear, Dylan? Do you have one growing up? I didn't really have a favorite growing up, no. Okay. Devin Hester. Yeah. I mean, I watch him with my brothers. Watch his highlights. Appreciate you. Dylan Thienemann. Yes, sir. Appreciate you. Thanks. And there he is, Dylan Thienemann. So, wait, he's a Bears fan, but he doesn't have a favorite bear? Yeah, I'm confused. That is a red flag. Red flag, right? Yeah, but think about it. Off the big board. But time out. Think about his age, right? Like, I mean. Was he what? Two? I'm just saying, like, younger Bears fans until this year. Kyle Long. They're still plenty of good options. But at some point, then he starts to transition into focusing on his own career. He knows he's trying to get to. Like, so I understand, like, for me. Hold on. Hold on. What do you mean, hold on? I mean. While you're looking up whatever you're going to look up, I will say, too, because I want to give Dylan a proper shout out here. To give you a perspective on how this day works, they are loaded. You know, obviously you're going to have the combine and he's going to run his numbers. I know he's hoping to run a 4-3 to really up his draft stock. But today is just something where they really push these guys to the fullest in terms of the things they're asking them to do. They've got medicals they've got to get to. And sometimes they're before the podium stuff and sometimes they're after. For him, it was after. And so he spoke at the podium at 10-15 or so. and afterwards then did all the big networks, and that was probably 12 different interviews that lasted about an hour and 20 minutes, and they have NFL handlers for each of these players that do some of those bigger interviews, and it was time for him to go do medicals, and I had been working through some back-channeling, shout out to my guy Austin, who helped facilitate him to come by our set, which isn't something that always happens, right? You might get those, and she was like, well, you got to go with your group to the medicals. And he could have easily just said, sorry, man, you know, and that's just kind of how it goes. And he goes, no, we're going to knock this interview out real quick. I just think that that, like we've talked about that. I mean, I wouldn't have held anything against him if he couldn't. That's just how it works. And their days are jam-packed and he got stretched with those interviews. So to me, that just speaks to the character that he has in a lot of ways to do right by that. But also there's a fatigue factor. I mean, he's answered these questions over and over and over and over. So just got a lot of respect for him. I guarantee no one else asked him about Braden Smith today, though. Hell no. I'm actually not surprised to hear that, though, Braggs, because one of the things that people laud him for is his incredible work ethic, and I just took it right into the combine, too, even in his interviews. But you don't have to protect him. I mean, to not have a favorite bear makes me – it has to make you wonder, is he actually a Bears fan? Maybe that just is a false narrative that was put out there. Do you know who Tanner Kozial is? Yeah, of course. Who is he? He's a tight end Illinois product, played at Houston, started at Ball State. Look at Greg. Okay. Pretty good, pretty good, pretty good. I mean, he grew up in Indiana. I mean, you kind of just gave him some Illinois stuff. He lives in Illinois. Oh, he currently lives in Illinois. Okay. Fair enough. Is this Karmapedia or what? Well, this might be what could be Braggsapedia. Why does he live in Illinois? Well, that's what he says. But over here it says he went to Mount Vernon High School in Fortville, Indiana. Where's Fortville? Which is not in Illinois. He is a Bears fan. He is a Bears fan. They got any stadium land in Fortville? So I just think in conjunction with the conversation of are you a Bears fan, I walked up on Tanner today. Tanner is – By the way, I can't think of a conversation that matters less when it comes to the NFL draft of are you a Bears fan. 100%. 100%. But Bears fans love to hear players that are Bears fans. So I'm doing my rounds today, and there's this huge tight end up there, who had a second in Wisconsin, too. He was there for 15 practices and left. I don't know if you know the story behind what happened there. Oh, well, now we've got to talk. What year was this? That was 2024. He transferred to Wisconsin, did 15 practices, and left the Badgers. That's a smart move by him. And then he went down to Houston to play. He's like, this team sucks going to Houston. So I'm filming him today, and I normally just only film when I'm talking because that's the level of ego that I bring to the table. That's shocking. Yeah, I know. But so let's just play this because this might be the biggest Bears fan here. Tanner Cozyol. All right. Who was your favorite Bears player, Tanner? I really liked Alshon Jeffrey when we had him, and then I'm also Devin Hester. He's just electric, and he was always a dream to watch. I still have his jersey. There's a lot to name. Also, Brandon Marshall was a dog. I have a picture of giving him a high five from when I was a little kid. And then lastly, I want to go Jay Cutler. Shout out him for putting his shoulder down at quarterback. He was a beast. What did you think of Colston this year watching him play tight end? He's elite, and I'm really happy that the Bears got him. He's just an absolute dog. JJ was with him at Michigan, and I remember watching a lot of him. The way they're using him as well. I mean, the tight end position, if you have someone like that, it's going to cause mismatches, and he's really good at doing that. So you wouldn't be opposed to joining that room? Not at all. So, what if he was like, yes? What kind of question was that? Hey, by the way, that just, I don't know how much of that you were listening to, but he just poked a whole giant hole in your argument. Well, how old is he? He doesn't have anyone. That guy named like six players. He goes Alshon Jeffrey to start. That's a Bears fan. Also, Stephen cut out there. For 30 seconds, he was like talking about random stuff, and then he just went into himself. He's like, but I was a Bears fan, and I'm like, but I love the Bears. I was like, well, who are your favorite Bears? And then he just started ripping it off. He gave the whole roster. He gave the whole roster. Tanner Kozio. You want him in that room. If Durham Smythe gets picked off and you need a third tight end, let's get Kozio going. K-O-Z-I-O-L. Kozio. Sure. Okay. Yeah, I'm sorry. What do you want me to say? Well, this is your guy. Mount Vernon, Indiana. Where is that? He isn't my guy. My guy was Thienemann. I was trying to talk about him. You get off track about how big a Bears fan he is. Steven, what do you think about Dylan Thienemann and his, you know, ability to fit in a Dennis Allen system? It's in the middle of nowhere. Well, like I mentioned earlier, I like the work ethic. I think that's something that Dennis Allen would really, really like on his team. Ben Johnson as well. As far as fit goes, I mean, it's obvious. They need safeties. They have zero on the roster right now. So, I mean, he could easily fill that role for them. testing's going to be interesting for him I'm going to be interested to see what he does there because if he if he just puts up a blazing 40 he's a guy that might even go a little higher than the Bears at 25 right now right now the expectation is he'll he will be there if he runs a 4-3 you know he's going to start shooting up boards even higher yeah and the Bears already said they're going to go best player available here Carm I believe that was your question right great question I think the biggest question with Dylan Thienemann is how teams view him. And as I kind of tried to set him up with, the fact that he's played so many different ways from single-hide safety to in the box and in the slot, I think, speaks to why I think he is on the Dennis Allen radar. But for me, the question is, where would teams want him to play? And so he said, like, he wants to be that guy that's playing center field. That's what he said here. So I like that because that's what this team needs. If they aren't able to bring Kevin Byard back, you know, that's somebody that I think that could fill that role potentially. If you watched him play at Purdue or Oregon, you know he's fully capable. He's a ball hawk, dude. He can play. And so, you know, a lot of these safeties have a lot of respect. If you listen to Caleb Downs today, unprovoked said the guy that he looks up to is Kevin Byard. You know, so, you know, that was interesting to me. Another safety that we had a chance to talk to, you know, at the podium, Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, who is Fran Duffy's guy. Well, let me set this up because this is actually a sponsored segment because this is our Game Day Men's Health Difference Maker. Better father, better husband, better man. Go to Game Day Men's Health. Visit gamedaychgo.com to find locations closest to you. And, yes, our Game Day Difference Maker is Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, who played at Toledo and is very high on Fran Duffy's draft board. First round projection here from Fran. And you guys had a chance to talk to him today too? At the podium we asked him a few questions and he's got no shortage of confidence. You know, this is a guy that, you know, I just think, my favorite part of his story is in this era of college athletics where you can easily get paid a lot of money. He stayed at Toledo, and he talked about this wasn't a part that was caught on, you know, what the clip we're going to play here, but he said he felt loyalty is important to him, and Toledo did right by him, and he wanted to do right by Toledo. He could have easily chased the bag his senior year and tried to go get paid out there, but as you'll hear in this clip, that it wasn't exactly his mentality, and I got a lot of respect for that. You mentioned family and loyalty. You're one of nine siblings. What was that like growing up for you? A lot of ups and downs, full of memories. Just growing up tough. I push my brothers to be the best person they can be because I feel like they look up to me, my family, my sisters, my brothers, they all look up to me, so I don't want to let them down. Did you get a chance? I'm the first boy in the family, but the middle child. You mentioned the peanut punch. Obviously, that originated in Chicago. Have you had a chance to talk to the Bears? Yes, I met with them on the first day when I came here. It went great, went well. They all are great coaching staff. What was your impression of Al Harris? Obviously, has a reputation. Everybody knows his playing days, and a lot of players look up to him. Just going into the room with great excitement, great energy. It means everything. Do you think coming from Toledo, as opposed to maybe some of these other big-name schools. And that speaks to where you should be considered in terms of this safety class. I feel like wherever you at, if you know how to play ball, they're going to find you. So, me being at Toledo, I was just working hard, working hard every day, trying to just keep that motivation in myself, just telling me, like, they're going to find me. You know where I'm at. And Toledo, it's a small school. It's like a small, mad school. So how I treated like, you know, I worked harder than anybody because people in Power 5 school, it got easier for us. So I feel like me and being in the math school, I had to work harder every day, push myself, even when my body was tired, even when I didn't feel like getting up, I had to just keep pushing myself. How tempting was that? Like, everybody's chasing the NIL bag, you know, and how tempting was that? To me, I wasn't worried about short-term money. I was trying to worry about that long-term money in the league and be in the league forever. well it looks like that strategy is going to pay off for him with with where he's projected to be picked and i want to bring up a little bit more about the loyalty because this is one of the many nuggets you can get in fran duffy's draft guide and we do have a combine deal going on this week uh you don't need any code you can just go to all cso.com and sign up to come and die hard and i'm telling you the draft guide alone is is worth every single penny but uh in the the draft guide for fran he he talks about how when he was being recruited out of high school He had some offers from Maryland, Kansas State, Indiana, and there was some interest from other bigger schools like Miami, but he suffered a concussion his senior year, and so some of those schools cooled off on him, but Toledo never did. So Toledo was loyal to him coming out of high school, and he repaid that loyalty by staying loyal to them, as I'm sure he got interest to transfer. That's pretty damn cool. It is, and rare nowadays, because, I don't know, 17 guys that I talked to today have been at at least two schools, if not three schools. That's all we're going to see anymore. Well, but, and I asked about... Not necessarily. I mean, there's... But, well, they look at it like you have to get to the SEC or the Big Ten to prove to the NFL that you can play out... Evidently not. Well... I don't think they view it that way, Carm. I think they're taking money. Okay, well, I... They're getting offers to go to... 100%. And I don't blame, by the way, I don't blame them at all because there's no guarantee you're going to get drafted. There's no guarantee you're not going to tear your Achilles in practice the next day. I don't blame these kids for, in this era, taking what's being offered. I don't think it has a whole lot to do, though, and at least it shouldn't, in my opinion, about where you're necessarily going to get drafted because every year, you know, Quinion Mitchell went to Toledo. Right? This isn't the first kid from Toledo to get drafted in the first round. Listen, I'm not saying you can't do it from anywhere. I'm telling you, the kids that I talked to today that made multiple jumps, went from junior college to Kansas State to A&M, they did it because at least what they're telling me. Well, they're not going to go on the podium and be like, yeah, I got money. Well, but they also want to stamp themselves that they played in the SEC. It's a gold – it's not – I don't think it's just the dough. I do think they look at it like if I – why do you – Do you think that Dylan jumped from Purdue to Oregon because why? Before the doe? Or do you think because he wanted to play on the biggest stage and show you that I can be a dynamic safety? Well, it could be both. Well, right. But I think – There was coaching stuff going on. You know, Purdue's program, you know, has had its ups and downs, you know, from the football side of things. So I also think – When were the ups again? They've had some good years. They've had some good years. When Drew Brees and Kyle Lord were there? Yeah. Calm down. Okay. I'm not a pretty football fan. No, I mean, you're going to say ups and downs. I just was curious when the ups were. Well, in the last, like, five or six years, they have had a couple years where they're competitive, and then the bottom has fallen out for them. So I think that's a big part of it. Yeah, Brab did okay there. So as, you know, just a little reminder here as we reach the top of the hour, make sure you become a diehard at allchgo.com slash diehard. Once again, you can have access to Fran Duffy's database for this whole draft guide, exclusive written content. Johns has been working hard and everybody else as we have officially reached overtime here on CHCO Bears. Bears. And so my whole thing with it, again, once again, exclusive written content from Johns, Hoag, Carm, Norton. There's a secret diehard level where I'll give you this entire notebook. It looks like a Bible. It is my Bible. It's how I stay organized. But, yeah, I was really impressed by Emmanuel. I mean, honestly, like you talk about football player, right? That's what polls said. That's what they're looking for. When you're looking at this guy and you're saying he wanted the adversity. He was like, I don't want to go to one of those. Like, I want to have trials and tribulations. I don't know. That felt like an old school mentality when you hear a lot of these old timers that played the game that are against the NIL stuff that they talk about. How do these guys, you know, callous themselves up through adversity to become that that's how those players became that. and now it's just a whole different world with NIL. This guy took on a challenge. This guy's thinking long-term. This guy bet on himself, and now here he is standing on a stage as one of the top safeties in this draft class. So definitely somebody that's going to be on the Bears' radar. Did you drop the bricklayer card to him? No bricklayer card to him. You know what I like about him? You were supposed to have a counter for that this week. Yeah, I didn't really bring it up too much. The bricklayer counter? Anyway, yeah, I did not make that graphic. Sorry, guys. What I like about McDeal Warren, though, He's a really good tackler. And in particular, what I like is when he's playing in the box, he dominates all those slot wide receivers. That's just a complete mismatch. He has a lot of good length. I believe he's going to be somewhere around 6'2 when he gets measured here. And he has a knack for forcing turnovers. When we're looking at what the Bears need and what they need to fill from last year's team, I'm not too optimistic that we're going to see Jaquan Brisker back on the team next year, and they need someone to fill that role. He's not going to be a big blitzer. That's not something he showed on his college tape. I think he only had like a couple sacks in his career. But he is going to play downhill. And like I said, when he's in the box, I think he could be a force in the run game as well. Just to follow up on the transfer thing, Stephen, do you have the Will Lee III or Jason Kennedy? Is that available to be played? No. No, we don't have those ready? Okay. We can do that. We can do that tomorrow. But it's just interesting because it's the opposite journey of what you're talking about. And I just think there's a lot of pressure on these guys and a game that they're having to play and just going from school to school. Are you going to join us or what? That wasn't an answer. It was. Well, why don't we get to our friend Rich Eisen, and then you can figure out. Well, he told me he was going to join the show at 3 o'clock. Well, I mean, why don't we get to Rich here, and then we can figure out if we can find a seat for Adam Johns. Yeah, I like this. I like this. All right, so Rich Eisen, I like to listen to his show in the shower, and we brought that up oddly a couple years ago, and I felt like we had to just follow up. Did you creep him out again? I think I might have. You did. I think I did it at dinner the other night, too, because I brought that up to him. And I don't think he liked it. Rich loves us. We talked stadium. We talked the Bears. And Caleb, this is a good five minutes with one of the best to do it, Rich Eisen from the NFL Network. All right, with legend Rich Eisen, the last time we were here, somehow we had a weird conversation about how I would listen to your show in the shower. But, you know. How can I forget? Yeah, I didn't think you would. I'm about to do my show right now, and you just put that in my head. I mean, it's going to really test my professionalism. But I have to tell you, that conversation still meant a lot to me. And now, not the same analogy here, but I'm just sort of just tying the Bears stadium search here into some weird... To you showering? Yes, well, into a weird land, Rich, because we're in a weird land. The Bears in Indiana, we can't have that, can we? That can't be a thing. Okay, well, I don't know how it went from your own personal hygiene to the Bears potentially moving to Indiana. Welcome to the mind of karma. Okay. I thought it was pretty good. Good to see you guys. Now it's all coming back to me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's the middle of the night, a few drinks in. Yeah, right. That's all hitting me. Yep, yep, yep, yep. Well, that's the combine, right? Yeah, exactly right. Yeah. So what's your question again? My question is, do you think that that's a real thing from your seat? Yeah, of course it is. I don't know how real it's going to wind up being. From what I understand, the site in Indiana is closer to Soldier Field than the Arlington Heights site, right? That's true. That's true. As the crow flies? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And if they don't go to Arlington Heights, it'll be just some big massive dirt patch, right? Yeah. Because they knock down the racetrack. It's all gone. Okay. They'll have to sell it to someone who wants to do something. I don't know. I mean, so there's that. I've also heard the Indiana side has got filled with smokestacks and stuff. Yeah, it's not beautiful over there. It's not? Well, I mean, I don't know about a beautiful or not. I'm just, you know, air quality is definitely something I would think about. Yeah. So I don't know how real it is. I don't have an answer. That was a good answer. Let's turn to the team. Ben Johnson has saved us in Chicago. It was a revelation this year. Had to be a lot of fun for you to watch as well. Well, I mean, just fun watching my Bears fans, friends, just go nuts, ecstatic. Certainly after starting 0-2 and a hard 0-2 in division, getting a 50-burger popped on him and his return to his old haunting grounds definitely made you wonder if this was going to work out in year one and how the Bears could move forward together. And then a dream season where it all starts to come together. Caleb starts playing fast and instinctively and smart. The run game is there. The offensive line was there. The defense was opportunistic. And then they go into Philadelphia and punk the Eagles the day after Thanksgiving and leave them in a fetal position with everyone booing them and Caleb throwing a touchdown pass to commit to wrap it up as opposed to just settling for a field goal and leaving you biting your fingernails just having that killer instinct only to see it over and over and over again certainly against the Packers It a dream come true So yeah it does look real and sustainable It was crazy how they kept re-peaking. You would just think, okay, this is the peak. Right, this is it. I know. And what happened again, you know, when you talk about the way they handled the Eagles, How about that FU attitude from Ben Johnson to the Packers, you know, between the handshake? I know, it's great for you guys, but, I mean, for the rest of the league, people are kind of wondering, like, you know, what's your deal, bro? Sort of like what Pete Carroll once upon a time said to Jim Harbaugh, like, what's your deal? But he's talking to you guys. He's talking to you. He's talking for you. He's talking on behalf collectively of the you. And so he doesn't care. I mean, and he's basically letting everyone understand that convention be damned. This is a rivalry in his mind. And he laid down his marker, and he'll have to back it up. You talked to Ryan Poles, you know, and have you seen any kind of difference in personality over the years? It feels like he's... No, he's the same guy. Yeah. He's the same guy. Not at all. Yeah. I don't think he's going to change, nor would you want to. You got him for a reason. He doesn't show emotion. He doesn't really speak above a whisper, but he lets his draft choices do the talking. And, you know, after a tough year where they realized Iberflus wasn't the guy but made the move to keep poles, made sense, find the right guy, and now let's go. See how it works. For real, we appreciate the time always. And when you did the Caleb clip this year, they were like, this is the guy. Bears fans, they felt that in the heart. All right, man. It was a good moment. Made you want to clean yourself. Yeah, exactly right. Eisen is in. We got the guy. It's a rare and unique job. We come to the Combine every year. Obviously, it's exciting to talk to all these players, but you are the person every year. You are our guy. Thanks, man. Because you are the most fun of anyone here. Good to see you. Rich Eisen, appreciate you. You got it, buddy. All right, way to gas him up there at the end. That was a good job. Made you want to clean yourself. Well, you know, so, John Z, we had a moment back in the day. Oh, jeez. It was an awkward moment. But we were, you know, it was one of the later nights of the combine, and Rich was there, and I was in a very good mood, and I just told him, like, you know, I love your show. How's this going to end? I love your show. I really do. And, you know, I tend to, you know, just start my day. You know, I'm in the shower, and I got you on. And then it went from there. And so now we're 2026, and we're talking about his take on Caleb Lewis made me want to clean myself, which is awkward. But, you know, hey. You're kind of like the city of Chicago. Makes for good podcasting. Still saying the same thing three years later. Yeah, yeah. Haven't really come up with anything new. No, can't get a stadium. Can't get anything to get into the shower. Three years just went by. Well, let's say this. In 2027, if we get to talk to Rich Eisen, the shower will not be brought up. That has officially been buried. It's over. Okay. Adam Johns is here. Welcome back to the program. I'm not sure what I'm walking into here. Well, I actually am going to throw a curveball at you because I've heard rumors about this this week multiple times. I need an explanation. We're officially in overtime now, so I'm taking the liberty to not talk about a safety for five seconds. We'll get back to the safeties. There's rumors that there's a ghost at the CHCO Airbnb. There is? I need more information on this. And apparently I was told in all this that you are a ghost guy. I don't really know what that means. Like Ghost Hunters? You ever watch Ghost Hunters? Not really. Does that mean you believe in ghosts? You don't believe in ghosts? I don't think so. Do you believe in ghosts? No. I don't believe in, like, physical ghosts. Like, I think there's, like, a spiritual... So you believe in ghosts? Like, there's times where I think my mom has, like, had an impact or at least good juju towards something. But I don't think she's physically sitting where Braggs is right now. No, no, no. I believe in some things that are unexplained. And it sounds like you have some unexplainable things going on in the CHCO house. Yeah, what's going on with that? One of you guys are up late doing some unexplainable things. I think it's probably just Greg going to the refrigerator when he gets home from Prime. Looking for Dr. Pepper. Yeah, that's it. Looking for oranges to bite into. You cannot move through that house quietly. So when I'm coming in at 2 a.m. It's the ghost of Cain, Brad. It's me. It's not a ghost. I actually don't hear you late at night. I do hear you in the morning. So you've got a good tiptoe going on at night. But Emma was saying, like, doors are opening and closing on their own, right, Emma? Yes. Doors are opening and closing on their own? Yeah. My door keeps opening and closing. Steve and I keep waking up to feeling drafts in the door. So Emma's saying that her door is opening and closing in weird drafts. I mean, this is more interesting than safety talk. Yeah. So that's why I went there. Is that like just rags opening and closing doors and hiding? Well, it could be Carm's flatulence. That's been a topic of discussion here today. That would explain the breezes. Oh, there we go. There's the breezes. I mean, that has been a focal point of the day today, Carm. Well, that's true, but not in the same way that they're talking. But, yes, believe it or not. I feel good. Thank you, Greg. I have interests outside of football. True. So it's confirmed. Okay. Good for you. So you say. Ghost hunters. Who's your top safety, Adam Johns, from today's extravaganza? The kid from Toledo, which is fun to say. Just, I like the idea that he stayed at Toledo despite having multiple opportunities to leave that program for bigger programs. That he stuck it out in Toledo. And I like saying Toledo. Yeah, it's good work. It's good work. Toledo. Holy Toledo. I think he's a hell of a football player. Yeah. I mean, it definitely speaks to his character. You know, I don't know if you were there for his podium, but the way we played some of the clips, and we were literally just having this conversation, and I'm right there with you, man. Like, it's just a rarity. You know, it's not a requirement. You've still got to be a good football player. But it just speaks to his character, but it also speaks to his confidence. Like, I don't need to go anywhere. I don't need to chase the bag. The NFL is going to find me because the tape doesn't lie. Yeah, they made a commitment to me. I'm going to commit to them. And I think that's going to win over a lot of teams in different interview settings. It's going to win over a lot of scouts when they meet them one-on-one. I'm sure the feedback from Toledo, said it again, is fantastic. He's still talking about him being a late first-round pick. Right there in the number 25 pick range. Fran Duffy, we talked to him about him last week. He's all over this for the Bears. But here's what I need to know more about. because Fran can – wait, what was his comp on him? No, this was Grant Delpit was his comp. I got confused real quick with Dylan Thienemann because his comp for Dylan Thienemann was Justin Reed, another good player. But I need to know, can he kick like Justin Reed? Okay. Because that would affect – Guys, let's not let him inject special teams talk in the safety talk right now. Good job. That would affect my big board is can you kick? Which one of these safeties can kick? Anyway, Braggs. When you talk about what you're walking into, welcome. He'll come into this show an hour in and think it's just going to be like. Braggs is getting ready for the night. He's saving all his energy for one last go around here in Indianapolis on the circuit. Anyway, like so with. On the circuit? He's staying for Friday night. There's two for him. Yeah, I'll be here on Saturday. But go through France, like draft guy, there's so many old players. Redshirt seniors, like second-year seniors. Guys that are turning 24. I like that a player was there for four years, got better, and now he's a potential first-round pick. Yeah, there's something to be said for that. Yes. We've had to make new categories. I'm not even kidding. When you talk about class, we have to keep making categories because it's like a drop-down menu when you select them. and now we're up to eight years seniors. It's going to be Van Wilder. What is happening? So that's the point. He's breaking the mold in so many different ways. Natural four-year senior, you never see that anymore, doesn't have big NIL money, and is playing at a small school. You just don't see that. Peanut Tillman once came from a small school, right? I can think about, I think he was a quarterback that was on the D2 level that could have gone D1 and then just stayed and just bet on himself and won the Harlan Hill. Anyway, again, we're digressing from the conversation here. But Braggs, this would just be a podcast for you and I to talk about the safety position. Like the idea of the Bears like re-signing Kevin Byard and then pairing him with a day one, day two draft pick at safety. Like I'm coming along on that idea. I think it'd be extremely positive just in terms of building what you want for Dennis Allen. Yeah, I mean, it's going to be interesting. got to get through free agency see how they build this roster i like the idea of trying to get as many holes as you can filled before you get to the draft and now you have an opportunity to draft as brian post told you best player available start developing some of these guys and then you've got a handful of guys that we've talked about here throughout the week whether it's shamar turner Dio Dangbo you got Ruben Hippolyte Zay Frazier these guys are still going to be on the roster next year even if anyone in the fan base or media has written them off who of that group can get better next year so I'm trying to build this roster as much as I can to get to the draft so that they can start implementing youth and speed to this defense I just realized we're matching we're on the same page today Let's go. Yeah, but yours doesn't have Purdue on it. Zip it all the way up. Yeah. You should know, Johns, that he's thinking about bailing on dinner and going to the Purdue game tonight. I'm on the fence. It's a tough one. It's the last. It might leave us. We lost you at Fish. It's the last home game for Braden Smith, Trey Kaufman, Ren and Fletcher Lawyer. Covered them for four years. It's been a lot of fun. They're the winningest senior class in Purdue history. They've got bigger fish to fry in March. Hopefully they can make a run. Final Four is here in Indianapolis. If they were to get here, this city would be on fire. But that's a story for a different day. So, yeah, I'm conflicted, but we'll see. What time is the game? That's the worst part. It's an 8 p.m. tip Eastern time. If it was 6 p.m., I'm gone because I could get back here, not missing out, you know, the FOMO. So it's like, hey, I can't be anywhere at once. No, you're not going, actually. After you explain this, you're not going. I know it's 8 p.m. tip, so like what time am I getting back? Like 11.30? So it's tough. You're still not answering my question. Who are they playing? They're playing Michigan State. It's a top 15 matchup. Okay, that's just an important context. It's a big one. I mean, if they were playing Iowa, I'd be like, don't go to the game. Right, it's a big one. So for their seeding and everything else. I will be at the Big Ten tournament here coming up in a couple weeks, and I know you guys are also thinking about being there, Wisconsin, Northwestern. So we'll see. We're boycotting the Big Ten tournament this year. Why? Because of what happened last year. The Big Ten tournament. They got punished for playing until Sunday. All right, just calm down. No, I want to lose on Friday. I'm going to be mad if they win. Can we talk about ghosts again? Sure. Sure. I want to talk more about that guy who went to 15 Wisconsin practices and transferred. I need to talk to that guy. That was an amazing story. Tanner was very upset. I didn't – we could have had him too. I just apologize. Let's get him for tomorrow, and I'm going to grill him on that. Okay, I'll try to. You are a Badger for 15 practices? How screwed are they? Just up and left. I didn't know you could do that. It's like Larry Bird, Indiana State, 1979 stuff here. Think about how hard it used to be to transfer. Now you can literally show up somewhere, go to 15 practices, and be like, yeah, I'm good. I'm out. I don't like it. I'm out of here. All right. So he's the opposite of the four-year Toledo experience. Yeah. Four years in Toledo. It's like four days. That guy is loyal. That guy's incredibly loyal. The Mac is great football, man. As a former public address announcer for Northern Illinois University, I can speak to that. They got some good football in the Mid-American Conference, damn it. All right, you guys need to get up because we need to finish recording Hogan-Johnson. Is that why Hogan-Johnson? That's the only reason why he's still hanging out. I got a super chat. Oh, Johnson's going super chat. Okay. This is from Dante Walker. Dante. This is five bucks, thank you. And this is from Javon Terry. Did I say it right? You did. Tyson value is higher this year. Next year is supposed to be a great QB class, Karm, with a lot of options. If someone's offering a third, Karm, I'm taking it. I'm injecting the Karm. I like that. This attachment to someone, Karm, who has done nothing for us in two years is baffling, Karm. Okay, so what is baffling about having a good backup quarterback? Yeah, that is such a weird injection at the end. Well, and also it's just an incorrect statement. If you, again, if you go. If you listen to Ben Johnson. Right. If you don't think having a guy in that QB room that's doing everything the right way every single part of the day. And pushing the starter. That's my point. Hasn't had an impact on the starter. You would be incorrect. So take that and your Javon Terry. And live the dream like you do, Javon. Appreciate your passion. Or are you drawing the line? Have you changed since we last talked? untradeable player needs to be here for the next two decades. Carm's giving him a no-trade clause. Does he have one in his contract? I'm talking with Poles. I'm talking with Jeff King and everybody over there just to say that we – I mean, I don't think he's getting traded. We talked about this in depth, but we'll see. We shall see. All right. I want you guys all to know that when I returned to my room last night to go to bed, I didn't fall asleep right away because I watched the full 50-second clip and reaction of your little moment that you had on the show yesterday, and I could not stop laughing. I watched it, I think, 20 times in a row and probably woke up whoever's in the room next to me because I was laughing that loud. Was it put on social media? No, it's in the internal slacks. The internal slack? No pun intended. You haven't seen it? Do you want it on social media? We should just replay it on the show, honestly. I have to sound bite. Are we allowed to put it on social media? We don't have the video, just the sound. Okay. Oh, we have like a drop. Here we go. Huge penis. That does sound like the word. He's still in denial that he said it. No, I did deny it. I said that sounds like the word. What do you want me to say? You and Matt Nagy, the same. Remember him singing the seventh inning stretch? and buy me some penis and Cracker Jacks. That was good. That was good. I love Matt Nagy's. That might have been the highlight of his career here. I was scared. Come on, Andy. No. I was so scared how he was going to finish that sentence. Thank God. All right. Another fun day here in Indianapolis. What was it? More fun to be had unless Greg leaves for the Purdue game. If anybody out there is friends with Greg Please give Greg a call And let Greg know that you appreciate Greg They're fully aware of how miserable I am We're at a new low right now He was like He was laying down on one of the podiums About an hour before the show And just He's gotta get some sleep He wasn't in a good place Just get some sleep and quit haunting the house All he wants to do is talk about bricklaying. Just if you're a friend of Greg, call Greg and tell him how much you appreciate Greg's content. And Greg makes the world a better place in front of the camera. I'll tell Matt Painter to call him. Give him a little pep talk. It'll be all right. All right. Hogan Johns, we've got to finish recording that. We've got a couple good interviews for that one. Eric Edholm and Nick Baumgartner, both really good draft experts, are going to join that. And we'll be dropping that. Tonight or tomorrow still? I don't even know. Tomorrow morning, I think. Okay. Tomorrow morning. Tomorrow morning. Tomorrow morning. Tomorrow morning. Yeah, and then we'll have another, our last live CHCO Bears tomorrow, 1 p.m. Central, 2 p.m. Eastern, right here. We'll get some good guests lined up and do one more big show here from Indy. Potential guests on the show tomorrow include? Courtney Cronin, because I'm looking at her. I was hoping she was going to get closer. I've been efforting a few guys. We'll see if Charles Davis has time. He's a very busy man. Mike Florio. Florio's also a busy man, might make time. There's another draft. Field Yates. I thought Field Yates. Field Yates is a good guy. We might, if he has time. And then I'm not going to say his name because I don't want to put him on the spot. But another first-round pick might join the show tomorrow. My guy. If I continue to harass people to help us out. So we shall see. It's called networking. Sounds to me like you should not go to the Purdue game. This feels more like harassment. There's different levels to networking. All right. I had fun. It was a great time. Bears Stadium, horrible development day. But don't worry. They'll figure it out. They'll figure it out. It's a step. Carm at one point yelled, are you going to take a deuce to me as this girl in the media was walking by? And I looked at him and I'm like, what? Why are you doing this to me? You want to drop a deuce? Well, I was laying comfortably doing my own business. It's like, let's go do ads, but first I got to go to the restroom. I'm like, so then I had a response to that. I wasn't thinking about who was around. This entire room can hear you guys. Nobody was around. Nobody was around. But now they are. Apparently there was one person that was around. No one's here now. We're good. There's a lot of people here. She thought it was funny. Clarence is busy. See? Clarence. Nobody's paying attention to us. Clarence is doing work. Clarence is doing work with the prospects. To be clear, she thought the media member was laughing. She thought it was funny. I didn't because then I had to walk a shame to the bathroom. And dropped it. You had to walk a shame? It was what happened. It was obvious. Because who says they're going to the restroom? He goes, yeah, you are. Look at how you're walking. It's like breaking down my walk It's the scouting combine He had the right reading It was a good job I apologize Greg I didn't mean to out you to the combine of your bathroom habits I'll try not to do that Well John's habits have been broadcasted on ESPN 1000 for two days now I think the other side of the story needs to be discussed more Why was Sylvie watching me so long in the bathroom? Yeah it's kind of creepy What? And you're going to have to have context because I don't know if people on the show know what you're talking about right now. So you don't have to provide context, but that was kind of out of it. Well, here's the context. Apparently, Sylvie was in the bathroom. I did not see him. I walk in, wash my hands, use the bathroom, then wash my hands again and leave. And he thinks it's a big thing. It's been talked about. It's a pre-wash. Yeah, pre-wash. I heard the story. I just want to make sure. Is that a normal thing? No, no. There was a lot of handshaking going on. The specific person who shook their hand right before he walked in. So you shook a hand that you didn't want to take down to the situation. That's amazing. 100%. That's amazing. That's amazing. And so we apparently witnessed all of it. And now it's like still being. Charles was still getting texted today because apparently Yurko was talking about it. Carmen and Yurko are talking about it, yeah. I don't think I've ever done that. That's great. The pre-wash? You've never shook somebody's hand like, I've got to wash my hands now. I have. I mean I've I don't think so at least what you're talking about as far as like shook a hand and then I gotta instantly go to the bathroom to wash the hand I mean I probably that's probably happened I don't have anyone in mind why are you looking over there come back tomorrow you know you want to 1 o'clock weirdest show ever we'll see you tomorrow man.