FIGHTING FOR DRAFT PICKS: Ryan Poles & Ian Cunningham AGREE Bears Deserve Compensation | CHGO Bears

that's what happened I forgot he was next to me yeah well this is the CHGO Bears podcast you somehow made it through a week without me Hogan so did you Greg and Johns and I have been communicating on the daily we almost scheduled a foot rub for tonight but yeah very busy day busy day. Ryan Poles, Ben Johnson, lots of conversation. Why don't we just start it out like this? First of all, if anybody wants to just talk about their feelings that just the way that the Chicago media is walking around. A lot of puffy chests out here. We got ESPN 1000 right over there. We got the Tribune. Nobody's there. I don't know where they went. I thought they had a show right there. Yeah, so I feel very competitive to me early going on. I got a competitive vibe going on down here. I have a plan to screw with Waddle and Sylvie whenever they get back. And hopefully it's during the live show. You got something for Biggs? You got anything for Weedower? You got anything for anybody else? I mean, I think it's time to get the teeth out here. Okay. Combine. But okay, let's get into the show here, Ho. Good to see you guys. I missed you. Thank you for not welcoming me back. But look, I guess the day started with polls and the conversation around draft picks and Ian Cunningham being at the podium. Both of them saying that, yeah, the Bears should have gotten draft picks for Ian Cunningham. Yeah, we have a ton of sound and video to share with you. We're going to react to all this stuff, too. But, yes, these draft picks that Greg cares so much about, it's not over, buddy. It's not over. I didn't dial up the question, so obviously, yeah, it's not over. I did find it interesting, you know, let's hear from him first and we can give our thoughts. But there's just a lot going on between that and, you know, obviously the Bajan stuff coming out. And there's a whole lot of whole lot of work to be done on the defensive side of the ball. Never, never mind the fact that there's stadium stuff brewing all over the city as soon as we come down here. So it's just as much as the Bears are not the focal point of the offseason the way they were the last few years. there still are some pretty tangible storylines to follow. So let me set this up. It was interesting how they, I don't know if it was planned or why it ended up happening. Not everyone, but most GMs and head coaches all have press conferences on these podiums that are on the other side of this camera as you're looking at us. And Ian Cunningham and Ryan Poles just happen to be back-to-back at the same podium just to basically start the morning. So Ian Cunningham was up first and was asked about that draft pick compensation that everybody, seemingly everybody except the NFL, seems to be confused why the Bears didn't get draft picks when similar situations have happened and the team did get draft picks. So this is what Ian Cunningham had to say first. Some confusion about the Bears not getting compensatory picks for their hire. Can you weigh in the corner? that situation? Yeah, I haven't had much time to really dive into like the the wording of it. It was always my interpretation that if the general manager gets hired, that team would receive two third round picks. I'm a general manager. I was hired. I would think that they would get two third round picks. I don't know the wording of it. That's just my perspective. So, again, I wouldn't be sitting here if it weren't for them giving me that job and helping me grow to get this job right now. I actually thought he was being a little bit slightly unfair to himself there because this wasn't necessarily your only pathway to getting here, but this was the pathway that you did take and you did get. So they should be rewarded for it. I thought it was a very logical, easy answer that somehow the NFL is just missing. Are we playing what Poles said about this? Yes. Okay, I'll react to that because I know the Bears have appealed this process. Yeah, so that's really what the news was that we learned from Poles, that they are still fighting for these draft picks, and they're wondering the same thing Ian Cunningham just expressed, why the Bears are not getting the two third-round compensation picks. So here's what Bears general manager Ryan Poles had to say on the topic. HOW WE DO THAT AND WHY WE DO THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH COMPENSATION WHATSOEVER. I WANT TO MAKE THAT VERY CLEAR. ON THE OTHER SIDE, THERE'S A SET OF RULES THAT WERE PUT IN PLACE THAT I THINK CAN BE APPLIED TO THIS SITUATION. SO WE'VE COMMUNICATED THROUGH THE RIGHT CHANNELS. SO WE'LL SEE WHAT HAPPENS AS WE GO FORWARD. WHEN DO YOU EXPECT THIS? I'M NOT SURE. WE JUST WANT TO FURN A RESPONSE WITH THAT. NO ONE PERSONALLY CALLED ME FROM THE REPUBLICAN. Ian was just here and said that he thinks you should and you think you should so the Bears think you should the Falcons think you should Seems like yeah, so it'll be up to the league We've had conversations what's your overall opinion of the rule itself Just from your standpoint Yeah, I mean I'll be honest. I think it's it is a little strange I mean at the end of the day you should want to develop your staff regardless the color of their skin I think that's important. I think we take a lot of pride with the Bears on how we are set up. And I take a lot of pride in that. So to be compensated for that is a little strange. I mean, I saw the Chiefs get a pick because of me, and then I watched that player go and play. It's just a little odd. But at the end of the day, if they think that's what's best to help incentivize, then that's what they wanted to do. But at the end of the day, like I said, That's not the purpose of why we develop our staff. But if that's a rule that happened in place, then I think it's very clear in the situation. So I like how Paul's handled that. Johns, I want to get your thoughts. Because if we're being perfectly honest, it is somewhat of an awkward thing. Because both things can be true. Like, to his point, it shouldn't really matter, you know, the color of your skin, who you're developing. You want to develop whoever is on your staff. But I also understand why the rule exists. At the same time, as awkward as that might be to sort of fight it, the rule is there. And like he just said, the Chiefs got picks for him. So now he's like, well, how come we don't get picks for pretty much the same situation? So I find the whole thing kind of awkward. But at the same time, I totally understand everybody in this discussion being like, okay, yeah, but we should get the picks. I think the fix is pretty obvious for the NFL. You reward the picks to the Chicago Bears, and then you later refine the language with the input of everyone across the league. The Falcons are on board with this. The Bears want this. I think a lot of the teams around the league probably feel the same way as both those teams. This is a promotion for Ian Cunningham. So let's reward the Bears, as the rule states, and let's refine the language after the fact. Maybe that happens at the NFL annual meeting in Scottsdale later this or in April. But to me, I don't see what the argument on the other side is. Like, what is the argument not to reward the Bears these picks? Look, I think it's interesting, too, to hear Ian Cunningham go to bat for the Bears. And you're talking about now a GM for a rival NFC conference team. You know, I mean, like, you're now competing against each other. And so he felt so strongly about it that, hey, no, the Bears do deserve this in Ian Cunningham's perspective. So I found that part to be really interesting. Look, he's in an awkward position that, you know, he doesn't necessarily want to talk about what's going on. But there were 10 coaching vacancies. There was no black people who got any of those jobs. The first time the NFL ever hired a black coach, period, was 1989 in Art Shell. The Raiders, the Oakland Raiders at the time, or whatever they were, they desperately wanted to win for him more than any coach in the history because they wanted to prove that that hire was right. And the NFL has had a problem here. This is very simple. You had a black assistant general manager in Chicago who got a GM spot in Atlanta. The fact that this is even a question the NFL got in their own way on this is ridiculous. Period. Nobody would have questioned it had they given the draft picks. Whatever semantics they're jumping through is insane to me. Give them the picks. Talk about it. It's a great story. Instead, it's turned into a negative story. The whole thing is preposterous. I thought Ryan Poles was very measured with his comments. But he has, he should be angry a little bit about this. Just in terms of, like, if you just want to talk about roster dynamics and roster construction, the Bears could benefit immensely from the two third-round selections. Well, also, he could just point out, look, man, you know, there's not a lot of me in this game. It's hard to be a general manager in the NFL. It's even harder to be a black general manager in the NFL. So the fact that I hired somebody who got that job actually means a ton to me. and you know what you could see could have said it like that whether we get the picks or not but if we're just talking about what what right versus wrong here what they're trying to do with the Rooney rule and everything I'm a little I'm completely perplexed as to why you know we're having even even having this discussion something along those lines so those are my thoughts I guess we'll see what happens here though I mean the news in all this is that it's it was unclear if there even was an appeal process or if it was still you know up in the air is there an appeal process or Are they just stating their case? It sounded like he just said they're just talking. But that's the other part of it that was surprising to me. If you listen to the whole press conference at one point, and maybe he said it in the clip, so forgive me, but he said that he hasn't received a call yet. Like he hasn't gotten a call from the league on it. But yet I've heard from reputable NFL reporters that have already said they will not receive it. So how are there reputable NFL reporters that have already gotten the word, but the actual GM that it affects hasn't. Well, it's a real awkward position for the Bears to, like, just to pound on the table, we need these picks. So, yeah, we've had discussions. Like, they're trying to do it in a nice way, but, you know, I don't know. Well, that's what I meant by why it's awkward. You know, I thought, you know, Jonathan Jones made some great points when he talked and wrote about this. It's just – but to your point, Carm, it's unfortunate this has become, like, a negative thing when it should have just been – Great story. Yeah. You know, it's a good thing that Ian Cunningham got promoted to a bigger job. By the way, Ian Cunningham, I thought, handled himself great today. I thought he had good presence. It was a nice, it was a good solid. He had jokes. He had jokes. You know, Ben's got jokes, too. We talked about Caleb's three-point shooting. Oh, yeah. I don't think we're going to have that audio, so we should actually bring that up. He basically just roasted Caleb for his three-point shooting. He walked into his second press conference of the day and was like, he's like, oh, God, I just feel like I just did this because they make him do it at the podium, and then there's, like, the side session for, in theory, just the Chicago media. Is that how it's sold? That's what it was. And so it's supposed to be sort of this informal thing, but it's very formal. And he's just like, why don't we talk about Caleb's three-point shooting? He was terrible. And then Jason Leisure had to go into the, he didn't shoot 70%, did he? Which wasn't Jason Leisure? He deserves that for that question. It was a funny line. I mean, if he had come anywhere near 70% shooting threes, though, then he should be in the NBA. Did he make one? Was it one? I think he made two or three, right? Two? Two out of something? Two. It was two. Okay. Should we play one more from polls here? Sure. Let's get a brilliant Carm question here because I've missed you guys so much. 25th overall pick, second round, third round, wherever. Where are we at here? I want to know, are we targeting a position? or do we go on best player available? So this was Paul's on his draft philosophy. How are you looking at this year as far as drafting me versus, hey, we're in a better spot to stick to best player available here? Yeah, philosophically I feel the same. It's going to be a best player available. I know that may not be the most popular thing because people see kind of, like on my board have yellow tags where we need to fill in. But at the same time, I do believe, especially in early rounds like one, you really got to stick to best player available. So we saw that last year. I know there's a lot of questions. Yeah, Cole, why would you take Colston? I think we found out that it helped us along the way. So we'll continue to lean in that philosophy. Everybody good with that? Everybody likes that philosophy? Sounds good to me. I mean, I'm really just impressed with the question. I don't think anybody's ever asked that at the combine before. Thank you. Are you going to take best player available? Nobody's ever asked that in the history of the combine. You might as well just said, hey, have you talked to the Bears, even though they are the Bears? I mean, I did think it was a moderately dumb question, but I also wanted to hear his answer. It makes me feel good when somebody says best player available. Because, you know, the people, they get confused on this. You know, I'm going to draft Sam Bowie because we have Clyde Drexler. Let's go to my favorite reference in that one. Take the best player available. But he referenced that that's what they did last year, Hogue. I heard that, yeah. That is what they did last year. All good. He got to pop out his chest. maybe when I see him later in the week, he'll want to talk to me for five seconds and we can talk about Tyson. Look, I thought it was a great question. Thank you. I thought – Steven liked it. I came back here. It was like a lot of questions. Steven's still laughing. I'm excited to do the Tyson segment. I know. I'm so excited. I know you're going to go work on the rundown for Hogan Johns, but like – No, he's staying for Tyson. Oh, you're staying. He's staying for Tyson. I'm not going to miss this part. Yeah, I was going to say, like, our job here for the next segment is to try to make Mark Harmon cry. Well, Ben almost cried, it seemed like. We're all crying. So are you going to pull up the reed or not? Oh, yeah, right. I've stalled for 90 seconds. Is that what the looks were? You very clearly said, I will do the first reed. I know. And right when I said that, I'm like, that's a bad idea. You're never ready. I almost just did the butt first. Just like throw it. All right. We'll get to Tyson in a second. But first. Hey, shout out to our friends making it all possible at Xfinity. That's right. It's the Xfinity five-year price guarantee. There's no way we'd be doing this here from the convention center without Xfinity. It's got to be the reliable, intelligent Wi-Fi we've been looking for. And, yes, there's the Xfinity five-year price guarantee. You're going to pay the same in five years that you're paying now. That never happens in this world. And all the devices for those five years, they're going to work in perfect harmony. Best part, too. There's no annual contracts. There's no hidden fees. You get the best equipment. And, yeah, five years. You know, listen, how many championships are the Bears going to win in the next five years? How many records are going to be broken? That's right. So, you know, dreams can grow bigger, but your Wi-Fi, it's going to stay reliable. Price should stay put. Lock in your best price and unlock the possibilities with Xfinity. Learn more at Xfinity.com. Xfinity, imagine that. Select plans only. Restrictions apply. And when I was in San Diego hanging out with the Sea Lions, I had my Xfinity Wi-Fi, and that's why I was able to send you those sweet pictures that you love so much. Okay. That's amazing. With the Sea Lions. I didn't even see those. Well, you've got to get the Xfinity. I guess so. I guess so. Hey, winter is still going strong here. We felt that last night, and we hope your home's heating is up for the challenge. I know my hotel's heating was up for the challenge. They must have called Four Seasons because it was warm last night. Now is your time to schedule your Four Seasons furnace tune-up. If you haven't done it already, maybe you're thinking about a whole home generator, Four Seasons has you covered. 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Yeah, this is going to be fun. I wasn't going to ask it. Really? I wasn't. It would have been too funny coming from you. So, Cronin said it. Well, let's hear what Ryan Pauls had to say when the question of trading Tyson Bajan came up. Yeah, we anticipated that. Just because of the environment, both I think it'd be peace and kind of do an overlay of the draft for agency. we anticipated someone like Tyson's going to get some interest. We've gotten a few calls there. Obviously, the tough thing is with what Ben thinks about Tyson, what I think about Tyson, what our locker room thinks about Tyson. That's a really tough decision for us. But for Tyson as well, I think he would have an opportunity to go and perform for a team and do some really good things. But again, you've got to weigh the short term and long term. So now what's the cost of replacement to get someone like Tyson? We spent a lot of time developing him. Ben spent a lot of time developing him. So you've got to replace that as well. So interesting dynamic there that we're going to have to work through. All right, let me translate that for you. We're taking calls. How much are you willing to give up? Yeah. That's what that was. Carm, here's the thing, Carm. Eventually the Bears have to move on. If Caleb Williams is your starting quarterback, they love Tyson Bajin. I get it. Even Ben Johnson. Are we playing Ben Johnson here a little bit? Yeah, we have that too. Like, he loves Tyson Bajin. Ryan Poles loves Tyson Bajin. But eventually, the best interest of the team, it means trading Tyson Bajin to benefit the team. You know, to get something back and not losing him outright in free agency in a couple years. Right. And so he's got two years left on his deal, making roughly five a year for the next two, plus incentives if he ends up playing, all that type of stuff. So, okay, so what's the price point here, team? What do the Bears need to get, in your expert opinion, to be willing to part with 17? Well, let me, we should ask you, because you're just like Ryan Poles and Ben Johnson on this, right? You don't want to give them up. Well, let me, let's do it this way. So, because on the other side of the camera, our friends from PHNX are here. They're looking for a quarterback, and they keep bringing up Malik Willis because of the ties, the LeFleur ties, right? You know, Mike and Matt, they're brothers and blah, blah, blah. And would you, serious question, would you rather pay Malik Willis, which seems like it's going to be a decent contract right now? PFF, I think, Adam, is their number one overall free agent, which seems wild to me, but okay. I think NFL.com did too. Yeah, would you rather? What is that, 15? Is that 20 here? What are we talking here? What number? Or more. Here, let's actually take for a second, let's take the draft compensation and the money out of it. Who would you rather have as a starting quarterback, Malik Willis or Tyson Baygent? Me? I mean, are you asking me? Let's go across the board. Yeah. You're going to go Baygent. I am. Malik Willis. You're going to believe me. I mean, that's a great debate. Part of me wants to say Baygent, but at the same time, we saw what Willis did literally against the Bears in a live regular season game. Yeah, I would go Baygent. And I wouldn't really hesitate, to be honest with you. I think that Malik Willis has already had his opportunities. And there is a huge difference between spots starting. So he's had a couple different opportunities. He came in and he won two games, I think, a couple years ago with the Packers. And then last year he comes into that game and he played well in a losing effort. There's a difference between that and having to be the starting quarterback for 17 games across a full season. When the tape starts to pile up, defenses start to adjust to you, you go through injuries, all these different things over the course of the season. Betting on that being different this time around. Now everyone's going to point to Sam Darnold. Where was Malik Willis drafted again? Second round, I want to say. We're not talking about a top three pick with that type of pedigree with Sam Darnold. He was in what was considered a I talking about Willis now was in a part of a bad quarterback class that year So I just betting on that to suddenly change as a starter and you going to have to pay him a lot of money I would much rather give up, now I think the Bears would probably want a second round pick. So let's say it's a second round pick. I think I'd rather give up a second round pick, betting on Bajan, who hasn't had that opportunity yet, who, you know, would also be way cheaper. Way cheaper. But I thought your question was just player to player without the compensation. Right. I'm saying player to player. It's changing the dynamics. No, no. I'm adding it. I'm saying I would rather have Bajan. Player to player. Now I'm furthering my argument by adding the conversation about the money. Because my only question is, like, Ben Johnson's not going with Bajan wherever he goes. He's a very talented quarterback. Right? But at least Malik Willis is dual threat. You know, so there's a little bit more of a margin. Tyson can run. I'm not saying he can't. I'm just saying, and to the point of what we've seen from Malik Willis on the football field here in the last year, I know preseason Tyson did play well. Can I give you guys all a comp? Jimmy Garoppolo going from the Patriots to the 49ers. Didn't get his chance. Now, I know he was a second-round pick, so that's a little bit different in terms of where he was selection-wise, but needed the opportunity. Was he going to get it in New England? And he got it that eventually in San Francisco. What did the 49ers give up? A second round pick. Yeah. They had to pay him too, but this is a little different because Tyson Bajan's under contract. It might even make him more valuable in the trade market. Well, that's what I mean. The contract is cheap. We were having this discussion earlier about how he's getting paid as a backup, and it's sort of middle of the road. It's really not that bad. But as a starter, it's dirt cheap. Yeah. Okay, so, Carm, where's the line for you? Second round pick? High second round pick? So, yeah. Bayesian's the fifth highest paid backup in the league. Yeah, so, listen, if the Cardinals have the number 34 overall pick, that's the number. Look, the way I'm hearing it is that, you know, the Bears want to, like what Ben says as far as giving guys an opportunity. I mean, Ben will play it, but, you know, I love Tyson, and, you know, but if he has an opportunity to go play, you know, we're going to do what's best for the organization first, but to give a guy a shot to do that. To me, like, at the end of the day, if the Bears get a pick in the top 35 and Tyson gets a chance to start, you're doing right by the player, you're doing right by the organization. Absolutely. As the mayor, some people are trying to, like, take that title, David Haw, which is insane. But so, you know, as somebody who's been driving the Bayesian ships since it got here. To me, that's a win. He gets to go start. The Bears get great compensation. And I would totally get it. On the other side of the coin, do you think the Cardinals are going to do that? I don't know. You're making a fairly decent bet. But if you're confident that he's going to be your starting quarterback, that's a steal if he hits the way I think he's going to hit. But that's where, for me, looking at it from the Bears' lens, unless you are getting a second-round pick, I'm not giving up that kind of luxury to have a backup quarterback like that. Yeah, don't get spoiled, Bears fans. Just because Caleb Williams has started 36 straight games, don't forget that he was the first Bears quarterback to do that in over a decade. It does not happen. Most teams, most every team in the NFL, needs your backup quarterback at some point throughout the season, whether it's a couple games or it's for an extended period of time. And the Bears haven't had to deal with that the last two years. And you're just playing with fire. So if we're talking about anything outside of the second-round pick, I'm not for it. John Eric Sullivan was the GM that came up before Ben Johnson at that podium. He's with the Dolphins now. He was with the Packers organization for 20 years. And they talked about quarterback development. And he was like, we had – John saying we – with the Packers, they would have like five quarterbacks. And he said this dated back to the 90s when he came in. They were still feeling the remnants of how they built their organization from that point and had this huge quarterback tree that just grew out and they just kept drafting guys. They even said when they had Aaron Rodgers in 2008, they drafted a quarterback in like the third round and then drafted another one in that same draft in the seventh round. So they're stacking quarterbacks on top of quarterbacks on top of quarterbacks. And for me, I'm just not taking that luxury for granted. I think Tyson Bajan is a valuable asset, and I'm not trying to get rid of him for anything outside of a second. Well, there's two real quick points. Number one, you have him for two years, so you don't need to trade him now and risk losing him for nothing. You can do it in a year. But that's why I found it so interesting. Brian said what he had to say today. Well, right. Because he didn't shoot it down. You walked away from that, and you go, 78% they're trading him? Well, in the moment, I hate it. But then re-listening to it back, he's like, we've gotten a couple of calls. But as a GM, you... He's putting it out there. He put it out there. That's my point. We're open for business. They're at least considering it. My question was, was he trying to create... Did they get one call and then he was creating a market? I think there's a theme today. Johns, I want to get your thoughts on this too. I thought the way he handled the Tremaine Edmonds, and we're going to play that coming up, the DJ Moore conversation. And by the way, we're now in, what is this, year five for Ryan? I'm losing track of time already. This is year five. That's right. Yeah, going into year five. We have a track record now for how he does business this time of year. And he has set the groundwork for trade conversations. He put the number one pick for sale here in Indianapolis at that same press conference a few years ago and basically said, yep, we're open for business. Call us. Then he spent that week talking to multiple teams, put the framework in the deal with the Carolina Panthers, and then executed it right after the combine. The same thing happened with Tooney, Jonah Jackson. This is what he does down here in Indianapolis. One last thought on Bayesian here, and this may tie into what you're getting at now. I think what's missing in this conversation is what Tyson Bayesian wants. He's eventually going to want that opportunity to go play. He's going to want that opportunity to start. He's going to want to have input in which team and which coach he goes and plays for. And the Bears, knowing what they said today during multiple interviews, will try to do right by him and give him that opportunity in the best situation possible. Have we played the Ben Johnson clip yet? Nope. Let me just set this up by saying this because I see Cornell Bryan here in the chat saying, a second, Braggs, he's not that good. Cornell, Ben Johnson does not agree with you. Ryan Poles does not agree with you. They paid him. He is the fifth highest paid backup in the NFL. Ben Johnson, play the clip. The dude is in love with him. So, I know Karn's the Bajan guy around here, but you don't know what you're talking about in terms of Tyson Bajan's talent. Who is this again? Corn O'Brien, our guy. I'm just saying, I do not agree with you. And more importantly, Ben Johnson doesn't agree with you. Now play it. Please. No. No. I love Tyson. And that's one that kind of pulls at your heartstrings a little bit because he's someone that you care about so deeply and he's a hell of a football player that at some point you want to see him have a chance to do it himself. And so, you know, we'll always do what's best for our team and our organization. I do think there's a lot of merit to having a strong number two quarterback, which he certainly fits that bill. I'm of the mind that he's probably one of the best 32 in the NFL. His preseason tape over the last few years has probably confirmed that, in my opinion. But if I took myself out of the equation, I want what's best for him. If he would like an opportunity to start, I certainly hope he can get that. Guys, he called him one of the best 32 quarterbacks in the league. Yeah, I was a little bummed that he didn't go top 10, but that was fine. Top 32 is fine. He's a starter. Yeah, that's what he said. He's declaring to the rest of the league that we think, I think, Ben Johnson talking here, he's one of the best 32 quarterbacks in the league. He's a starting quarterback in this league. Right, and following up on that off the Super Chat menu here, Alex DeBears fan, thank you, Stephen. What do you think we could realistically get for Tyson? Well, it's almost like, well, what do you think they would realistically take? But what do you – so to me it feels like a second-round pick would be in the conversation, at least for the Bears. But for what you were saying for Bajan himself, like there is risk in him playing this year because if he gets hurt this year, then he's under contract and then you're kind of in no man's land. Where if he sits this year or plays if Caleb gets hurt, But now you're going into the last year of the deal, right? You want to get on the field desperately at that point to try to up your market value as far as how much money you're going to make. Whereas right now if he's playing, if you're just talking about the dollars of it, he's already locked in. So on some level for them, for Tyson, if you're just thinking about the actual long-term and the dollars of it, it's almost better. Give me one more year of graduate work with Ben Johnson and getting myself versus playing right now. On the other side, I'm sure he's dying to play. So there's both. Yeah, and I think from the Bears side of that too, is this the highest value he's going to have? Well, that's a great question. While we're here at the combine, I think the quarterback class this year plays into that value because there isn't much for teams to draft a quarterback. Correct. Well, the other side of that, though, if Caleb is a normal quarterback next year, not one that plays every single game, and you believe in Tyson, he plays for two games, whatever, they win one or they win them both, and he plays well, well, then next offseason that value is, I would think, significantly higher. If you're Tyson Bajan. It could also be worse, though, if he doesn't play. And it could be. If he doesn't play well, it would go down, obviously. If you're Tyson Bajan and the Raiders come calling, Clint Kubiak is there, Andrew Janoco, I believe. Andrew Shinoko, yes. There's an instant connection. Ian Cunningham, the general manager of the Falcons. Keep going. Yes. So you're thinking of the Raiders here for a second. Okay. What? They're taking Mendoza. Yes. Do you not want that situation? Or is this your best opportunity to be prepared with a coach you know well and an offensive mind in Kubiak? Well, I don't even think it's an option is my point. Okay. You think the Raiders would be calling about him? Maybe. I mean, I would think it would be instead of Mendoza. You know, they draft somebody else. They won't bring in the veteran to help mold and play just in case. No, if someone's trading for a second-round pick for Bajan, it's to be their starter. I think the other aspect, and Karn brought this up off the air, so I'll bring it onto the air, but you did make a good point of – Oh, wow. You did make a good point about, like, most people don't know about Tyson. Cornel O'Brien doesn't know about Tyson because he hasn't gone to camp. Travis in the chat doesn't know about Tyson because he's referencing his rookie numbers as if that has any bearing to the quarterback. Anybody else on your list? No, but I'm just saying, like, you have to have gone to camp or mini camp. You have to, like, be there to see him. So most people, including NFL teams, don't know, like, what he is, except the point Carm made that the branch is starting to spread out from Chicago. Ian Cunningham goes to Atlanta. You've got coaches. Declan's in Baltimore. And so they're starting to talk, you know, like, the word's going to get around. Gunningham offers you two third-round picks. Right. There it is. Well, it's possible. I mean. Well, so on their – you know, their pod committed – That's a team you could say that, yeah, but it's a new regime. What do they really think about Michael Panix? Right. And Kirk Cousins looks like he's on the way out, right? Schefter reported that. What's your bringing up – Gunningham confirmed that himself. What's your – yeah, Kirk Cousins is out. What you're hitting on, though, is a very important thing because this is what – we were talking with the PHNX guys about this earlier, And their point was, well, what intel do the Cardinals have on Baygent, though? Like, what's the connection? Because there's always connections, right? So Cunningham, I'm assuming, also is one of these people that loves Baygent. And he's now the general manager. So that's a team I would pay attention to. The LeFleur connection with Malik Willis makes a lot of sense. So they're just kind of assuming it's going to be Willis. They seem very confident that Malik Willis is going to be a Cardinal. That's why I brought up Ginoco. Right. Well, I get it. And so I'm wondering what the connection is there with the Cardinals. I don't really know. I mean, other than – Well, it may not be a guarantee that the Cardinals can get Malik Willis. I mean, listening again to the Dolphins GM speak, who's got the Green Bay ties and they've got Halfley there, they were talking about Malik Willis. And he had to answer some of those questions directly. So Malik Willis is going to be a hot-button name and go for a big price, and it may not necessarily go to Arizona. Well, I think the bottom line, though, is the way that that was handled, they've gotten calls. They clearly aren't shooting down those calls. They'd love to know really what people are willing to offer, and it's obviously a storyline we're going to have to continue to cover here and hope that Karm's okay. I think, I mean, it's really. Listen. I just like the idea of the PHNX trade just because I think there's a seamless transition of trading Karm as well. Right. There's something there. Who are you going to get off of that show? Oh, that's easy. Shane. Shane. I mean, we're fleecing. They're already thinking about it. We're fleecing. We've already got. We've already got. The structure's already in place. But I can't do Shane's role. Like, I would just be. That's for them to worry about. Yeah, that's for them to worry about. Okay. I got it. We need Shane more than we need you. Right? Wow. Wow. Welcome back. Wait, I'm sorry. I wasn't supposed to say that out loud. It's all right. I mean, listen, Shane is a very, very valuable piece. I get where you're at. By the way, that – never mind. Okay, are we – Johns, are you leaving us? I'm gone. Yeah, okay. Goodbye. Love Hogan Johns later. Good luck, Carm. You got this. Thank you very much. All right, we're coming back with more Trade Talk with Tremaine Edmonds. And Ryan Pohl's got a win-now question from Gregory P. Allen Braggs, which pissed everybody off in the media that Braggs was asking as many questions as he did. I was very proud of you. good job. I don't think it did. I didn't even ask that many questions. I know, but they still I know these people. I get one day to talk to Ben Johnson 365 days a year. I'm sure somebody had a problem. Oh, no, not somebody. I think everybody in the room did. I was very proud of you, but first. First. All right, shout out to our friends at Bet365. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it is time because it's never ordinary at Bet365. And you know what today is, Hoag? What? Tuesday. I said Hogue, not Greg, but that's fine. But it's tip-off Tuesday, baby. Place a qualifying same-game parlay with the safety net bet feature on the Tuesday NBA games. You get $10 in bonus bets if the bet loses. Download the app and use the code CHGO365 when you sign up. Whatever the moment. Never ordinary at Bet365. And the breaking news is there are new customers. You get $200 in bonus bets. when you bet $5, win or lose, you sign up, use the code CHGO365, you deposit 10, place a bet for five, and you get $200 in bonus bets if the bet wins or loses. Bonus bets can be used on spreads, totals, player props, futures, and more, whatever the moment. It's never ordinary at Bet365. You'd have to be 21 or older. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis accounts, referral services, you can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER in app only. So now I'll ask you, Greg, what day is today? Tuesday? Yeah. Not only is it Tuesday, but it's good job getting that right twice, by the way. Good job. It's also the last Tuesday in February. It's the last Tuesday in February. It's the last Tuesday in February, which means that your wing cravings can make a difference at Hooters. Hooters is donating a portion of chicken wing sales to Holy Family Schools, helping fund tuition, books, classroom supplies, and more for kids in under-resourced communities with the support of our Chicagoland Hooters family. They've raised over $1 million since 1992. Let's keep that going because kids can't fly without wings. So every Tuesday in February, which means today it's the last one, this is where your wings can make a difference. Hooters is still the best lunch spot in town as well. Weekdays are getting better with your Hooters faves for $9.99 or less, like those boneless wings. So cheer on your favorite teams from any of the 11 Chicagoland Hooters locations. I always liked the one by O'Hare because I used to live over there. Check them out at originalhooters.com. All right, coming up next, Ryan Poles joins us on the show before it airs on Waddle & Sylvie later. We got Poles live. We did. That's right. We did. Yeah. No. It's, you know, it's just very jealous for us. You know, they're sitting next to the home of the Bears, and there's Ben Johnson, and there's Poles. I should have waited until Sylvie sat down before I said that. Although they were ducking my tweet where I was trying to start a fight between our companies. I had you, me versus you, Waddle. That's right. That's right. What you got? The answer was I'm scared of you. You seem to be the only one interested in this. We all desperately are. I had to put Mark Carmen versus Carmen DeValco because there could only be one Carmen. Well, that's true. We've got to pick a Carm. We've got to settle this. I go to Falco. It's actually interesting that you brought that, that happened, because, you know, I was getting, now we'll just, you know, shout out the whole lineup over there. You know, I was getting texts from Cap over the weekend, like, who do you know that owns a hockey rink in Deerfield whose name is whatever? And I'm like, I don't do hockey. That's a whole question. I'm like, I think you're talking about Carm. I think that person that's asking you this is talking about Carmen DeFalco. And then he texts me back. He's like, you're right. It was Carmen DeFalco. So, you know. Somehow that was worth telling that story. Okay. That's what I mean. There can only be one. Let's hear the Tremaine stuff because I thought this was maybe the most interesting thing of the day, honestly. Oh, really? Okay. Good. Yeah. So. Oh, Gwynn's. This is from the second session we have with Ryan Poles today. A number of questions here we're going to hit on. kind of go rapid fire through a bunch of different topics. But we'll start with Tremaine Edmonds because, as we all know, and we've talked about on this show, the salary cap situation points to a potential cutting, trading, renegotiation, you know, something to free up cap space with Tremaine Edmonds. So here is my question in here too. Here's what I asked Ryan Poles on that topic. Ryan, among the tough decisions, the salary cap math, We seem to indicate that you have a decision to make on main admins with his contract. Where does that stand right now? Yeah, we've got to make, there's a couple guys we've got to make decisions on. You know, if that's trade, release, there's a lot of different options, or a few options that we can go down to create some space. Like I said before, you know, this is a unique situation where we've got our roster in a position where, you know, we have a lot of talented players, a lot of guys getting paid well. and that puts some constraints on the cap. So we've got to make some tough decisions. And, you know, like I said, when we win games, you create these relationships. There's leadership, guys, guys that are captains. That mean a lot to our organization. But when you're kind of put in a corner, that's what the league's been. So let me just talk about that for a second. One, that was question, I think, number two in the press conference. So Hogue got in early with this very calm, just soothing Hogue voice. that I thought polls really appreciated that I appreciated. So the way you did that, the timing was exquisite. So well done. Second of all, I thought it was interesting, more importantly, that he's talking about trade or release. Because I had not considered, oh, well, now I'm thinking about it. They could, in theory, not just release Tremaine. They could try to find somebody who would take Tremaine and get some level of value for him. And then you had to ask the question, what do you think you could get for him? And if you're going to release him, then literally anything would be a win. Well, yeah, and I think that that coincides with sort of what we were talking about late last week, Greg. You know, the idea that, I think was Finley brought this up to Ryan today as well, which was a fair point. We talked about it, how in the past years he's made these moves ahead of the combine. He's released some players ahead of the combine. And in this case, they haven't done that. So that, to me, and I brought this up on Friday, that was an indication to me that they're considering multiple different options here. and so one of them I think just like the Bayesian thing this comes up and it came up with more too leaving it open publicly that hey we might listen for trade offers on this player It just kind of potentially opens the door to that. Now, realistically, you know, I would think you have to eat some money on it if you were to do that to get something back. And typically, guys, when we talk about veterans, and I realize Edmonds is, what, still 27? But I think he's also got nine years in the league. I don't have it in front of me, but I think he might be going in the year nine. That sounds right. Yeah. He's a legit vet, vet, vet. Usually these guys, they get released. They don't get traded. Now, it's not 100% of the time, but typically this is under the, you know, very obvious release of veteran situation because you're very rarely going to find a team that's going to be willing to give up a ton of draft capital for an older player. Now, to contradict my own point there, the Bears did do that for Joe Tooney last year. Right. Right. But even in that case, if you really think about it, it furthers my point. We're talking about a potential Hall of Fame player in Joe Tooney who ended up winning Protector of the Year. And even that only got a – it was a fourth-round pick, you know, which seems like a bargain at this point. So, I just don't know that – and maybe I'll be wrong. It would surprise me if they're actually able to get something significant in return for Tremaine Evans. Yeah, and I just— But I'd take a fourth-round pick over nothing. That's my point. You're not getting a fourth-round pick. If Joe Tooney— I got it. I got it. It's a fifth. But go ahead. Yeah, it's really interesting because they're in a little bit of trouble defensively. I was joking with my buddy Joey talking about this on the way down that I was just going to steal all his thoughts and pretend like half of them were mine. Christopoulos? No. It's my good friend Joey. Shout out. Anyway, shout out Joey. Anyway, this part of the show brought to you by Greg's good friend Joey. Joey. Here are Joey's thoughts. But when you look at it, you have injuries to your linebacking core, right? T.J. Edwards broke his ankle, right? You had Noah Sewell also get hurt. Polls talked about that. What is their timetable to return? What kind of players will they be when they return? So now you're going to create another hole with Tremaine Edmonds. I'd love to bring DeMarco Jackson back. I think that's an easy thing for them to do, but it still has to be done. So if you're saying you're not bringing Tremaine Edmonds back, you're going to cut him for salary cap. Now, what's your linebacker room look like right now? Ruben Hippolyte didn't play. What's your safety room look like? They don't have one. if they don't sign to Sean Wright, they didn't play Tyreek Stevenson. You had to, like, force him onto the field. And Jalen Johnson's still recovering from an injury. And, oh, by the way, the thing everyone wants to fix is the defensive line. They have so many issues that, yeah, I mean, you got free agency, you got the draft, you can start plug and play, you can get one-year deals, and you can find your way to a defense. But they're a long way to go from there. And now we're talking about, I understand from a salary cap situation with him, But you're talking about somebody that's dependable. If you talk to people that are on that coaching staff, he's a football-first kind of guy. He's a leader in that locker room. So to me, they're in kind of a weird spot between salary cap and the amount of holes they have to fill, and now you're adding more. But there was a smaller thing that probably went over. It's kind of a footnote in a longer conversation with Ryan Poles, but he did say it, he wants to get faster on defense. It's a big emphasis to get faster on defense. And I think linebacker is a spot where, you know, that's a big area where you're trying to get faster, I think. So I – And you saw that with DeMarco Jackson, right? Yeah. He might not be the most talented linebacker in the league, but when he came in, he played with speed and read and react, you know, and that's what Dennis Allen needs. The question is, do you have the luxury to pay Tremaine and add on some way else in that room to give you, if TJ doesn't come back 100%, what does that look like? Just having another body, period. Maybe you don't have to. Versus, you know. You say pay Tremaine, you mean extend him? No, just leave his money on the books. Well, I don't think they can leave it. I think that's the point. They're going to have to either trade him or do an extension where you convert the money over to a signing bonus and then you spread it out more. And I think that to me, that's my point, is I don't know that that fits the long-term idea of getting faster and younger on defense. Well, also he said, like, look, we don't want to kick the can down the road, but that's not the philosophy that they want to have as far as nobody wants that philosophy. We're like, okay, well, we can do it this way, which creates more space this year, but then we're going to have to pay for it at some point. They don't want to play that game. So, you know. Well, that's actually, that's a good transition to what Greg's vacuum question was about. There was a good vacuum question, which I was very nervous during this question. I didn't know if you were going to land the plane. So, genuinely, I've been thinking about how to ask this for the last week, two weeks, because this is the place I wanted to go. And he was asked before my question kind of a similar thing about, you know, building for the future, trying to win now. And you have Ben Johnson who, you know, wants to win multiple championships. And you have Caleb Williams who wants to be the greatest quarterback in football. So then it kind of segued where I kind of wanted to double down on it. And I genuinely wanted to just say, I know this is a stupid question. But I want. I'm glad you didn't. But I did, though, because, like, to me, I'm looking at Ryan Pauls as a guy, like, before he was ever a GM, like, when you're talking to Ian Cunningham, right and he talked about dreaming of this day to become one when you were dreaming to become a gm what kind of gm did you envision yourself being the type that's win now or like bigger picture like because those two things yes you can say you're trying to do both but at the end of the day you got to pick a road and in my opinion this team needs to win right now that like that you have an opportunity with caleb williams on a rookie contract and your offensive line many of these veterans only with two years left are on their deal to me this is your opportunity and so i i just really wanted to get dive deeper in this so this was greg bragg's following up on that thought and has had two ryan polls if you had to rank them between winning now versus winning over the next five years like which one is it just in a vacuum where you lay i wish i lived in a vacuum. But yeah, you got to win the first one, right? Like you got to get started. But what are you willing to sacrifice to do that? Like there's some things you can do to, and you all have seen that before I got here. You can accelerate it and then after it goes away pretty quick. So we got to balance both. Unfortunately, that's not reality in terms of, you know, picking it and do you want to go all in and hurt yourself on the road. 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. You know what I mean? Like, I can guarantee you, you know, we've been really good with dead money at some point. That's going to go up, too, because that's just the nature of playing this out over a long period of time and having tough decisions to make. Well, we did learn a couple things I want you to know. Okay. In terms of the vacuums. Yeah. We did learn last week while you were gone that Greg used to sell vacuums. Oh. So I think that's why he was trying to sell Brian Poles a vacuum to live in. But he doesn't live in a vacuum. I've never really understood the saying in a vacuum. I don't understand how it became the tunnel vision. Is that what it means? Right. Just like take out. There's no variables. Take all the context out of it. Which one do you want to learn? Not like a vacuum that cleans your floor. A vacuum. Like what? Like a test tube, like where they test things, like in a vacuum. You know what I'm saying here? I understand. I understand the reference. Not like a Swiffer. I apologize to everybody watching this show or listening. It just became dumber. I don't like the phrase. But to your point, let me just follow up on what people probably are more interested in. Everybody loves the shiny toy. Max Crosby being the shiny toy in this question. Everybody loves it. But the shiny toy, you know, sometimes the used Mercedes, to go into some weird reference, that looks like a crate car and you're going to drive around downtown Indy and people are going to be like, ooh, wow, that dude's driving a Mercedes. Well, you know what? The Chevy Trax might be a lot more reliable and will get you there. And then you can actually go out and go to dinner too. And it's not going to break down. which if you have money in the bank, draft capital in the bank, it's actually a much better play to win. So these things, and he's referencing, I thought that was great. It was great when Khalil Mack got here in 2018 and you guys went 12-4 and then you lost on the double doink and death happened after that in essence. So to me, Ryan Poles makes the money that he makes or any general manager makes the money he makes because they are able to identify talent and don't have to mortgage tons of draft capital to trade for the shiny new toy in hopes that it hits in ways that it's just unlikely to do. You can't tell me logically that if they get Max Crosby, the Chicago Bears all of a sudden become the Super Bowl favorite. So I like the way he answered the question, but I'm still worried about what they're going to do. If they had gotten Max Crosby at the trade deadline, did they get to the Super Bowl this year? I don't think so. Do you? They're pretty close. We're talking about one game. Well, yes. But that doesn't mean that that's going to happen. First of all, going back to my point, they have a lot of holes to fill. But I'm just saying. But also, they didn't lose that game because of their defense. They held the Rams down. Well, regardless, I think that they can do both. I think there's a world in which you trade for Max Crosby where you're not mortgaging the future. Well, so, okay, so what deal would you be willing to do in theory off the top of your head right here on Combine Week? Well, it's obvious. It's a first-round pick, Tyson Bajan and Mark Carman. Okay. I mean, I'm not making that deal. There's no – but we'll go if that's what you guys want to do. No, but we've – I mean, we've talked about this. First, a third, and a fourth? Everybody keeps saying a first, a third, and DJ, which I think every Bears fan would do. Maybe not every Bears fan. The thing, though, about that is, you know, Max Crosby costs $30 million. That's his contract right now. So you're putting $30 million of cap space. They're not a really good player. I get it. But here's another thing that I, multiple times, and I think Ben did this too, they talked about the collection of players that they can end up with. Because it's not just in a vacuum, one trade, right? It's like, let's say, I'm being serious now. Let's say hypothetically you trade a first, a third, and DJ, just because that's what we're talking about here, okay? But you also get a second-round pick back for Tyson Bajant. And the NFL gets its act together and gives you a third for Ian Cunningham. All of that now all of a sudden doesn't sound as bad. Right, but you can't do it like that. It's got to be the individual trade. No, actually, I totally disagree with that. The good front offices are going to look at this as the gift that's like where he's at the board and there's 800 different things that all connect because that's how it all connects. Ben Johnson talked about how right now they've got to put together the best 90-man roster. Listen, I get the whole construction of the roster, but the trade itself that you should be willing to do should impact. Well, you could look at it like it's this, this, this, Tyson, this, and that for all of that. You could look basically what you're saying, but I still think you boil it down to this individual trade. So you don't think potentially getting a second-round pick back in a different trade wouldn't affect your willingness to trade for Max Crosby? No. No, I'm building. Listen, if I'm. That, it doesn't for me. That is a separate deal. Do I want Tyson Bajan on the roster? Do I want the second round pick in my arsenal? That's a separate conversation. Do I want to do this trade for Max Crosby or not? Am I willing to give up, in your scenario, a first, a third, and DJ for Max? So, in essence, and pay him $30 million. What if Geno Smith came back in the deal? And that's your new backup. Well, that's a different story. And I'm just throwing, you know, literally blank against the wall. Well, not literally, but, you know, do I want 39-year-old Geno Smith at this point? Probably not. Well, I would want the contract. That's the problem. But, you know, that's my point, though. It's like, yes, these are all intertwined together. So, I don't know. Do we need to toss the overtime here? Not yet. Okay. I mean, we have no clock, so I have no idea. Two minutes away from the top of the hour. We appreciate it. That was a quick 30 minutes. We just blew through on that, and we haven't even played the DJ Moore part of it. I know. But I will tell you this. We're going to talk a lot about DJ Moore on Hogan Johns later. Okay. Not that we're not going to talk about it now on this show. I'm just saying there will be more in-depth. Yeah, I guess the other thing before we take a break, too, is the other thing that I think We're not taking any breaks. When we hit the top of the hour. There you go. Shut up. The other thing that I'm thinking about, too, is when Ryan Poles answers these questions about Tremaine Edmonds, DJ Moore, Tyson Bajan, whoever, I was kind of like trying to peel back, like, why is he answering this question like this? Because technically, right, they could just walk to the podium and say, we haven't made any final decisions yet. Like, there has to be, to me, some kind of calculus of the way you reveal things through the media. That's what today was. I understand that. But, like, you know what I'm saying? Like, beyond just, like, on its surface. like I to me it's like you're putting things out there for a reason right to the player or to the agent or to other teams but you technically don't like to me like I think it's more telling once they start revealing things because he was asked about Cole Komet there was nothing there like he didn't go into detail about this that and the other of options so once you start hearing those options I think that starts to lay the groundwork, but I do find that fascinating. As we have officially hit the top of the hour here, make sure you become a diehard at CHGO Sports. Get to allchgo.com slash diehard. We also have a special combine offer right now. We do have a special combine offer, so hit the QR code, and why don't you tell us about that offer? Well, it's an offer that you get a better deal. I don't know. Is there a code? I don't know. I don't have this information in front of me right now. So go to allchco.com. There's 30% off. Go to allchco.com slash diehard. We appreciate you guys. It should be $36 right now. Yeah, it's $36. I know you can use code Johns, but I think there's a combine one now too. So regardless, let's hear from what Poles had to say on DJ Moore now and that whole situation because I think it's like very similar, you know, leaving the door open to multiple possibilities right now. DJ Moore included. Clarifying, DJ, is he one of the players you feel good about being here in 2026, or do you have to entertain some different conversations just because of his contract and your salary cap? Yeah, I got to have conversations and kind of see what, like I said, the best combination of players we can bring in. We want him here. We think highly of him. He's a great teammate. He's been productive pretty consistently over the last couple years that he's been here. So I have nothing but great things to say about him. But this is the time now where we have to look at all the different scenarios and see what can allow us to put the best team out there. And I've talked about this before. It's just, you know, there's relationships there. There's a lot there that make it really, really difficult. But he's a guy we want here, but we have to look at all different scenarios. We like you. I like dating you. But if that more fun person who's like 3% cuter over there is interested, then I've got to think about this. Well, that's my point is when you hear him say that, and Johns gives him the option, is this a guy that you anticipate being here next year or do you need to have conversations? The first words out of his mouth is we've got to have conversations. So that to me, as he continues to lay it out, is we want you here. We appreciate you as a player and what you bring to the table. But we're going to have to have it at a different price. If not, we're going to have to make decisions. That's what that sounded like to me. Well, you think they're trying to restructure DJ? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. That's what it's either. Yeah. Either that or they're going to trade him. Interesting. What's your read on that one? It's the same thing as Tremaine. He's not going to be playing on the same contract. Something's got to give there either way. So your read into what he said right there, do you think he's on the Bears in 2026? Unfair question. How would you answer it? I think it's way more likely DJ Moore's still around than Tremaine Edmonds. I would say that. I think the other thing is you've got to pay attention to some of the things they said in between the lines, too, about how he knows every single – Like Ben Johnson was very, he praised DJ a lot today. You know, how he knows every single position out there and his impact in the room and he plays every single game and he plays through injury. And they talked at the end of the year about how other guys saw DJ playing through everything that he was playing through and they had to be like, oh, I got to play through my injuries too. So, I mean, there's a, I just think the DJ thing is way more complicated and has way more variables and is not in a vacuum. Well, in a vacuum. You tried to put me in a vacuum there. I'll try to put myself in a vacuum, too. In a vacuum, if they are as interested as some people seem to think that they are, Max Crosby, in a vacuum, if the Raiders are willing to take DJ in a vacuum, I think DJ will be a Raider. That would be my guess. Yep. And I would personally feel bad for DJ because he finally got a good quarterback to play with. And not that Mendoza might not be good, but you're starting over with a rookie. Here you go again. First you had Justin, then you had Caleb. And I hope he has a good relationship with Junoco. Yeah. Yeah. Which he probably does because he had a great year when Junoco was here. Listen, DJ will whatever, wherever you put him, that guy's just going to keep going. He'll show up, he'll work hard, he'll do his stuff, he'll be his DJ. What are you smiling about, Gregory? Nothing. There's something you're smiling about. No, I was just thinking about the in-the-vacuum stuff. Go ahead. Okay. Well, there you go. you're smiling about in a vacuum. By the way, there is no code for the combine offer. It's just scan the QR code. You go to allchshow.com. You get your awesome $36 offer, and it's going to get you all of our combine coverage throughout the week and our draft guide, which is really Fran's draft guide, and it's chock full of information. Plus, you get a free shirt and our football coverage all year long for that great intro price of $36. And I'll sell it just to drop further because I'm now fully deep diving into the draft, and I'm going to have 8 million opinions for you as we gear up all the way to the end of April. Fran's draft guide is unbelievable. That thing is thick. So if you like the draft and you want to know about literally everybody that is going to get drafted at some point, Fran's draft guide, you're not going to find any better. So that is worth the price of admission in the diehard situation. You want to do one more cut on polls with your question on the soft tissue? Yeah, so this was the last thing I had. I'm glad I was able to get this question in because it's been kind of hovering for me since the end of the season. You know, the Bears not only had a ton of soft tissue injuries last year, but they had significant ones that really, I mean, you talk about, hey, do they have Max Crosby? Do they go to the Super Bowl? What if they have healthy Kyler Gordon and Jalen Johnson all year? You know, how much better are they then? You know, and then there was TJ Edwards dealing with him. I mean, the list goes on and on, the amount of soft tissue injuries. So, again, does this have my question in it? Yeah. So, I was just wondering, you know, what are you guys going to do about this? Yeah. Brian, soft tissue injuries has ended up impacting your season quite a bit. I'm just curious, do you view those as more of an individual basis thing, or is there something organizationally that you guys are attacking this offseason? Yeah. So, we look at both from the individual standpoint, you know, how they walked into the injury. We also look at it from our performance team, sports science, digging into anything that we can do to change to help. I do think the one factor no one really talked about was last year was unique in the sense that we had the first week our first bye week was in week five And then we had Friday games we had Saturday games Sunday games we never really had a Thursday game If you go back to a couple years ago there like a really sweet setup that we had was Thursday in the first quarter Thursday in the second quarter bye week the last possible weekend it was the most healthy team that we had So I think a little bit of a schedule a little bit is, you know, you do have a new staff, guys are trying to prove themselves. The output is way higher, which you do try to manage through your sports science. But to kind of sum it up, we look through it from a team perspective. What can we do better? But we have to look at all the factors that could have led to it too because, you know, just resulting, we don't want to, you know, create some chaos or redo everything because we might be doing the right thing. It just was the scenario and the environment in terms of the schedule. So it's a really tricky thing to maneuver because I don't know that you 100% know what the real answer is. You know, whether or not they have just some guys that randomly had soft tissue injuries pop up, which they do. Is it something that they're doing or not doing? Or is it a bigger organizational thing? I thought Ryan gave up some great points in there in that answer talking about the schedule. I think it's completely fair. Here's my concern, though, because I think it's – I think the ball at some point passes to Ben Johnson because – I was right there with you on that. The way he talked about they're playing harder because it's a first-year staff. Go ahead. Yeah, and I think that – I thought about following up later with Ben on the same thing, and then, I don't know, that was a very yelly press conference with Ben, and it was kind of limited on time. So maybe, you know, at the owners' meetings or something like this a little bit farther down the line of a better setting to kind of ask him this question that I'm about to bring up here on the show is does Ben Johnson back off at all in terms of what training camp looks like because I doubt it go ahead I not only do I doubt it I hope he doesn't that too you know I I hope that instead of this because I think this has been a problem in the past with the Bears the Bears we've seen this before oh we're gonna go live and we're gonna Like Matt Nagy went live, and then all of a sudden they just like never did it again. You know what I mean? And so instead of the team meeting the players down here, I want to see the players continue to get up here to Ben Johnson's standard. And, hey, if you're coming to be a Chicago Bear, this is the way we practice. You better be conditioned. You better be ready for it. And that doesn't mean injuries aren't going to pop up. Injuries are going to happen. They're not everybody's fault. but just because you had a bunch of guys that were trying to prove themselves in a tougher training camp, you know, Jalen Johnson's injury happened before training camp even started. That happened when he was training on his own. You know, now maybe he was pushing himself harder because he knew it was coming. But, you know, I just, that's one of my concerns in how they adapt from year one to year two, and I hope that they don't drastically dial things back. I don't, yeah. Do you think they will? I don't think they will. No, not at all. Right. I mean, when he said after the season, he's like, everybody keeps saying it was a hard training camp. Right. I didn't think it was hard at all. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. And he hinted again today, too, about how guys are going to have to work even harder. We've got to work harder than we did last year. That's how Ben put it today. Well, when he showed up for his morning press conference, and Ben looked to me like he hasn't had five seconds off since the end of the season. Like, he just honestly looked there. He looked happier in the second. In the second one, it was like he had woken up more. But, you know, maybe it was out having it. Larry Mayer got him. Yeah, Larry always does a good job. Larry and I are going to have a conversation later, by the way. Let's have some other conversations, too. But I'd like to be there. Well, look, you don't – we were all waiting because you had an interview with Ben. And then so for you to walk in and then put your recorder on the thing and then just stand there in front of all the people that have been waiting for 30 minutes, just bad Larry etiquette. I didn't even notice that. Yeah. That isn't a great shot by Larry. But, you know, Larry's always had a big ego, and, you know, he's just been a hard guy to deal with. You know, he gets at training camp questions with Larry as if he's, like, you know, the guy that just knows everything about the Bears. Well, and it was smooth, too. He comes in, he says a couple jokes, you know, plays the room. Who, Larry? Yeah. Well, you know, and speaking of Larry. Larry's always got a one-liner, and it lands 1% of the time. The other guy that he did over there, I think his name is Joniak. Like, I walked in this morning, and I was headed to get a coffee in the media room, and I see him, and he's like part-time working as per usual because apparently Joniak had been here since 6 a.m., and when I walked in at 8.48, that was just, you know, it was part-time work. Bragg's, by the way, behind the scenes. How late were you out last night? One. Okay, it wasn't your 4 a.m. Guy was out the door this morning at like 5.32, sitting at the podium, being the first guy here today. Yes, he's a grinder. That's what we do. It's really adorable. It's my job. All right. Well, look. All right. All right. Everybody's for sale right now is, I think, the takeaway from today. And the way this roster could come together is very much up in the air. Right? The Bears are open for business. That's what Ryan Poles does down here in Indy. Yeah. You know? Some people don't even show up. Jaguars. What's the first? Rams. What do you guys know? What's the first shoe to drop in a vacuum? Don't vacuum up shoes. That would be my first. What's the first news that will hit at some point, perhaps as early as this week? Hoag. The stadium? I really had a group. Speaking of which, I got to double check if the session. Okay. I don't think it's the stadium. Forget about the stadium for a second. I can't. What part of – Oh, they passed it. Whatever. The Stadium Authority Senate Bill 27 passed out of the Indiana House. Well, and I guess so. It's got to go to the Senate now, and then the governor's got to sign in. So if we're putting a bow on this show in terms of what we've been doing here since we got here yesterday, it's Tuesday, and we got here early Monday, and the very first thing you do, the very first thing that happened when we got down here is you felt a direct sense of stadium conversation going on and not just conversation but just movement happening. This is my fourth combine and I've never personally, I know they've been here, but I've never seen Kevin Warren down here. I've never seen Roger Goodell down here. I know they've been down here. So I'm just saying personally, I've never seen those guys. I've never seen George McCaskey down here for the combine. You see the coaches, you see the GMs. But I haven't seen those guys. The first day we were down here, I saw those guys, right? Like, to me, that was different. I'm like, oh, okay. Like, obviously, you know what's going on in the state capitol. So to me, it's just like, okay. Like, there's clearly these guys. like it just that's what i said i've been tired of the stadium stuff for four years now but at least now it feels like we're getting very close to something happening i just have to believe this summer or in the next month or in the next week that we're actually going to hear tangible news and you're seeing the real players that make the decisions in this making those movements to me like that are a little more noticeable than before so look i i do know that discussions continue today in Illinois, you know, between Illinois now and the Bears, that it's, let me just put it like this, like as simple as possible. It's basically like a redo for last week. Things got really messy last week. Some mistakes were made. They are, as I understand it, somewhat back on the same page in terms of their discussions. Both sides are now putting out public statements that progress is being made but the question is when we have this house finance and revenue committee meeting on thursday morning again that's the regularly scheduled time every week you know while the house is in session will they actually get to thursday morning with a proposed bill that both sides are basically agreed on and they actually call it and they and it gets passed out of a committee into the next step in the legislature that's that's the question between now on tuesday late afternoon and thursday morning that's what matters in illinois meanwhile this bill in indiana just passed out of the house so it's a step ahead of where the bill is in illinois it's going to go to the senate and the expectation is that the governor is going to sign by the end of the week here in Indiana. Now, my question would be, is anybody in Indiana going to go back to the Bears and say, hey, we're not going to pass this unless you are committing to this? Because to me, that would box the Bears in a little bit of a corner because they kind of boxed themselves in last week where I'm trying to play both sides. But if Indiana says, hey, we're not going to pass this unless you give us more of a commitment after kind of the wishy-washiness, playing both sides last weekend. I just wonder what happens then, and I don't know. I don't really think Indiana can do anything. I mean, they can say, hey, we want assurances, but then the Bears go, sure, okay. And then when the Bears change their mind, then what? What are you going to do, Indiana? But my point is the Bears could lose their leverage. If they don't have this done, they lose their Indiana leverage. Yeah, but I just think Indiana's too desperate to make it work. Look at everything they're doing in the last two months. I just don't think that they would do that because that's how badly they want to pull them over. I tend to agree with you, but I just think over the next 48 hours, hey, remember what we did last week on the show. It's kind of the same spot we're in. I said over the next 48 hours, something big is going to happen. I don't know how it's going to go. I definitely didn't anticipate it to be as messy as it turned out to be, and now they're trying to pick up the pieces. So that's where things stand on the stadium today. And I'll continue to try to give you guys updates as much as possible. Listen, Indiana Governor Mike Brown is loving going on all the news shows to talk about how they're open for business. And Indiana's already won, I bet, in his mind that he's gotten to dunk on Illinois as often as he's gotten to. In a vacuum to continue in the theme of today's show. And I mean this in the nicest way possible to Greg Braggs Jr. who lives here and everybody else who lives here. and the great city of Indianapolis hosting us for the Combine and St. Elmo's and the shrimp cocktail we had last night. Just get to the dagger because I'm not for the butter. Yeah, well, I'm giving you the butter. I drove into the state yesterday, and I felt very compelled to pull out my phone and use the word no. Nobody knows what that voice is. Yeah, I wanted to vomit both times you made that noise. And then you just did it again. And then you just did it again. No. As in no. Yeah, we get it. You didn't have to translate. Well, you asked for a translation. It was a dumb video. You were doing it by Fair Oaks Farms. Yeah, you weren't even in Northwest Indiana when you did this. I don't care where I was. The Bears being in this state is ridiculous. Period. End of story. Just enough with it. See, here's the thing. Yeah, go ahead. Here's the thing. I agree with you that they should stay in Illinois. I agree with you that Arlington Heights or Chicago are both better destinations than any place Indiana can come up with. But I can say that because this is my state. Okay. And Northwest Indiana is my hometown. And you need to start saying it more. I don't like your attitude when you say that. That's fine. Because it's disrespectful to the region, and I will not stand for it. Well, you can then start saying it more so I don't have to. You're saying it in a rude way. And the region is filled with good people, and I'm not going to have you sully the name of the region. Listen, this is a great place for Greg's Bar and a library and whatever else goes on. I think everybody here should live a great life. The Bears don't belong here. If you want to talk about the mills and the smell you get from the mills. The vial. You know what? Those people in there are working really hard. A hundred percent. So show some respect. Well, listen. You didn't see me do it. I went to Hammond last week. I didn't do any kind of video. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, you just came out of it. Imagine his video if he had gone to that press conference. You walked out of there and said, there's no way they're coming to this place. That's what you did. Yeah, but I did it with respect. I can fully say. I did. I can fully say Hammond is not as nice a town as Arlington Knights. Not even close. But that's my area. That's the region. And I don't really like your tone about it. I don't like Haw's tone about it. I don't like anybody in Chicago, in the Chicago sports media, talking about the region. Hall lives in the region. Me and Yurko are the only two that are allowed to talk about this. Why can't Hall? He lives there. It's true. I don't like his tone about it lately either. Everybody seems to be disrespected in Northwest Indiana, and we didn't do anything, okay? You guys in Illinois need to just get this figured out and get the Bears to stay there, and then we wouldn't be catching strays from all you guys over in Illinois. If we're talking about tones, what's the name of your governor again? Braun. Yeah, I don't like the tone of that guy. You just said it. Yeah, I know. I forgot because it was in a vacuum. I wanted to forget it. So I don't like – the whole concept that's bugging me the most about the whole thing and then we can wrap the show, Hogue. Okay. Because you've got another show to do, right? I do. When's that happening? I don't know because I don't understand. Just stick with me for a second. I haven't eaten since this morning. I haven't eaten since last night. You don't need to eat after what we ate last night. You're fine. Don't look down at my stomach. You have plenty in reserve, and so do I, and so does he. HR. Look, what's it? He looked down. I did, and I tried not to, but I did. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have. Put your hand down. It was an awful experience for all of us. I had a run in with Chris Emma earlier. The point. Don't look down there. Okay. That's. I heard he dunked on me last week. Who else are we going to piss off on this show? I don't care at this point. We've taken out Larry, Chris, Hall, Waddle and Sylvie. Phil Thompson took my spot. Going on him. Let me just say this. All right. This is going to be a big Chicago meetup at the Starbucks at some point this week. I get. We're all going to hackneyed each other. Don't know what that means either. That one's definitely happening. The word. I get the athletic reference. Okay, so just real fast. Yeah, real fast. You said that three minutes ago. Well, so here's the deal, team. Why is there such a lot of the discourse around this is like, see, Illinois is totally messing this up, but that's why the Jamie – why? For once there is a politician who's trying to not have you pay for their stadium. The Bears are worth $11 billion. The Cubs paid for everything around Wrigley Field, bought up the whole neighborhood. Tom Ricketts and company are doing fine. I get the fact that Illinois has to play ball to keep the Bears, but it's unfortunate that there should be any – that they should get any taxpayer certainty that none of us are going to get. I actually think Illinois was fighting the good fight on this, but yet there's this huge pushback that Illinois is doing wrong. No, man, they can't afford it. It should be their deal. And with some infrastructure or whatever concessions. That's all they're asking for. They want tax certainty, dude? Yes, they do. Every big business gets that. Do you have tax certainty? No, because you're not a big business. You're just car business. Okay, well, car business. This isn't residential housing we're talking about. Yeah. I still think it's the good fight. I agree. I don't disagree with you, but what you're missing, you're right, and they are right. They're fighting the good fight, and billionaires don't. We've established all that. The problem is they're going to end up with a worse deal than they could have gotten last year. The state. Right. That's a bad job. That's what I'm talking about when I say their mistake. I got it, but I'm just talking about the discourse. Because there was money the Bears were willing to give to pay off Soldier Field that is no longer on the table. I got all that. All while the Bears have also said they'll pay for their own stadium. I'm just talking about the actual discourse that I'm hearing a lot of right now. Illinois. Look, granted to your point, yes, they could have done a better job on this. However, what they were trying to do in theory, this is your bill, you should take it, is anybody who's not them should agree with that because, come on, the Bears are going to be great no matter what deal they get. But the McCaskey family is going to live a very, very good life, and every generation going forward until the end of time will live a very good life. Period. End of story because of that investment. Okay. Thank you. Good job, Carl. We missed you yesterday. Oh, I can't see supers. You got the supers? I can do a super. I can see one. Nico Suave. $10 Super Chat. Let's go, Nico. Says, what's up, gentlemen? Do you all think the news about George being upset at Kevin is real? Thanks for all the content as usual. That's a great question. We did talk about this at the end of Friday's show. Hope kind of touched on it. If you have anything to add or, Carm, if you want to jump in on this. Honestly, I have no idea. Do you know? Well, I'm just going to say what I said Friday. I think there's 100% some frustration that this isn't done yet, which is natural. No, I don't know in specifics, you know, how bad that frustration is. I'd be surprised, though, if Kevin's on any type of actual realistic hot seat, though. And George is just like, he doesn't even get mad. That's not true. You add his own people? I don't know. I have a hard time believing it. The Iceberg's here. He's celebrating one month of a membership. Congratulations, Iceberg. Of a membership? That's what it says. I thought it was Costco. Carm has no idea what membership he's talking about. Costco membership. Congrats. To shout out a few of my chat goats, Crystal, the Craigulator, Gary Ross, Carm Sweet Bippy, Eric Bochanton, and the rest of you guys and gals make this so much fun. Welcome back, Carm. I just had to check how loud it was in this room that you were just yelling out Carm Sweet Bippy in this room. It was pretty loud. He's trying to yell loud enough that Sylvie hears them. Or that we're finally allowed on ESPN 1000? Yeah. We're just trying to get on the air finally. We're just trying to be as loud as possible. I'm going to yell loud enough. We'll see how mad we can make Danny. If we're on live at the same time, Sylvie. It's more so that we can't have them on. We don't need to be on there. We want their talent. We want to talk to Sylvie. Well, both. Well, both. That's a good point. We want both. But we would settle for just a guess. You know what I'm going to do right now? Because I'm a good, friendly neighbor, and I do love these people. I know that they had two good interviews today with Ryan Poles and Ben Johnson, and you should listen to them like I am going to when we get done with our show. Yes, and we're going to take notes, and we're going to break it down, and we'll talk about it in great detail. Yeah. And we won't repurpose it with misleading headlines. And maybe their GM will one day allow us to have on, like, you know, guys that we've been friends with forever, one day. One day. I bet the station will survive. Who's paying for dinner tonight? That's what I want to know. All right. We are going to wrap. Johns. He might have to. All right. We will wrap up today. We got a lot more. Hogan Johns is still coming up a little bit later on today. Oh, no. Don't do that in public again. Got to do it. We have shows all week long here from Indianapolis. PHLY has showed up. I believe DLS is here, although I haven't seen any evidence of that. They're right in front of you. No, no, that's PHLY. Never mind. Carm still doesn't know anybody in the. I don't. Please stop doing the harmonica. I love MR social industry. Stop it. You are not the stop person. Okay. Steven, end the show. We love you.