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Bears roster reshape begins with three HUGE moves · Da Windy City Sports Podcast

0:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the Wendy City podcast presented by a fan side of that man right there as Alex Shapiro.
0:05
[SPEAKER_00]: I am of course, I'm Kenneth Davis and what the hell happened.
0:13
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I think, of course, we were talking about the trade, the cut, and the retirement, the trade of DJ Moore, the cut of Germain Edmonds, Germain Edmonds, I should say, and the retirement of Drew Dalman that, no shock to us, I'm sure the bear seems like had maybe a week or two to know.
0:34
[SPEAKER_00]: He told them early speaking of Drew Dalman, but man, what the hell, right?
0:41
[SPEAKER_00]: We just got this last straight.
0:43
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like about to enter his prime.
0:44
[SPEAKER_01]: You would imagine he's about to enter his prime.
0:47
[SPEAKER_01]: First approval season.
0:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Exactly.
0:50
[SPEAKER_01]: That's like I'm actually I'm good.
0:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and listen.
0:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Great education comes from a football family, we've all heard, and decided that he did it want to cause any more significant harm to his body or his brain.
1:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Something wrong with that?
1:05
[SPEAKER_00]: No, that's his business for his family, for his life.
1:10
[SPEAKER_00]: And even though it messes up the bears offensive line with what their plans were,
1:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, it is definitely his prerogative to go ahead and and and do what's best for him.
1:20
[SPEAKER_00]: So not mad at him.
1:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, or anything like that.
1:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, always take care of yourself.
1:25
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you made enough money to where you don't have to significantly harm yourself.
1:30
[SPEAKER_00]: And you got a what a chemical engineer.
1:32
[SPEAKER_00]: What's the, what's his other.
1:33
[SPEAKER_00]: His, his, his, his magic is laughing.
1:35
[SPEAKER_01]: He's a Stanford guy.
1:36
[SPEAKER_01]: So he smart.
1:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
1:37
[SPEAKER_00]: So he's extremely intelligent.
1:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, so listen, good luck.
1:41
[SPEAKER_00]: But damn.
1:45
[SPEAKER_00]: still listen, wish you the best, but, all right, like, bro.
1:50
[SPEAKER_00]: All right.
1:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, so let's start off right there.
1:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, that one, when I had line broke, it was like, dude, we know we had other groceries to shop for.
2:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, again, at least you told me before I was going to the store instead of, I was leaving the store and on my way home, right?
2:08
[SPEAKER_00]: At least before we, before the shopping starts, you gave me a heads up,
2:12
[SPEAKER_00]: But particularly let's just say this was black Friday shopping right right and I have to go get a TV.
2:18
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't know I needed a news 70 inch Well, at least you told me so I can prepare myself to wrestle some old lady for this 70 inch television because it's the last one And there will be wrestling for these there will be wrestling for these centers
2:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Great.
2:34
[SPEAKER_00]: So exactly.
2:36
[SPEAKER_00]: So we got that and also our next episode will be our thoughts on what the bear should do.
2:43
[SPEAKER_00]: We're not going to really we may touch you a little bit, but this is just us reflecting on all these changes that have happened and the significance of.
2:52
[SPEAKER_00]: of the cap ramifications now that they have more cap money they will last episode they were up against the cap now they're not up against the cap and who are they going to go get that's next episode or what we think but your thoughts or Alex when it comes to Drew Dalman's early retirement after one probal season with the Chicago Bears.
3:13
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean, I think you hit on it pretty perfectly.
3:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I'm sure it shocked the Bears just like it shocked us.
3:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Although who knows, maybe the Bears knew he was thinking about this.
3:24
[SPEAKER_01]: I have no idea.
3:25
[SPEAKER_01]: It was certainly a shock to all of us here in the city of Chicago, all of us who followed the Bears, because as you said, this guy is young.
3:35
[SPEAKER_01]: He only played five seasons, entering his prime makes his first
3:41
[SPEAKER_01]: had a lot of guaranteed money that he's potentially leaving on the table.
3:47
[SPEAKER_01]: And it was a big, big part of an extremely successful bears offensive line when Ben Johnson came to town.
3:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Immediately, immediately, mission number one was fix the offensive line and they did it in like a week.
4:06
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
4:06
[SPEAKER_01]: It happened really quickly.
4:08
[SPEAKER_01]: They traded for Joe Tune.
4:09
[SPEAKER_01]: They traded for Jonah Jackson and they signed a drooled dominant.
4:13
[SPEAKER_01]: And that to me was like, this is the cornerstone now of what we want to do because we know Ben Johnson's offense is predicated and running the ball well.
4:22
[SPEAKER_01]: and they had to protect Caleb Williams much better than they did before and they did it went from 68 sacks to I want to say 24 sacks or 25 sacks so they cut it damn near into third which is incredible which is which is really incredible.
4:41
[SPEAKER_01]: and the other is really important thing that Drew Dalman did for the Chicago Bears and four Caleb Williams was taking a lot of pre-snaps stuff off of his plate, taking a lot of checks off of his plate.
4:54
[SPEAKER_01]: That got talked about a little bit when he was first signed, but throughout the year that's something that Caleb Williams mentioned, you know, is there's a lot learning and new offense, there's a lot learning Ben Johnson's offense, right?
5:08
[SPEAKER_01]: All the tiny little details
5:11
[SPEAKER_01]: just how Ben Johnson wants a play to be called.
5:15
[SPEAKER_01]: How Ben Johnson wants a huddle to be broken, right?
5:19
[SPEAKER_01]: All of that minutia, the fact that Drew Dalman was able to take some of those checks, take some of those moves, take some of those offensive line shifts, off of his plate, and really be the quarterback of that offensive line.
5:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Very, very helpful.
5:34
[SPEAKER_01]: for Caleb Williams, very, very helpful for the bears.
5:37
[SPEAKER_01]: So the cerebral aspect, obviously, did he have some funky snaps?
5:42
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, he had some funky snaps here and there.
5:44
[SPEAKER_01]: But for the most part, solid and run blocking, we saw the combo blocks all the time getting up to the second level, pass pro, very good.
5:54
[SPEAKER_01]: guy did a bang up job for the Chicago Bears, and they already had a big hole at left tackle.
6:00
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, it was like, okay, left tackle.
6:02
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a really important position.
6:03
[SPEAKER_01]: But hey, the other four are set.
6:05
[SPEAKER_01]: All of a sudden, you now have left tackle, protecting the blind side.
6:09
[SPEAKER_01]: And again, the anchor, the quarterback of that offensive line.
6:13
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll have something you're talking about two big, big holes.
6:17
[SPEAKER_01]: on that offensive line.
6:17
[SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, it's a huge to do list that now shoots to the top or near the top of Ryan polls and Ben Johnson's off season to do list.
6:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, I think one thing that jumps out to me in this whole conversation, it's trying to put myself in the mindset of Drew Dalman.
6:44
[SPEAKER_00]: And coming to a new city,
6:47
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm playing for an Atlanta team that really hadn't done anything significant for the most part during his career down there coming to a team with a young quarterback trying to prove himself in a Coach who's believed could be the one in the next best offensive coaches coming out and Doing it in the city like Chicago that loves this football as much as Chicago loves this football
7:12
[SPEAKER_00]: And while all this is going on during this dream season basically, you're thinking about, I don't have it, or I don't want it like that anymore.
7:24
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that's one of those things that we don't talk a lot about the athlete's psyche.
7:31
[SPEAKER_00]: And we, because I think we look at those jobs.
7:32
[SPEAKER_00]: We know how to agree how hard they are on your body.
7:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, but we think that comes with the job, but you don't think about how mentally that can wear on you to just as part won't pass aspect of what could wear on you that throughout this year, he had to a time's been like, I don't want to do this.
7:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Why everything seemed to be going great.
7:54
[SPEAKER_00]: And again, it's just, I'm just talking out loud to a degree, um, because I'm, again, I'm not casting any dispersion on what he did at all.
8:03
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm actually
8:04
[SPEAKER_00]: I got respect for, you know, when I didn't help my favorite team, but that's not the top list of things that matter as much.
8:12
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't sign them, it wasn't my money, it wasn't my plan that he, he unfortunately put a den in with his deciding to remove himself from it.
8:23
[SPEAKER_00]: But just to think about that and that, man, that's something, you know, and it makes you think, and I, of course, the next episode will definitely jump into it, but it really makes you think Tyler Lindemobam could be here.
8:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Because if the thing is, I think, I just tease that next episode, yes, the left tackle is still an issue with what they showed you with.
8:54
[SPEAKER_00]: for good linemen, how they can kind of offset the left tackle issue.
9:01
[SPEAKER_00]: And is there a left tackle out there that you can say, well, we can go young or average with the center position, right?
9:11
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think for us bears fans, we've had such bad center play for so long, really.
9:19
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, you're talking about, since Cody White here first guy here, and you mentioned right, a couple of, uh, a couple of basketballs.
9:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's not forget the White here with, because sometimes that funky way, Cody, you know, that's that thing.
9:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
9:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, but I mean, the book, I'm not trying to disc, Cody was good.
9:37
[SPEAKER_00]: James Daniels was straight.
9:39
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, but that was the last time, Cody, Cody White here's first.
9:43
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's the first round of the center.
9:46
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, with the last time, you really had really good center play here.
9:51
[SPEAKER_00]: And you know, it's a position that's not always highly regarded in football with how guards have gotten more props and tackles always get props.
10:01
[SPEAKER_00]: But I feel like the bears saw last year how important that was.
10:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Ben Johnson coming from Detroit and no one how having a really nice center there help them out, yeah, I wonder will they go a low a low means route or put a premium on that position like they did by making drew all the one at the top three highest pay centers in the league last year and how did they want to go to the number one spot.
10:27
[SPEAKER_01]: I absolutely right.
10:28
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, think about it.
10:29
[SPEAKER_01]: The bears had what three guys play left tackle, start at left tackle, Braxton Jones, Theo Bennett it as four.
10:38
[SPEAKER_01]: If you count the last four, I'm sure below and Joe Toney and you could see how Ben Johnson tweaked things a little bit based on who was out there.
10:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, are we going to be running?
10:51
[SPEAKER_01]: wide behind this guy like they were doing with Braxton Jones because he's really good at getting out in space or hey are we going to run the other way?
10:59
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey can we do some longer past concepts because this guy is a little bit stouter in past pro and maybe we're not running behind him, he's using him as a point of attack.
11:09
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think that flexibility shows that like yeah Ben Johnson is adaptable and he's a depth.
11:17
[SPEAKER_01]: He's
11:21
[SPEAKER_01]: But the interior stuff, the interior stuff is important, kind of no matter what.
11:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Rum blocking from the middle and past pro from the middle.
11:31
[SPEAKER_01]: That is harder in some ways to cover up.
11:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, there are some things you can do with leaving running back in to help or more combo blocks to help in the middle stuff like that.
11:42
[SPEAKER_00]: But you won't do that over the entire season?
11:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Exactly, exactly.
11:46
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think it's a good point.
11:47
[SPEAKER_01]: And then one more thing I do want to underline is,
11:52
[SPEAKER_01]: Anybody has a right to be upset about Drew Dalman for retiring and you haven't seen a lot of it, but I'm sure that there are some bear's fans be like, how could he, that he's signed to contract.
12:02
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you see every time in the Super Bowl of the Hall of Fame, when these offensive linemen try out.
12:10
[SPEAKER_01]: The fingers are mangled, they're limp in, they got all sorts of injuries.
12:14
[SPEAKER_01]: They look older than they are, because this is a punishing sport.
12:19
[SPEAKER_01]: And almost no position is more punishing than playing in those trenches.
12:23
[SPEAKER_01]: And I have to understand or at least give some props or have some respect for a guy who says, you know, my body feels pretty good right now.
12:36
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm a young man.
12:38
[SPEAKER_01]: I've made tens of millions of dollars.
12:40
[SPEAKER_01]: He don't have to work again for the rest of his life.
12:43
[SPEAKER_01]: His children are set.
12:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, tens of millions of dollars.
12:47
[SPEAKER_01]: And I do not begrudge him.
12:49
[SPEAKER_01]: I do not blame him.
12:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Even if I was the biggest bearers fan in the world.
12:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Like this is his body.
12:54
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the one thing the one thing money can't buy.
12:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Not yet, it's true in some ways, yes, but you know, like that chronic pain, there are things you can do to mitigate it.
13:07
[SPEAKER_01]: Jim McMan talks about it all the time about this guy is always in pain, always doing something to take care of his body.
13:16
[SPEAKER_01]: And to me, health is something that, like, as you said, like, not yet, but to a large degree, that is something money can't buy.
13:23
[SPEAKER_01]: So I do not begrudge him one bit.
13:27
[SPEAKER_01]: And I understand absolutely why he wants to protect his body.
13:31
[SPEAKER_01]: And as you said, again, protect his brain is still a young man.
13:36
[SPEAKER_01]: And he has already earned generational.
13:40
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to piggyback on what you were talking about as far as being in the trenches in the toll because you're wrestling at every hike is just a wrestling match, right?
13:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, let's also add this to something that's been going on like the last 15 years, offensive linemen.
13:55
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, one thing that you see with office linemen when they into the Hall of Fame and every tire, they're like 100 pounds lighter when they wear when they're playing.
14:01
[SPEAKER_00]: And think about that you have to carry all that weight to maintain a sustain, like all those carbs and all that stuff you have to do stuff, you have to do to keep that weight up.
14:14
[SPEAKER_00]: I get it bro, like, again, this is his dream.
14:18
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what I'm saying?
14:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Like if you, that's that man's dream.
14:21
[SPEAKER_00]: And if he saw the dream ends right there,
14:25
[SPEAKER_00]: And now we'll see how good the bears that ramp holes is, right?
14:31
[SPEAKER_00]: And luckily, they were already in.
14:36
[SPEAKER_00]: capshaving positions, we saw that at the combine that was mentioned that told and we're going to jump into to Tremaine Evans.
14:44
[SPEAKER_00]: You told Tremaine Evans to seek a trade, which means I'm a cut shares.
14:48
[SPEAKER_00]: And DJ Moore, you got, you got a little more out of that trade than perhaps we thought for to make it a trade.
14:54
[SPEAKER_00]: It looked like it could have been a dump with mid-round picks just to pick up salary.
14:59
[SPEAKER_00]: And you got a second round pick.
15:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
15:02
[SPEAKER_01]: And according to Courtney Cronin, so the salary cap implications of this, according to Courtney Cronin, the bears can recoup some of that guaranteed money.
15:12
[SPEAKER_01]: They can recoup some of that for Drew Dalman, for retirement, depending on what the bears recoup, what they choose to recoup, et cetera, et cetera, how it all shakes out.
15:26
[SPEAKER_01]: She said it can be around $10 million.
15:30
[SPEAKER_01]: That's significant.
15:31
[SPEAKER_01]: That is significant when the bears had work to do to get cap compliant and we're going to go through all of it by the end of it.
15:38
[SPEAKER_01]: At the start of this last week, as we mentioned, the bears had a work to do to become cap compliant before they're lead year.
15:43
[SPEAKER_01]: Now they're more than cap compliant and they actually got some, as you like to say, they got some powder that they can use.
15:50
[SPEAKER_01]: They got some dry powder that they can now use and deploy and free agency here.
15:54
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, so yesterday the news was bears wide receiver, the last piece, basically, that huge trade, even against the last piece, technically, is Caleb, but the last, you know, but the, the, the, the name that came with the picks was, of course, DJ Moore, DJ Moore was going to be the first really good wide receiver.
16:17
[SPEAKER_00]: The bears had in their uniform since
16:19
[SPEAKER_00]: outshot Jeffries and Brandon Marshall I would guess I would say.
16:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely.
16:25
[SPEAKER_00]: DJ Moore lived up to what our expectations were for him.
16:30
[SPEAKER_00]: He wasn't you know viewed as in the tier of a Justin Jefferson
16:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, Jamar Chase.
16:44
[SPEAKER_00]: He wasn't viewed in top and being in that tier.
16:46
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, our expectations was somewhat tempered, but one thing we did not know for sure was that he had the most dog in him.
16:56
[SPEAKER_00]: and you can ever see at a football player little and wide receiver.
17:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Like the fact that he'd never missed the game.
17:04
[SPEAKER_00]: And we've talked about this in the past, but how many games he will go come out of and it would seem like, oh, he's not gonna play in the next thing you know, DJ Morris back out there.
17:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Did he not?
17:16
[SPEAKER_00]: run hard through a play that probably the ball shouldn't have been thrown his direction.
17:20
[SPEAKER_00]: It kind of looked like that.
17:22
[SPEAKER_00]: With that effect, it any means of how I view what he meant to the bear's hail.
17:27
[SPEAKER_00]: No.
17:28
[SPEAKER_00]: That dude was a good bear and gave a lot for that uniform.
17:35
[SPEAKER_00]: So I have I wish DJ more nothing but the best.
17:37
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm happy that he's going to a former MVP that has
17:42
[SPEAKER_00]: passes to give him, you know, like, this is a such, yeah, what's going to be a win when he's going to be a piece for that.
17:47
[SPEAKER_01]: Buffalo Super Bowl run.
17:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, this is a win when soup situation because bears got something a little bit more than what was rumored they can get in a second round pick and DJ Morgan's to go to a team that's been trying to crack into a Super Bowl for the last four seasons with one of the better best quarterbacks in the lead in Josh Allen.
18:09
[SPEAKER_00]: who puts the ball in the air and also take off and run and knock everybody in a mama down on the way to the end zone.
18:16
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's great.
18:17
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's been, unfortunately, he's been in code weather, so it's not like it's going to be a shock to go to Upper New York, Upper State, New York, or whatever.
18:26
[SPEAKER_00]: But that's cool.
18:27
[SPEAKER_00]: He gets to go reunite with Joe Brady, it's from office of Coordinated and out of head coach of the Buffalo Bills.
18:33
[SPEAKER_00]: So there's some familiarity there with
18:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, and the stuff that he's comfortable with calling play wise.
18:40
[SPEAKER_00]: So this great for DJ.
18:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, I listen, I think there'll be a game.
18:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Some games where people will be missed in a version of form.
18:48
[SPEAKER_00]: There'll be some games where he will not be missed in a version of form.
18:52
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I'm not just because those young kids are going to go off.
18:55
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I'm saying, but they're going to be times where those guys that nicked up and that right receiver room needs a dog that's just going to show up anyway.
19:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
19:04
[SPEAKER_00]: And now.
19:05
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, Rome and look the burden, I guess maybe the key is maybe coming back.
19:11
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
19:13
[SPEAKER_00]: What will they do?
19:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
19:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
19:15
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, jade, you know, like what will they dive that back in the mid rounds and take a receiver and a receiver deep draft.
19:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, that'd be something.
19:25
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't wait to we do draft discussions, which is in a week some weeks coming because this is the question I have for you, Alex.
19:33
[SPEAKER_00]: And what what looking at the library receivers they have now and what Ben Johnson, if he wants a library receiver in this draft, what is the type that he's looking for?
19:47
[SPEAKER_00]: He's looking for a tall guy.
19:49
[SPEAKER_00]: That's fast.
19:51
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think so.
19:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I don't know if he likes talk guys like that, but also I don't this is another thing we don't know we don't know like we're going off of what Detroit had and we don't know how much of that was what been that was what he was given rather than what his preference was right so the interesting to see where you have.
20:12
[SPEAKER_00]: I won't say that Luke the burden is a DJ more type, but he is that underneath God that can actually explode even more right durability like DJ is the question right so you kind of have in a way you have both
20:31
[SPEAKER_00]: of the two Detroit wild receivers in a way.
20:34
[SPEAKER_00]: You have, you know, in him, he's a guy that can do a lot underneath, like, uh, I'm a raw same brown, but also he could take the top off, like, Jameson Williams, you know, where, even though I guess in the system,
20:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, Rome is more of the Amarassane Brown, uh, and then he's the, if we're using cops of that or whatever, I think this is getting to the question.
20:57
[SPEAKER_01]: I think he still needs his Amarassane Brown.
20:59
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm an Rossane Brown is obviously a very unique, neat, wide receiver.
21:04
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think the bear, I mean, the bear's offense was extremely explosive last year.
21:09
[SPEAKER_01]: The passing attack looked better.
21:10
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, it, it.
21:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Took some time to come along, but when that bear's passing attack was clicking, it was better than we've seen in a long, long time, but I don't think.
21:23
[SPEAKER_01]: There wasn't necessarily, and I'm going to say brown type player.
21:26
[SPEAKER_01]: I think they tried to make DJ more, and I'm going to say brown type player.
21:31
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know that he got all the way fully there, just because I think DJ more is still, he can play in the slot.
21:39
[SPEAKER_01]: I think he's still better as an X or an outside wide receiver.
21:43
[SPEAKER_01]: Luther Bird in is very good, very explosive, but again, like he's not all the way, I'm going to
21:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Roman Dune Zay is obviously just like pretty much an outside guy.
21:55
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think when you ask who do they look for, I think they do look for their ominous same brown type guy, and I doubt he will be here.
22:05
[SPEAKER_01]: I doubt he will be there at 25, but I do wonder because you hear reports that this dude just bombed his combine interviews.
22:16
[SPEAKER_01]: if they go back to the University of Southern California and get McIlemon, who does remind me of I'm in Ross Saint Brown.
22:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, McIlemon probably will not be on the board at 10.
22:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Or at 25.
22:28
[SPEAKER_01]: He might be off the board at 10.
22:30
[SPEAKER_01]: He's of extremely talented white receiver and we're getting into it.
22:33
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm getting too far into next episode.
22:37
[SPEAKER_00]: If they take a white receiver at 25, I will punch this computer.
22:43
[SPEAKER_01]: But if Mackay 11 is there at 25 and if Ben Johnson goes, there's my Amin Ross ain't brown go, get him for me.
22:49
[SPEAKER_01]: If you do, if Ben Johnson says meet him.
22:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, but yeah, we'll say that, we'll say that, we'll say that.
22:56
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll, we'll, let's put that to the next step.
22:58
[SPEAKER_00]: But if they, they are take a goddamn, why receive.
23:03
[SPEAKER_00]: After going, why receive a first round second round.
23:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Wait, no, tidy in first round.
23:10
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to see the second round.
23:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Then why receive a first round a year before in the top 10.
23:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
23:16
[SPEAKER_00]: All right.
23:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Get another one.
23:17
[SPEAKER_00]: I will punch this computer screen.
23:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, okay.
23:21
[SPEAKER_01]: In Ben Johnson, we trust, right?
23:23
[SPEAKER_01]: In Ben Johnson, we trust.
23:24
[SPEAKER_01]: No, that wasn't going to have
23:26
[SPEAKER_00]: No, I'll throw it in this draft.
23:29
[SPEAKER_00]: You can find you a guy.
23:31
[SPEAKER_00]: You can find that guy in a second round.
23:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Sure.
23:34
[SPEAKER_01]: That's nice.
23:35
[SPEAKER_01]: The chance of your question, I think they need still their ominous same brown type guy.
23:42
[SPEAKER_01]: But let's let's let's take like 10 steps back and talk more about this move.
23:48
[SPEAKER_01]: Kind of in a vacuum.
23:50
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean,
23:52
[SPEAKER_01]: On paper, when you look at the roster, when you look at everything, when you look at the talent, bears are obviously worse without DJ more.
23:59
[SPEAKER_01]: He's a very good widersie where we talked about it a little bit last week when we were saying like, hey, maybe the bears might trade DJ more might be something to look out for.
24:07
[SPEAKER_01]: They're obviously worse.
24:08
[SPEAKER_01]: He's very talented.
24:10
[SPEAKER_01]: He had some unbelievable games.
24:12
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm unbelievable moments for this team.
24:14
[SPEAKER_01]: He will live in Bears legend forever with like the most important catch of the last 20 years, maybe more against the Packers.
24:22
[SPEAKER_01]: That catch, that throw, that play completely outrageous.
24:26
[SPEAKER_01]: So DJ Moore, again, you know, for the
24:31
[SPEAKER_01]: trades, there's winners and losers at all this dissection, but taking it back seat like this guy, no matter what, what route he ran or didn't run on the interception, that throw and that play was one of the most important plays for the bears in recent memory.
24:47
[SPEAKER_01]: So that lives on forever.
24:50
[SPEAKER_01]: DJ Moore was a good player for this team.
24:52
[SPEAKER_01]: He brought this team out of wide receiver hell.
25:01
[SPEAKER_01]: There was, you know, they were running out there with Darnell Mooney is the widersie for one and Byron Pringle and, you know, all these other, I'll just, I'll just let you know, I'm angry.
25:14
[SPEAKER_00]: But you remember how just if flipped on Darnell Mooney when the Mooney needed all those receptions to get paid pay, and it was like, I'm more than I'm running out.
25:25
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm joking, but I'm not, but you're a play pool.
25:28
[SPEAKER_00]: I was just going to say, I was just going to say, I was like, all these guys.
25:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Didn't the kill hairy love was like, oh, my God.
25:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Like all the love that's.
25:37
[SPEAKER_00]: You're seven.
25:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Dude, I'm just telling you, he's going to do this.
25:41
[SPEAKER_00]: This is like, okay, bro.
25:42
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, it was worth the flyer.
25:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, like, it was worth a lot of it's taken on kill areas, seventh round pick to see.
25:47
[SPEAKER_01]: If they could turn him in anything, the answer was no.
25:49
[SPEAKER_01]: It could not turn to kill hairy into anything.
25:52
[SPEAKER_01]: DJ Moore saved them from all of that.
25:54
[SPEAKER_01]: I remember when DJ Moore showed up at training camp his first time, his first OTAs or whatever, be like, oh, that's a wider season out there.
26:02
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what, that's what playing this position looks like.
26:06
[SPEAKER_01]: So he was very good.
26:08
[SPEAKER_01]: And again, the bears are worse without it.
26:10
[SPEAKER_01]: But, but.
26:13
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, football, there's the business side of it, there's the salary cap side of it.
26:18
[SPEAKER_01]: There's the roster construction side of it that building a 53 man roster is a puzzle every single year.
26:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Ryan pulls us about all the time.
26:26
[SPEAKER_01]: DJ Moore was set to be the highest paid player on this team.
26:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Set to make over $25 million more than Montes wet.
26:36
[SPEAKER_01]: And you could see a world in which there were some games like some games D.J.
26:41
[SPEAKER_01]: more would have been white or silver one without a doubt.
26:43
[SPEAKER_01]: He would have been the guy that week.
26:47
[SPEAKER_01]: There are some weeks you could see he could have been white or silver four.
26:51
[SPEAKER_01]: When you have around the dunes, I think had better rapport with Caleb Williams last year.
26:55
[SPEAKER_01]: And kind of stepped into that white or silver share, that target share.
26:59
[SPEAKER_01]: When you have Luther Bird in on the come up so unbelievably talented.
27:04
[SPEAKER_01]: upside through the roof with Luther Burton.
27:07
[SPEAKER_01]: You have constant loveland mentioned, you know, they invested so much in coastal loveland.
27:14
[SPEAKER_01]: You could see games in which those are your top three guys and DJ and more takes it back seat.
27:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Can your top paid player in any given week potentially be your fourth option?
27:25
[SPEAKER_01]: No way.
27:26
[SPEAKER_01]: No way.
27:27
[SPEAKER_01]: So, so these are the realities of it.
27:30
[SPEAKER_01]: And when the bills come and say, hey, we'll take DJ Moore and his enormous contract and a fifth round pick will give you a second
27:39
[SPEAKER_01]: That's all.
27:40
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a deal that I think is pretty hard to turn down.
27:43
[SPEAKER_01]: That's pretty hard to turn down.
27:44
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think it's, you know, that's some good roster juggling.
27:48
[SPEAKER_01]: That's some good roster juggling by Ryan Polls to get a second round pick.
27:51
[SPEAKER_01]: You can get a really, really good player for a second round pick.
27:54
[SPEAKER_01]: If fifth rounders, yes, like you can find value with fifth round play.
27:57
[SPEAKER_00]: They still get a fifth round or back because they probably will trade back or
28:04
[SPEAKER_00]: if there's somebody in the fifth round that they want.
28:07
[SPEAKER_00]: So you can still get a fifth round.
28:08
[SPEAKER_00]: If that's important to you, you can jump back into the fifth round.
28:12
[SPEAKER_01]: But second rounders, that's real draft capital.
28:14
[SPEAKER_01]: That's real.
28:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Like you're getting.
28:15
[SPEAKER_00]: That's starter.
28:16
[SPEAKER_00]: That's starter starter starter.
28:18
[SPEAKER_01]: That's you're probably getting starter.
28:19
[SPEAKER_01]: So so when you look at all of it, it seems like a you know, a deal that was probably pretty hard to refuse for riot polls and of course Ben Johnson is okay.
28:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, he's a good player, but yeah, we could probably live without him because guess what we have Roman dunes, a guess what we have Luther burden and coalson lovelin and they're going to be adding and we will get into more of those options beyond my Kyle.
28:47
[SPEAKER_01]: Probably won't even be there at 25 and just to share some of that he's going to carry a lot of deadcap this year, but according to over the cap.
29:03
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a lot of salary cap wiggle room in addition to the second round peg the bear's turn of fifth into a second.
29:09
[SPEAKER_00]: That's that's real and if he was here, it was going to be like what 16 of next year's a cap, a salary I believe was going to guarantee lot of what were you going to so like this was kind of you get out now or.
29:24
[SPEAKER_00]: maybe you have to hold on.
29:26
[SPEAKER_00]: So again, everything you said, I don't even want to add too much more to it because I think you did a good job, but it was time, does it help?
29:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Does it make them a better team right now?
29:37
[SPEAKER_00]: No, because they haven't used that yet.
29:40
[SPEAKER_00]: And we haven't seen what they plan on how they're using that cap space in that draft equity.
29:45
[SPEAKER_00]: But we'll see it.
29:46
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think right now, with Ben Johnson, the various have built up some equity to where you have more faith than you did.
29:53
[SPEAKER_00]: when it comes to pro-personals and draft personnel before Ben Johnson arrived here.
30:00
[SPEAKER_00]: I do want to say this, talk about this in a future too.
30:04
[SPEAKER_00]: There have been times where bears general manager Ryan Post talked about assistant former assistant general manager Ian Cunningham.
30:13
[SPEAKER_00]: being a voice of reason on him, perhaps not pulling a trade to go after a player.
30:19
[SPEAKER_00]: And I wonder if the new assistant Jim King, and I don't know who's been there for a minute, is going to be able to do that.
30:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Does he have the ear of Ryan Polls and that's something I'm I'm wondering, looking at this draft.
30:34
[SPEAKER_00]: how that goes about with not having any kind of him in that room.
30:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, is it a plus or is it a minus?
30:39
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I guess you would say initially with how they worked, it would be you.
30:42
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's a minus even though they hadn't hit on enough players to where I can actually say that with all the projects they brought in over the past before last year or whatever.
30:52
[SPEAKER_00]: See, uh, I'm in, I'm in Gadji, whatever I'm about to run on Gadji, I'm on Gadji, yeah.
31:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Tom Robb.
31:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh my god, the Dom Robb stuff awesome booker project player who might be a guy.
31:09
[SPEAKER_00]: I hope if you've taken four of them you hit on one.
31:15
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, now let's switch off and talk about the cut.
31:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, now I guess we can really say put an exclamation point on who won that roll quant Smith trade and it was not the bears.
31:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, terrain admins had one year left on his contract.
31:36
[SPEAKER_00]: He signed after the best, the season, the best, traded away, road quantum, if to the Baltimore Ravens.
31:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Last year was playing like with this Harrow Fire Prior to Injury.
31:46
[SPEAKER_00]: just the turnovers, the shoe strained tackles, breaking into the line, shooting the gap, and then going to the next gap to pull down the running back before the running back really got through the line.
32:01
[SPEAKER_00]: If there were times though, it just wasn't a proper fit in what Dennis Allen necessarily was asking for him.
32:09
[SPEAKER_00]: We talked about the 49ers game a little bit.
32:12
[SPEAKER_00]: last week.
32:14
[SPEAKER_00]: That's something that now you're going to have to really figure out.
32:18
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's we've talked about this last week.
32:21
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's a veteran.
32:23
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's a mid-round draft pick too, but you got to hit on that kid.
32:29
[SPEAKER_00]: He better, he better have some traits.
32:32
[SPEAKER_00]: you really like and some dog in them.
32:35
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's another thing, particularly in Chicago, unfortunately, tremendous, and it's not to say, you didn't have some dog in you, but we like middle line back, because I know he's playing outside last year to have little dog in him, you know what I'm saying?
32:49
[SPEAKER_01]: I have to have the biggest personality in the world.
32:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's kind of very good, Jude, very generous.
32:57
[SPEAKER_01]: If you ask them a question, actually, thought about it and tried to give you a very good answer.
33:01
[SPEAKER_01]: not the biggest personality in the world and you know that we kind of like that here.
33:06
[SPEAKER_00]: a little bit with our line back in core, um, sorry, we're spoiled.
33:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, so it'll be interesting to see what didn't sound.
33:14
[SPEAKER_00]: And also Dennis Allen now is going to be doing some, I would think they're going to be taking some some requests from him as far as the groceries that he wants them to go out and get to make his defense go because I mean, his defense wasn't fully functional whatsoever last year at times with that front seven, you know, it wasn't.
33:34
[SPEAKER_00]: So now you get a chance to redo.
33:37
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what your limitations are.
33:40
[SPEAKER_00]: You know what you got coming back or with edge rushing, not to say you still don't need another body or two, but you've got, and I keep saying this.
33:47
[SPEAKER_00]: And you want me to punch this computer screen talking about a wide receiver at 25.
33:52
[SPEAKER_00]: You got to get a DT man.
33:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, and I don't care if you even if you bring in another old guy, you still got to get a young guy that is just wrecking the China shop in between those those those those those those those gaps right there, man, you you have to have someone all up in that A and I mean the A gap for a unit.
34:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Between the center of the guard.
34:25
[SPEAKER_00]: you've got to do, it's just, it now we've gone on for the, now we've been hunting, think of it.
34:31
[SPEAKER_00]: You go back to the Javad Dexter Senior Zach Pickens draft.
34:38
[SPEAKER_00]: and think about how long the bears have been hunting for different smakers at D.T.
34:45
[SPEAKER_00]: that was supposed to be in the backfield with the QB, the opposing QB.
34:50
[SPEAKER_01]: And it was Andrew Millings.
34:50
[SPEAKER_01]: And that was to be a run stopper.
34:52
[SPEAKER_00]: We were early on like, dude, I think I need to have him in on pass and dance cause they're like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
35:03
[SPEAKER_00]: I think you can do a little bit more than run stop, right?
35:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Never was really the same after he got hurt in age, caught up with him.
35:11
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, if that first, that first six games will be a seven-gate games with Billings.
35:15
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, man, let's hurry get out there and wreck a little bit more.
35:19
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, best they had so far.
35:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Great Jared was hurt.
35:23
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't know how much father time is tapping them on his shoulder.
35:27
[SPEAKER_00]: So,
35:28
[SPEAKER_00]: got to do something right there.
35:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, anything else as far as the two main elements of tuition when I have before we get about here.
35:36
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it allows a just to kind of touch a little bit more on shaping this defense in Dennis Allen's vision.
35:43
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, he was playing with the hand he was dealt to a degree and that first draft.
35:49
[SPEAKER_01]: It was a lot of offense.
35:52
[SPEAKER_01]: That first off is a lot of Ben Johnson and the offense.
35:56
[SPEAKER_01]: So now you wonder if they throw down a sound a few bones.
36:01
[SPEAKER_01]: And you know, there was a long time when we you talked about this all the time.
36:06
[SPEAKER_01]: There was a long time, and there was like, who is going to be the Mike and who is going to be the will on this team?
36:12
[SPEAKER_01]: And then all of a sudden TJ Edwards got that dot after Tremade Edmunds was the dude.
36:17
[SPEAKER_01]: So now you get a chance to be like, okay, let's get a guy.
36:20
[SPEAKER_01]: We feel really good about playing will.
36:24
[SPEAKER_01]: to play well, or let's get a guy we feel really good about playing Mike and we know TJ Edwards can play the will, but you can solidify that a little bit more, which is really important, obviously, like to have those guys like really locked in that you feel really, really good about.
36:44
[SPEAKER_00]: I think everything you said is right, that I think if one point within the next two seasons
36:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe I just as far as speed.
36:57
[SPEAKER_00]: And I know we can talk about battling injuries.
37:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, football like you and him knowing where to be at.
37:04
[SPEAKER_00]: But at some point, man, you got to be fast out.
37:06
[SPEAKER_00]: This, this league that they play in there right now.
37:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Listen, slow guys are running for sick for four point five six, all right?
37:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Like you, you just like for real for real, right?
37:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, yeah, you see guys at the combine and you like, oh, he's alive back.
37:20
[SPEAKER_00]: He's probably going to want to four seven four eight nine.
37:22
[SPEAKER_00]: I do just run a four six and four five seven.
37:25
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, all right, do so this everybody I was watching someone's like the players keep getting bigger and I expect for them to slow down, but they're still running faster than the players before them and it's just the arms races far speed within his league.
37:41
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you're going to need guys that can one play and shoot the gas, which you need guys that can cover and this league, particularly, particularly now what you know what you're doing in 12 and 13, where you need guys that can keep up with these damn tight ends that are fast or whatever, and they need to be big enough to wear.
37:59
[SPEAKER_00]: You can't foot, I mean, basketball just
38:02
[SPEAKER_00]: block the sun and just get the ball from him because they're behind you and you need you need to have that type of versatility defensively.
38:10
[SPEAKER_00]: So we'll see I know I believe Adselayer from the Detroit Lions former former New Orleans Saint.
38:17
[SPEAKER_00]: I think he's a free agent.
38:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Alex hands alone.
38:21
[SPEAKER_00]: He has a loan he may be a free agent this year.
38:23
[SPEAKER_00]: But one thing about him too, he's been banged up too.
38:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Like so again, I think you hit it on the head with you said that about TJ Edwards and the availability issue.
38:35
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, like, you gotta get to a certain degree, only so many linebackers are an injured for significant support so their careers.
38:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Like these guys kind of get chewed up to a degree if you're not that household name and usually even that guy gets knocked out for a season.
38:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, absolutely.
38:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Last year, Termina Edmonds missed some time.
38:58
[SPEAKER_01]: There, let me pull it up here.
39:02
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's like four games of that.
39:04
[SPEAKER_01]: Tremaine Edmunds, only played in 13 games.
39:06
[SPEAKER_01]: He, yes, so he missed four games.
39:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Still led the team with 112 tackles.
39:15
[SPEAKER_01]: missed a month, still led the team with 112 tackles.
39:18
[SPEAKER_01]: So he did make his mark.
39:20
[SPEAKER_01]: He was productive.
39:23
[SPEAKER_01]: He was obviously intercepting a lot of footballs, creating a lot of takeaways.
39:28
[SPEAKER_01]: But cutting him,
39:29
[SPEAKER_01]: the bears will save 15 million dollars against the cap.
39:32
[SPEAKER_01]: So when we add it all together and it gets a little squishy, especially with the Drew Dalman and the uncertainty of what exactly the bears are going to recoup these are rough numbers.
39:43
[SPEAKER_01]: When you add it all together, roughly 41 and a half million bucks.
39:47
[SPEAKER_01]: So let's say around 40 million bucks that the bears created in cap space.
39:51
[SPEAKER_01]: So not only are they compliant now, they are absolutely
40:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Rampoles and Ben Johnson can go shopping on the market a little bit and it can restructure a couple of contracts to this of course You mentioned what clearly needs to restructure his contract and he plays defensive in and he's the highest pay player on the on the roster He is now the new highest paid player on the roster mantas Sweats wait, but he was the highest pay player because the extension hand kicked in for DJ.
40:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, right this year DJ was about to be the highest paid that's what I'm saying so who's the highest way player
40:29
[SPEAKER_01]: It was last going to be D. J. Moore.
40:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Right, but I thought it was my test.
40:34
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought he was the highest player.
40:35
[SPEAKER_01]: It might have been last year as well.
40:37
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's see.
40:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
40:39
[SPEAKER_01]: Bears 20, 25, salary, cap, table.
40:49
[SPEAKER_01]: We're loading.
40:51
[SPEAKER_01]: My internet's a little slow because we're also streaming last year.
40:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Montez sweat was the highest paid player at just over twenty five million dollars under twenty five million dollars d j more was going to leap frog him this year but Montez sweat now back to back will be the highest paid player on the show Montez sweat with
41:12
[SPEAKER_00]: When he's getting his check, he has to slice the on, but he has it like where the face is out.
41:16
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's not a full ski mask situation where he has it pulled up the cover.
41:21
[SPEAKER_00]: His face when he's picking that check up, but it's like, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, you know, you know what a slice is, though, right?
41:32
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't.
41:33
[SPEAKER_01]: I hope it doesn't reference what I think it references.
41:35
[SPEAKER_00]: So a shiny is the last four to five years we talked about this on the show where you see the kids where the ski mask basically and usually it'll be their face to be out of it, but then when they pull it up over their face and it just shows their eyes that nickname is called a shiny.
41:54
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, no, is that anti-Semitic?
41:57
[SPEAKER_00]: Is that a, is that a, is that a cat never heard anybody say, I've never heard anybody use anti-Semitism with that to be honest with it?
42:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Is it because it's about robbing people?
42:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, yeah, part could be true, but I don't think it's used for antisemitism.
42:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
42:11
[SPEAKER_00]: What's the list of the play?
42:13
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, yeah, get the chat folks.
42:14
[SPEAKER_01]: Get in the comments.
42:15
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a shiny, I thought, like a schemas, I've heard it called a balaclava.
42:19
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's the actual name for it.
42:21
[SPEAKER_00]: I think you got the choice.
42:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Syster, a Shylock, Shyster, and being Shyste, typically known as an anti-Semitic term because of Shylock in the Shakespeare play.
42:34
[SPEAKER_00]: So it also there was a rapper who will be getting out of jail soon soon.
42:39
[SPEAKER_00]: His name was Poo Shicedy.
42:42
[SPEAKER_00]: He would always wear this also.
42:44
[SPEAKER_00]: That was when the trademark things with him that he always wore Shicedy.
42:49
[SPEAKER_00]: So just putting that out there.
42:51
[SPEAKER_01]: All right.
42:52
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, let the chat decide.
42:53
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
42:54
[SPEAKER_01]: I've just learned this word just now.
42:56
[SPEAKER_01]: But it is a little thing.
43:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, that's definitely not the intent of our government.
43:05
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, everybody, as we go through these cultural learning experiences, we'll be back next episode to kind of give our thoughts on which direction that we believe the bear should take with this cap money, with that draft equity, particularly not drafting a wide receiver of 25, and kind of lay into that the next episode, for Alex Shapiro, I am Kenneth Davis's and this is the Wendy city podcast.