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Making Monsters: What Neville Gallimore will bring to the Bears · 2nd City Gridiron

• 0:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: All right, everybody, welcome back to another episode of Making Monsters.
• 0:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm Taylor Dall and we're kind of starting off our off season.
• 0:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: I took a few weeks off from the podcast and now we're going to talk some free agency, get into the draft the next couple of weeks.
• 0:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so we're going to start with some of the free agent moves.
• 0:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: We're joined today by Matt Taylor.
• 0:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: He is the radio voice for the Indianapolis cults.
• 0:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: Matt, thanks for hopping on and chatting some free agency football.
• 0:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: I guess is what we're doing right now.
• 0:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: My pleasure.
• 0:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome back to the podcast.
• 0:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
• 0:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, we took a little bit of a break.
• 0:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: I usually do our preview shows.
• 0:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I was kind of letting things settle in as free as you once the draft starts.
• 0:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: My schedule gets crazy.
• 0:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I'll really start diving into that.
• 0:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: off the book.
• 0:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: So that did free up some money, but they didn't have a ton of suspense.
• 0:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: So with that they had to be go get a safety coat.
• 1:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: We brined a lot's a lot of their defense.
• 1:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so a lot of people they had to replace in that.
• 1:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so one of the moves was Neville Gallimore, who obviously was with the cold slasher.
• 1:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: He started his career in Dallas moved around a little bit and then spent a year there in Indy.
• 1:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: I want to start off just the the basics of what that cold steep fence looked like last year.
• 1:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think they're
• 1:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: obviously to force Buckner as a massive piece of that defense and he missed a large portion of the year.
• 1:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: So outside of that, just how that defense looked out, ran what it looked like and things like that.
• 1:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean, totality wise for the season for the cults, it was kind of a weird season because, you know, if you look at the year in terms of the record, they started off really hot, they were eight into, they were one of the best teams in the NFL, you know, mid-November, but then they just had so many injuries and then the schedule objectively heated up on them, they started playing really good teams that finished the year with really strong records.
• 1:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: but you are what your record says you are and the record last year for the Colts was eight nine missing out in the playoffs and it was just really kind of a devastating way to in the year dropping seven straight games after that hot start to the year.
• 2:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: So the defense was really kind of weird because they really didn't play with a full deck at any point all year in terms of personnel.
• 2:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: The
• 2:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: ransack with injuries.
• 2:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: They ended up playing or using nine different cornerbacks last year throughout the course of the season.
• 2:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: Key guys were hurt at just bad times of the year for the Colton terms of the calendar.
• 2:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, I think it was Chavarius Ward, sauce, Gardner, and Defore's Buckner, those guys combined to miss 24 games last season.
• 2:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: And those guys are the guys you're building the defense around, right?
• 2:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's kind of like the lifeblood of the defense, because those guys were just hard to replace.
• 3:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: And no knock on anybody else, including Devil Gallamore, they just didn't have the bodies to make up for those significant losses.
• 3:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: both in terms of the important positions that they play, but also just how talented those guys are.
• 3:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: So the cults really became, I don't wanna use the word.
• 3:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: let less game specific, but I think it's probably fair to say that just because of who they had at their disposal towards the end of the year.
• 3:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: But as it relates to Neville Gallamore, yeah, he definitely got more of an opportunity last year because of that injury to the forest buckner.
• 3:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's got a neck injury, had surgery at the end of the season.
• 3:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: spent most of the last half of the year on IR came back for one game.
• 3:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think it was week 16 a week 17 late in the season against the San Francisco 49ers, but injured it again, didn't make it through the game and then shut it down for good for the season.
• 3:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: So that opened the door for Neville in terms of playing time.
• 4:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm sure we're going to get more into him, but I really liked what he gave the Colts in terms of depth.
• 4:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's a really good player.
• 4:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's, I think, a starter level caliber type of guy based on what I saw last year with the Colts and then the year before that when he was with the Rams.
• 4:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: So that's a pretty good value in terms of bang for your buck and what the bears are getting for a player who I think still has a lot of upside in the trenches on that defensive side of the ball.
• 4:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's interesting because obviously I cover the jacks too.
• 4:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: So most people know, and then the divorce partner, he was not playing.
• 4:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: So you did get to see a decent amount of Neville Gallo more and both of those games.
• 4:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that those are big shoes to fill when you're talking about having to come in and replace a divorce partner.
• 4:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's a player that around the league.
• 4:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: You talk about being one of the better at his position.
• 4:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so,
• 4:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: Speaking of Neville specifically going through this year, what he was able to do.
• 4:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: I know he's versatile, he talks about being able to play nose tackle maybe at time.
• 4:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: You've seen him at three tech throughout the year, too.
• 4:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, throughout his career.
• 5:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Where do you see him fitting best on the line?
• 5:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, with the cold, he was primarily the backup to Defore's Buckner, so he was mainly that three technique, not the nose tackle last year, a backing up Grover Stewart in that regard.
• 5:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's mainly a defensive tackle, not a nose tackle, but that, like you said, doesn't mean he can't play that.
• 5:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: Where I was most, I don't know, surprises the right way to put it, but what impressed me was, like you said, when Defore's Buckner's out of the game, that's a big drop-off,
• 5:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: but he just gave maximum relentless effort.
• 5:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I can think back to games late in the year where quarterbacks are flushed out of the pocket.
• 5:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: And Gallamore is just chasing these guys down in pursuit.
• 5:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's coming in from the backside, just relentless.
• 5:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: Maximum effort trying to make a play and chase down an athletic quarterback.
• 5:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Guys like CJ Straud and Trevor Lawrence late in the year when the cult had to play,
• 5:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, those four games and the division against Houston and Jacksonville, so he's a really fast athlete, you know, he's a very good athlete for a guy, you know, for his size.
• 6:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think in 2020 when he was at the combine, I think he ran like a 4 7 40, which is like ridiculous for a man of his size and stature.
• 6:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: Um, so he can do a lot.
• 6:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's really versatile and like I said, I just think value-wise, bang for your buck, you're getting a really good player, but then, you know, taking off the helmet and going inside the locker room, he's just a really affable guy.
• 6:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's a great teammate.
• 6:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: He works his tail off.
• 6:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: He does whatever is asked of him.
• 6:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: So in terms of like taking on a roll and not thinking that he's too big for anything, I don't think that's gonna be a problem for the bears.
• 6:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: You're just getting a high character guy that's got a huge motor.
• 6:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think a lot of gas left in his tank to be a good player in the trenches that is defensive tackle spot.
• 6:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Mainly that's how he was used with the cults.
• 7:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's funny.
• 7:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: I, the one professor that we've had with him so far, you could kind of see he seems like a, like a teddy bear almost were like off he was like seemed very sweet and nice, but you can see that extra gear probably changes when you're on the field, which is what you want out of a lot of those guys that are in the trenches, he, they asked him like his favorite football player growing up and he was like,
• 7:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: I grew in Canada so I didn't, you know, it's a different watching Canadian football, but he was like, I actually thought I was going to be a quarterback and he was like, I obviously wasn't this size at that time and he was like, and I love David Gerard and I was like, that's a random pull, but
• 7:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: When you talk about the run defense, when you talk about getting to, you talk about him going that pursuit after the quarterback.
• 7:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: And that's really important.
• 7:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: The bears last year struggled in both categories.
• 7:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: They allowed a lot of rushing yards towards the bottom of the league.
• 7:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think six moves rushing yards allowed last year from the defense.
• 7:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then also they had the third few attacks.
• 7:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: So both of those areas were areas of concern.
• 7:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: Some of that is injury.
• 7:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's great to ger it.
• 7:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: with an injury all year you're missing your three linebackers all at one time at one point in time.
• 8:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: So a lot of those things kind of factor in Austin Booker didn't come back until midseason.
• 8:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: And so you take that for a grain of salt, you know, if those players are healthy, does it look a little bit different, but it does look like levels coming in and it's going to be
• 8:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: we'll see how much they rotate on this line, but you mentioned that speed, that's something Dennis Allen's talked a lot about is wanting to get hit the defense faster and it seems like that's kind of what they focused on this last off season.
• 8:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: So when you're comparing that just the run defense and pressure, is that something that you still have to do well on both in both areas?
• 8:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I think the pressure numbers are a little bit deceiving because I think just as a general public we look at the sack numbers and he's a defensive tackle so he's not solely a great it on that as we know you know in relation to an edge rusher or a pass rusher.
• 8:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: So the pressure numbers are probably going to be a little bit better analytically than just the sheer number of sacs, I mean that's not his gain, that's not what he's asked to do.
• 9:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I think I think last year I'd have to go back and look maybe maybe two and a half sacs, but those kind of came late in the down type sacs, those are kind of like hustle and
• 9:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: you know, like determination type plays, which again, that's not going to be a problem for him.
• 9:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's going to give you all that he has.
• 9:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's going to empty the tank every Sunday for Chicago, but he plays the run really well.
• 9:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's actually been a problem for the cult is finding consistent and routine depth to play the run over the course of
• 9:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: DeForce Buckner and Grover Stewart's time in Indianapolis, and so it's kind of a deceptively Big loss for the Colts to lose Neville Gallimore because I did think he played the run Relatively well the Colts last year finished 31st against the past but they played the run well because they're guys in the front seven
• 9:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's the strength of their team, or at least it was a year ago.
• 10:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so, you know, just not to get two in the weeds, but I mean, you didn't have to be a football savon.
• 10:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you go back to 2023, 2024, and you watch the Colts,
• 10:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, when DeForce Buckner and Grover Stewart or out of the game in those years, I mean, it was a noticeable difference in their ability to stop the run.
• 10:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: In fact, I think those years, it was almost a full yard difference in yards per carry allowed.
• 10:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: when Grover Stewart and the Forest Buckner around the field or when one of them was off of the field.
• 10:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: So that was a priority for the colds last off season to bring in some more reliable reinforcements and guys that can play, you know, a rotational type of role inside for when inevitably Stewart and Buckner need a little bit of a blow during the game.
• 10:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: So as it relates to the cults, you can't keep everybody right, you're mean, you're signing now a quarter back over $40 million and you're signing a premium wide receiver of $30 plus million dollars.
• 11:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: And Alec Pierce, when you do that, you have to make sacrifices when you have a salary cap at other spots.
• 11:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so, you know, you just have to make tough decisions
• 11:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, see what's out there on the open market was part of that.
• 11:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: He goes to Chicago.
• 11:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: The Colts bring in, you know, Derek Naughty.
• 11:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: They bring in Jerry Tilary.
• 11:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: We'll see.
• 11:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, these are, these are guys that have played a lot of football in the career.
• 11:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: Neville Gallimore was a guy like that as well.
• 11:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: So we'll see if the Colts can get similar production.
• 11:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: But personally, I will miss Neville.
• 11:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's a good dude.
• 11:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: I thought he was really good for this team, fit in well with the scheme in terms of Louanne or Rumo.
• 11:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, all the best to him in Chicago, all the best to that bear's defense, like you said, trying to figure out a better way to stop than run up in the Wendy city.
• 11:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's, uh, you lost the run defense was a problem.
• 11:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: The only thing the bear's defense did good last year was take the ball away.
• 12:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: They had to let the league with 33 takeaways.
• 12:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: But they lost a lot of players 22 of the counted takeaways are now not on the team.
• 12:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: So you have to start figuring out other ways.
• 12:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: And we kind of expected it when you get another defensive coordinator as in Dennis Allen and what eberfluous and him do very different.
• 12:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I think that you knew that it was kind of heading in that direction.
• 12:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: But final one before I let you go, because you just mentioned that Daniel Jones contract.
• 12:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: I want to chat about that just in terms of where the quarterback market is because the bears are going to be talking very soon.
• 12:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: to Caleb Williams about, you know, an extension most likely, and that group of guys out of that draft in general, it's going to be the Daniels in the maze, and we talk about Bonix and Caleb Williams.
• 12:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: All those guys are going to be looking at contract around the same time, so just looking at what Daniel Jones got and what you're kind of expecting from that and where this quarterback market is right now.
• 12:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: well the salary cap keeps going up and so therefore the price tag for quarterbacks keep going up but that's this is the going rate you know when people look at free agent quarterback signings you know a guy like Daniel Jones who has had really good flashes of success but longevity wise first career is only what finished two full seasons because of injuries
• 13:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: guys like that are still able to command you know forty plus million dollars and that number is only going to go up so it's just all proportion it to that position it's the most important spot in sports you either got a guy you think you win with or you don't bottom line and it's sort of the I always call it the fear of the quarterback unknown
• 13:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: you know, like you can score for the idea of paying Daniel Jones or any other quarterback that much money or you can roll the dice with trying to figure it out with someone else that's not proven in the draft and that's as we know not a complete science, right?
• 14:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's definitely
• 14:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: certainly, you know, all kinds of examples of guys hitting and also missing in the draft, especially in the top of the draft.
• 14:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's kind of a good segue for where the culture at right now.
• 14:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think most people understand this or know this, but the culture having to pay, I mean, forget about Daniel Jones, but they're just generally speaking,
• 14:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: they're having to pay the quarterback position, big money, two years, then they ideally want it to, right, because 2023, top five pick, they pick up Anthony Richardson.
• 14:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, he did not develop into the franchise quarterback to the Colton vision for him and that draft pick.
• 14:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so ideally Richardson would be still here as the franchise guy playing on the last
• 14:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then next year, he could potentially play on a fifth year option, no, we're, I mean, still big money, but nowhere near what they're paying Daniel Jones right now.
• 14:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then you factor in the threat of losing the guy that really makes the offense go in terms of the passing game and Alec Pierce and having to pay him to, this is how you got here from a cult standpoint, right?
• 15:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: So when you don't
• 15:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: hit on the top five franchise quarterback, and you have to pay the free agent quarterback, you have to make concessions along the way.
• 15:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the cults have lost now five starters from last year's team, impactful guys on both sides of the ball, they've made a slew of quantity type free agents.
• 15:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, guys that they had to replace, but again, they're looking for more different makers at those premium positions, but bottom line is had the cults let their
• 15:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: best and and most consistent and most promising for the future quarterback in Daniel Jones walk out the door and Alec Pierce walk out the door.
• 15:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: It probably objectively would not have mattered too much record wise for 2026 what they did the rest of the free agency and the draft.
• 15:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: They got to have quarterback that got to have stability in the passing game.
• 16:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: Those are the two toughest things to replace for the Colts in free agency this year.
• 16:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's how they got to this decision.
• 16:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, when you miss on the quarterback, and that's the thing, I mean, it's one thing to not have a quarter back with the top five, but now they don't have anything from a top five.
• 16:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's not like they drafted another position.
• 16:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: They didn't draft, you know, a defensive end or a corner or a wide receiver.
• 16:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: So it's kind of like a missed year at the top of the draft in 2023,
• 16:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: alter their decision making because of that and you know pay to get some consistency and things solidified at those important positions in on a football team where you have to have in order to have a chance to win.
• 16:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, if any organization knows about the quarterback struggles at such, covers definitely one of them.
• 16:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: I was just thinking just in less than 10 years.
• 16:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: We tried the the quarterback thing twice through the draft when it comes to a travesty and a just some field.
• 16:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's not just fields, yeah.
• 16:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: Within those times, it was Mike Lenin's and Nick Falls and Andy Dalton's.
• 17:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: And then now you're you're hoping.
• 17:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, the Colts have had, the Colts are right there with you.
• 17:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: And unfortunately, the numbers are this.
• 17:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: The Colts have had, and it's kind of ironic here we're talking about the bears because the bears and the Colts were playing the night that Andrew Luck retired, that fateful night on August 26th.
• 17:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think it was 24th, 2019.
• 17:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's crazy how I remember that.
• 17:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: But the Colts have had 12 different starting quarterbacks since Andrew Luck retired.
• 17:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: and they've had a different week one starting quarterback in seven of the last eight years.
• 17:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's not a, not a foot, and that's probably even more of a bummer because you did find your quarterback, your quarterback, just obviously retired, um, kind of, unexpectedly, no doubt.
• 17:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm seeing that may hurt a little harder.
• 17:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: We've just been looking for a long time, but, um, I appreciate your time chatting a little bit of Neville Gallimore, and I know we'll see if the bear's joining you guys at Indiana.
• 17:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: We're still waiting here.
• 18:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Wait, we love to have him.
• 18:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: All right, who's your hospitality at its finest?
• 18:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: We can make room.
• 18:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: You too.