Chicago Bears Searching for Veteran Backup QB to Caleb Williams | CHGO Bears Podcast
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It's time to make America affordable again. It's time to support the president's plan. This is the CHGO Bears podcast. And you are right, Epic 12. Karma's not going to like this discussion, but we're going to have it anyway. Thank you for being early on the chat with that one as a yeah. Sure.

Shout out to our guy Adam Hoag on his favorite podcast with Hogan Johns. That's right. Talking to the general manager on the backup QB came up. So we're going to get into that. Gregory P. Allen Braggs, you are with me today. Let's go. As you always are, my friend Stephen Nicholas producing you in the chat and you up there in.

Bears land. We got a ton for you today and we're finally going to get to have my running back discussion, which I started working on last Sunday and he's here today. But let's let's start with what's brewing. Shout out to our friends at Boston Beer. That's right. Sam Adams, American light. That's what's brewing. It's cold. It's crisp. It's refreshing. Game day just got better. Can't wait for game day as we get into what's brewing and there it is.

The Bears, apparently, if you listen to Ryan Poles and you trust what he said to Hogan Johns, they are interested in a veteran quarterback. There is competition. There is conversation going on here.

And, yeah, we're also going to get into that first-round running back hit rate and then the Fran Duffy situation coming up here. But let's start with the backup QB. Everybody knows where I stand on this. I think that Tyson Bajan is a starter. I think Tyson Bajan is a top-20 quarterback in the NFL. I don't think necessarily it's ever going to happen here. I actually hope it doesn't because I hope Caleb is great and I hope the Bears win a ton of football games. But if things did go sideways via injury or anything else, I'd be very interested in seeing what Tyson would have to do

But you also have a, you know, he's a young player. And do they need to have a veteran in that room to help the room along? It seems like Ryan Poles thinks they do. Right. And is that why do you think he thinks that? Let me ask it like that before I give my opinion.

Well, I think that Ryan Poles after, I think he's trying to learn from his mistakes of last year. And so I think he's trying to surround Caleb with as healthy a room as he possibly can. And obviously him and Shane Waldron didn't see eye to eye. They brought in, you know, a passing game coordinator, Thomas Brown, who said at one point,

They weren't even talking to me. I'm right. I'm playing the nickel scout team in camp because they won't, they won't let me do anything. So like, how do you surround Caleb with a healthy environment of, of,

people that he can look to, to lean on, to continue to develop. So you, you bring in an offensive coordinator, Declan Doyle, that doesn't have much experience, but Ben Johnson, obviously he's going to be the main cog, but he's your head coach. He's got a lot of work to do. So you have JT Barrett, former quarterback from Ohio state as your quarterbacks coach. And then after that, the list kind of drops off of who Kayla Williams can lean on to develop. So

Right. And for those who didn't see the interview with polls, just to underline, he, you know, that was, it was the last question of the interview. And Ryan said, they're having discussions, but also like, Hey, you know, why,

We have to consider who we're bringing into the room. That room is the most important room. It's a very delicate thing. So somebody has to understand what the role is. I see our guy Gary Ross putting in there, you know, he's speculating on Teddy Bridgewater and that that would be a good fit in that room. Somebody would have to understand that you're obviously not competing to be the number one quarterback. And you also have to be comfortable that you are

You would be going up against a guy who, as polls put it, ultra competitive and is not going to just give away the backup spot. So you have to be comfortable being a mentor almost to two quarterbacks coming in here with no guarantee that you're even going to be the backup. And or there would just be a punt on Beijing, which I don't think judging by what polls that they want to do.

Right. But it was interesting to hear polls. And you're going to have to watch the interview on Hogan Johnson. If you haven't, make sure you watch it to really understand the context. But stick with us here. If you haven't first, then watch it later. Then come back to the segment. Very confusing. But just do that. Yeah. But he does say at one point, like, hey, Bajan's not going to lay down. Like, he's very competitive. And we love what Bajan brings to this room. He's super talented. And so he's just not going to lay down for the position. He's going to compete.

So that tells me that they're not just trying to bring in a veteran to be the third option and like a, essentially an assistant coach slash third string quarterback. Like,

That almost, and maybe he didn't mean to phrase it that way, but it almost sounded like they were going to bring in somebody to compete with Tyson Bajan because they don't want to keep three quarterbacks on the active roster. I don't know. I'm just asking the question. Well, let's take a look at the list of the guys that are out there. And here it is for you. Steven put this together.

There's Aaron Rodgers. Don't throw up. He's out there. So we got him in there. Obviously, highly, highly, highly unlikely. Joe Flacco, rumored to be going back to the Browns, but certainly a guy at the end of his career who has played very well, way better than people thought. And here come the rest. Drew Locke, Carson Wentz, Case Keenum.

Easton stick, Josh Johnson, CJ Beathard, Teddy Bridgewater already mentioned Jeff Driscoll, Tyler Huntley. Does anyone excite you on that list? Greg? I mean, I think the person that would be the, is the person that is the picture on that graphic. And that's Joe Flacco. I mean,

that I, in an ideal world, if you're going to bring a veteran quarterback in to help be a mentor to Caleb Williams, I want a veteran quarterback that's had success and winning a super bowl. And so I don't think Aaron Rogers is a realistic option, even though Caleb has looked up and idolized Aaron Rogers, but Aaron Rogers is trying to start here his last couple of years. And I also think Joe Flacco is too, but if he's not,

That would be my most ideal person to come in here, a guy that's been there and done that and has that maturity and leadership that he can show the ropes to a guy like Caleb. Right, and again, Flacco is rumored to Cleveland, and he actually could end up starting in Cleveland with their situation over there. So I would view that one as unlikely. The Aaron Rodgers thing, everyone thinks he's going to be in Pittsburgh. The Bears obviously are not going to do that.

selfishly if i want to get out of my bayesian love for just a second here aaron rogers coming here would be great for us that'd be incredible content so if you know if if i'm looking at the bright side of this if we're really going to go crazy here and talk about 12 coming to chicago that would certainly that would give us about i don't know three weeks worth of content right there if if that dude landed but that's not going to happen so you know teddy makes a lot of sense i i

who would understand his role. He coaches high school kids. So like, right. He's got the coaching thing he's trying to get into. And so then there's a selling point, right? Hey, are you trying to be a coach in the NFL? Come here, be a veteran backup and, and be the essential on field coach. Right. And every, anybody who no one is going to sign up, but,

Without who's risen to that level in life, Teddy Bridgewater, starter in the NFL, multiple teams had plenty of success. He's not going to exactly be like, yeah, sweet. I'll just come and teach Caleb everything I know and do the same thing for Tyson and just hang out and not have any interest in playing. Of course, he's going to want to be on the field and show what he can do and

because you don't get to that level in life unless you have that level of belief in yourself but that being said uh you know i you would like to think that you could also live in reality of where you are at in your career and the fact that the bears do have a young qb who hopefully will start all 17 games and a guy behind him who the gm just said ultra competitive and i see people in there somebody who whoever the star you're crazy beige top 20 qb look man

Nobody knows how good that guy is. You don't know. And I don't know. So you can, you can flex all you want, but the fact of the matter is when he started, he won the, he won two games. He made some, he made a phenomenal throw across the field of Cole commit in the Enzo, which is a big time ass throw. He's he's wildly competitive. He's the all-time leader in division two history throwing the football. It wouldn't be the first time that a guy who's played a ton of reps in college and not at the highest level,

and then showed his competitiveness in the NFL, ended up having success if he got a chance. Steven, I know you want to say something. One other guy that we haven't talked about, I think it's actually a really interesting name on that list, is Carson Wentz. I mean, the guy has won all over the place. North Dakota State National Championship, beat by Redbirds. Eagles, he was a leading MVP candidate the year they won the Super Bowl, and then he got injured, tore his ACL. We all know what happened. Nick Foles ends up finishing it off for him.

More recently, he's played with Matt Stafford, same QB room as him, and then also Patrick Mahomes last season. This guy just knows all about winning, whether he's on the field or as a supplementary role. He's a really interesting name if Ryan Poles does want to go this route. And that's what I mean. Like, I want, okay, and when I say Joe Flacco because he's won a Super Bowl, I do value the guys that have experienced the highs of the highs and even the lows of the lows, like JT Barrett.

you know, was a great quarterback or a very good quarterback in college. And it didn't work out for him in the NFL. Well, there's experience there that he can show someone like, Hey, this is what went wrong for me. These are the things you got to make sure you do good at, or else you're going to be, it's going to end up the same way it did for me.

So I'm with you with the Carson Wentz thing, especially being with the Chiefs last year, too. You know, you see the standard of what the best team in the NFL and how they operate and how their quarterback operates. I know talking with Mitch Holthus at the Super Bowl when he talked about the way Patrick Mahomes goes about his business every day. That's something everyone should be following. But to go back to your whole point about Tyson Bajan being a top 20 quarterback, because I did want to touch on this.

Like, I know you're high on the guy, but it is tall to say that. I think you can agree that that's very tall to say that. It's a little tall. It's a little tall. It's a little tall. Talk about the guy that loves to live in reality, but then you're going to take a home run swing. And hey, how dare I dare I ever question the quarterback whisper of Chicago? That's correct. I'll respect you as much. And you want me to get off the fence. I just said top 20. Now you want to push back? I'm not trying to push back. I'm just saying push back.

It's a hell of a state. It's a hell of a statement. And I know you have had high belief in Josh in, in Tyson Bayson, just as you did of Josh McCown. I was a big Josh McCown advocate. And I think with this team talent wise, yeah. Tyson Bayson were to come in. I think he'd do well because they have a lot of talent on the team. And now you have Ben Johnson calling plays. So I'll tell you what I see. I've said it a million times, but I'll say it again. Cause I love saying it. Look,

Go ahead. I'm sorry. Did I cut you off? No, no, go ahead. Yeah? No, yeah, yeah. Okay. All right. Look, the dude set records in college, right? He was undrafted. I get all that. People question his arm strength or where he put up his numbers, whatever it was. But when he got here, he wasn't expected to be the backup quarterback. No.

They actually had paid a backup quarterback going into that year. Who did they cut? PJ. PJ Walker from the Panthers, and they paid him pretty good money, and they cut him at camp because of how well Tyson played. And it was obvious early in cap that PJ was, A, not playing well, and, B, the other guy was playing well. All right? Then in his rookie year, he had to drink from a fire hose, basically, and start four games, which was wild.

And he went to and to. He went to and to. And outside of that, I mean, they were tough games. The Rams game on Sunday night was not great at all. But that's about as tough as you're going to go. Let me go on the road. Sunday night football dude here right out of D2. And he still had moments in that game where it looked like, wow, this dude for barely being here actually looks like he knows what he's doing. So I'm take and what I see is

At training camp every year is a guy that is going about his business as good as you can possibly go about it every single day. And then he gets in the off season. If you pay attention to him, he right now, he's probably doing a triple burpee jump, lifting weights and it's in a stream eating kale and making himself even more ripped. So am I going to bet on a guy like that? Yeah, I am. I'm not going to apologize for it now. And, and,

No. And the only point I was going to make was, is that, okay, if you want to bring in a veteran quarterback, fine. I, somebody in the chat earlier said that I'm misreading what Ryan pulse said with Adam Hogue. And I don't know if I am, I could go back and listen to it five more times. I listened to it three times and it did sound to me where he talked about competing for that spot. Didn't he? So,

So maybe he didn't mean to say that, but that's what he said. And ultimately, I'm fine with you bringing in a veteran quarterback, but I'm not. Tyson Bajan should stay on this roster no matter what, because in the event, God forbid, that there was any kind of injury to the quarterback one. I'm not trying to put in a veteran quarterback. I want to see what Tyson Bajan has. That's the other part of us. Thank you. Let's just say the worst thing happens. Caleb gets hurt.

Do you want to see them try to scratch out wins with Teddy Bridgewater or...

Carson Wentz or whoever, or would you rather see Bajan play and see if the bears actually have something on a team that won five games last year with a very tough schedule. And it'd be sweet if they got to nine and eight and with, with a chance to be really considered a legitimate playoff team with a chance to do something fantastic. You're in year three now. I mean, look at all the time you've invested in this dude. And it's through three different, he originally said,

got here in a lot of ways because Luke gets, he saw him at the senior bowl and then Luke gets, he was fired. So he was a Luke gets, he guy in some ways, then Shane Waldron comes here. He's still here. He makes it through with Shane Waldron. Shane Waldron's gone now. And now you have Ben Johnson here and it doesn't sound like they're getting rid of them under Ben Johnson at this point. So like you, you've put in the time with this dude. So I'm with you. If, if,

in the event that I won't even say that unspeakable, you want Tyson Bajan to play to see what the kids got as opposed to a guy all due respect to Teddy Bridgewater, who I'm only bringing in a veteran to keep that as a healthy room for Caleb Williams. Somebody that he can lean on to come to the sidelines and look at the –

iPad and go over things and talk about process and things of that nature. Well, and I think that's a good place to end this conversation because we could probably do this for another 45 minutes and make everybody nauseous. But look, when Justin Fields was here, they had a horrible quarterback room. Nick Foles was not an asset alongside the

Andy Dalton with Justin, that room for whatever reason was not good. It didn't help the guy that you were trying to get to the highest level that he could possibly get to. So, which is why that's where, that's where Paul's is saying, this is a important room. Don't mess with it. So whatever they do here, do it with Caleb in mind.

You do take Bajan out of that equation. You've gone all in. You've made him the number one pick. So whatever you think is best for Caleb is how they should do this. But you better be bringing somebody into that room that's going to be good for Caleb Williams, period, end of story. So hopefully if they do bring somebody in, I'm sure that's the way they're thinking about it. And you'll just have to, you know, we're back to trust in polls, trust in Ben, all the things. And the Ben Johnson factor in this is very interesting. Like how much, you know, does he like Bajan? Does he know anything about him?

out agent does he want does he is there some veteran that he loves that he thinks would be a great mentor I would think that Ben has a lot of say in what goes on here and with that other people that can help the quarterback are running backs and the Bears of course are rumored to take a running back so we're going to have that conversation next this is one of the more exciting conversations most anticipated segment looking for this Geo Bears history four days coming but first

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Well, shout out. I got to give a shout out to big time because he got me thinking about this. He had a piece on this and there's some interesting notes that he had, which time. So shout out big time. I got to give him a little credit here because the note at the start of this is from him. Did you know, Gregory, that the top six rushing teams in the NFL last year, you know what they did?

They may have to. Okay. I'm not going to quiz you. Actually, I'll do this. The top six. I got it wrong. You did. They all made the playoffs is the point. You know, it was in that top six, the Green Bay Packers, the Detroit Lions. They were in that top six. If you're in the, if you rush the football successfully, you got a good chance to go into the playoffs, right? That, that makes sense, which is why you need a good offensive line. That's why you need a good running back. That's why you need a good running game period. All right. When's the last time the bears drafted a running back in the, in the top 10 in the first round period.

Drake Benson, 2005 fourth overall. So it's been a long ass time, man. A long ass time that they, they haven't drafted somebody in the first round. Now how's that worked out for them? Bears have finished in the top 10 in rushing. How many times since 2000? How many times since 2000? Top 10 in the top 10. That's by the way, 24 years. Okay. Good guess. Steven.

Does that include quarterback rushing? It does. And that's a very good caveat that you just put in there because two of the times it was because of Justin Fields, which makes it even worse, by the way, this stat. I'm going to say six. Okay. The answer is four. Four damn ass time. Two Matt Forte years. Yeah. Super Bowl year. And then the Justin Fields year. Right. So 22, 23 is most recent. The quarterback did it. All right. The point being, we haven't run the ball well here.

Okay. Period. End of story. Now, so should they take a pick of the top 10? Does this make it more palatable? Well, in the top 10, all right, in the last decade, six running backs in the top 10. Six of them. All right. Who are they? Six of them in the top 10. Leonard Fournette, Christian McCaffrey. Correct. Correct. Who else you got? Steven, let's go.

Leonard for net top, top 10 quarterbacks. The last six years, top 10 running better for that Christian McCaffrey.

Come on. Let's go chat. Ezekiel Elliott. Ezekiel, yes, 2016, fourth overall. Fournette was fourth in 2017. Christian McCaffrey was eighth in 2017. Todd Gurley, 10th in 2015. Saquon, two in 2018. Nice job, Chim. And Bijan. Bijan. Last year, 2023, eighth overall, the Atlanta Falcons. Now.

All right. Now, when you draft quarterback to the top of the draft, the first, the first running, excuse me, running backs. When you take running back to the top of the draft, do they, is the first running back taken? How I'm trying to figure out how likely is it that the first running back taken the dude that everybody looks at as the best running back in the draft, like they look at Ashton Gentry. How often is that guy, the top running back in that class? All right. So you go just, just going through it as quickly as I can here, 2024,

The highest running back taken was Jonathan Brooks, 46 overall second round Carolina. Now he did not end up leading that class because he tore his ACL in week three. And by the way, it already been torn in college once. So they took a big swing. He ends up tearing it again. The top running back last year, Bucky Irving, 125th overall fourth round Carolina.

And it is true. Yes, the Bears did pick Torrey Taylor three picks before that, but we won't go into that. I won't get into that. By the way, the fourth leading rusher last year, fourth leading rusher in the NFL, that would be Caleb Williams, 489 yards for the record. Just a little side note there. Top 20. What's that? By a rookie. By a rookie. By a rookie. Excuse me. Thank you. Scared me. Mm-hmm.

2023 top running back taken was B. John Robinson. Did he lead the, did he lead the NFL? Yes, he did. So 976 yards for a rookie as at, and then he had 1456 last year. So a big time jump.

12th overall, by the way, Jameer Gibbs, he is second from that class. So the two top running backs that went last year, of course, Gibbs going to Detroit, tie it into Ben Johnson and all that 2357 right behind Bijan. So those two worked out, you know, who didn't work out Debbie Roshan Johnson from last year in the fourth round, uh,

Chase Brown, fifth round pick, 1169 yards. Compare that to 502 for Roshan, which just bringing it up because, you know, we are talking about the general manager who has to evaluate a running back later. And in the Roshan case, as far as the production from 2023, he did not nail it. Right. But context also is these other guys were asked to be starters. Yeah.

versus Roshan, who has to be a backup. Yeah, but if Roshan had dominated, he would have gotten a ton of opportunities. He just never really took it. Well, he ran that dude over like week two, and then they just stopped doing that. Fair enough. 2022, top running back taken. Was he the best in that draft? No. That was Brees Hall to the Jets, 36th overall. Top running back was James Cook, taking 63rd overall. It could also go down.

In that draft, by the way, in the fifth round, there was a Kyron Williams ran for 2,582 yards. 2022, who did the Bears draft in the third round? That would be Valus Jones Jr. Do you realize how many wide receivers in that draft taken after Valus have more receiving yards than Valus? Probably a lot. Nine. Nine.

nine in the third round i do but that's just that is different because he's a running back yeah 2021 top running back taken naji harris and he led that class still leads that class with 4312 yards all right so and you just keep going down the list 2022 top running back no that was clyde clyde edwards hilaire taken in the first round did not leave the class 32

Jonathan Taylor was taking 41st, 6,013 yards. Missed. 2019, top running back, Josh Jacobs, 24th overall to the Raiders. Leads the class. You know who was second in that class?

David Montgomery, third round pick. Shout out Bears. Excellent job, Ryan Pace. That was a hell of a pick right there. 18, that's Saquon's year. He leads that draft. And second is Nick Chubb, second round pick. So a lot of these are highly productive. Now, we'll wrap it up here at 2017, which I think in the last 10 years is the most –

If you look at the depth of that class compared to what they're saying, the depth of this class will be comparable. It's very comparable. Leonard Fournette, fourth overall, pretty successful career, got hurt. I mean, not terrible, but he's the eighth most from that class. The eighth most. Who was top?

Joe Mixon, second round, 48th overall to Cincinnati, crushing it with the Texans. Aaron Jones is second, fifth round. All right, 7,078 yards total. Of course, Green Bay, Minnesota. Alvin Kamara, 67th to New Orleans that year. Christian McCaffrey got hurt a ton, but he is the...

Fourth in that list, eighth overall Carolina. Delvin Cook was in that draft. Second round pick, 41st in Minnesota. James Conner in the third round. Kareem Hunt in the third round. And then Fournette. So all these guys have had successful NFL careers. So the top, Fournette, again, eighth. Now, what does all this mean? To me, it means this. Look,

If the draft is as deep as everyone says, if it's 2017, you can wait. If you end up with Kareem Hunt with the 72nd pick overall, you went 86 that year, that's fine as long as you get Kareem Hunt. But you're much more likely to get the successful running back

as you look at the production of the running backs that have been taken in the top 10, they end up being very productive. It's hard to miss there. Of course, the Bears, you know, we can talk about Curtis Enos and all that stuff. I didn't go that far back. But the point is, it is hard to miss at the top of the draft if you want to be sure that you're getting the right running back. The weird part, though, also is some of these running backs that were taken at the tops of draft, Saquon Barkley, Leonard Fournette,

Christian McCaffrey, whoever you want to say. Yeah, they don't. They end up leaving there. They don't find that that ultimate success with the first team. Saquon Barkley obviously wins the Super Bowl last year. So it's like that's on the giant, you know, but exactly. That's the other kind of caveat is we're not going to do this again like we did last year with Caleb, but like the best situation a running back has ever been drafted to, you know, for the Bears this year. It's a tongue in cheek, obviously, but this is

essentially ideally or theoretically would be a very good situation for a guy like Ashton Gentry to get drafted into when you consider the talent on this team and the coach calling plays, but they got to do it first. Right. And I'm with you with the whole Alvin Kamara thing draft the saints. I brought this up a week ago. Saints drafted an offensive lineman. I know Wisconsin in the first round and drafted Alvin Kamara in the third round.

And if that, if we could find that recipe, that's what I'd prefer over the Ashton Gentry at 10. But we, until, you know, we're not going to know these things, you know what I mean? Like you can't guarantee it. I mean, but what stands out to me just after, you know, just looking at it, look, first of all, I mean, the bears have not been a successful offensive football team as a whole with the very few exceptions of, of when Cutler and, and,

Mark Trestman and that era was going on, the end of Lovey, whatever.

But they just haven't run the ball well. So they've had success in drafting later round running backs. David Montgomery was a good pick. Jordan Howard. I didn't go back as far as back as Jordan Howard, but Jordan Howard was the third most productive running back from the 2016 draft where you had Zeke going fourth overall and Derrick Henry. Howard was third in that draft, the fifth round pick. I mean, they've had some successful late round picks, but they have not –

had a very productive running game that is translated into win and running, running, running backs are making a comeback too. You know what I mean? So like when you look at the way the NFL has gone, because defenses are so dead set on,

making sure they don't get beat over the top. Now that's opened up where you're saying like the top six teams with running games made the playoffs. Well, you got to zig while the league is zagging. And so you're seeing, you know, guys that are trying to get tougher on the trenches and,

and ground and pound meat and potatoes because the league's gone, you know, with smaller defensive linemen that are faster, you know, but look at the Eagles. They're like when the Eagles lined up against the chiefs, it was like, it was like watching Ohio state play Colgate, you know, like mammoths on one side of the ball. Then you got Saquon Barkley just trucking people. So that's, and you're, it's a copycat league. So you're going to see teams follow that recipe.

All right. Well, this leads us perfectly into our draft expert, the guru, the frantastic, the franimal, Fran Duffy coming up here in a matter of moments. But first, shout out to our friends at Empire Today, the flooring experts.

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Go to shady rays.com and save 35% off polarized sunglasses with the code C H G O over 300,000 people have rated shady rays, five stars. So use code C H G O today at shady rays. Dot. All right. To the NFL draft expert. We go. Our all city guru, Fran Duffy franchise mode.

Fran-tastic. Franimal. The Franimal. Our hero. Fran-tastical. Be a diehard. Read every, that got uncomfortable. Read every detail that you could possibly ever want to read. What's up, Fran? Carm Braggs, what's happening, boys? You guys are the first that have called me Franimal. That was a nickname when I first got into working in football. So I appreciate that one.

Hey, we appreciate you. We're doing the best we can here and you deserve all the accolades. So that's why we're, you know, we're here. Hey, I don't know how much you heard of that running back conversation, but I dialed up, you know, going back through the last 10 years, you look at running back drafts and everyone keeps talking about the depth here. 2017, Fournette, Joe Mixon, Aaron Jones, Alvin Kamar, Christian McCaffrey, Dalvin Cook, James Conner, Kareem Hunt,

I mean, that's a hell of a list right there. Do you in your in your Fran expert opinion? Do you think we're going to look back at 2025 and think, wow, that looks awful similar to 2017? Do you think there's that much talent in this draft?

I do think that there is that level of talent, Carm. I think when you're looking at this group, no matter what you're looking for, if you're looking for like that dynamic change of pace guy, if you're looking for that early downs workhorse, if you're looking for a true three down presence, I think you're going to find those examples here in this class. Now, that said, is every one of these guys going to hit? No.

one name you left off that 2017 group is a player that I'm was well familiar with when he was selected. It was the Eagles pick at running back that year because that was their their strategy was, you know, we're going to wait. We're going to push off that selection. Let's take one early day three because you know what? This is a this is a loaded class that we can get one later. Let's take the guy that had the

best production out of this whole group. He set all kinds of records. There's a lower level of competition. Let's take Donnell Pumphrey down at San Diego State, and that guy never played, never amounted to anything in the NFL. And so all that to say is you can't just say, oh, we're just going to kick the can down the road. We'll take a running back later. You better make sure you get that pick right because for every Alvin Kamara and James Conner and Kareem Hunt that you take in rounds three, round four, there's going to be the Donnell Pumphreys of the world as well.

Well, let's try to find that Bucky Irving, our good friend and loyal viewer of this show, Gary Ross. He's our insider, too. We call him Gary Rappaporter. He shared with me a link here with Matt Miller, obviously the NFL draft scout for ESPN and everything. He said, this year's Bucky Irving is R.J. Harvey. He says, I love his game, productive, shifty, decisive, good receiver. So for you...

When you look at, when you look at RJ Harvey, do you see that same assessment as somebody that the bears can find in a later round like that?

Yeah, I think that Harvey's game is definitely a little bit different than Irving. But if you're saying, all right, like a guy that's going to go in the middle rounds that could pop, there are some wide varying opinions on Harvey. You know, I'm probably on the lower end of the spectrum in terms of his game. I would say that there are some that are very high on him and do view him as that potential, you know, mid-round sleeper type. This is a guy that's got patience, that ability to be that one cut runner, stick his foot in the ground and get vertical downfield. I think that he does have an element there.

I do worry a little bit about the size and play strength, the ability to play through contact consistently. I do worry about that ability to consistently make that first man miss. But I think when you're looking at Harvey, he is a little bit of a beauty is in the eye of the beholder type of situation. If things are really well blocked up for him, I do think there's something there. He tested really well. I mean, he went 4'4", flat, just over 200 pounds. But again, at that size, I just...

I worry a little bit about the smaller backs. And honestly, that goes back to the Donnell Pumphrey conversation because the size was just too much for him at the NFL level. But I think when you're looking at Harvey, that is my big hang-up is like the size strength component at the position. You know, reading your breakdown of him here, Fran, sounds to me a little Khalil Herbert-esque, if you will. You write, very patient, deliberate, methodical runner approaching the line of scrimmage, both downhill and on perimeter plays.

But when he sees it, he cuts it loose. I mean, that sounds a lot like Khalil to me right there. And, of course, Khalil was a late-round pick who's led the NFL in yards per carry. So it means he surprised some people.

Yeah. And with Herbert, you know, I remember watching him and I liked Khalil Herbert coming out. I thought he was a little bit like shiftier, like make that first man miss in a phone booth. He did that a little bit of a higher rate where I think that with Harvey, he's just a little bit more like wound up, like straight line, like Energizer Bunny type of runner, just a different style. But I think in terms of like the archetype, like, hey, you know, like undersized back, who's got that patience and that vertical ability. I do think that there are similarities there.

All right. Let's yes. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm going to defer to you, Gregory. You seem, you seem hyped. Yeah. I'm always hyped. I'm always hyped to talk to Fran. And so for me, I'm looking at some different players here to see on a potential trade back and a name that's starting to pop up more and more for bears fans, obviously is Josh Connerly. And I'm curious, uh,

Like, where do you think it's acceptable to take him? Cause it doesn't feel like that's 10. So then like, how do you do this if you're the bears? So like you got to trade back, but if there's no trade back partner, then you got to trade up. Do you think he can fall to 39? And what do you think of him overall as a player?

Yeah, I do think that there's a chance he's there at 39. You know, this is a player that is really athletic. I think that there was position flexibility there that, you know, you could move him around. He's been primarily a left tackle during his time with the Oregon Ducks, but there are some people that feel like he could make the move and be kind of a, you know, an athletic zone blocking guard as well. It wouldn't shot like to me, like he is. And you guys have seen this up close. He is a classic like Green Bay Packer,

you know, draft him as a, as a college tackle, slide him in. And then it becomes a 10 year starter guard. Like he's got that kind of feel to him. He's not always my cup of tea. Personally. I do worry a little bit about the play strength and that's not just in the past game where that anchor can definitely need to stand to improve. We saw that at the senior bowl, he got rocked up by Mike green there on that clip that went viral, but I think his power in the run game, it's a little bit underwhelming as well. I'm going to be honest, like my first pass through when I watched Josh Connelly for the first time early in the fall, I,

I was a little bit underwhelmed. You know, I thought that he was probably more of like high end backup, low end starter, you know, and talking with people more and more through the fall as it, as it went on and was like, no, like this guy's going to go early, like make sure you watch him again. And I watched, I, I, he grew on me a little bit, but still not to the level where I felt super comfortable as a lock for the first round. I think a lot of the mock drafts that have come out since the season ended, had him as a lock first rounder. I think people have cooled off a little bit on that. And you're starting to see him at,

At most he's going in like in the, the mid twenties. But I think it's probably more plausible that he is available for the bears Braggs with that second round pick. Okay. Steven Nicholas is up now here, Fran. He's been chomping at the bit. Fran Ryan polls and Ben Johnson went to Ohio state's pro day over LSU's and Boise state's. Is there any second or third round fits that you could see for the bears for Ohio state?

Yeah, I mean, right off the bat, my mind goes to JT Tuimoluau, the pass rusher there who's been a first-team All-Big Ten selection each of the past three seasons, and his game is built off power. And we've talked about that with Dennis Allen, is that he wants those defensive ends to be big, sturdy pocket pushers. He's not like...

as explosive and like uh you know like that straight like upfield like wow you know kind of sexy rusher that way um that maybe like marcus davenport was when they traded up uh to take him in the first round when they were in new orleans but i think when you're looking at him from an archetype standpoint i do think that he would make some sense the other one would be josh simmons and to me you know look this was a guy that i was very close to mocking to the bears at 10 overall when i did my first mock draft back in january

Obviously, look, with the patellar tendon, how high could he go? How far could he fall? You want to do your homework there and make sure that you understand, like, what is the range for this player? If you told me that Josh Simmons went in the top 15, I would say, yeah, the tape would tell you that that's going to be the range. But...

You could say like if the medical reports don't come back and everybody, you know, like off field stuff, like if all that doesn't come back super clean, maybe you don't want to take that risk off the injury. And now he falls to the second round. I could buy that as well. I just think that the talent is too great that he would fall that far. I think it would require a bearish trade up from their second round pick to move up to get a player like Simmons. If you decide to go defensive line or Ashton Gentry at 10 overall, you make that move to try and get your left tackle the future there, you know, with Josh Simmons.

Well, speaking of Ashton Genting and our weekly Ashton Genting stop, what's your sense on where he's going right now, friend? People keep on saying that he's not going to get to 10. I'm trying to figure out who's going to take him. You know, the new Raiders general manager, he has not drafted a running back that high. So I'm hoping that that

but his kid is threatening him that he, that he better take it. Yeah. And, and, and a part two of the gentee, he, he did fumble a bunch here four times in 23, five times last year. That's not that much. I want to know what, because Fran watches, how many times did he get a carry? That's nothing. Okay. How many did he lose?

It is a lot of fumbles. Now, sometimes I try and make it a point to go back and watch. If a running back has a lot of fumbles, I'll try and go back and watch them all. And the thing that stood out with Gentee, because sometimes a running back will get credited with a fumble if it's an option play and he dropped the toss or it's a mesh point and the quarterback and running back weren't on the same page and the ball hits the ground, right?

that was not the case with Gentile. Every single one of his fumbles the last two years were like second and third effort late in the down ball gets punched out, ball slips out and it's on the ground. So those are things he will need to clean up. Certainly moving into the NFL, as far as where he's going to go,

guys i think he's going to be a raider i think at the end of the day it's not necessarily a john spy tech decision solely i do think that pete carroll like he's going to carry a lot of the juice he's going to carry a heavy stick you know in those conversations leading up to the draft and we know that pete carroll he wants to be able to run the football he wants to run with authority they want to go in and they're going to try and compete right now pete carroll's not getting any younger he said at his opening presser like yeah like i'm coming here to we at my previous stops at

You know, USC and Seattle, we took our time. We did it the right way. We're that is we are here to win right now. And so to me, I look at the other additions they've made this off season. They kind of left running back alone for the most part. They went out and got Raheem Mostert. But outside of that, they've left it alone. I think it's because they've got that number six spot earmarked for Ashton Gentry. I would be surprised if he's not the pick at this point.

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U.S. international assistance protects our interests at home and abroad. If America doesn't lead, China will. Interesting. Okay. I don't think Bears fans want it. I didn't even enjoy hearing that because I fell in love with Jenty this week, Fran. I've had a transformation. I'm pretty proud of myself for having such an open mind. I never cease to amaze myself. Thank you. Thank you. Hey, Tyler, do you think Tyler Warren's going to the top 10? Because now I'm whispering on that, too.

I think so. I think he might. My gut instinct right now is that he actually goes the pick after Genting. I think he ends up being a New York Jet and goes seven overall. I think when you're looking at New York, you got Justin Fields. It doesn't sound like they're going to be going quarterback there this year. I think they want to continue to add playmakers around him. Obviously, they went out. They lose the Devontae Adams in free agency. I think that they were in the Brock Bowers conversation a year ago. Obviously, it's a new regime, new coaching staff.

but that's a team that needs weapons for their offense. I think that Tyler Warren brings the, the type of attitude that I think that they want to instill there, you know, in New York with Aaron Glenn. I think that that's the, that might be the fit that makes the most sense in my mind. I mean, Gentry at six Warren at seven, everybody has the quarterbacks falling now. So like this, is this helping the bears at 10 or hurting them?

Yeah, I mean, I guess it depends on your point of view. If you're a Bears fan that wanted Jenty, then you're not feeling great about it. But I think if you want to go lineman, that's going to make you feel pretty good, right? Doesn't Armand Membu maybe slip through the cracks there? Because that would be someone, if it's not Membu, is it Will Campbell? Do one of those two guys slip through the cracks? If not them, is it Mason Graham? Like,

All of these guys can't go, right? So if you're going to get the running back and the tight end are going to go that high, if they're both going to go in the top seven, it would stand to reason that you're going to get one of these other guys that were not necessarily talking about making it to 10 fall to that spot. And that's why, you know, whenever we've had this conversation about,

the scarcity of blue chip talent in this class, it does ultimately come down to like how each team views those clusters. You know, if you've got your top tier and that's the, you know, the, the Abdul Carter, Travis Hunter tier. All right, you've got those guys. All right. Who's next off the board?

Where do you, how big is that cluster for you? Who is in that cluster? If Will Campbell's in there, but Membu's not, or if Membu's in there and Campbell's not, but Mason Graham's in there, but maybe Will Johnson, the corner from Michigan, he's not in there. All 32 teams are going to view them a little bit differently. So now if you're the Chicago Bears, you might be sitting there and, you know, the New York Jets are on the clock at seven and you're sitting there like, all right,

We've got three guys left on this board. We only have three picks left. We're going to get one of our guys with this cluster, feel good about it. Or you might sit there and say, we only have one guy left. There's three picks left. Either we're going to make a move up or we're probably gonna have to move back. We're not going to get the value that we want. And so those are the kind of the dynamics that now, now that pro day circuit is finished for the most part, I know we've got Shador, uh, here later on this week or next week, rather a week from now, uh,

All these teams are going to be having those conversations, really kind of playing things out, talking through all the different possibilities and permutations here that could happen on draft night. Fran, the Bears are very thin at linebacker. One guy I've circled is Chris Paul Jr. Does he fit the Bears or is there another value linebacker that might be a better fit?

Yeah, I think when you're looking at, when I look at Dennis Allen, to me, I think of guys that have that ability to impact the game as rushers, as blitzers, because he loves to be able to bring those guys down on third down, mug them up on the line of scrimmage, use them in stunts and twists with the defensive line. He did that with Pete Werner.

He did it with DeMario Davis. He loves being able to use those guys as kind of versatile pieces. He loves guys that can run and chase. You know, you think of they went out and signed Willie Gay from Kansas City a couple years ago. He likes that kind of skill set at the position. I do think Chris Paul checks a number of those boxes, Steve. This is a player that...

as a little bit lighter, a little bit lighter in the pants. That's why he might go a little bit later in the draft. But I think when you're talking about like run and chase physicality, he certainly brings that as far as like other linebackers that I do think kind of match that skill set. You know, the one guy that certainly comes to mind for me, you know, I think that there's Tyreen Powell from Rutgers. He's got that size profile that I think has matched. I like a Barrett Carter from Clemson as a day three type of selection.

But that's also the, and I've thought about this at times with Chicago, and it depends on how they view this player. Jalen Walker, if Jalen Walker, because now we're talking round one, right? But if Jalen Walker didn't go number eight to Carolina and you viewed him as a linebacker and didn't view him as an edge rusher, because if you view him as an edge rusher, if you're Chicago, I don't think he's a fit for Dennis Allen. But if you view him as a linebacker,

I think that he would actually make some sense. That would be a team where, and a coach that I would like that pairing because then you're saying, Oh, I view him as a DeMario Davis type where yeah, early downs, he's going to play off ball. But when we get to pass down situations, he's going to get, he's going to mug up over guards. That's, that's honestly where I love Walker most. Like I'm down on Walker compared to the consensus, but I love him as a rusher matched up on guard, standing up over the ball inside. Like that. And that's what I think Dennis Allen would use him as. So that would be like, in terms of like a surprise bears first round pick,

That would be one that I would keep earmarked as well. Well, in your notes on hammers that Walker gets the quarterback when nobody blocks, when nobody blocks. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you couldn't do that because you've got a torn ACL, but it's always like, that's why you have to watch. Oh, you got there because they have a great scheme and there's a ton of guys and, and you know,

Sometimes when you play for Georgia, they can't account for everybody and you're going to get some free runs. Yeah. And if the bears draft a linebacker at 10 bears fans will collectively lose their mind. So we're going to finish this off with our Emmy award winning segment. That's the Fran Duffy rapid fire. There's a sound bites on CH Joe bowls. What's up with that? We need some sound bites, Steven.

All right. Jeez Louise. All right. So Fran, we're going to do some rapid fire here. Stick with the running backs here to start Chuck three, five, seven here from our diehards in our discord channel submitted this question. What would the situation have to be for the bears to draft Amari and Hampton?

Yeah, you don't love any of the linemen that are available and he is the best player available on the board or if it's a trade back situation, you get a deal to trade back, you pick up some extra capital, you recoup some of the picks you lost in some of the trades that you made this offseason already and then you take Hampton in the middle of first round. I think that would be the scenario. So you think no chance will be there at 39?

I know. I don't, I think he's definitely off the board in the first round. Yep. Okay. Climber. Andrew had another running back question just to try to get all these running back. It's like a running back theme show today. So we might as well stick with it. Climber. Andrew says, what are Fran's tears of running backs? I don't want you to give away your entire draft board here, but maybe give him a little taste of how maybe your tears work here.

Yeah, I would say, you know, Ashton Gentry top tier. I would do have a Marion Hampton as a tier below just below Ashton Gentry. After that, I have Judkins, Henderson, Caleb Johnson, and then Bashul Tutin from Virginia Tech all together in a group as well.

I love Henderson. I love his film. I just wonder, is he more of like a 1B back? And I think at that size, as opposed to being like that true workhorse, that's my only knock on him. I wouldn't fall a team for drafting him high just because the character is A+. Everybody raves about him. And certainly he's got that dynamic game-breaking ability. But this was the first year he was able to really stay fully healthy. And so that size does concern me moving to the NFL.

Okay. Moving things along here. Appreciate all your insights. Shockey asks, who are the best edge rushers slash defensive line players who could be available at 39 or 41 that would also fit Dennis Allen's system?

Yeah, and we've talked about it. I think that those edge rushers that you're looking for in round two, typically to fit Dennis Allen, longer, more power-based rushers. I look at Landon Jackson from Arkansas. He has got that body type. We talked about Tuimoloa from Ohio State. I think that he certainly fits that. Nick Skorton from Texas A&M, formerly of Purdue, led the Big Ten in sacks.

back in 2023. I think he checks a lot of those boxes as well. Shamar Stewart, he's probably, that's a first round pick, but he's got that body type. Jordan Burch is another one from Oregon. I think that he certainly fits. So honestly, there's no shortage of players here that I think fit the Dennis Allen archetype off the edge.

All right. Gary Ross asks about Addison West and what you think of him because the Bears are bringing him in for a top 30 visit. He's a local kid coming from Western Michigan, but he is from the Illinois area. So I don't he doesn't count against their top 30, I guess, by rules of what the top 30 is. But they're bringing him in for a visit. Nonetheless, offensive lineman Addison West. What do you think of him?

Yeah. Late rounder that I have not done a full tape study on him yet. And so my goal is with all of the, the, the, the teams in our network that have these like late round flyer type visits that I haven't done. I will make sure I get to them before the draft, just in case they are selected. So for our draft show with a CCO, they make that pick in the sixth round. I'll be able to give you more insight there on, on Addison West. Oh,

Oh, and that's respectable, right? A's taking care of you guys individually as the fans, but he's honest about it too. Doesn't just start pulling, you know, it takes, you know, it's going to do the homework first to give you the, the, the right evaluation, uh, sticking with offensive lineman, bro. Delicious, uh,

Our guy here from the discord channel says Josh Simmons, where might have he gone? If he was healthy, best and worst case spots in the draft where he lands, if not fully healthy, this is like really hard to read. And he goes, I know he may have been brought up before, but maybe it was before his pro day. So he's just basically asking about,

what his health status is and best and worst case scenario where he could get drafted. Yeah. I think we talked about it earlier. I think that at his peak, when he was healthy, I think he was a potential top 10 pick and potential first tackle off the board. But at this point he could fall into round two, could also still go in the top 15. If you're believing in the tape.

Okay. Um, quickly moving to the next offensive lineman. Andrew M is asking about, um, yeah. Ursary. He wants to know why you're so much higher on Ursary than the consensus. Uh, I just believe in the, in the talent there. And at the end of the day, like, I don't think that he is a, he's not a finished product. Certainly. Uh,

but I think when you're looking at tackles that are flawed, you know, I think of like a Terrence Steele, the money that those guys get on the open market. Basically, I explained in the big board, like how I, how I, how I, how I rank guys. Like I based out of what the type of player I feel like he can be. I think at Ursary at the end of the day, not a finished product, but tackles that aren't finished products. Like even if he doesn't fully hit his ceiling, those guys get paid on the open market.

All right, final one. Thank you for getting through this rapid fire with our diehards. If you want to become a diehard and get your questions in to Fran here before we get to the draft, go to allchco.com slash diehard. And he asks about a few different players, Gray Zabel, Walter Nolan. It's a little lengthy here. He says, why would 10 be too early, quote unquote, to draft someone like Gray Zabel or Walter Nolan or Amari and Hampton, as we talked about, if nobody is trading up?

Yeah, and this goes to the scenario we talked about a little bit ago, right? Where it's just, it all is going to come down to how teams view each cluster of players. And that's why I always work off a horizontal board as opposed to a vertical board. Because if you get wrapped into, oh, like, you know, 15th best player versus 10th best, that's not really how teams look at it. They're more looking at who is going to be there in that same cluster along that same top row of the horizontal board. If you've got all guys clustered together, you're typically going towards an area of need and who can best impact your team.

Speaker 0 : For sure. Well, that wraps things up for our rapid fire segment, Emmy award winning Oscar award winning. Speaker 3 : You got me peaked on the, on root and tootin let's go VAT tech. Let's get some speed in here for Ben Johnson. Let's go late round root and tootin fresh and fruit and the Rudy tootie fresh and fruity. Yeah. Anybody remember that? Of course they do. I know you do. Rudy tootie fresh. I mean that dude sells jerseys. Does he not?

I think you make it happen that that four, three speed will do it too. Car. Yeah. I mean that Rudy tootie fresh and fruity. Did you ever go Rudy tootie fresh and fruity? I did not. That's unfortunate. Hey Fran, you know what you were today? You were phenomenal again, dude. Appreciate it. Man. Car brags. We'll we'll talk next week. I appreciate you. Be good brother. Thank you, Fran.

All right. Was it? Is Carm Sweet Bippy right about that? It was I hop with the Rudy Tootie Fresh and Fruity. Was that Dennis? I have no idea what you or Sweet Bippy are talking about. You don't know the Rudy Tootie Fresh and Fruity? No. What kind of show is this? Who am I working with here? Actually, you probably would. I think we're all asking the same thing. We're all asking the same thing about each other.

How did this happen? It's one of the more miraculous things in the history of podcasting. Hey, hit the like button for Fran on the way out. And yes, it is the top of the hour. So thank you to everybody who's watching us on Samsung TV, Roku TV, all the TVs out there. Become a diehard before you click off your TV and come to our draft party. April 24th, 25th, 6 to 10, 115 Bourbon Street. Bragg's is going to be the most...

delicious honey bear that he's ever been he will bow chanting it was I hop you we will have I hop as a late night when you leave there we're all gonna we're gonna go to the hop pour the syrup on me yeah yeah that's right honey bear

Honey bear with some. We're going to go. We're going to go. We're going to go. You know what we're going to have for you on that night? We're going to go organic farm local honey to make you even sweeter. We're going to get the good stuff. We're not going, you know, nothing. You know, this is it. We're going to go. We might even dial up the flus. Find out where the flus has a farm. Get you the good. I'm hot. Sticky sweet. Become a head to my feet. Yeah. Artist. I don't remember.

pour some sugar on me you don't know the artist it's been a long day uh yeah make sure you go to all chco.com slash diehards to sign up or use the qr code on your screen who it's def leper def leper that's right come on man i'm sorry and i won't and i need and i love adam home and i won't is he still in florida

I don't know. Oh, he's here, huh? Oh, wait, no. He's... No, no, he's not here yet. He's still in Florida. Still in Florida. He's flying back today. The weather ruined everything for him last night. Yeah, ruined everything. He's flying back today. That darn weather. We're having a meeting in 29 minutes that he's going to be on. It'll be me and Hogue tomorrow as Braggs gets the day off. So the day off, I'm working. Yeah. I am working tomorrow. Yeah. Braggs will be drunk in the bleachers tomorrow. It's...

It's Friday one 20 club. As I've been telling people every Friday day game at Wrigley, we start at Murphy's and then we'll be in the left field bleachers. If you are going to the game tomorrow, this is not an event you have to pay for. You just come and hang out with us, get your Friday one 20 club shirt and be a part of the gang with me.

Cody Delman, Cody Delmendo, Emma Alperovitch, Sarah will be there. Let's go, Sarah. It's going to be a lot of fun. Joey Christopoulos is going to be there. A lot of CHGO Cubs fans and everybody else in between. Chris Panko, sales guy extraordinaire. Chris Panko will be there. I'm assuming Panko will be there.

Everybody will be sunny siding. Everybody will be sunny side. You guys are wearing our shady rays, right? If you do have a bleacher ticket, you guys are one of the Sam Adams. You're in the left field bleachers and like the first row acting like idiots. Yep.

We're in the well, left field, and all wearing our green shirts. Who's that guy that I once shouted out because he got yelled at for catching a ball? My tie guy. Yeah, my tie guy's over there. Yeah, my tie guy will be there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Does he know about us? Is he a CHGO fan? Yeah, he's a big fan. He's a big fan. Okay, well, you guys have a great time. Me and Hogue will be working. I'll be working, too.

Steven will be working, I believe. And we have a draft interview tomorrow, too, that we'll be doing. So rock and roll on that one. A lot of fun today, a lot of fun this week. We'll hopefully...

Not even hopefully. We will finish strong tomorrow. Anything else that we didn't get to today, Stephen, that I left on the table? Do we have any super chats here? We have a super chat from Gabe Gardner, 499. Gardner. Gardner.

No, right. No, I'm changing it. Gabe Gardner sounds more fancy. Chicago sports are giving me hope again. Kind of scary at 20. I only remember the Hawks being great. May have to put resting home face to rest. You're getting, you're getting, yeah, don't get ahead of yourself. Gabe. Don't get greedy here. Okay. Nothing has happened yet. We have to wait for something to happen to get excited.

Yeah, but I'd like to know where his excitement is coming from. Is it the Cubs sweeping the A's? No.

It's the bears making all these moves, the draft, everything feels right. Yeah. Okay. I was trying to explain this to Lance Briggs. And by the way, tonight, make sure you tune in. CHGO bears after dark will be live at six or will be premiered at 6 PM central. I recorded with him this morning. He had a lot of great things to say. We did the five for 55, talked a lot of draft, talked about the tush push, talked about his drafts.

draft process leading up to when he was coming out of the University of Arizona as a third round pick. So a lot of really good stuff there. So make sure you tune in tonight to see HGO Bears after dark. So two shows today for the price of one. You really are just grinding it out. Grinder. Grinder. I had physical therapy this morning. Then I did a show. Then we had our pre-show meeting. Now I'm doing another show. Then we have a meeting here in a little bit and I'm going to listen and I'm going to do what I'm told.

Thank God. All right. I can only dream. Hey, thanks for watching. Hit the like button on the way out here. Tell a friend about the CHGO Bears podcast. We greatly appreciate it as we try to grow this. We're about, what, 500 subscribers away from 80,000? That's right. Let's go. We're not leaving until we hit 80K. Come on. Let's go. We have a meeting in 25 minutes. We're not leaving. We'll do the meeting live.

If you could get us closer to 80K, if you're not a subscriber today, we would greatly appreciate that. Everyone have both their parents subscribe. How many people are in the chat right now?

And if they got everybody right, if everybody in the, if everybody watching live right now gets both their parents to subscribe, we will hit 80,000. For those of you who have lost your parents or one of your parents, we, we sent our condolences because I'm sure not everybody is 10 that's watching the show. So maybe a friend or a cousin or anybody.

oh thank you oh god i am a little you know i get a little sensitive on the parent thing okay hold up here pizzatola says steven can i get on the show to argue with karm at the draft party i want pizzatola i want to meet pizzatola this is what i don't like it's almost like the duke from for those of you that have been around for a few years the duke used to be a big super chatter and now he's since disappeared he's probably dead and um uh

I don't know if I want Pizzitola to reveal himself. You like him as a mystery figure? Yeah, like it's going to lose the mystique a little bit. I think he should go to the draft party regardless. What if he's goofy looking or something? That'd be even better. That'd be better? Yes. Remember? Yeah, I mean. Shut up. I want to meet Pizzitola. You're going to bounce him on your knee like you did that secret page hit with a guy hit.

that was phenomenal uh look i don't know what i'll do but i'll give him a hug for sure and and uh and pisatolo is is i want to are you kidding i want to meet the pisatolo i don't want him to be anonymous forever come to the yes pisatolo me and you draft party argument might be after the draft party's over we'll put it on tape and bring it back but we'll get it done something will happen um and uh

Gary Ross, if you want to buy Pizzitola's ticket, feel free to, you know, I'm sure Pizzitola would appreciate that. Crystal wants to meet you too. Look, everybody wants to meet Pizzitola. Pizzitola might be the most popular guy at the draft party. So there you go, Pizzy. We love you, even though...

everything you've said about me but I'm not even gonna think about that right now all right have a great rest of your day we're back tomorrow at noon be safe out there and for those of you who are not watching tomorrow's show just a reminder I will be at the Cubs game on Sunday so come say hi on Sunday because opening day is just for the you know the cool people but the cooler people go when it's freezing cold on Sunday and it's early in the season thank you very much I'm

Don't know how that just came out of my mouth, but that just happened. Shout out to you, Tyson Bayesian. We had your back today. You two running backs. You two brags. You two, Steven. Now I'll stop talking. Have a great rest of your day.

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