Interviews of the Week on 104.3 The Score: Aug. 31-Sept. 4

0:00Ryan Hoyer in the game, the back up, boarded back. Free edge now to Michigan State. All right, having eight play to drive, this is a third and goal. Hoyer, pump and throw. Touchdown, check door. Hoyer, patch the bell. Rolls to the outside. Jacobi Max. Go ahead. It's from the gun. Moving pocket. Hoyer, throws. Touchdown. Dirt and fore, running back covered. Second option covered. Hoyer, on a run. First down, touchdown. Ryan Hoyer. Hoyer, in job. Married it. For touchdown. Ryan Hoyer. Let's go, baby, with Rahimi and Grote on 104-3, the score. 3, he, me and Grote on 104-3, the score. Former NFL quarterback, Brian Hoyer, co-host, the opening drive, Mondays and 30s, Thursdays at 6am on SiriusXM NFL Radio, Channel 88. And you can now listen to the score on SiriusXM, Channel 96.

1:02And wherever you go on the SiriusXM app, check out SiriusXM.com. Slash sports pass for more details on how to subscribe to SiriusXM, all new sports plan. We are happy to have on the score with us. Yes, the former NFL quarterback, Brian Hoyer. Brian, welcome to Rahimi and Grote on the score. How are you today, sir? Oh, great. How are you guys? We are doing well, man. And I do love looking at your resume because from 2009 to 2023, you, sir, started for eight different teams, the second most in league history. And we cannot forget the 2016 Chicago Bears for whom you played. And I was looking back at some of the numbers. I know that wasn't one of the great years in Bears history under John Fox and Ryan Pace. But you, sir, had a string of four straight starts coming in for Jake Cutler, where they are all over 300 yards. Do you remember those starts fondly at all, Brian Hoyer?

2:04I do. I mean, I thought I was going to be in Chicago forever. I know that the result wasn't always great in the win and lost column. But that was probably the best stretch of football that I played. And that really was a testament to Dal Lagan, who was the offensive coordinator at the time. I had a relationship with him. And we really worked well together the quarterback coach, Dave Ergone, who's now out in LA, the passing coordinator with the Rams. So, man, I was a Midwest kid. I had played for the Browns, my hometown team. But I thought it was pretty cool living up there in Lake Forest and playing for the Bears, a historic franchise until Clay Matthews speared my left forearm and shattered it into pieces. What? What, Clay? Yeah. The Packer Clay Matto. I am sorry about that. So I guess I had forgotten about that. Clay Matthews doomed you. Well, that is nasty. Yep, so it was a short run, but I enjoyed it. And I'm proud to say that I was a Chicago bear for sure. Dal Lagan wasn't afraid to tell you what he didn't know that I always noticed in press conferences. Like, he would be okay with saying,

3:05yeah, we hadn't seen this defense before XYZ. But he also struck me as a creative play collar. What did you like about his play calling skills? Yeah, Dal was awesome. He was my quarterback coach when I played for the Browns under Kyle Shanahan. And he had a little bit of influence from a lot of different areas and a lot of similar systems that I was used to. And so we would get in there and talk about the game plan and talk about, he was always, he was really great with the quarter. I was like, what do you like? What do you want in the game plan? And I always thought that was great because I'm the one who's out there has got to execute it, right? And so he had a really good feeling for that. He was always trying to learn. Even for me, coming from that New England system, he would ask me about past protections and, you know, route concepts and things like that. And so it's not surprising to me that he's now a head coach down there at Appalachian State. And it was just for me and him, we had a really good connection and it showed on the field. That's awesome. I haven't really got, like I'm heartened to hear that you had a good experience here in Chicago.

4:06You never know. And I always like to know that from players that played for the Bears, even if it was for just a brief time. So we talked to Brian Hoyer here, the former NFL quarterback on Rahimi and Grody on 104-3, the score. Let's bring it to the year 2026, where you're sitting here right now. What are your thoughts on Caleb Williams from one quarterback to another? Yeah, I mean, look, he's truly entertaining. And he's definitely had a lot of growth. I think the best thing that ever happened to Caleb Williams is that Ben Johnson was hired to be the head coach. He's going to be there to make sure he pushes them everything to get better. And I think the one thing with all the Razzle Dazzle, he's done a good job of protecting the football. So I'd love to just see to him to continue to develop that growth as a quarterback. And you'd like to see the completion percentage go up. But he's definitely one of the most electric players in the league. And I think having Ben Johnson in his corner, teaching him how to play the game has been incredible. And man, he definitely gave us some highlights last year to watch, I mean, I don't care if you're a Bears fan or not,

5:08that touched down against the Packers, where he drifts back to the 50 and throws it. I mean, that was incredible. And so if he can mix in a little bit more of playing within the system, I think that gets his completion percentage up. And then relying on the athleticism, you know, when the initial read isn't there, that's got to be the next progression for him. I think you're right. That's the thing is, what is what in your opinion is the hard throw for Caleb Williams to make when you know athletically he can make anything and then just seeing what he also does in structure? Yeah, I mean, there's no throw that he cannot make. I mean, he has that mahogany type of ability. I think even when you watch him at USC coming out, you're like, this is the closest thing to mahogany and anyone's really seen. But the one thing about the NFL game is sometimes they're going to try to take that away, right? They're going to try to make you recoverage and then cage rush you. And the one thing he's going for him is he's way faster than I ever thought he could be. And he gets out in the edge and they can't really catch him. So I think when you have a coach like Ben Johnson, who's a guru and he's drawing up these plays,

6:10you have to understand like there's a time and place for it. And when the guys are open and trusting me, like the receivers and they've done a good job of putting some good good players around and whether it's Burden, Adunzay, Loveland, those guys are working to get open in the timing of the play and the structure of the play. And if they're open in that timing, you got to hit them and keep them happy. And then no receiver wants to go out there and run the scramble drill 32 times a game. They want to run their routes. They want to look good against the DBs and they want to get the ball in time so they can catch and run it. So I think finding a balance of that is probably key for Caleb. No doubt about it. And they've talked about that too. They've told Caleb, man, you don't need to be exhausting your receivers on these scramble routes. Do the simple stuff better. But probably remember watching last year, DJ Moore in a play like open and Caleb doesn't see him and you can see him throw his head back and then he's like, now I got to go scramble. Like those guys, they want to be revered as good route runners and all of that. And so if they want to be that type of player, the ball's got to come out on time. Now if the defense has a good coverage

7:11and Caleb can use that lettuces and make a big play, that's the time to do it. One of the things that they have said that the Bears have said over and over about Caleb Williams to take it to the next level, it is what we're talking about here and that is reading defenses. How difficult is that to do? And it's a pretty general way of asking but what is the key to being better at reading defenses because we've seen so many quarterbacks come and go that have failed to be able to be good at that. What is the key to being good at reading defenses? Yeah, I mean, look, I was fortunate enough I came from an era where that was kind of taught to me even at the high school level. And now it's tried to be simplified. The game spread out. It's reconcepts, not read defenses. I would say the one thing is, he's got Ben Johnson there to teach him that. So it is part of the game, especially when you get the NFL and you can play without doing it. There's plenty of systems where they have these progression reads and you really don't worry about what the defense is doing. You go left the right or right to left.

8:11But if you can get to the place where you see the defense and they're telling you where to go with the football and that's, look, I, like I said, I was taught that way from high school level, college level and then the first four years of my career was with Tom Brady who you would argue no one did it better at reading the defense and having the defense tell him where to throw the football. So spending time with Ben Johnson and also I always thought, like once you master your offense, now you really shift your focus to the defense and understand, okay, if I get this play called and it's cover one, this is where I wanna go. I don't really need to read everybody else. This is my matchup, that's where I'm gonna go. If it's cover two, I'm gonna work this zone concept. So there's a lot that goes into it. I don't think kids are taught at a low level anymore. I'm actually driving to my son's freshman football practice that I surprisingly was offered the opportunity to coach him for the last minute. So I'm out there coaching him to read defense is at the freshman level. So it's gotta come from coaching and then you gotta trickle up all the way up to the NFL. That is awesome.

9:11Okay, so what do you coach a freshman in high school on how to read defense is what's your base? Well, to me, I've always looked at is you have to find the safety. That's when the play is about to be snapped, those guys will give you the information more than any other player on the field. So I always had a checklist. I come up, I look at the front. Okay, some fronts would tell me there's a possibility of this blitz coming. So okay, you cross that off your checklist. Then you check the linebackers and the level that they're at. Then you peek the corners. And then ultimately as I'm getting ready to snap the ball at the cadence, I am watching the safeties. And particularly one in general, which would be the weak safety. That's who I would always watch. And then based on what he did, I felt like that would give me an indication of what the coverage was. And so I have them out there reading safeties. And sometimes it looks good. And sometimes he's like, I the safety did this and I go, no, he didn't. You got to keep your eyes on him. So I think there's got to be an emphasis of that of teaching these quarterbacks. Like you can't just look at your receivers. You have to see the defense as well. Okay, so what were you taught at freshman year?

10:14How to read a defense or just just trying to run the play? Yeah, no, I had a great quarterback coach. Offensive coordinator is named Nick Rastifo. Sadly, he passed away last year. But from the moment I was a freshman, he was talking about, all right, on this play, we had, we ran the most classic plays that you had out there like a dig and a post. And he's like, all right, if the safety takes the dig, then you're gonna throw the post. And so that's how I learned, gosh, I don't wanna say how many years ago, 25 years ago. And that's how I learned how to play the position. And then it just continued when I got to Michigan State. And then obviously when I got to New England, that was the only way that they knew how to do it. So that's the way that I was groomed to learn how to read the defense. That's great. That's a great conversation I love. We're talking to Brian Hoyer, the former NFL quarterback, the former Bears quarterback here on Rehemian Grody, on 104-3 this score. I want to get to a couple of other things because the NFC North is a hot division man.

11:15It's hard to handicap it. How do you look at it? Now you don't have to say the Bears, but who do you think is the best team in this division and can't you place them one through four? It's hard, it's tough. The only thing that I'll say is, and this is just because of the quarterback position, I started four with Minnesota. And that's hard to say because I think they're a really good team, but I think they have the biggest question at the quarterback position. Can Tyler Murray come in and run that system and be successful? I don't know. The defense is gonna be really good with Brian Flores and the things that he can do defensively, they have a lot of guys coming back. And then I would say to me between Detroit, Chicago and Green Bay, they're all gonna beat up on each other. It's like it would be easy to see all of those series be split one and one. And I think the North, which when I was playing in it, it really wasn't that tough of a division. Now it's become one of the toughest divisions in all football. So I think you got to stay with Chicago at one. And then I'll say, I think Detroit bounces back this year. I think they were really disappointed that they dealt with injuries

12:17with Kirby, Joseph and Brian Branch. They get those guys back. Matt Campbell, I've always been impressed with. I'd say that they bounced back up and then, I put Green Bay at three, but even with that, I think they're a wild card team. So it's probably the second toughest division in all football. I also want to ask you this, Brian, were you aware that Jed Hoyer, the Cubs General Manager, has a president of baseball operations? Has a Brian Hoyer jersey? Yeah, it was so funny. He actually reached out to me through Kevin O'Connell back in the day and said, we're having our first son. I think they named him Beckett. So he had a Josh Beckett jersey. And he goes, I want to have a Hoyer jersey next to it. And you're the only Hoyer in professional sports. And I thought, of course, I'm sure we're related somehow. So when I played for the Bears, Jed would take care of us. We go down to Riggly, sat in one of the suites with him and Theo. So it's a pretty cool story for sure. I just tell him now, as my son grows up, like he's a baseball player too. Like when you're drafting and you see that name,

13:19Hoyer, come across, don't forget about that jersey. Fantastic. I love the bridge building. That's great. Yeah, for sure. Brian, this has been awesome, man. Let's do it again sometime. We appreciate you. Thanks for coming on and thanks for being a bear, Brian. We appreciate you. Yeah, thanks for having me on. I'll talk to you guys soon. That is former NFL quarterback Brian Hoyer. That's so good. And high school coach, I look like, to the kids know how good they have it when they've got people like Brian Hoyer coaching their team. Right. That's pretty real. He is the host co-host, the opening drive, Mondays and Thursdays, 6am on SiriusXM, NFL Radio, Channel 88. You could now listen to the score on SiriusXM, Channel 96. I've had friends around the country screenshot an hour show to me, Leila, that they're listening to on SiriusXM. I have a buddy in LA who sent me a picture. It's pretty neat. I was on one of, that was on Mad Dog Radio yesterday on SiriusXM. So we were doing the whole synergy thing. And wherever you go to get SiriusXM app,

14:21check out SiriusXM.com slash sports pass for more details on how to subscribe to SiriusXM, all new sports plan. When we return, let's go to Lake Forest. We're Brian Hoyer used to be flinging footballs around. We're going to bring in Chris Amit-A-Talk Bear's next on Rehemian Grote on 104-3 this score. Do Hoss Meish. So what time's, I actually saw a clock over, oh, it's time for, Clay Harbor. Leading for a Wimbley Stadium, 90,000 Sold out crowd in London. And for some reason, my heart's beating, getting out of a limo to go date some girl. What's, first off, what's wrong with you? Football analyst for Chicago Sports Network, former NFL player. Not a quarterback, I'm a tight end, but I've watched a lot of tape. I've been in meeting rooms with Tom Brady. I've been in meeting rooms with Drew Breeze. I've been in meeting rooms with Michael Vick. Quarterbacks know what they can do and what they can't do. And I know what a quarterback can and can't do and when you're supposed to expect them to be able to be successful. Clay Harbor with Haim Peyton on 104-3 this score.

15:25Welcome back, Happy Thursday morning. You're listening to Haim Peyton's Chicago Sports Radio 104-3 this score, Jared Peyton, David Haugh here, until 10 o'clock. And we are pleased to welcome in my colleague from the Chicago Sports Network, Man About Town. And a guy who does a little bit of everything on a lot of different teams, Clay Harbor. Hey Clay. Thanks for having me and I got a little boned to pick. I don't know if that was Dustin, but I thought we were done with the bachelor entrance here, man. You know, come on. You tell me it was fine. Clay, you said he was cool. It's okay, it's okay, man. Hey, own it, man. Yeah, you gotta embrace it. Embrace it. I've been trying to run away from this thing for probably 10 years now since I did it. But no, it's fine, it's fun. Well, now we can get color analyst work on Northern Illinois football, right? And I you football, baby, let's go Huskies. Let's go. And Illinois State and the ISU, campgroundized, you got a lot of games. National runner up, so I want you to keep track of how many games you call this year because you're gonna be at a lot of them. And then the state championships this year for the IHSA, as well.

16:26You're a busy guy, but you also are immersed in Bairdom. So you know what's going on at House Hall. And this week, I would call it a saga and it's ongoing. And we've talked about it before on the big football show. And the Kyla Gordon saga took another turn on Wednesday. When he released a video of him working out and looking fit and cutting and doing things and showing explosiveness in a way that doesn't depict a player who is injured or even hurt clay. That seemed to be, to me, early in the show, I called it a middle finger to the bears who a day earlier had Ryan Poles essentially call him out publicly and label him soft. What did you think of what Poles said and the way that yesterday Kyla Gordon responded? I think this is Kyla Gordon sending some form of a message. I'm not sure what that message is because if you're healthy, you would figure

17:28that he would be ready to play. So it's interesting, it's a mess. You got to decipher, it's like a code message. I don't know what he's trying to send, JP. Because obviously the bears need him at slot and slot is one of five to rank my top positions on the bears roster that I'm worried about right now. It's slot corner. Okay, I think Malik Muhammad is going to have a good career. You gotta realize this guy played 95% of his snaps at Texas at outside corner. You guys know how difficult that is to move inside the NFL and he's gonna take time, and I hope bears fans give him that. It's gonna take time for him to become a good professional slot cornerback. I think Don't think him in that he played a little bit in there. He's, you see the range, you see the speed, you see he's picking up things in his man-to-man coverage this preseason that has not looked good. So that is a position that they really do need help. If Kyler Gordon's healthy, you're gonna want to put him there. We all remember Denys Allen's opening press conference when he comes here. I'm looking forward to see Kyler Gordon. This guy can do a lot of things.

18:28He plays in the run game, he's physical, he can cover. I don't understand the message he's trying to send. He does look healthy. Obviously there's a big difference between posting an Instagram video running and playing football, but it's confusing. And I think there's just a really big disconnect between the team and him. But Clay, it's hard. How do you kind of mend this fracture that's between the player and the organization? Because when you listen to Ben Johnson talk, it's like, I don't know that guy. There has to be some type of trust factor here. The bears are hoping to trust him. And at the moment, they just can't trust him at the moment. Yeah, exactly. JP, he's gonna have to build some trust. He's gonna have to get out there. He's gonna have to start practicing. He's gonna have to show that he's bought in, that he's willing to do whatever it takes to get on the field. And I don't think that's something that he's willing to do. And he's one of these guys, it looks like he has these outside trainers.

19:29And you know, you get into trouble when you work with these outside trainers because they might see things differently than the training staff that this organization pays a lot of money to make sure that these players are ready to go are okay. And they will tell you when they are ready to go. There's a lot of money invested here. There's a lot of imaging. There's a bunch of stuff that goes on here. And when there's a disconnect, it makes the GM and the coach really, really concerned. I've heard this before in guys that I do know where they do have that outside team that's working. But that outside team is working hand in hand with the team at Halles Hall. That's not, doesn't seem like it's going on. That's not happening. And that's the problem. Not only is the issue between his team and his team that he plays for, it's also between him and his organization. I just don't see how that fixes. And Clay, you spent nine years in the NFL. I just wonder how common that divide is among players who I know you played several years ago,

20:32but I think in the last 20, and I've covered the Bears for the last 23. I can remember this as far back as 2006-ish, seven-ish. There were players who had their own teams and their own people they trusted. And then they had to integrate that with the team's training staff. So there's going to be conflicts of interest. And maybe, but seldom do you see it gets at this point where it's played out as publicly as this has become. It's strange. And when you hear polls saying, I don't know if he's going to play for us again this year. I hope. And then you see Cater Gordon post a video like that. That's a huge disconnect. Because to me, that video looks like he's at least close. Polls are saying, I don't know. So for me, it feels like there is something else going on here that I don't think we know. I'm not sure exactly what that is if it's just the confidence in his body. If he, if it's just he thinks he's more injured than the Bears do, that seems like something that this has really been blown out of proportion if that's the case. So for me, I feel like there's got to be something else

21:34going on here because firstly, JP, as you know, NFL coaches and GMs, if a player is injured, they don't give you a lot of grief for this. They know this is a physical sport. This is tough. Players are going to get injured. They're not going to go out and say, hey, you got to get on the field. They're going to let you get back. But the disconnect happens when maybe he's not doing the recovery, right? Maybe he's going somewhere else and he doesn't feel like he's at a point where the team does. What it seems to me, say he doesn't want to be here. That's what it seems to me. I mean, just flat out honest. Because if you did, you would be back. You would be around more. I just, it doesn't seem like he wants to be here. But okay, I get all that. I understand. Defensive Vino has changed a little bit. And so you have some, you got Bannonburg, Six-Round Pick. You have some undrafted guys. They got rid of Drone Dexter. You kind of saw that meaning that Ryan Poles felt good about the guys that he actually has inside of that room

22:35moving forward. What was your take on Dexter's departure to Atlanta and the guys that you've seen that are still in that room? I get both sides of this take. And I know me and David went at a little bit on the big pro football show, which makes sense. You got a guy that has played a lot of football for you at Six-Sax last year, five, six the year before. And he's got, it's got good pass rush. I look at Dexter, he's big. He's six foot six. He's a good look. He's that first dude off the bus. Tie issues standing up. He's got a little wiggle too, where he can get that pass rush. You get a one on one. You know what he can't do at six foot six? He can't stop the run. When you're six six inside there, it's hard for you to leverage. And just watching this year's preseason tape. I posted a couple clips on X of Drone Dexter getting pushed over five, six, seven yards on a double team. He doesn't anchor as well as loving or vandenberg. He doesn't. Contabye Street, even Neville, Gallimor. That's not what he does. He does other things good, but he can't anchor the same way these guys can. So that makes him, you know, makes it so

23:37he doesn't fit Dennis Allen's game. I told David this, I think maybe on the day that it happened. It was more of his pad level. You look at the other guys that you name, they get off the ball, pad level is low. The one thing with Dexter always came up too high, which goes to your point, getting pushed back a little bit and when let's guys put their hands on your chest and your numbers to move you back. Guys, he was, I get it. He wasn't a good runstuffer necessarily because he didn't have the body type. I get it that there were times where he wasn't the all pro caliber, probo caliber defensive tackle that you wanted to see. I guess I pushed back a little at your clay on the big pro show was because number one, he did show up every Sunday, number two, he's a second round draft pick that you are discarding, dismissing, giving up on. And the number three thing is that you don't have, you're not dealing from a position of strength. I understand that they like their depth. I understand they want to come at the teams and waves,

24:39but when you have a position group where you can add a sixth round draft pick and an undrafted free agent and a journeyman in Contavia Street who is on his fifth NFL team and you're happy with that? Okay, good luck, but I do think there's some risk involved in getting rid of a player that was as durable as Jervon Dexter was last season. This is why I like this. This is because they are watching the film and the tape and they're saying, I don't care who you are, I don't care where we drafted you. Does this make Ryan Polz look good? Do you think he wants to get rid of Jervon Dexter? The last thing he wants to do is have Chicago say, you just got rid of your second round pick. You can't draft anybody. That's why I'm laughing over here with a smile on my face because you know what, it's a new regime and the big dog upstairs Ben Johnson, he's watching going, it's not what I want. You just demoted Ryan Polz. I'm just saying, if we're gonna give, I believe in my heart, he's the one making,

25:39someone making all the money, he's the one probably making all the decisions and what he wants. See now when you put it that way, I will say this. You don't get the sense in watching Jervon Dexter, even though we did show up 19 times that he has that same sort of maniacal focus that Ben Johnson brings. Exactly. He is not that same type of guy and here's my Jaden Loving story. I told you guys I was gonna tell you, you know I go to lifetime fitness downtown Chicago. I didn't know that guy. You never talked about your workouts. JP, this shirt isn't that tight. I just, my arms are this big. Okay, you know what I'm saying? I came from the workout. I'm in the workout. Anyways. This is a real story. A couple days ago, I think, was it yesterday? It was a two days ago. I'm on the treadmill. I'm doing my normal treadmill walk. I walk uphill. I do uphill forward and I go flip backwards for a minute. I do this for 30 minutes. It's tough cardio. If you guys are looking to get in shape out there, try it out. But here's the funny part. I'm walking in my forward session. I turn around, I flip on the treadmill and do my backwards session. I just see a big body on the, on the stair master

26:41right behind the treadmill. It's Jaden Loving on the Bears Off Day, drenched in sweat. This is true story. Yesterday, two days ago, I'm getting old. On the stair master on the Bears Off Day in lifetime fitness, getting extra work in on the stair master. And I did like a quadruple take. And he looks at me like I'm crazy. I just pretend like I didn't see him. I'm like, that's Jaden Loving. And I go and ask my boy from lifetime. He's a trainer Josh. I was a Josh, a Josh. Do you know who that is? He goes, yeah, that's Jaden Loving. Kid from the Bears. I go, okay, I'm not crazy. That's the type of guy that says, this is an off day you just made the Bears team. Do you ask him to work out too? No, I was just impressed. I left him alone, but that's the type of worker that you want if you're the Bears. And to go back to Dex, a real fast. David said he's not good against the run. Okay, obviously I can tell you, but this adds some context, JP. Profit, buff focus. David loves him. I know it's not the end all be all. He had a 44 run defensive grade. That was 108 out of 134 qualifying interior defensive line.

27:45And he's dang near on the back of the boat there. This guy was not good at the run. And then let's look at the Bears rushing numbers. They gave up 134 rushing yards of game, 27th in the NFL. Five yards of carry. What's two runs of five yards of carry? That's a first down, 2019 league, a 29 runstop win rate, which is 27th in the NFL. Rushing the passers are privileged. If you even want to rush the passer, you can give up five yards of carry. So give me some guys that can clog some holes. And a lot of defensive line play comes down to desire. I mean, you need to have the traits. You need to have the strength. You have to have the leverage and all the technique. I get it, but you have to begin with have the mentality. And maybe that's what is the most and diding thing about Javon Dexter is that they in essence labeled him by trading him a guy that doesn't meet the standard that way. Yeah, that's how it looks. It looks that way and that they believe in all these guys and to believe in a guy like Grady Jard,

28:47that's going to be there and actually be serviceable for an entire year, which you're asking a lot of a guy that has a lot of miles on him. Look at all the guys that Ben Johnson has brought in. They're all the same type of players. They're maniacal football players. It's like he said, if you take football away from these guys, what else are they going to do? And like Dennis Allen sent us press conference yesterday. I guess the effort is a talent and you look at loving. You look at Van and Berg. You look at even James Lynch. They cut, they bring him back. These guys were given all types of effort. James Lynch, not the most talented guy. Did he say that? I see him. Or did you say that? He said, that sounds like a billboarder a t-shirt. It should be. And James Lynch is line up at nine technique. I see him at six. I see him at three. I see him at nose. I go, how are you going to get rid of this guy who's giving you effort? He's just gives you a lot of versatility. So I know people haven't heard of Neville Gallemore. They haven't heard of Contavia Street. Obviously Van and Berg's becoming a folk here already in Chicago. But when you see these guys effort, they're pad leveraged,

29:49they're stance, they're get off. It was much better than Jervon Dexter. And guess what? He was on a contract next year. He wasn't even going to be here. So let's get a fifth round pick. Let's get a corner back that can maybe help in the slot, even though he's never played slot in the NFL. I looked up the numbers. He's played like 10 total snaps in a fell. He played in college. That's a different game. When you play slot in the NFL, first college. I get that. But they're going to pick on you. But would you feel more comfortable having that instead of going with a rookie? Yeah, because he's actually had some experience in last year. I think he played in one game because he torn his triceps or his pack or something like that. So it's some give and take here. But he is a guy. He turned on a little film. Phillips, I think he's got good short area quickness. He's a guy that you see the traits where we can play inside. He's five, nine. He's probably a little small for outside. But he makes up for it with his competitiveness. And that's what the Bears like. All right. So we heard from Dennis Allen yesterday. And obviously, the defensive line is full of guys that are either overachievers or they like the mentality.

30:50We know what he thinks about Jalen Johnson because I thought that his compliments were intentional. And also, I think they probably landed very well on a player that every now and then, doesn't mind hearing how much he's needed as a leader. And in that secondary, where are you on Montess Wet? How realistic is it to expect him to take a step forward this year and increase his sack production? You've seen him in preseason. At training camp, where is Montess Wet? Dave, I've been telling you the same thing about Montess Wet for the last three years since we've been working together. And I think Montess Wet is a solid, good, solid, professional ed rush. He's going to set the edge. He's going to give you some sacks. He's not a guy that you really have to double team chip. And if you watch a tape, people say, oh, he's getting chip because there's nobody else in here. He's not. You're not double team, you're not chipping him. You're not even sliding to him that much. If I turn the film, you know, watching it like a tight end, and I see Sweat, I go, okay, he's solid. You know, if I turn the film, I see Michael Parsons,

31:50I turn the film, I see Miles Garrett, I turn the film, I see some, it's not even close, right? So I think Sweat is a solid defensive end ed rusher. He's a guy that I think is sealing his 10 sacks. I think he can get there solid ed rusher, six foot six long arms. We know Dennis Allen likes those big guys that can tie their shoes, standing up. But he is not a guy that is going to carry a defensive line group to a bunch of sacks. He's going to be a solid ed rusher. All right, we got to talk about tight ends because the tight end in residence is in the building. Clay Harbor here from the Chicago Sports Network and Big Profitball Show. We'll get to more of the roster, more of the bears. Keep it right here on Hawn Paine, Chicago Sports Radio 1043 The Score. I think you're really underestimating the broad sexual appeal that I have.

32:57The Score. There's a space and the world can't erase its fantasy. It's just a fantasy. It's just a fantasy. It's just a fantasy. It's just a fantasy. It's just a fantasy. It's just a fantasy. Man, take me back. When I was just the the in the Danny Mac show starting in 2009, we used to bring on the great Paul Charche in the Tock Fantasy football. And he's had a presence on the score ever since. Charche, that's 17 years ago. And now, I've really been that long. Yeah, well, are you suggesting you've been on the air 17 years and haven't been fired? Oh, oh, no, I was fired in there. Don't worry. OK, all right. Good, good.

33:57I was sent to the bullpen for the era of vague employment, Charche. It's all going to be in the book. And then I came back. But yeah, 17 years that we've been talking fantasy football. And you are back and at it as always. And I knew the new podcast is fantasy football world. That is exciting. And I will certainly check that out. But welcome back to the score. Listeners know you very well. How's everything in the fantasy football universe and yours? Well, it's ground zero for fantasy drafts. I mean, half of them, two thirds of them are going to happen in the next seven or eight days. And so this is when everybody is getting all tuned up for their fantasy drafts, which is perfect. Can't help but notice that Lawrence is ducking me. Obviously, the unbridled and really irresponsible enthusiasm that he brings to the bears every single day didn't want any part of that, I think, now. And this very difficult discussion about the fantasy draft status of bears players. Understand understandable. That said, who's the highest bear on your board?

35:01Is it Colston, Loveland? Among all the tight ends? Is it DeAndre Swift? Because running backs go so fast? Who do you got? Well, I'm going to reverse this a little bit. I'll tell you the order they're being drafted. And if both of you, including you Ryan, would tell me who you would take. You've decided you want one bear's past catcher. Here's where they're going. Loveland is going in round three. He's actually going before Luther Burton in round four and then Rome, Adunes Ate, round five. So you tell me given what you'd have to give up, who would you take out of those three? Loveland in three, burden in four, or Adunes Ate five? Well, the values is Adunes Ate five. The, I don't think Loveland is a reach in the third round at all. Because Caleb's quarterback ranking when throwing last year to Colston Loveland was 121.9. Wow. That matters to me. And we know, we saw the production.

36:02He broke records. He's the only rookie with eight for 135, I think, in a playoff game. No one had ever done that before. From a value spot, George. I think Roma Dunes Ate is juicy in the fifth round. I see a motivated Rome. I understand. I've been very high on Luther all off season, but then he got hurt and he's missed all the camp. And Rome's had a pretty good camp overall. So even though I'm so high on Luther, I think Colston Loveland has a legit shot to be tight end one at the end of the season. In the NFL. So, so Loveland in the three in the third round, I mean, what, what tight ends are going before him? Only two, only two tight ends. And it's Brock Bowers who is going number one at the tight end position really on the presumption of competency with the Raiders, which is never safe. But, you know, the feeling is with Kirk Cousins at least the quarterbacking is going to be a big upgrade and then the upgraded coach and Clint Cubiak. And then Tramack Bride, who is one of the best players

37:03in all of fantasy football last year. And then Loveland's going after them. Their second round, tight ends. If you want Loveland, you got to take him in the third round. And I'm taking him in the third round. I think the right answer is Loveland. You know, the tight end position is got a lot of landmines in it. Guys underperform all the time. And Loveland just looks like an ascending star. So, for me, I think Loveland is out of those three. I think Loveland's the guy or the other way that I pivoted is I'm just going to take Caleb and not worry about who the target's going to be on a game and a game out basis. I'll just take the guy who's throwing the ball. And I think that's, he's been one of my favorite mid-round targets. You can get him in the eighth round. That feels like a steal for a quarterback who's got top five upside, especially when you factor in his scrambling ability. So, I think, you know, I think the answer she might, the real answer might just be take Caleb Williams. You know, they don't have to fret about which receiver it's going to be weekend and week out. Yeah, right. I'm leaking in Chicago.

38:04And not away, all of you in my league, right? Where I'm going to get, if you're listening to this, I want Caleb Williams in the eighth round. Because I already know he's going to be over drafted like in the fourth or fifth, because we're in Chicago. Right. And everyone's sexy for Caleb Williams. We were with Adam Hogue on Monday, who predicted a monster year for DeAndre Swift. And charge, like, I don't remember a fantasy draft that is this heavy and talent through the first 20 picks in a long, long time. Where does DeAndre Swift factor into your equation? Because he didn't play in the preseason, but it wasn't because of health. And the way that Johnson runs the football, and Kyle Menungaiz probably on the shelf for at least week one, he could be one of those sneaky mid-round guys. Yeah, he really could. I mean, I oftentimes will duck the running back position through the first couple of rounds, because I love the safety that comes with the wide receiver position, especially. And then I'm looking for round three, round four, run five.

39:05I'm looking for running backs. And why wouldn't you target DeAndre Swift, the lead running back on an offense that should be a top five offense, and maybe the number one offense in the league. So love Swift. And honestly, love Menungaiz too, because of this preseason injury, he's dipping all the way down to the 10th and 11th rounds and drafts in the kids really good. And gets goal-line carries, gets a lot of other use, and he can catch. And so you could potentially really just get both, lock up the handcuff between both of those guys. And that is a totally viable starting scenario for you, not just now, but then you'd have potentially two starters. You could start Menungaiz anytime you needed to in your flex position as well. So it feels weird to talk about like, we gotta go find bears. We've been doing this for 17 years, Matt. It's never been find a way to get bears on your team, but that is really the edict this year is find your way to at least one bear onto your roster. We've arrived, charge, seriously.

40:06See, we have so arrived all those years of fantasy football chatter, but like, all right, which bear should we force onto our team this year? Now it's a very different thing. You can find charges rankings at ffworldshow.com, because fantasy football world is the new show. One ring on your rankings, charge about running backs across the league. How many true load running backs are there these days? How many three down running backs? Who always are gonna go higher than others? But everybody's in a rotation just about like, how many true load backs are there even existing in the NFL? Yeah, there's only about eight or nine. That's it. And the bottom one, which I always think is interesting. Like, who's the last taken of the true bell cow backs? And it's Quinshon Judkins in Cleveland. And for good reason, you don't want a lot of browns on your team, but Judkins going off the board right now running back 18 and he is the do everything in that offense. And for the love of God, they're not going to let to Sean Watson pass, right?

41:09They're going to do everything they can to avoid that. You've got, you've got a new offense, new look offense. It should be very run heavy with Todd Munkin, who came from Baltimore. They ran Derek Henry into the ground. And I'm not saying Quinshon Judkins is Derek Henry, but that's your, that's sort of, if you want to get that, that sort of that last value workhorse back, that's, that's your last one that you can get. You can get Quinshon Judkins in the fifth round of your fantasy draft. There you go. All right, Charges, we let you go. We got a couple sleepers. Give us a couple sleepers that you really like that people can, uh, can surprise their friends with and, uh, clean up with. If you let the tight end position go and you, you wait until round nine, round 10, Joanne Johnson is the guy that you want to have. He is the Saints tight end that actually on this station at this time last year. I was telling people to draft him. He finished third and tight end yards last year. Now, Joanne Johnson is back potentially often even at a better situation with better quarterbacking and a fantastic opportunity there.

42:09He is one of my favorite guys. And then if you're going to let that running back position go for a while, then I think you want to take a look at JK Dobbins, who's going out the board in the eighth round. He's Denver's lead running back right now. That's the arguably the best overall offensive line in football. Give him, give him some consideration for where he's going. Round number nine seems like a great value for JK Dobbins, the starter for Denver. Charge. You're the best. Nice talking to you, man. We'll do it again soon. Appreciate you. There's been a ton of fun guys. Appreciate it. Talk to you soon. Bye. You, you got it. It is 670, the score or 104 three, the score. We're broadcasting live from Gallagher Way before tonight's game here at Wrigley Field. We're here with our friends from I dot. They have educational activities and prizes right here in Gallagher Way. There are two score booths. One of them has that I dot stuff for you. Visit it's not a game Illinois dot com for more info. We are just next to the Budweiser Brickhouse, which is a terrific place to go eat

43:10and drink before or after the game. And we are outside of Wrigley before Cubs and Brewers, but we got a lot of bears to discuss. You did something very cool on the recap podcast. We're going to get to and also Ben Johnson detailing some stuff about Caleb, that you need to hear. That's next on the score.