Podcast appearances and mentions of braxton jones

Shaw Local is counting down the top-five Chicago Bears players who will have something to prove in 2026. Here's a look at No. 4 on the list, left tackle Braxton Jones.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/shaw-local-s-bears-insider-podcast--3098936/support.

It's become more and more clear in the time since the Bears announced they're "moving forward" with pursuing a new stadium in Indiana that the team is far from making an actual decision. In this episode, Dan Wiederer and Mark Grote hear from Illinois state representative Kam Buckner, who spoke with WGN-TV. Where does Buckner think Illinois currently stands with the Bears? Also, the guys hear excellent insight from former NFL offensive lineman Terron Armstead, who spoke with Cassie Carlson on Fox-32, about the way that head coach Ben Johnson "weaponizes" the offensive line. And what does Armstead think of Bears left tackle Braxton Jones?

It's become more and more clear in the time since the Bears announced they're "moving forward" with pursuing a new stadium in Indiana that the team is far from making an actual decision. In this episode, Dan Wiederer and Mark Grote hear from Illinois state representative Kam Buckner, who spoke with WGN-TV. Where does Buckner think Illinois currently stands with the Bears? Also, the guys hear excellent insight from former NFL offensive lineman Terron Armstead, who spoke with Cassie Carlson on Fox-32, about the way that head coach Ben Johnson "weaponizes" the offensive line. And what does Armstead think of Bears left tackle Braxton Jones?

Dan Wiederer and Mark Grote hear former NFL lineman Terron Armstead explain for FOX-32 the way in which Bears head coach Ben Johnson "weaponizes" his offensive line. Also, what does Armstead think of left tackle Braxton Jones?

Ruthie Polinsky and Clay Harbor dive into everything they saw from Bears minicamp, including looking at the health of Kyler Gordon and Jaylon Johnson and Braxton Jones' outlook after an injury-plagued 2025 season. They examine the continued development of Rome Odunze, share their early impressions of veteran wide receiver Kalif Raymond and second-year wideout Luther Burden III before closing with a look at QB1, Caleb Williams, who has impressed throughout camp with his playmaking ability and added strength heading into the season.

Dan Wiederer and Mark Grote discuss Bears left tackle Braxton Jones, who appears more confident in his play now compared to this time last year.

After a rollercoaster season, Chicago Bears Braxton Jones has regained trust in himself as he competes for the starting left tackle spot this offseason. Plus more notes from the second day of mandatory minicamp at Halas Hall.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/shaw-local-s-bears-insider-podcast--3098936/support.

The second day of Bears minicamp brought high praise from head coach Ben Johnson for defensive end Montez Sweat. Johnson believes Sweat had the best year of his career in 2025. Dan Wiederer and Mark Grote respond and also hear from Sweat himself on what Johnson did to get the best out of the team last season. Also in this episode, left tackle Braxton Jones spoke about his view on the position battle he finds himself in (again). Does he feel more himself this year? And how is Johnson seeing quarterback Caleb Williams grow in the offense?

The Chicago Bears may have one of the most exciting teams in the NFL, but there is still one major concern that refuses to go away: the pass rush. After finishing near the bottom of the league in sacks last season, should Ryan Poles pick up the phone and call the Pittsburgh Steelers about a potential Alex Highsmith trade? Haize breaks down why the $68 million edge rusher could be the perfect running mate for Montez Sweat, what the Bears should be willing to give up, and why Chicago cannot simply bank on internal development alone.Plus, did Green Bay Packers star Micah Parsons really call Caleb Williams the No. 1 player in the NFL? Haize reacts to Parsons shouting out “The Iceman,” the attempted backpedal afterward, and why Bears fans should absolutely have fun with a Packers star giving Caleb his flowers.Later, Ben Johnson's comments about Kyler Gordon raise a real conversation about trust, availability, and what Gordon must prove to the Bears coaching staff after another injury-limited stretch. Haize also discusses why the Bears are encouraged by Braxton Jones heading into 2026 and whether he can lock down the starting left tackle job.Chicago Bears Central brings you Bears rumors, Bears news, Caleb Williams analysis, Ben Johnson updates, Ryan Poles roster moves, Bears trade targets, and everything Bears fans need to know heading into the 2026 NFL season.

dies and gentlemen. Welcome once again to the Packernet Podcast. I am your host and resident panelist, as always, Ryan Schlipp. Check us out online, packernet.com Find me on Twitter, pack underscore that ad, so the OTAs for week one are officially behind us. By that, I mean today is the last day for me, and for you it's over. There's a little bit of unfortunate news that we'll get to in a little bit. Before we get there, just want to go through a couple of the news and notesy things that are floating around out there. The first one, I, I don't know, man, it's big, but it's like college football big, and it's confusing. It's going to have some implications on the NFL, but, and how deep do you want to get into this? Plus, it intersects into, like, politics, because politicians, it's bipartisan, but they're still trying to do some stuff. Bottom line, as best as I can tell, there was a Protect College Sports Act presented by Maria Cantwell, Democrat out of Washington, and Ted Cruz, Republican, out of Texas. In order to bring order to the current Wild West landscape, one of the things they're trying to do is to crack down on phony N I L money that is essentially to create a commission that tries to make sure that the money coming in is legitimate as opposed to just boosters throwing money at them through some kind of an N I L funnel, I, you know, having not spent a lot of time thinking about that or understanding it, because it's just I don't know, it's again, it's it, it kind of aligns with the NFL and impacts the NFL, but not enough that I've really dug into it a ton, but my general thought is that I don't see how this is going to hold up, because it's going to be very difficult to say yes, we think they should be paid millions of dollars, but only in this way, because if you do that way, that's a bad way. We're getting into some really arbitrary territory here to decide when it's a good thing for them to make millions and when it's a bad thing for them to make millions. I mean, we've kicked open the door and said, yes, you can make money as an athlete, so it is what it is. They're also looking at, like, a salary cap transfer restrictions. Athletes will generally be limited to one transfer during their college career without losing a year of eligibility. Sets a standard five year eligibility limit, prevents a breakaway. The bill tries to stop the wealthiest conferences, like Big 10 and SEC, from forming their own exclusive Super League by putting strict rules on conferences that make more than a billion dollars in annual revenue. I don't know. I look, I will simply say this: I think that college football has probably always been a little bit of a mess, and it's so hard to manage because there's so many different things, and that's why you find all kinds of scandals and all kinds of crazy stuff, because you set rules, and you know it's kind of like arm wrestling, if you're not cheating, you're not trying, I mean, the whole sport is just cheating, trying to gain an upper hand any way that you can, try not to get caught doing it, and so when you kick open a door the way that they have, man, it creates absolute chaos in such a massive thing that is college sports and college football, and you know, maybe, maybe things will settle on their own, it'll come to like a new natural stasis, I don't know if that's the right word, but it's also possible that it's just going to spiral out of control and continue spiraling, and so I understand the impulse to try to step in here and fix some things that have got are getting wildly out of control, or seemingly wildly out of control. I also think the government has a very low chance of actually fixing any of this, but whatever, we'll see what happens. If it ends up passing, we can take a second look at all the different components and what that could possibly mean. As of right now, it's a pretty steep uphill battle to get this passed and implemented, and everything. Also, as this is my duty, I will give you my weekly announcement that you should not get involved in media companies and journalism via Ryan Glass Spiegel. Two days ago, multiple NFL voices were laid off at Yahoo Sports this week, including Charles Robinson, who had been there over 20 years. Sources told FOS, Charles McDonald also announced he has been laid off. Charles Robinson has been around forever. I mean, they said it right there, 20 years, but I mean, that is one of the.. it's one of the guys that you.. I mean, that's a huge name in the.. in the space. Interestingly enough. Connor Orr, who is from Sports Illustrated, said Charles and Charles are dogged, creative, curious, hilarious, and original, the kinds of things we're running out of in this space. Can't wait to subscribe to wherever they land next. Why is that interesting? Because just as I was about to get started recording, I see this from Michael Rosenberg, who is a senior writer of Sports Illustrated says, this morning I had my favorite kind of meeting, a short one. I was laid off during that meeting. Goes on to say other things, but you get the idea. Adam Schefter memorialized him, said nobody better, an all-time writer. This is amongst many things disheartening. And then he says gutting the place, so Yahoo is gutting the place, and about a day or two later, Sports Illustrated starts gutting all of its people. As I've said before, these companies are purging money. They have a business model that just does not make any sense. They have massive, massive overhead, trying to compete with people that have zero, basically zero overhead. They pay for an internet connection and a freaking electric bill. There are probably very little to no other recurring costs that they have. So don't do it. Been saying this now for well over a year, it is, it is the most painful, slow death I've ever watched and experienced. By the way, I just looked, Charles Robinson was the senior NFL reporter for Yahoo, that's a pretty big layoff. It's also brand new breaking news here, Giants fear wide receiver Gunner Olazewski, who was carted off the practice field today, tore his Achilles. He will undergo additional testing to confirm the injury. It's an unfortunate thing that happens, man. You get into this time, you're all excited, and within seconds of these guys touching grass, they're getting carted off the field, and you just hope and pray that your guys are not included in that. In other news, Paris Campbell, wide receiver, is retiring from the NFL. The NFL did release a date and timeline for the NFL cut downs via Tom Pelissero. But he's changing their headers here. I don't recognize anybody anymore. Anywho, he says the NFL informed teams recently that this year's cut-down deadline to 53 players will be 6pm Eastern time on Sunday, august 30, not the following Tuesday, as it has been in recent years. Waiver claims will be due at 1pm Eastern time on Monday, August 30-first. The season kicks off September 9, so that has been added to the calendar that will be the official cut down day for the Green Bay Packers, and then the final non-Packers, non-NFC North specific news. What is this? That's basketball, and I don't.. I just think this is a good take. So I was trying to think, how do I work this into something, or whatever? I don't know that I have much to add to this. I just think it's a good take, and there's a lot of sort of, I don't know, it's hard because I don't really know the opposite views complaints specifically, but there seem to be a lot of people that are upset that things are expanding, right, more games, more this, more that, but that also goes to, we got Monday games, we got Wednesday games, we got Saturday games, we got all these stupid, and it's like, what happened to good old Sunday football, and like, I guess I kind of get it, but I think this is a little bit more the take that I appreciate. Like, I understand what's being said here, but I don't really get it. I mean, eight games sounds like music to my ears, like, what do we want 12 games on that we can't really see any of them, so we watch what two out of the 11 that are on, and we go, "Oh, I know what that those other ones, they confuse me, actually, to watching the games that I did care about, because I kept looking. I think it's awesome. I absolutely love it. I don't want seven games at 1pm I can't watch it all. There's no way. It's stupid. Like, so that's an instant. Like, are you telling me people Sundays are going to be ruined because they're gone? They're going to get home from church and go, "Oh, there's five games on at 1pm instead of seven. Oh, the days I ruined. It's ruined. I mean, I hate when there's four games at 425 I hate it. Or one's at 405 there's two at 405 and two at 425 I hate that I can't watch it. I'd like to enjoy the games, so I'm one that's not going to be, you know, complaining about this. I like the standalone games. I enjoy being able to watch one at a time. And then it's Sunday. There's nothing worse to me on a Sunday when the whole slate, and you go, "Oh my gosh, there's 13 games today, on Sunday. There's no way I can keep track of it all, and really talk about it all, and you know me, I'm sitting there writing notes, trying to keep up and do all that, but I feel like this will be better for everybody to digest, and I don't think it's going to effectively change Sundays all that much. In fact, there's a part of me that wants to argue and go, it's going to make. Better, we're all going to be tuned into the same few games and enjoying that, and be able to see it more, rather than I don't know what happened there. Hold it, he kicked the field goal. Oh, we threw a pass. I have no idea what's going on, but I saw that play, I saw that play, I saw that play, and that's where I wouldn't mind seeing eight games on Sunday. Like, and so, in summary, I can. I just say I'm starting to more and more. I don't watch their show all the time, but I'm starting to see clips, so I'm just kind of getting little glimmers here. And again, starting to really appreciate Chris Sims a little bit. I don't, for obvious reasons, really like Florio. I've never been very anti-Floria. I feel like when I used to watch this, Sims was like the whipping boy of Florio. Florio would say things, and he would just bend to the will and agree with everything he said. There was a clip I saw recently. I don't know if I ended up playing it or if I just watched it, but he went and just went at.. oh, it was over the Diana Rossini thing, where Sims was talking about the situation, and Florio was like trying to warn him, like, tread carefully, and he just was like, "What are you talking about, dude? Once you shut up and let me say what I want, like, he was something to that effect, and like, I don't know the full clip here, I don't know if if Florio took the opposite approach, but it just, I'm seeing Sims basically kind of turn into me almost with, like, you know, I think it's fricking stupid. I don't understand that, you know, and I'm watching Florio kind of squirm in his chair a little bit, like, you know, like he's taking a licking from Daddy over here, and I'm starting to appreciate, I mean, I think I like Sims's takes more, and the fact that he's found his, let's say, his manhood, and is able to kind of stand on his own feet and tell Florio to shut his face and get out of my face, is, you know, whether that's true or not, that's sort of my own little head cannon going on over here, and I appreciate it. I like it. I gotta go back and find that swear and bleep it out, but otherwise I'm in agreement with that. By the way, I don't understand the argument for I want more games on at once that I can't watch. Does it make your fantasy football more fun and enjoyable or something, or is it like red? Not red zone, maybe red zone. I know red zone is more fun with more. I don't know, I don't know what the argument could possibly be. I mean, if there's more games at different times that you don't want to watch, then don't watch it. I mean, I guess I guess I could understand the argument of I don't want, like, all I'm gonna watch is the Packers, and I don't want those on at random times. I would just want as many like noon games on Sunday as possible, but I mean, if you're an enjoyer of football, yeah, you want to spread all over the place, you can watch as many as you can. Anywho, we'll leave it at that for the non-Packers news. We'll take a break. We'll be right back. Getting into the NFC North news, here, first of all, it looks like the Brian Flores lawsuit will go forward. The NFL tried to throw that out and be like, no, no, no, look, let's, let's let us deal with this in house. We have our own mechanism for dealing with disputes, and I mean, I don't really know how all this stuff works as a layman here, but that seems like a conflict of interest, a bit like I'm.. it's kind of like the church doing an investigation on the church, you know what I mean? Like, there's some scandals going on here, like, you know what, we have an internal mechanism, we'll get to the bottom of this, yeah. No, no, you won't. I'm not going to relitigate the whole thing, I've gone through this lawsuit already. I don't remember exactly the details. I do know that Flores is not likely to get what he's after, but who knows? There may be some kind of a thing through discovery that, although he doesn't win, some things get uncovered. I don't know, frickin' drama, you know. I'll take it. As for their GM search, Vikings completed the second round of interviews for their general manager vacancy. The list of finalists includes Vikings' executive advice, right? We went through the list already. The second round is done, so you would assume that the final decision will come very soon. It seems as though the what everybody is expecting is that Rob Brzezinski will get the job. He is already their interim GM, the executive VP of football operations. So, there have been some outside guys, many of them, as we talked about, kind of turned away from the job, but Broncos assistant GM, Bill's assistant GM, Rams assistant GM, and Seahawks assistant GM also in the running, but again, as of now, the inside track seems to be Rob Brzezinski and his job to lose. Sticking with the Vikings, so far in OTAs, obviously not a ton to take away from anything, but we might as well stay on top of it. Kevin O'Connell has mentioned that he's going to install some. Schemes, I'm guessing this is pretty standard across the league. Everybody says everybody's doing everything brand new. Reps, however, are being split between Kyler Murray and JJ McCarthy. That's going to be sort of the, I think it's more of an off-season hypey thing, where it's like, oh boy, what's going to happen. We all kind of know what's going to happen. Kyler Murray is currently in the process of trying to adjust to the very wordy verbiage of Kevin O'Connell's system, so I guess it's a very complicated and again wordy system that he's not necessarily used to. So far, though, reports are positive he's looking good in camp, his arm looks good, he's got an early connection with Jordan Addison McCarthy. On the other hand, really focusing on the processing speed, decision making, ball placement. Listen, if I could, I, you know, I went on this rant yesterday about how the Packers are better at doing the quarterback thing, and everything. McCarthy needed the Jordan Love treatment. Now, I don't know if he ever would have become great, and maybe he can still, if he's able to sit somewhere. I think it would be nice. I don't think it's going to happen. I think they're going to end up moving on from them. They're not going to give them another contract, but it would be nice to just let him sit and learn, and you know, continue learning from Kevin O'Connell, continue to sit behind Kyler Murray, to, you know, a little bit learn from Kyler Murray, but for the most part just develop without the pressure and with all the craziness of having to start and give this guy a shot after another year or two sitting and see what happens again. I don't think that's going to happen. I think they pushed them out there like, like always happens. They always.. this is exactly the point I made about the Packers and how they're different. Everybody is willing to pay lip service to the idea that, oh yeah, we're gonna let them sit, but man, when the, when the fire gets hot, they sure push those guys out there, don't they? We're gonna wait, we're gonna wait, we lose a couple games, everybody starts screaming, and boy, here he comes, here comes the savior, right? That's why you guys are in the situation anyways. Additionally, offensive line coach Keith Carter is setting the tone early, heavy emphasis during unpadded drills on first step power in the run game and leverage. So I can't tie it directly to what we were talking about with 13 personnel, but it's been a couple years now of people wanting to get bigger and stronger and more aggressive up front. It sounds like they're emphasizing that as well. Over in Minnesota, first round pick Caleb Banks is currently sidelined with a foot injury until training camp. Safety Jacoby, excuse me, Josh Metellus looks locked in as the every down safety. Theo Jackson, Jay Ward, and Jacoby Thomas are actively competing for remaining roles, if you don't know who those people are exactly. As for the Chicago Bears, Ben Johnson is heavily focused on overhauling daily habits, getting sharper offensive execution. Now that they're in year two of his system, he, for the second year in a row now, has talked about trying to get Caleb Williams' completion percentage up, which is quite hilarious. I saw Peter Bukowski comment on this, and he's exactly right that you've got the coach saying we want his completion percentage to come up. Caleb Williams has one of the worst completion percentages in football. Packer fans say, ha ha, your completion percentage sucks. Bears fans say who cares about completion percentage? Look at x, y, and z. And then the coach comes out again this year and says the number one focus for us is completion percentage. And then Bears fans are like, well, we never said completion percentage wasn't important. You guys are stupid, bro. Anywho, there's also a clip circulating, Ben Johnson saying he wants to buy stock in Luther Burden, very excited about Luther Burden. Congratulations on Luther Burden. We'll see. I have a hard time talking trash about Luther Burden, considering that was my guy in the, in the old process, but it's way too early to be making any bold proclamations of that sort, so I'm not really worried about that yet. Plus, the standard is pretty low to be something special in Chicago. There is already talk, though, of expecting a lot of heavy 12 and 13 personnel with Colson Loveland and Cole Commette, so again tying into what we talked about yesterday. Plus, if you remember, they were one of the teams that was a little heavy on that already, so expect that to continue and expand. Left tackle Ozzie Trapio is expected to miss the season with a patellar tendon issue. Braxton Jones currently the front runner, taking first team reps alongside Theo Benedet, while veteran signing Jedrick Wills is also in the mix, and then veteran Garrett Bradbury, who was brought in to replace the retired Drew Dahlman, is fighting for the starting job against second-round rookie Logan Jones, which, I mean, I don't know, I find that whole thing to be quite funny. I mean, when they lost their center Drew Dahlman, that was massive. I mean, it is massive, and. And of course Bears fans try to play that down, like, oh, it's fine, we got Garrett Bradbury, and of course Garrett Bradbury is terrible, and then they draft Logan Jones, and then it's all, see, we're good, we got Logan, what, what happened to Garrett Bradbury, plus now they're in a competition, I hope Garrett Bradbury wins, I really do, I doubt he does, but I hope he wins, cornerback Jalen Johnson is skipping OTAs, which is, I guess, kind of standard for him. Kyler Gordon is out a few weeks with a soft tissue injury. And then, finally, the Detroit Lions, Dan Campbell still obviously running that ship, but new offensive coordinator Drew Petsing is in charge of the offense, as of right now, he's turned over the keys to Petzing. The good news for us is that Petsing is from Arizona, so our defensive coordinator is going to have a pretty good idea of exactly the defensive mind that is going to be, or the offensive mind that is going to be taking over for Detroit. Petsing is a guy that looks heavily to the run game, so very similar to what a lot of other people are talking about, that is sort of his MO. Biggest storyline for Detroit is the fact that they are still planning on moving all pro right tackle Penne Sewell to the left side. I think that is crazy, but he's obviously supremely talented, so we'll probably be able to handle it, but if there's even a slight decline in his play, that was a giant mistake. The right tackle spot now is currently involved in a battle, which you, that's not what you want to hear if you're a Detroit Lions fan, but as of right now, there's a head-to-head battle between first round rookie Blake Miller and veteran edition Larry Boreham. If Blake Miller can't win that job, I mean, that's, that's a serious.. we're, we're moving Penny Sewell because of Blake Miller, because we drafted a right tackle, and so he's going to need to.. it's going to need to be able to do his job. There's also a competition at left guard, second year player Christian Mahogany, who you know there were a lot of high hopes to begin with, but he's currently the front runner in a battle against several guys, including Miles Frazier, Ben Bart, and Drew Juice scrubs, so the offensive line is starting to fizzle a bit, and they're trying to grab a hold of it and try to get it back to its former glory. On defense, Kelvin Shepherd's defense wants to get more versatile and experimenting with base three, four, nickel, and five down looks with a potential shift toward more zone coverage. Safety, Kirby Joseph's knee is a major talking point right now. Update updates are being deferred until more info is available. Brian Branch and Terry and Arnold are also rehabbing. I saw this over here. Lions coach Den Dan Campbell said the team is prioritizing safety Kirby Joseph's knee 2026 availability over participation in spring workouts. Both the starting safeties, Joseph and Branch, are rehabbing significant injuries. It'll be great to get one or both back on the field this spring. Campbell does not want to hurry his injured stars back and risk reinjury, so that's a rough spot there on the offensive side. Ted and tight end Sam La Porta is limited, basically said the exact same thing about Sam La Porta. Lions coach Dan Campbell said he is in no rush to get Sam La Porta back on the field for spring workouts. So those are the biggest storylines, probably are the injuries right now that they're going through. And then the offensive line shuffling. All right, let's take a break there. We'll come back with some Green Bay Packers news. We'll be right back. All right, so the big news here, unfortunately, is that Marshawn Lloyd is once again injured. Now we don't know to what extent this may be just a minor thing. He may be back as early as today. He's been participating up to this point, but for a guy that has not ever been able to stay healthy up to this point, the last thing you want to see is he's once again not practicing with the team due to an injury, no matter how minor, because for the most part people have kind of given up hope that he can stay healthy as it is, and this is just further confirmation that that's exactly the situation. Why in the world would we expect him to be able to make it an entire season, the update was as follows. Packers running back Marshawn Lloyd, undisclosed, sat out during team drills or organized team activities on Wednesday. It goes on to say it's possible this is just a maintenance-related coaching decision, but it's still slightly concerning. Injuries have limited Lloyd to just 10 offensive snaps. Through two NFL seasons, Packers starting running back to Os Jacob was arrested, blah blah blah, per ESPN Rob Dumaski. Lloyd took part in team drills during Tuesday's closed session, but did only individual work Wednesday. Packers running back Chris Brooks began team drills for the first team offense before subbing out for running back Pierre Strong. Packers had the day off on Thursday, and will Zoom practice tomorrow. The Packers remain optimistic that the powerful and speedy Lloyd can repay the team for their patience, but he needs to retake the field soon if he hopes to prove his reliability. The bottom line at this point is that I don't know that anybody, I bottom line, you, you may just have to go do something, and I don't know what that something is, but you have to almost assume that we're in a situation with no Josh Jacobs and no Marshawn Lloyd, even though we may have Josh Jacobs and Marshawn Lloyd. I don't know how you know, I know the Packers want some kind of resolution. They also have a better understanding of what the situation is, and it may be very minor, and they're not really worried about it, but I mean, I'm to the point of I don't know how we can proceed at this point with I guess I'm just kind of assuming at this point that we're going to see Brooks and Pierre strong as our starting running backs, and probably not just for a couple snaps, I'm seeing a very distinct scenario and possibility that what's going to happen is that the Green Bay Packers are not going to have Josh Jacobs, and they're not going to have Marshawn Lloyd for a very extended period of time, and you got to figure out what the heck that looks like. Presumably the draft is a place we're going to have to start looking pretty heavily, but outside of that, what about this year? Because you know, I think we could get by, but I'd rather not focus on just getting by at this point. Now, it's easier to just say that than to actually do something productive, and I don't know exactly what that is at this point. Fall to your knees and hope and pray that Marshawn Lloyd and Josh Jacobs situations get resolved and everything's going to be fine, but outside of that, I feel like there's either got to be a trade situation, which is not my favorite option, or some kind of a free agent option. Now, if there were any good free agents, they wouldn't be free agents, that's kind of the thing about free agency. Unfortunately, there are some names here that I think are potentially worth keeping an eye on. For example, Naji Harris, Naji Harris is first of all exactly the type of running back that I could see Brian Gutta comes being a big fan of, he's 28 so he's not super old, although in running back years that's like 32 six won 242 pounds, and he played for Alabama, so big dude, strong dude, and the other thing is, he's always been good, I don't exactly know what happened, but he spent four years at Pittsburgh Steelers, and his grades were 7175 77 and 77 He went to the Chargers after his four years, only had 15 attempts, but at 61 yards, 4.1 yards per attempt, and an 84 rushing grade. Nick Chubb is available, he's 3511 227 so another big dude, he comes out of Georgia, so there you go. Big program was phenomenal for a very long time in Cleveland, had one, looks like he got injured in 2023 came back 2024 was not really himself, played for Houston last year, and seemed to do pretty well, 136 attempts, 568 yards, 4.2 yards per attempt, three touchdowns, 76 rushing grade. I don't know that he's, you know, 2022 version of Nick Chubb is coming back, but again in a pinch, I don't, sure, why not? Now, the contracts these guys are asking for matters, but none of them made a ton of Naji Harris had a $5 million contract last year, Chubb was 2.5 million. It looks like I understand we got to let these situations resolve a little bit, but I would certainly be keeping an eye on a few of these guys. I think those two in particular are probably the most interesting. Joe Mixon is available, but he's kind of a scumbag, so I don't really want him on the team. Maybe Naji and Chub have some stuff going on that I just don't remember, or whatever. But again, we'll, we'll, we'll see about that in the, in the future. I, you know, I think before we even discuss trade, we'd have to see definitive. Lee, first of all, the Josh Jacobs thing would have to resolve with him being let go, and then you know from there we could start talking about it. Certainly, if Marshawn Lloyd has some kind of a serious injury that's going to hold him out for a while. I think at that point we're very seriously looking into, are there trade candidates available? How big and splashy, I don't know, but that would become much more of a real thing. As of right now, I don't know. Outside of the Packers making some phone calls, I don't know exactly what what they'd be willing to do, and how much we need to really dig into all that, but certainly disappointing. And by next week, when the Packers are back at it, we had better see Marsha and Lloyd practicing. I mean, we had better at least hear that he is practicing it again, and you know, if they want to shut him down because they want to keep him healthy, or whatever the case may be, they're trying to preserve his body so that he doesn't go through the issues yet. Fine, then first of all, make a statement about that, so we understand the situation, and don't panic, but beyond that, he needs to be out there, he needs to have freaking a helmet on and running around and doing stuff, because this is stupid. And then I think, lastly, for today, some other stuff, but it's bigger stuff, and I'm running out of time here. Wife and I are actually going out to dinner, which is a rare occasion for us, so I'm pretty excited about that. But Bo Melton is now officially listed as a wide receiver, so if you are getting whiplash, then you're just like the rest of us. Again, you gotta, you gotta appreciate Bo Melton, if for no other reason the fact that he's getting jerked around by this team left and right, and he is just keeping his head right in this thing now. Maybe, maybe behind the scenes, he's got a bad attitude, but as much as the Packers love him, I get the impression that he has a great attitude, and maybe he should have more of an attitude, because I mean it would be hard to be a little bit upset to feel like, you know, I've got talent and I've got something to offer, and if you would just invest in me in one area, maybe I could actually grow and thrive in that area, instead of jerking me around from cornerback to wide receiver to gunner to returner to all these different things, you know. I don't know, but he's certainly a valuable asset for us, and hopefully the Packers are able to, you know, I don't want to say stay loyal, I mean, if he doesn't, if it's, if it's not worth keeping him around, then I guess he's got to go, but hopefully they can actually find a role for him, and he can help the Green Bay Packers this year. You know, last year I know he was the issue last year was he had so many wide receivers that the only way he was going to stay on the team is if they moved him to corner. Well, we've kind of purged that, so you could see why it would maybe make sense to move him back if that is his strongest position. In which case, the Packers are actually probably doing right by him, that is, assuming you don't think that just letting him go somewhere and be a wide receiver somewhere else. But either way, I think with the thinning of the wide receiver room, it's given him an opportunity to get back into that room, and you know he's going to be pretty low on the pecking order, but at the same time, what do we got? We got Watson, Reed, Golden, after that is Savian, and then after that is probably Bo, and me being a number five wide receiver, he'll get some action, and as much as Matt LaFleur loves the guy, I mean, you can't, you can't guarantee he won't be ahead of Savian, I don't think he will, but I think Matt LaFleur really likes him, I think he wants him in the offense, and I think he's excited about the different ways that he can use him in the offense, I'm excited about the different ways we can use him in the offense, so anywho, just real quick, let me pull this up, just as a reminder, the Green Bay Packers calendar moving forward, the so this week was week one of OTAs, Friday was that final day, next week, if I'm not mistaken, day one is going to be June 1 of OTAs, and then usually I don't know the exact schedule, but I think in the past, as I've said, usually it's one week of media availability, so it'll be similar. It's probably going to be the second, maybe the next day, which would be June 2, where the media has access to practice, and then they'll have access to Matt LaFleur, and potentially they'll have locker room access, unless they shut that down again because of the Josh Jacobs situation. I don't know, they may just shut that down until training camp or something. I'm not really sure how they're going to handle that, but either way, we'll have some information by next week. Let's see, so this episode will be for Saturday, then Sunday, then Monday. Okay, so just a couple days until we're back at it. So, anywho, you all have a good rest of your day. If you have any calls, 608-501-0718 get your calls in, and I will talk to you over there. Have a good one. 

dies and gentlemen. Welcome once again to the Packernet Podcast. I am your host and resident panelist, as always, Ryan Schlipp. Check us out online, packernet.com Find me on Twitter, pack underscore that ad, so the OTAs for week one are officially behind us. By that, I mean today is the last day for me, and for you it's over. There's a little bit of unfortunate news that we'll get to in a little bit. Before we get there, just want to go through a couple of the news and notesy things that are floating around out there. The first one, I, I don't know, man, it's big, but it's like college football big, and it's confusing. It's going to have some implications on the NFL, but, and how deep do you want to get into this? Plus, it intersects into, like, politics, because politicians, it's bipartisan, but they're still trying to do some stuff. Bottom line, as best as I can tell, there was a Protect College Sports Act presented by Maria Cantwell, Democrat out of Washington, and Ted Cruz, Republican, out of Texas. In order to bring order to the current Wild West landscape, one of the things they're trying to do is to crack down on phony N I L money that is essentially to create a commission that tries to make sure that the money coming in is legitimate as opposed to just boosters throwing money at them through some kind of an N I L funnel, I, you know, having not spent a lot of time thinking about that or understanding it, because it's just I don't know, it's again, it's it, it kind of aligns with the NFL and impacts the NFL, but not enough that I've really dug into it a ton, but my general thought is that I don't see how this is going to hold up, because it's going to be very difficult to say yes, we think they should be paid millions of dollars, but only in this way, because if you do that way, that's a bad way. We're getting into some really arbitrary territory here to decide when it's a good thing for them to make millions and when it's a bad thing for them to make millions. I mean, we've kicked open the door and said, yes, you can make money as an athlete, so it is what it is. They're also looking at, like, a salary cap transfer restrictions. Athletes will generally be limited to one transfer during their college career without losing a year of eligibility. Sets a standard five year eligibility limit, prevents a breakaway. The bill tries to stop the wealthiest conferences, like Big 10 and SEC, from forming their own exclusive Super League by putting strict rules on conferences that make more than a billion dollars in annual revenue. I don't know. I look, I will simply say this: I think that college football has probably always been a little bit of a mess, and it's so hard to manage because there's so many different things, and that's why you find all kinds of scandals and all kinds of crazy stuff, because you set rules, and you know it's kind of like arm wrestling, if you're not cheating, you're not trying, I mean, the whole sport is just cheating, trying to gain an upper hand any way that you can, try not to get caught doing it, and so when you kick open a door the way that they have, man, it creates absolute chaos in such a massive thing that is college sports and college football, and you know, maybe, maybe things will settle on their own, it'll come to like a new natural stasis, I don't know if that's the right word, but it's also possible that it's just going to spiral out of control and continue spiraling, and so I understand the impulse to try to step in here and fix some things that have got are getting wildly out of control, or seemingly wildly out of control. I also think the government has a very low chance of actually fixing any of this, but whatever, we'll see what happens. If it ends up passing, we can take a second look at all the different components and what that could possibly mean. As of right now, it's a pretty steep uphill battle to get this passed and implemented, and everything. Also, as this is my duty, I will give you my weekly announcement that you should not get involved in media companies and journalism via Ryan Glass Spiegel. Two days ago, multiple NFL voices were laid off at Yahoo Sports this week, including Charles Robinson, who had been there over 20 years. Sources told FOS, Charles McDonald also announced he has been laid off. Charles Robinson has been around forever. I mean, they said it right there, 20 years, but I mean, that is one of the.. it's one of the guys that you.. I mean, that's a huge name in the.. in the space. Interestingly enough. Connor Orr, who is from Sports Illustrated, said Charles and Charles are dogged, creative, curious, hilarious, and original, the kinds of things we're running out of in this space. Can't wait to subscribe to wherever they land next. Why is that interesting? Because just as I was about to get started recording, I see this from Michael Rosenberg, who is a senior writer of Sports Illustrated says, this morning I had my favorite kind of meeting, a short one. I was laid off during that meeting. Goes on to say other things, but you get the idea. Adam Schefter memorialized him, said nobody better, an all-time writer. This is amongst many things disheartening. And then he says gutting the place, so Yahoo is gutting the place, and about a day or two later, Sports Illustrated starts gutting all of its people. As I've said before, these companies are purging money. They have a business model that just does not make any sense. They have massive, massive overhead, trying to compete with people that have zero, basically zero overhead. They pay for an internet connection and a freaking electric bill. There are probably very little to no other recurring costs that they have. So don't do it. Been saying this now for well over a year, it is, it is the most painful, slow death I've ever watched and experienced. By the way, I just looked, Charles Robinson was the senior NFL reporter for Yahoo, that's a pretty big layoff. It's also brand new breaking news here, Giants fear wide receiver Gunner Olazewski, who was carted off the practice field today, tore his Achilles. He will undergo additional testing to confirm the injury. It's an unfortunate thing that happens, man. You get into this time, you're all excited, and within seconds of these guys touching grass, they're getting carted off the field, and you just hope and pray that your guys are not included in that. In other news, Paris Campbell, wide receiver, is retiring from the NFL. The NFL did release a date and timeline for the NFL cut downs via Tom Pelissero. But he's changing their headers here. I don't recognize anybody anymore. Anywho, he says the NFL informed teams recently that this year's cut-down deadline to 53 players will be 6pm Eastern time on Sunday, august 30, not the following Tuesday, as it has been in recent years. Waiver claims will be due at 1pm Eastern time on Monday, August 30-first. The season kicks off September 9, so that has been added to the calendar that will be the official cut down day for the Green Bay Packers, and then the final non-Packers, non-NFC North specific news. What is this? That's basketball, and I don't.. I just think this is a good take. So I was trying to think, how do I work this into something, or whatever? I don't know that I have much to add to this. I just think it's a good take, and there's a lot of sort of, I don't know, it's hard because I don't really know the opposite views complaints specifically, but there seem to be a lot of people that are upset that things are expanding, right, more games, more this, more that, but that also goes to, we got Monday games, we got Wednesday games, we got Saturday games, we got all these stupid, and it's like, what happened to good old Sunday football, and like, I guess I kind of get it, but I think this is a little bit more the take that I appreciate. Like, I understand what's being said here, but I don't really get it. I mean, eight games sounds like music to my ears, like, what do we want 12 games on that we can't really see any of them, so we watch what two out of the 11 that are on, and we go, "Oh, I know what that those other ones, they confuse me, actually, to watching the games that I did care about, because I kept looking. I think it's awesome. I absolutely love it. I don't want seven games at 1pm I can't watch it all. There's no way. It's stupid. Like, so that's an instant. Like, are you telling me people Sundays are going to be ruined because they're gone? They're going to get home from church and go, "Oh, there's five games on at 1pm instead of seven. Oh, the days I ruined. It's ruined. I mean, I hate when there's four games at 425 I hate it. Or one's at 405 there's two at 405 and two at 425 I hate that I can't watch it. I'd like to enjoy the games, so I'm one that's not going to be, you know, complaining about this. I like the standalone games. I enjoy being able to watch one at a time. And then it's Sunday. There's nothing worse to me on a Sunday when the whole slate, and you go, "Oh my gosh, there's 13 games today, on Sunday. There's no way I can keep track of it all, and really talk about it all, and you know me, I'm sitting there writing notes, trying to keep up and do all that, but I feel like this will be better for everybody to digest, and I don't think it's going to effectively change Sundays all that much. In fact, there's a part of me that wants to argue and go, it's going to make. Better, we're all going to be tuned into the same few games and enjoying that, and be able to see it more, rather than I don't know what happened there. Hold it, he kicked the field goal. Oh, we threw a pass. I have no idea what's going on, but I saw that play, I saw that play, I saw that play, and that's where I wouldn't mind seeing eight games on Sunday. Like, and so, in summary, I can. I just say I'm starting to more and more. I don't watch their show all the time, but I'm starting to see clips, so I'm just kind of getting little glimmers here. And again, starting to really appreciate Chris Sims a little bit. I don't, for obvious reasons, really like Florio. I've never been very anti-Floria. I feel like when I used to watch this, Sims was like the whipping boy of Florio. Florio would say things, and he would just bend to the will and agree with everything he said. There was a clip I saw recently. I don't know if I ended up playing it or if I just watched it, but he went and just went at.. oh, it was over the Diana Rossini thing, where Sims was talking about the situation, and Florio was like trying to warn him, like, tread carefully, and he just was like, "What are you talking about, dude? Once you shut up and let me say what I want, like, he was something to that effect, and like, I don't know the full clip here, I don't know if if Florio took the opposite approach, but it just, I'm seeing Sims basically kind of turn into me almost with, like, you know, I think it's fricking stupid. I don't understand that, you know, and I'm watching Florio kind of squirm in his chair a little bit, like, you know, like he's taking a licking from Daddy over here, and I'm starting to appreciate, I mean, I think I like Sims's takes more, and the fact that he's found his, let's say, his manhood, and is able to kind of stand on his own feet and tell Florio to shut his face and get out of my face, is, you know, whether that's true or not, that's sort of my own little head cannon going on over here, and I appreciate it. I like it. I gotta go back and find that swear and bleep it out, but otherwise I'm in agreement with that. By the way, I don't understand the argument for I want more games on at once that I can't watch. Does it make your fantasy football more fun and enjoyable or something, or is it like red? Not red zone, maybe red zone. I know red zone is more fun with more. I don't know, I don't know what the argument could possibly be. I mean, if there's more games at different times that you don't want to watch, then don't watch it. I mean, I guess I guess I could understand the argument of I don't want, like, all I'm gonna watch is the Packers, and I don't want those on at random times. I would just want as many like noon games on Sunday as possible, but I mean, if you're an enjoyer of football, yeah, you want to spread all over the place, you can watch as many as you can. Anywho, we'll leave it at that for the non-Packers news. We'll take a break. We'll be right back. Getting into the NFC North news, here, first of all, it looks like the Brian Flores lawsuit will go forward. The NFL tried to throw that out and be like, no, no, no, look, let's, let's let us deal with this in house. We have our own mechanism for dealing with disputes, and I mean, I don't really know how all this stuff works as a layman here, but that seems like a conflict of interest, a bit like I'm.. it's kind of like the church doing an investigation on the church, you know what I mean? Like, there's some scandals going on here, like, you know what, we have an internal mechanism, we'll get to the bottom of this, yeah. No, no, you won't. I'm not going to relitigate the whole thing, I've gone through this lawsuit already. I don't remember exactly the details. I do know that Flores is not likely to get what he's after, but who knows? There may be some kind of a thing through discovery that, although he doesn't win, some things get uncovered. I don't know, frickin' drama, you know. I'll take it. As for their GM search, Vikings completed the second round of interviews for their general manager vacancy. The list of finalists includes Vikings' executive advice, right? We went through the list already. The second round is done, so you would assume that the final decision will come very soon. It seems as though the what everybody is expecting is that Rob Brzezinski will get the job. He is already their interim GM, the executive VP of football operations. So, there have been some outside guys, many of them, as we talked about, kind of turned away from the job, but Broncos assistant GM, Bill's assistant GM, Rams assistant GM, and Seahawks assistant GM also in the running, but again, as of now, the inside track seems to be Rob Brzezinski and his job to lose. Sticking with the Vikings, so far in OTAs, obviously not a ton to take away from anything, but we might as well stay on top of it. Kevin O'Connell has mentioned that he's going to install some. Schemes, I'm guessing this is pretty standard across the league. Everybody says everybody's doing everything brand new. Reps, however, are being split between Kyler Murray and JJ McCarthy. That's going to be sort of the, I think it's more of an off-season hypey thing, where it's like, oh boy, what's going to happen. We all kind of know what's going to happen. Kyler Murray is currently in the process of trying to adjust to the very wordy verbiage of Kevin O'Connell's system, so I guess it's a very complicated and again wordy system that he's not necessarily used to. So far, though, reports are positive he's looking good in camp, his arm looks good, he's got an early connection with Jordan Addison McCarthy. On the other hand, really focusing on the processing speed, decision making, ball placement. Listen, if I could, I, you know, I went on this rant yesterday about how the Packers are better at doing the quarterback thing, and everything. McCarthy needed the Jordan Love treatment. Now, I don't know if he ever would have become great, and maybe he can still, if he's able to sit somewhere. I think it would be nice. I don't think it's going to happen. I think they're going to end up moving on from them. They're not going to give them another contract, but it would be nice to just let him sit and learn, and you know, continue learning from Kevin O'Connell, continue to sit behind Kyler Murray, to, you know, a little bit learn from Kyler Murray, but for the most part just develop without the pressure and with all the craziness of having to start and give this guy a shot after another year or two sitting and see what happens again. I don't think that's going to happen. I think they pushed them out there like, like always happens. They always.. this is exactly the point I made about the Packers and how they're different. Everybody is willing to pay lip service to the idea that, oh yeah, we're gonna let them sit, but man, when the, when the fire gets hot, they sure push those guys out there, don't they? We're gonna wait, we're gonna wait, we lose a couple games, everybody starts screaming, and boy, here he comes, here comes the savior, right? That's why you guys are in the situation anyways. Additionally, offensive line coach Keith Carter is setting the tone early, heavy emphasis during unpadded drills on first step power in the run game and leverage. So I can't tie it directly to what we were talking about with 13 personnel, but it's been a couple years now of people wanting to get bigger and stronger and more aggressive up front. It sounds like they're emphasizing that as well. Over in Minnesota, first round pick Caleb Banks is currently sidelined with a foot injury until training camp. Safety Jacoby, excuse me, Josh Metellus looks locked in as the every down safety. Theo Jackson, Jay Ward, and Jacoby Thomas are actively competing for remaining roles, if you don't know who those people are exactly. As for the Chicago Bears, Ben Johnson is heavily focused on overhauling daily habits, getting sharper offensive execution. Now that they're in year two of his system, he, for the second year in a row now, has talked about trying to get Caleb Williams' completion percentage up, which is quite hilarious. I saw Peter Bukowski comment on this, and he's exactly right that you've got the coach saying we want his completion percentage to come up. Caleb Williams has one of the worst completion percentages in football. Packer fans say, ha ha, your completion percentage sucks. Bears fans say who cares about completion percentage? Look at x, y, and z. And then the coach comes out again this year and says the number one focus for us is completion percentage. And then Bears fans are like, well, we never said completion percentage wasn't important. You guys are stupid, bro. Anywho, there's also a clip circulating, Ben Johnson saying he wants to buy stock in Luther Burden, very excited about Luther Burden. Congratulations on Luther Burden. We'll see. I have a hard time talking trash about Luther Burden, considering that was my guy in the, in the old process, but it's way too early to be making any bold proclamations of that sort, so I'm not really worried about that yet. Plus, the standard is pretty low to be something special in Chicago. There is already talk, though, of expecting a lot of heavy 12 and 13 personnel with Colson Loveland and Cole Commette, so again tying into what we talked about yesterday. Plus, if you remember, they were one of the teams that was a little heavy on that already, so expect that to continue and expand. Left tackle Ozzie Trapio is expected to miss the season with a patellar tendon issue. Braxton Jones currently the front runner, taking first team reps alongside Theo Benedet, while veteran signing Jedrick Wills is also in the mix, and then veteran Garrett Bradbury, who was brought in to replace the retired Drew Dahlman, is fighting for the starting job against second-round rookie Logan Jones, which, I mean, I don't know, I find that whole thing to be quite funny. I mean, when they lost their center Drew Dahlman, that was massive. I mean, it is massive, and. And of course Bears fans try to play that down, like, oh, it's fine, we got Garrett Bradbury, and of course Garrett Bradbury is terrible, and then they draft Logan Jones, and then it's all, see, we're good, we got Logan, what, what happened to Garrett Bradbury, plus now they're in a competition, I hope Garrett Bradbury wins, I really do, I doubt he does, but I hope he wins, cornerback Jalen Johnson is skipping OTAs, which is, I guess, kind of standard for him. Kyler Gordon is out a few weeks with a soft tissue injury. And then, finally, the Detroit Lions, Dan Campbell still obviously running that ship, but new offensive coordinator Drew Petsing is in charge of the offense, as of right now, he's turned over the keys to Petzing. The good news for us is that Petsing is from Arizona, so our defensive coordinator is going to have a pretty good idea of exactly the defensive mind that is going to be, or the offensive mind that is going to be taking over for Detroit. Petsing is a guy that looks heavily to the run game, so very similar to what a lot of other people are talking about, that is sort of his MO. Biggest storyline for Detroit is the fact that they are still planning on moving all pro right tackle Penne Sewell to the left side. I think that is crazy, but he's obviously supremely talented, so we'll probably be able to handle it, but if there's even a slight decline in his play, that was a giant mistake. The right tackle spot now is currently involved in a battle, which you, that's not what you want to hear if you're a Detroit Lions fan, but as of right now, there's a head-to-head battle between first round rookie Blake Miller and veteran edition Larry Boreham. If Blake Miller can't win that job, I mean, that's, that's a serious.. we're, we're moving Penny Sewell because of Blake Miller, because we drafted a right tackle, and so he's going to need to.. it's going to need to be able to do his job. There's also a competition at left guard, second year player Christian Mahogany, who you know there were a lot of high hopes to begin with, but he's currently the front runner in a battle against several guys, including Miles Frazier, Ben Bart, and Drew Juice scrubs, so the offensive line is starting to fizzle a bit, and they're trying to grab a hold of it and try to get it back to its former glory. On defense, Kelvin Shepherd's defense wants to get more versatile and experimenting with base three, four, nickel, and five down looks with a potential shift toward more zone coverage. Safety, Kirby Joseph's knee is a major talking point right now. Update updates are being deferred until more info is available. Brian Branch and Terry and Arnold are also rehabbing. I saw this over here. Lions coach Den Dan Campbell said the team is prioritizing safety Kirby Joseph's knee 2026 availability over participation in spring workouts. Both the starting safeties, Joseph and Branch, are rehabbing significant injuries. It'll be great to get one or both back on the field this spring. Campbell does not want to hurry his injured stars back and risk reinjury, so that's a rough spot there on the offensive side. Ted and tight end Sam La Porta is limited, basically said the exact same thing about Sam La Porta. Lions coach Dan Campbell said he is in no rush to get Sam La Porta back on the field for spring workouts. So those are the biggest storylines, probably are the injuries right now that they're going through. And then the offensive line shuffling. All right, let's take a break there. We'll come back with some Green Bay Packers news. We'll be right back. All right, so the big news here, unfortunately, is that Marshawn Lloyd is once again injured. Now we don't know to what extent this may be just a minor thing. He may be back as early as today. He's been participating up to this point, but for a guy that has not ever been able to stay healthy up to this point, the last thing you want to see is he's once again not practicing with the team due to an injury, no matter how minor, because for the most part people have kind of given up hope that he can stay healthy as it is, and this is just further confirmation that that's exactly the situation. Why in the world would we expect him to be able to make it an entire season, the update was as follows. Packers running back Marshawn Lloyd, undisclosed, sat out during team drills or organized team activities on Wednesday. It goes on to say it's possible this is just a maintenance-related coaching decision, but it's still slightly concerning. Injuries have limited Lloyd to just 10 offensive snaps. Through two NFL seasons, Packers starting running back to Os Jacob was arrested, blah blah blah, per ESPN Rob Dumaski. Lloyd took part in team drills during Tuesday's closed session, but did only individual work Wednesday. Packers running back Chris Brooks began team drills for the first team offense before subbing out for running back Pierre Strong. Packers had the day off on Thursday, and will Zoom practice tomorrow. The Packers remain optimistic that the powerful and speedy Lloyd can repay the team for their patience, but he needs to retake the field soon if he hopes to prove his reliability. The bottom line at this point is that I don't know that anybody, I bottom line, you, you may just have to go do something, and I don't know what that something is, but you have to almost assume that we're in a situation with no Josh Jacobs and no Marshawn Lloyd, even though we may have Josh Jacobs and Marshawn Lloyd. I don't know how you know, I know the Packers want some kind of resolution. They also have a better understanding of what the situation is, and it may be very minor, and they're not really worried about it, but I mean, I'm to the point of I don't know how we can proceed at this point with I guess I'm just kind of assuming at this point that we're going to see Brooks and Pierre strong as our starting running backs, and probably not just for a couple snaps, I'm seeing a very distinct scenario and possibility that what's going to happen is that the Green Bay Packers are not going to have Josh Jacobs, and they're not going to have Marshawn Lloyd for a very extended period of time, and you got to figure out what the heck that looks like. Presumably the draft is a place we're going to have to start looking pretty heavily, but outside of that, what about this year? Because you know, I think we could get by, but I'd rather not focus on just getting by at this point. Now, it's easier to just say that than to actually do something productive, and I don't know exactly what that is at this point. Fall to your knees and hope and pray that Marshawn Lloyd and Josh Jacobs situations get resolved and everything's going to be fine, but outside of that, I feel like there's either got to be a trade situation, which is not my favorite option, or some kind of a free agent option. Now, if there were any good free agents, they wouldn't be free agents, that's kind of the thing about free agency. Unfortunately, there are some names here that I think are potentially worth keeping an eye on. For example, Naji Harris, Naji Harris is first of all exactly the type of running back that I could see Brian Gutta comes being a big fan of, he's 28 so he's not super old, although in running back years that's like 32 six won 242 pounds, and he played for Alabama, so big dude, strong dude, and the other thing is, he's always been good, I don't exactly know what happened, but he spent four years at Pittsburgh Steelers, and his grades were 7175 77 and 77 He went to the Chargers after his four years, only had 15 attempts, but at 61 yards, 4.1 yards per attempt, and an 84 rushing grade. Nick Chubb is available, he's 3511 227 so another big dude, he comes out of Georgia, so there you go. Big program was phenomenal for a very long time in Cleveland, had one, looks like he got injured in 2023 came back 2024 was not really himself, played for Houston last year, and seemed to do pretty well, 136 attempts, 568 yards, 4.2 yards per attempt, three touchdowns, 76 rushing grade. I don't know that he's, you know, 2022 version of Nick Chubb is coming back, but again in a pinch, I don't, sure, why not? Now, the contracts these guys are asking for matters, but none of them made a ton of Naji Harris had a $5 million contract last year, Chubb was 2.5 million. It looks like I understand we got to let these situations resolve a little bit, but I would certainly be keeping an eye on a few of these guys. I think those two in particular are probably the most interesting. Joe Mixon is available, but he's kind of a scumbag, so I don't really want him on the team. Maybe Naji and Chub have some stuff going on that I just don't remember, or whatever. But again, we'll, we'll, we'll see about that in the, in the future. I, you know, I think before we even discuss trade, we'd have to see definitive. Lee, first of all, the Josh Jacobs thing would have to resolve with him being let go, and then you know from there we could start talking about it. Certainly, if Marshawn Lloyd has some kind of a serious injury that's going to hold him out for a while. I think at that point we're very seriously looking into, are there trade candidates available? How big and splashy, I don't know, but that would become much more of a real thing. As of right now, I don't know. Outside of the Packers making some phone calls, I don't know exactly what what they'd be willing to do, and how much we need to really dig into all that, but certainly disappointing. And by next week, when the Packers are back at it, we had better see Marsha and Lloyd practicing. I mean, we had better at least hear that he is practicing it again, and you know, if they want to shut him down because they want to keep him healthy, or whatever the case may be, they're trying to preserve his body so that he doesn't go through the issues yet. Fine, then first of all, make a statement about that, so we understand the situation, and don't panic, but beyond that, he needs to be out there, he needs to have freaking a helmet on and running around and doing stuff, because this is stupid. And then I think, lastly, for today, some other stuff, but it's bigger stuff, and I'm running out of time here. Wife and I are actually going out to dinner, which is a rare occasion for us, so I'm pretty excited about that. But Bo Melton is now officially listed as a wide receiver, so if you are getting whiplash, then you're just like the rest of us. Again, you gotta, you gotta appreciate Bo Melton, if for no other reason the fact that he's getting jerked around by this team left and right, and he is just keeping his head right in this thing now. Maybe, maybe behind the scenes, he's got a bad attitude, but as much as the Packers love him, I get the impression that he has a great attitude, and maybe he should have more of an attitude, because I mean it would be hard to be a little bit upset to feel like, you know, I've got talent and I've got something to offer, and if you would just invest in me in one area, maybe I could actually grow and thrive in that area, instead of jerking me around from cornerback to wide receiver to gunner to returner to all these different things, you know. I don't know, but he's certainly a valuable asset for us, and hopefully the Packers are able to, you know, I don't want to say stay loyal, I mean, if he doesn't, if it's, if it's not worth keeping him around, then I guess he's got to go, but hopefully they can actually find a role for him, and he can help the Green Bay Packers this year. You know, last year I know he was the issue last year was he had so many wide receivers that the only way he was going to stay on the team is if they moved him to corner. Well, we've kind of purged that, so you could see why it would maybe make sense to move him back if that is his strongest position. In which case, the Packers are actually probably doing right by him, that is, assuming you don't think that just letting him go somewhere and be a wide receiver somewhere else. But either way, I think with the thinning of the wide receiver room, it's given him an opportunity to get back into that room, and you know he's going to be pretty low on the pecking order, but at the same time, what do we got? We got Watson, Reed, Golden, after that is Savian, and then after that is probably Bo, and me being a number five wide receiver, he'll get some action, and as much as Matt LaFleur loves the guy, I mean, you can't, you can't guarantee he won't be ahead of Savian, I don't think he will, but I think Matt LaFleur really likes him, I think he wants him in the offense, and I think he's excited about the different ways that he can use him in the offense, I'm excited about the different ways we can use him in the offense, so anywho, just real quick, let me pull this up, just as a reminder, the Green Bay Packers calendar moving forward, the so this week was week one of OTAs, Friday was that final day, next week, if I'm not mistaken, day one is going to be June 1 of OTAs, and then usually I don't know the exact schedule, but I think in the past, as I've said, usually it's one week of media availability, so it'll be similar. It's probably going to be the second, maybe the next day, which would be June 2, where the media has access to practice, and then they'll have access to Matt LaFleur, and potentially they'll have locker room access, unless they shut that down again because of the Josh Jacobs situation. I don't know, they may just shut that down until training camp or something. I'm not really sure how they're going to handle that, but either way, we'll have some information by next week. Let's see, so this episode will be for Saturday, then Sunday, then Monday. Okay, so just a couple days until we're back at it. So, anywho, you all have a good rest of your day. If you have any calls, 608-501-0718 get your calls in, and I will talk to you over there. Have a good one. 

The Chicago Bears are officially entering one of the most important OTA periods this franchise has had in years — and the pressure is already building.On today's episode of Chicago Bears Central, Haize breaks down the biggest storylines Bears fans need to watch as OTAs begin, including the battle at center between veteran Garrett Bradbury and rookie second-round pick Logan Jones. After Drew Dalman's surprise retirement, Chicago needs stability in the middle of the offensive line, and Jones is already talking about building chemistry with Caleb Williams — a relationship that could be massive for the future of the Bears' offense.

On this episode of Gabriel Talks Football, Greg Gabriel & Aldo Gandia dive into some of the biggest Chicago Bears storylines as OTAs heat up.

In the Best of the Bears this week, Matt Spiegel and Laurence Holmes debated what the best strategy is for Chicago to use in the early rounds of the NFL Draft; Marshall Harris and Gabe Ramirez discussed the Bears' left tackle problem and where veteran Braxton Jones fits in the mix; and Mike Mulligan and David Haugh pondered whether it would be wise for the Bears to trade up or down from No. 25 overall in the first round of the NFL Draft.

In the Best of the Bears this week, Matt Spiegel and Laurence Holmes debated what the best strategy is for Chicago to use in the early rounds of the NFL Draft; Marshall Harris and Gabe Ramirez discussed the Bears' left tackle problem and where veteran Braxton Jones fits in the mix; and Mike Mulligan and David Haugh pondered whether it would be wise for the Bears to trade up or down from No. 25 overall in the first round of the NFL Draft.

In the Best of the Bears this week, Matt Spiegel and Laurence Holmes debated what the best strategy is for Chicago to use in the early rounds of the NFL Draft; Marshall Harris and Gabe Ramirez discussed the Bears' left tackle problem and where veteran Braxton Jones fits in the mix; and Mike Mulligan and David Haugh pondered whether it would be wise for the Bears to trade up or down from No. 25 overall in the first round of the NFL Draft.

In the second hour, Marshall Harris and Gabe Ramirez discussed if Braxton Jones could be the answer to the Bears' left tackle problem. After that, Bulls on SI publisher Elias Schuster joined the show to discuss Bulls head coach Billy Donovan's future with the organization. Later, Harris and Ramirez held the Halftime segment.

Marshall Harris and Gabe Ramirez discussed if Braxton Jones could be the answer to the Bears' left tackle problem.

What No. 17 Is Really Worth Two weeks from the NFL Draft, the Detroit Lions Podcast put real numbers and real names on pick No. 17. Trade charts help, but they are not law. The team that moves up usually pays around a 10 percent premium. Sometimes the mover wins. Often the mover does not. It comes down to the player. That was the headline takeaway. The Detroit Lions can trade up, trade back, or flip 17 for a player. History says the return swings with the evaluation, not the math. The NFL market at 17 has receipts to prove it. Receipts from Recent No. 17 Deals The last time the 17th pick moved, it cost real capital. Seventeen went for No. 23, No. 67, plus a third and a fourth in 2025. Minnesota moved up with Jacksonville to take Dallas Turner. The edge from Alabama has not matched that price. Jacksonville stayed at 23 and took Brian Thomas, a potential Pro Bowler. One of those future picks turned into safety Caleb Branch. The Lions were even tangentially involved in the chain before it moved again. In 2023, 17 and 120 were packaged to climb to 14. The 14th pick became Braxton Jones at tackle. Solid, but not elite. Staying at 17 yielded Christian Gonzales at corner. The 120th pick spun out and landed as Carter Warren. The side that moved back came out ahead on player value. In 2019, 17 became the centerpiece in a blockbuster. Picks 17 and 95, plus Kevin Zeitler and Jabrill Peppers, went from Cleveland to New York for Odell Beckham Jr. and Olivier Vernon. No. 17 turned into Dexter Lawrence. No. 95 became O'Shane Niese, a pass rusher with a brief cup of coffee. Beckham sparked a short window, but the bigger lesson sits up front: Lawrence is a cornerstone. Vernon offered a template for balancing a star rusher with a different stylistic bookend. What It Means for Detroit at 17 The math says expect a surcharge to go up. The tape says only pay it for a difference maker. Trading back from 17 can win if the board lines up and the player at 23 is better than the one at 14. The episode also hit fit. The Christian Gonzales discussion in Detroit underlined how passion and habits matter. If a prospect does not love football, he is off the board. That applies at corner, edge, and everywhere. On defense, the model opposite Aidan Hutchinson looks like Olivier Vernon next to Myles Garrett. A complementary rusher with power, variety, and enough standalone juice to punish single blocks. Detroit's safety room is solid, so a veteran like Jabrill Peppers is not a priority. Use No. 17 to secure the right player, or use it as currency. The NFL has shown the price. The Detroit Lions must decide if the player is worth it. #detroitlions #lions #detroitlionspodcast #nfldraft #17thpick #10%moveuptax #dallasturner #brianthomas #braxtonjones #christiangonzales #carterwarren #odellbeckhamjr. #oliviervernon #dexterlawrence #jabrillpeppers #mylesgarrett #aidanhutchinson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Chicago Bears are heading into one of the most IMPORTANT drafts in recent memory—and fans are NOT holding back

The Chicago Bears may have just revealed their TRUE draft strategy—and it could change everything

The Chicago Bears continued their activity on Day 3 of NFL Free Agency, and Ryan Poles added another piece to the offensive line.On this episode of Chicago Bears Central, Haize breaks down the latest Chicago Bears news including:

Matt Spiegel and Laurence Holmes opened their show by reacting to the Bears bringing back left tackle Braxton Jones on a one-year deal. After that, they discussed how the Bears have been coveting a player like newly acquired safety Coby Bryant.

Matt Spiegel and Laurence Holmes reacted to the Bears re-signing left tackle Braxton Jones on a one-year deal and welcomed on Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner to discuss how spring training is going.

On this episode of The Sick Podcast, Adam Rank discusses the Baltimore Ravens backing out of the Maxx Crosby deal with the Las Vegas Raiders, the Chicago Bears signing Kalif Raymond and Braxton Jones and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matt Spiegel and Laurence Holmes reacted to the Bears bringing back left tackle Braxton Jones on a one-year deal.

From 'Take The North' (subscribe here): The NFL's legal tampering period is here, and the Bears have filled some — but not all — of the holes on their roster. Dan Wiederer and Mark Grote offer their thoughts on the Bears' additions of safety Coby Bryant, linebacker Devin Bush, defensive tackle Neville Gallimore and others. Plus, left tackle Braxton Jones is coming back on a one-year deal. Are the Bears done adding to the left tackle competition? And how do we feel about the addition of Garrett Bradbury at center? Finally, we now know for sure that the Bears didn't get any compensatory draft picks for assistant general manager Ian Cunningham leaving to become the Atlanta Falcons' new general manager. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mike Mulligan and David Haugh continued to discuss the top sports stories of the day in the Pick 6 segment.

Day 1 of free agency is almost over and the Bears have been active! Active trading for a center to replace the dearly departed Drew Dalman. Active in replacing Tremaine Edmunds! Active in signing Kobe Bryant?! A little late for that eh guys? Active in bringing back our beloved Braxton Jones for one last ride! Activating Travis against the NFL by not being granted those comp picks! All that discussed and much more, thanks for listening!

The NFL's legal tampering period is here, and the Bears have filled some — but not all — of the holes on their roster. Dan Wiederer and Mark Grote offer their thoughts on the Bears' additions of safety Coby Bryant, linebacker Devin Bush, defensive tackle Neville Gallimore and others. Plus, left tackle Braxton Jones is coming back on a one-year deal. Are the Bears done adding to the left tackle competition? And how do we feel about the addition of Garrett Bradbury at center? Finally, we now know for sure that the Bears didn't get any compensatory draft picks for assistant general manager Ian Cunningham leaving to become the Atlanta Falcons' new general manager. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Chicago Bears wasted no time making moves in NFL Free Agency, and general manager Ryan Poles delivered a strong opening day.On this episode of Chicago Bears Central, Haize breaks down every major move the Bears made on Day 1 of the legal tampering period and what it means for the future of the team.Key Bears moves include:

The Bears will reportedly sign left tackle Braxton Jones to a one-year, $10 million dealBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/shaw-local-s-bears-insider-podcast--3098936/support.

Daniel Jeremiah dropped real Detroit Lions intel on a two-hour NFL pre-combine conference call with roughly 150 media members. Three Lions-centric questions made the queue. The answers steered straight to offensive tackle and contingency planning. This Detroit Lions Podcast zeroes in on what matters for pick 17 and March. OT at 17: Monroe Freeling and Blake Miller Asked about offensive tackles at No. 17, Jeremiah immediately named Monroe Freeling of Georgia and Blake Miller of Clemson as fits he believes the Detroit Lions could consider. It is early in the process, and these are his opinions, but those were the first two prospects he tied to Detroit's draft slot. Both are squarely in the conversation before the NFL combine. Why Freeling resonates: learning curve and toughness Jeremiah outlined why Freeling stands out. Quick learner. Still improving. Limited experience but trending up. He added an off-field note with on-field value: Freeling's mother is a yoga instructor, which he views as a positive for injury prevention. He also relayed a durability moment. Freeling was expected to miss a game with a high ankle sprain. He said he felt healthy enough to go, entered on an emergency basis, then played the entire game and played well. That combination of growth, recovery habits, and resilience landed with the room. Free-agent tackle buzz and the contingency map Unprompted, Jeremiah said the Lions are sniffing around the free agent offensive tackle class. He did not elaborate. On the podcast, we walked through the practical outcomes of that note. It can be veteran insurance if a rookie tackle is the pick at 17. It can cover the possibility that Giovanni Manu is not ready to be the next man up. It can protect the depth spot that Dan Skipper filled. The class lacks sizzle, but there are playable options. Jermaine Illuminore has had decent starting stretches with the Lions and Raiders. He is not Taylor Decker, but he can start if needed. Braxton Jones is coming off a rough season. Jack Conklin brings a long injury history in Cleveland. Former Michigan State Spartan. Chicago area roots. Tough profile, but questions remain. Many in this market are primarily right tackles. This draft also gives Detroit room to stack swings. Beyond Freeling and Miller, there are many tackles in range throughout the weekend. Names mentioned as possibilities included Spencer Branch Manu, Caleb Holmes, Caleb Tiernan, and Dimitris Brown of Texas A and M as a Day 3 type the Lions could like. Doubling up is not out of the question if the board cooperates. For the Detroit Lions, the path at tackle runs through No. 17 and the veteran aisle. The next two weeks before the NFL combine will sharpen it. #detroitlions #lions #detroitlionspodcast #nfl #monroefreeling #blakemiller #freeagentoffensivetackles #taylordecker #giovannimanu #danieljeremiah #highanklesprain #jermaineilluminore #braxtonjones #jacksonconklin Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chicago Bears fans… the offseason is already getting LOUD

The Chicago Bears are one win away from the NFC Championship Game… and the margin for error has never been smaller.

Chicago Bears cornerback Kyler Gordon would've returned to the practice field Tuesday according to an estimated injury report the team sent out. That came after the Bears designated both Gordon and left tackle Braxton Jones to come off injured reserve earlier in the day.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/shaw-local-s-bears-insider-podcast--3098936/support.

In the third hour, Matt Spiegel and Laurence Holmes were joined by ESPN analyst Matt Bowen to discuss the latest Bears storylines, including their left tackle situation. After that, White Sox television analyst Steve Stone joined the show to discuss the MLB playoffs and Brewers first baseman Andrew Vaughn's success in Milwaukee.

Matt Spiegel and Laurence Holmes were joined by ESPN analyst Matt Bowen to discuss the latest Bears storylines, including their left tackle situation.

In the third hour, Matt Spiegel and Laurence Holmes were joined by Score football analyst Olin Kreutz to discuss the latest Bears storylines as they sit at 2-2 on their bye week. After that, Spiegel and Holmes discussed Brewers fans' angst in facing Cubs manager Craig Counsell, their former skipper, in the National League Division Series.

Matt Spiegel and Laurence Holmes were joined by Score football analyst Olin Kreutz to discuss the latest Bears storylines as they sit at 2-2 on their bye week.

Matt Spiegel and Laurence Holmes pondered if the Bears have a new starting left tackle in Theo Benedet after Braxton Jones was benched in Chicago's win at Las Vegas on Sunday.

In the 3rd hour of the show, former NFL Player and Iowa Hawkeye Matt Bowen joined the show to talk Bears ahead of week 1 of the NFL season.

Former NFL Safety and Iowa Hawkeye Matt Bowen joined the show to talk Bears and NFL ahead of their contest Monday night against the Vikings.

Russell Dorsey joins Leila Rahimi & Marshall Harris for 5 On It, plus reacting to breaking news on the Bears naming their left tackle in Braxton Jones.

Leila Rahimi, Marshall Harris & Russell Dorsey reacting the breaking news that the Bears named their starting LT and captains.

In the second hour, Leila Rahimi, Marshall Harris and Mark Grote discussed a variety of Bears storylines coming out of their second preseason game, including the ongoing left tackle competition. After that, they examined tight end Cole Kmet's role in the Bears' offense.

Leila Rahimi, Marshall Harris and Mark Grote discussed a variety of Bears storylines coming out of their second preseason game, including the ongoing left tackle competition.

With joint practices against the Bills on deck and preseason game No. 2 around the corner, Ruthie Polinsky, Alex Shapiro, and Clay Harbor dive deep into the Bears' left tackle battle, Caleb Williams' progress, and which position matchups will define the week. The crew breaks down Theo Benedet's surprise reps with the ones, what it means for Braxton Jones and Ozzie Trapilo, and whether a rotation at tackle could linger into the season. Plus, they preview key storylines for joint practices — from testing the run defense against James Cook to how the secondary will hold up against Josh Allen — and share what they want to see from the starters in their first in-game action.