Bear Digest

Options for Ryan Poles on Defensive Line Point One Direction

Analysis: A shortage of rush men for the rotation is likely to lead GM Ryan Poles to sign someone and the best option the Bears have here is a familiar one.

Gene Chamberlain

Yannick Ngakoue might be the last best hope for the Bears to improve their defensive line, so they should act.
Yannick Ngakoue might be the last best hope for the Bears to improve their defensive line, so they should act. / Jamie Sabau-USA TODAY Sports
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The next step for Bears improvement has been charted already by Ryan Poles, with possibly some extraneous help from Jaylon Johnson.

Poles already said at the draft exactly where they could be looking afterward for more help, based on what they were able to do with the first two days of the draft.

"And then there's some other things we can go to, you know, some of the free agents that are still out there to help us out as well, especially the defensive line position," he said.

Johnson merely furthered this along during an interview on WSCR's Parkins & Spiegel.

"I feel like we need a little more firepower up front," Johnson said.

The potential firepower up front spoke on Thursday, or let his body do the speaking.

The top remaining edge rusher is the Bears' very own free agent, Yannick Ngakoue. He had a career-low four sacks into the 13th game and broke his ankle.

He missed four more games to try and get his sack total up where it normally has been, which is at eight sacks or more every year in the league. But he never got the chance.

Since the injury came so late in the season, there had been concern about whether he'd be able to go at the start of training camp.

On Thursday Ngakoue posted a video on Twitter of himself doing a rehab cut coming around the edge.

It's significant not just because of the Bears need but because Ngakoue rarely posts anything.

His last post was Dec. 13, after he'd been injured. "Minor setback. Major comeback. Joshua 1:9" was his post then.

The Tribune's Dan Wiederer pointed out in a postdraft article how the Bears waited until after training camp began lsat year to sign Ngakoue and might not be able to do it this time.

He also pointed to a few other edge rushers on the market, like Shaq Lawson, Bud Dupree and Markus Golden.

Lawson would actually seem like a decent fit, not because of his production but because he has worked with Bears defensive coordinator Eric Washington in the past.

Lawson was with the Bills from 2016-19 but again the last two years and was working then with Washington, the Buffalo defensive line coach.  He was with Miami one year and the Jets one year.

The problem with Lawson is simply lack of production. He has had only 5 1/2 sacks total over the last three seasons and hasn't had more than 13 pressures in any of those.

Golden had three sesons in a nine-year career with more than 4 1/2 sacks. In those, he had 10, 11 and 12 1/2 sacks. But they have been widely dispersed. He hd 11 in 2021 for Arizona but no more than 4 1/2 in any season since 2019. Last year he had only nine pressures and four sacks, but he did have 22 pressures in 2022 and in other years as many as 44 pressures.

However, he has been an outside linebacker in a 3-4 defense through his entire career.

The Bears, of course, play a 4-3.

This is also a problem with Dupree. He has been in a 3-4 his entire nine-year career except last year at Atlanta. However, in Dupree's case he is a good size for a 4-3 end as opposed to a 3-4 linebacker. He is 6-4, 269, has had consistent pressure throughout his career and 6 1/2 sacks last year in his first 4-3 season.

Brad Biggs of the Tribune also has pointed to defensive tackle as an area they could seek to upgrade. This makes sense with the right player. One who is only mildly disruptive at 3-technique wouldn't help, but if they could be sure of getting a good push then it might be worthwhile as an extra player to work should Gevon Dexter and Zacch Pickens fail to pick up the slack from the loss of free agent defensive tackle Justin Jones.

Wiederer suggests Hassan Ridgeway, Rakeem Nunez-Roches and Calais Campbell as possibilities. Campbell is 39 when the season begins and too old. Ridegeway doesn't do enough damage with only six tackles for loss and four sacks in the last four seasons for three different good teams -- the Texans last year, the Eagles and 49ers in 2021-22. He did get one season in with Eberflus' scheme in Indianapolis, as well, but wasn't retained.

BEST POSSIBLE OPPONENT FOR CALEB WILLIAMS IN DEBUT

WORST POSSIBLE OPPONENT FOR CALEB WILLIAMS IN DEBUT

Nunez-Roches does virtually nothing beyond take up space. He has had two sacks in six years and last

During predraft assessment with the media, Poles said all things being equal, he'd take a defensive tackle in the draft over edge rusher. Applying the same principle doesn't seem possible here becaue the available edge rushers look better than the available tackles and even they are no bargain.

Ngakoue should keep working because Poles is going to come to the realization there is only one waty to go to find the right edge rush addition. Eventually he'll be back with Ngakoue.

The only other alternative would be talking Fletcher Cox out of retirement and signing him. He's only 33. Ndamukong Suh went to Tampa Bay and put in three solid years to earn a ring with the Buccanneers. Cox was still making pressures and QB hits from the inside with the Eagles.

WHAT JAYLON JOHNSON STILL WANTS TO SEE FROM BEARS DEFENSE

RYAN POLES DRAFTED A PUNTER TO MAKE PEOPLE UNCOMFORTABLE

It would be a tough task considering how content he seemed with his retirement decision but it's an option and would cost money they Bears probably don't have considering he played for $10 million last year. But bringing back Ngakoue could cost about the same.

Considering the project classification of rookie Austin Booker and how little the Bears get from Dominique Robinson, all things really don't look equal here and the Bears would be best off just getting Ngakoue back in the fold before they lose the chance.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.