Bear Digest

Addressing biggest Bears draft need can end shameful GM neglect

Whether it's GM Ryan Poles or his predecessor, the Bears have had a habit of ignoring one position that almost all of the NFL deems as critical and it needs to end with this draft.

Gene Chamberlain

Ryan Poles has the chance to end eight years of draft neglect and better do it or the Bears run the risk of ruining Montez Sweat.
Ryan Poles has the chance to end eight years of draft neglect and better do it or the Bears run the risk of ruining Montez Sweat. / Photo: Chicago Bears Video
In this story:

The Bears will end March and hit the April draft runway still with two pressing needs.

Defining "pressing needs" is necessary because those with agendas will twist it to suit their desires.

A pressing need is something insufficient to such an extent to be very evident if they lined up tomorrow and played a game.

It's very easy to go through their needs and find the one missing the most.

The first and most obvious place to look is running back but D'Andre Swift is an NFL veteran starter, highly paid and very versatile. They have a power presence in Roschon Johnson, as well. While they'd benefit greatly from a bellcow type back or from someone with speed/power combination, they could win football games without adding one.

Of course, as stated, getting another one would benefit them greatly and enhance Ben Johnson's play-calling ability.

So it's close, a real desire. It's not a need.

Their offensive line lacks tackle depth but the first five could line up and be the five for opening day, provided Braxton Jones' broken ankle heals.

It's never safe to assume healed injuries but no one has a career-threatening broken ankle unless they have other issues involved like with Kyle Long's torn ankle ligaments in 2016.

Jones' was reported by the Bears as a broken bone, and nothing more. With the cast off now, he could easily be on the field in minicamp if they pushed it and training camp isn't until six weeks later.

Still, a pressing need is if they lined up tomorrow. Time is going to solve this need but to play a game tomorrow the Bears would need to find a left tackle in the draft and start him immediately or train him. There is no real option at the position beyond Kiran Amegadjie, who barely has the experience playing there that a drafted rookie will have.

The other pressing need is greater because the Bears have addressed it already and it's still there.

It's not that the player they brought in is a poor player, he just is a different type at the position than they need. They needed him, but need someone else.

It's obviously an edge rusher.

Dayo Odeyingbo cost them plenty to sign and has pass rush ability but the selling point with him is he is an ideal system fit as a defensive end who is big and stout against the run, but also will apply heat in the passing game if necessary.

He is not the sheer terror coming off the edge in an obvious passing situation, someone who could be called the ideal complement to keep teams from always putting double teams on Montez Sweat.

Odeyingbo the Dennis Allen every down defensive end, but not the rotational pass rusher who pops for eight to 10 sacks in limited numbers of reps.

They need that guy. They have candidates.

They have Austin Booker, Dominique Robinson and Daniel Hardy.

This is like giving the keys for your brand new car to your 10-year-old and telling him to go take it out for a spin but leave it for you in the driveway.

Booker showed great athletic ability in a year with 283 play reps on defense. His 1 1/2 sacks was exactly what Robinson got in 2022 as a rookie for 550 reps. Robinson has had half a sack since then. Hardy isn't a drafted player and is 240 pounds. For that matter, Robinson and Booker aren't 250 and in the last 6-plus years of Dennis Allen's defense, no defensive end, rotational or otherwise, played at less than 260.

Car keys, meet the kids.

Someone has to come in and spell Odeyingbo and Sweat, someone who will not wreck the car. You don't play modern football by rotating tackles or guards on offense. You do rotate them at edge rusher and inside on defense.

The defensive line operates with at least four edge rushers in a rotation. Considering part of Odeyingbo's attraction—and one they plan to use—is how he can rotate to tackle in pass rush situation, it only underscores how drastically they need upgrade to another edge rusher in this draft and as soon as possible.

Who and whether it's Round 1 or 2 will depend on the draft board ranking and the fit for their scheme.

Considering how very few players from Day 3 of the draft ever come in and become immediate starters or key contributors as rookies on the defensive line, it better be Day 1 or 2 and better yet Rounds 1 or 2.

The embarrassing part of this all is how the Bears have utterly neglected what is possibly the most important defensive position over the years on draft day.

They have not drafted an edge player higher than Round 5 since Ryan Pace took first-rounder Leonard Floyd in his second of seven drafts back in 2016. There have been eight drafts held since then and the Bears did not take a single edge player in Rounds 4 or higher.

And how did the Philadelphia Eagles win that Super Bowl in February, again?

The real problem the Bears face with this position is not qualified players but fitting the draft slot. Most mock drafts don't have a player draftable coming within four to six spots of where the Bears select. The NFL Mock Draft Data Base has Georgia's Jalon Walker as edge No. 2 after the consensus best, Abdul Carter. And he goes eighth in the consensus of 1,089 mock drafts they've monitored. After him, there wouldn't be another worth taking until 15 in these mocks.

Unless the Bears are prepared to move way back, their best option might very well be Round 2 and it's here where a group of bigger edge players like they utilize would be available:

  • Nic Scourton from Texas A&M
  • Landon Jackson from Arkansas
  • Ohio State's Jack Sawyer
  • Ohio State's J.T. Tuimoloau
  • Mississippi's Princely Umanmielen
  • Oregon's Jordan Burch

Oregon's Derrick Harmon, Boston College's Donovan Ezeiruaku and Tennessee's James Pearce Jr. are players regarded as first-round material but would require a big trade back or a big trade up from Round 2 for the Bears to be in the running.

As much as the Bears needed to overhaul their offensive line, and did with free agent starters, and still need to add one more tackle, they definitely need to bolster pass rush potential off the edge.

They're not playing a game tomorrow or any other day without finding qualified help at this position, and preferably sometime before Round 5.

Going since 2016 without drafting an edge earlier is a complete and total failure by both of the last two general managers.

More Chicago Bears News

X: BearsOnSI

Published |Modified
Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

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.