Bear Digest

Defensive Line Injury Clouds Depth Heading to Preseason Finale

The coming roster cuts and season opener are uncertainties along the line of scrimmage after an injury to defensive tackle Zacch Pickens.

Gene Chamberlain

Zacch Pickens makes a sack of Will Levis in last year's preseason game. Whether he'll get another chance to do it in the opener is uncertain now due to injury.
Zacch Pickens makes a sack of Will Levis in last year's preseason game. Whether he'll get another chance to do it in the opener is uncertain now due to injury. / David Banks-USA TODAY Sports
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Recent concern over another possible Bears defensive lineman being added might be aimed at the wrong position.

All of the talk has been about an edge rusher, especially after the attempt to trade for Matthew Judon. However, the Bears are heading for their final preseason game with the possibility of an injury keeping one of their defensive tackles sidelined in what would have been a game when he gained valuable experience.

Defensive tackle Zacch Pickens had been out of Tuesday's practice and it's serious enough he also missed Wednesday. Defensive coordinator Eric Washington can't be sure what the future holds at this point for their chief interior line replacement with the regular season less than three weeks away.

"Well, at this particular point, I'm just looking forward to him getting the treatment that he needs and just getting some of the feedback from our medical staff and also from Zacch," Washington said. "Right now, I can't really give an opinion on (availability for opener) one way or the other, because he incurred what he did.

"And right now I wouldn't say that he may or may not be available for us. His situation is new. He's been grinding and battling throughout training camp, so we'll just have to wait and see."

Pickens backs up both 3-technique defensive tackle Gervon Dexter and nose tackle Andrew Billings. Byron Cowart is their fourth defensive tackle but is more of a nose tackle.

"It's hard to project at this particular point," Washington added about Pickens. "I'll just have to wait and see how he responds to his treatment and get more feedback and advice and direction from our medical staff."

Pickens last year was the fourth defensive tackle, behind Billings, Dexter and former starter Justin Jones, who is now with Arizona. He moved up one spot to be the first fill-in when Jones left.

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Pickens had a better overall Pro Football Focus grade last year than Jones or Dexter, but played only about 60% of the snaps that Dexter played. Pickens was graded 83rd out of all interior defensive linemen and Dexter 101st. Jones was 107th.

Pickens leads Bears defensive tackles in tackles in preseason with six.

The situation appeared even worse briefly on Tuesday because Dexter left practice early, but the returned almost immediately to finish practice.

Backing up Pickens are Michael Dwumfour, Keith Randolph Jr. and Dashaun Mallory but Dwumfour has been out of practices with an injury, as well.

The injury rehab group the Bears currently have at all positions can cause a problem for coaches when final cuts come Wednesday at 3 p.m.. There could be a player in this injured group who should make the cut, and his availability for the opener could affect judgment on who to keep on the roster.

"It's a little tougher, but you also have to look beyond or look even at what they've done before they were not able to participate," Washington said of injured players. "There's a lot of projection in that, but also the evaluation of the players, the reason why they're here.

"There was an evaluation done before they were drafted before they were signed. During the offseason, you look and you start to anticipate where this particular player can go in terms of the following year and the jump that we anticipate them making."

The Bears are not required by the league to reveal the nature of injuries until the first injury reports come out on Wednesday, Sept. 4.

Twitter: BearsOnSI

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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.