Bear Digest

The age-old question facing Bears with one combine edge rusher

The Bears can use defensive end help to offset the double-team attention given to Montez Sweat and one player at the combine is showing all the desired physical traits but there are questions.

Gene Chamberlain

Texas A&M defensive end Shemar Stewart burns down the track for a 4.59-second 40-yard dash.
Texas A&M defensive end Shemar Stewart burns down the track for a 4.59-second 40-yard dash. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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The Bears could wind up staring straight in the face of a debate as old as the NFL draft itself when they are on the clock.

Then again, it's possible some other team could save the Bears from making the pick.

Texas A&M edge rusher Shemar Stewart is one of the players who interviewed with the Bears in Indianapolis, and could be available at No. 10 to them. Numerous mock drafts say he probably wouldn't last until their 39th pick in Round 2.

Whether Stewart is someone worth taking at No. 10 probably depends on the Bears' need and availability of top offensive line options. However, in Stewart's case they would have to ask themselves whether it's football production or athletic ability that's more important to them.

Is it best athlete available or best football player available?

It seem something was wrong when a player who ran a 4.59 combine 40-yard dash, had a phenomenal 10-foot-11 broad jump and a 40-inch vertical leap, made 4 ½ sacks, including just 1 ½ each season. He made 65 total tackles, 12 went for losses.

There were  five players on the defense with more sacks for the Aggies last year but there wasn’t someone in particular gobbling up all sacks to keep them from him, as draft prospect Nic Scourton led the team with only five.

Stewart didn’t even lead the Shemars on the team in sacks as  Shemar Turner had 2.0.

Stewart said something at the combine that is going to make all the traditionalists angry.

"I would say, sometimes the stats don't tell the whole story," Stewart said. "It's all about the film. And when you look at the film, you can really see what's going on for the most part.

"Production is a little overrated."

Boom.

Wow. Excuse the stray Matt Nagy reference.

"I wasn't a sack-chasing warrior," Stewart told the media at the NFL Scouting Combine. "I just wanted to become the best player for my team. And sometimes the stats don't show that."

Stewart wasn’t just standing out there as a statue. He had a run defense grade from Pro Football Focus in the top 11.8% of all edges. He had 40 pressures and his pass rush win rate of 12.4% was in the upper 30%.

Some people are impressed by him. Mel Kiper has him 16th overall in his latest big board. The NFL Mock Draft Data Base collects mock drafts and the consensus among them as February ended is Stewart doesn’t go in Round 1.

However, the Data Base also does a consensus of big boards on the web and he is ranked as the 20th best player overall.

Stewart has definitely heard all of this debate about his production before and sees things he can do to make more sacks.

"Definitely trying to get more comfortable and get after the quarterback, trying to run through the tackle instead of maybe trying to reach out, lunging for a tackle," he said.

Stewart suggested the lack of sacks had something to do with their scheme.

"I would say it's more individual," he said. "Sometimes, I have to play dead to rights, and sometimes I just couldn't finish or just couldn't get there in time. But, also, teams was not going to sit and pass the ball against us. We had a stacked D-line.

"Everybody knew better than just to sit and pass the ball against us."

Stewart said something that would have brought tears to the eyes of Matt Eberflus.

"Staying disciplined is a big thing for defense, at the end of the day, if one person on defense isn't doing his job, then the whole defense is screwed," he said. "Sometimes you just got to play your gap, be your role and somebody else is going to make the play and somebody else is going to shine. And that's perfectly fine."

The size/scheme issue for the Bears is at play here. Stewart has lost some weight in his training for the combine but he comes in normally at a defensive end weight ideally suited to the scheme Dennis Allen ran in the past.

From 2018-2024, the Saints did not have a defensive end less than 261 pounds and almost all of the time their starting combination was a 280-pound edge and a 260-pound edge on the other side. The 280-plus end was Cameron Jordan.

Stewart is in the range to be the 280-pound-plus edge. Montez Sweat is 265.

"I finished my college career at 285 (pounds)," Stewart said at the combine. "I came in at 285. I'm just way more lean. They haven't told me anything. But I always tell teams, 'If you need me to be 250, I'll be 250 by tomorrow. I'll try. Hey, man."

Unencumbered by scheme and team goals, Stewart went in during Senior Bowl week and kicked rear while taking names.

"The Senior Bowl gave me the opportunity to show people my ability, because people just see me on tape and just be like, 'Oh, he's just big. He's not fast,' " Stewart said. "I just went in there, answered everybody's questions and showed people why I should be a first-round pick."

There is no lack of athletic ability in Stewart and no lack of confidence, either.

"I just feel like my athletic ability, my willpower to always be great and just my sheer competitive nature," he said. "I'm a very competitive guy no matter who I go against.

"My ceiling, if I keep working, I could potentially be a Hall of Famer one day. I feel like nobody can stop me but me. It's all on me."

No team would want to turn that down, regardless of scheme, body type or other preferences.

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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.