Bear Digest

Why Chicago Bears edge hunt in the draft suggests drastic action

Reported interest in Georgia edge Jalon Walker doesn't fit Bears scheme/position parameters and filling that need could require them to do something Ryan Poles has often done.

Gene Chamberlain

Jalon Walker (11) and Mykel Williams drag down Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers in the SEC championship game.
Jalon Walker (11) and Mykel Williams drag down Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers in the SEC championship game. / Joshua L. Jones / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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The first-round Bears draft pick at No. 10 continues to command attention and with running back Ashton Jeanty as a possibility it only adds to the interest.

Thinking Jeanty makes it to No. 10 unselected seems like fantasy, especially with teams like the Raiders and Saints needing backs and picking before the Bears. Numerous mock drafts have the Bears thinking offensive line with Jeanty unavailable, usually Will Campbell.

This makes sense because Campbell is among the players who reportedly will have a 30 visit to Halas Hall and he did confirm he talked to the Bears at the combine.

Still, edge rusher can't be ignored as a first-round possibility and Georgia edge Mykel Williams confirmed at the combine he had a formal interview there with the Bears. So it's probably not surprising that a report came out saying they had an extensive visit at Georgia's Pro Day with a Bulldogs edge rusher.

What was a bit surprising was the edge rusher they were said to have talked to was Jalon Walker and not Williams. 

Jalon Walker doesn't fit

This report might be met with some skepticism because it came from Tony Pauline of Sports Skeeda and formerly Pro Football Network, whose sourced reports in the past have been questioned. However, Pauline has been around the draft scene for decades and this was not a report made citing a source. It merely was an observation from the workout and afterward that anyone else could have seen and noted.

The reason to really be surprised by this interest is Walker does not fit defensive coordinator Dennis Allen' mold for edge rushers in any way. He is not a tall edge player, at 6-foot-2. Nor does he meet past eight requirements for the scheme, which are players 260-287 pounds so they're stout enough against the run. Recent acquisition Dayo Odeyingbo and Saints edge Cameron Jordan are examples of types who fit his scheme. Walker is only 248 pounds.

The point where the Bears can best find an ideal pick for the edge. according to Allen's past approach—their best overall fit—is actually in Round 2. However, those players might require a trade down just like some potential first-round picks could.

The Bears have picks at Nos. 39 and 41 in Round 2, so they are seventh and ninth in the round.

The edge need

This need for an edge rusher is apparently lost on some people. Pro Football Network put out an updated list of Bears draft needs after free agency and failed to even include edge rusher, which actually must be regarded one of the team's top three requirements from this draft. If they don't get one, they run the risk of Montez Sweat getting double-teamed repeatedly, again.

They added Odeyingbo through free agency but had lost DeMarcus Walker by cutting him. Not that Walker was bound for Canton, but in his last four seasons he has 16 1/2 sacks. However, that's the same number of sacks Odeyingbo made in his four NFL seasons.

The Bears paid for a projection with Odeyingbo, counting on the belief he'll improve greatly in Year 5 as a pass rusher in their scheme and with their coaching over where he had been with the Colts. Projections are not always reality.

That fact aside, they never signed free agents Jake Martin and Darrell Taylor. Since free agency started, Taylor signed with Houston.

So they need someone else to come in off the edge in a rush rotation. Thinking Dominique Robinson, Austin Booker or Daniel Hardy might fill their need as an extra edge to take pressure off of Sweat is even a wilder projection than saying Odeyingbo will step up and produce double-digit sacks.

Robinson, Booker and Hardy haven't shown they are worthy of starting status, let alone joining in the rotation with meaningful numbers.

Round 2 options

The Bears need one or two edge rushers as they approach the draft and Round 2 is better because they'd be passing on too much good talent at other need spots in Round 1. It doesn't mean a first-rounder would fail to serve them, but they could find one to fit their needs as well in Round 2 and can't find some other position needs then, such as guard or tackle.

The first-round edge rushers who fit Allen's prototype of of players 260-287 pounds include only Shemar Stewart, Mykel Williams and possibly Purdue/Texas A&M's Nic Scourton.

If they draft Stewart at No. 10 they'll trigger a firestorm of fan complaints so loud they'll need ear plugs to avoid all the talk they have wasted a pick. Stewart's 4 1/2 sacks in three college seasons say he's not even a first-rounder, although his combine workout says he is a top-10 pick. Maybe he could be a professional at working out.

Mike Green of Marshall came in at 248 pounds, James Pearce Jr. of Tennessee 243 and Boston College's Donovan Ezeiruaku 247. None of those players fit the Bears prototype and only Abdul Carter would be worth taking in the top 10 picks for the Bears based on mock drafts and big boards. They'll never have the chance to pick him and even he is't an exact fit for what they need but his talent is so ridiculous even their stringent requirements might be overlooked here to take a lighter player. Carter's chances for disruption and hitting the QB are just too high to ignore. They probably could trade back in Round 1 for the others who are fits size-wise, like Williams or Scourton

However, in Round 2 there is a wider assortment of pass rushers available in the size range the Bears seek and almost all could be available at the 39th and 41st picks.

Arkansas' Landon Jackson, at 6-6, 264, and with an 83-inch wingspan he might be more of an ideal fit for the Bears' scheme. Pro Football Focus grades him 41st in this draft and the Bears have the 39th and 41st picks in Round 2.

PFF ranks  LSU's Bradyn Swinson, Ohio State's JT Tuimoloa and Jack Sawyer, and Mississippi's Jared Ivey all as potential second-round picks who fit the Bears' edge rush mold, as well as LSU's Bradyn Swinson. Although Swinson is only 255 pounds, he's close enough to easily put on the necessary weight and at  6-4 1/2 he's the desired rangy type. 

Lower round 2 grades

The body types are all there in abundance for the Bears in Round 2. However, if PFF's rating means anything it becomes difficult to find a Bears fit because all of those players are well below where they pick in the round.

Letting this need go until Round 3 would be almost like what they've done the last three years, when they wound up trying to count on players picked on Day  3—Robinson and Booker.

The bottom line is for the Bears to find a system fit on the edge, they'll need to be willing to trade back in Round 1 or Round 2 This could put them in the sweet spot for the prototypical edge rushers.  They're not staying put and picking Jalon Walker when he doesn't fit their scheme.

It's a way to come up with an extra pick or two to be used for a needed safety or tight end, positions where they do have need but probably lower on their priority list than the edge, offensive line or running back.

With the edge need there and the stringent physical requirements necessary to fit a template for Allen's defense, expect the Bears to be active trading to get into the right position to find the player they want.

Here's what Poles has done in trades during days leading up to the draft or during the draft, only further indication of his willingness to get into position for the right players:

Ryan Poles' offseason draft trades

2024

  • Traded a fourth-round pick to the Chargers for wide receiver Keenan Allen.
  • Traded a 2025 fourth-round pick to Buffalo so they could draft Booker at edge in Round 5.

2023

  • Dealt the No. 1 overall pick to Carolina for DJ Moore, a second-round pick, a 2024 first-round Panthers pick, and a 2025 second-round choice. They used the 2023 second-round pick in a trade with the Jaguars to move up for Tyrique Stevenson. The first-rounder, of course, eventually became Caleb Williams. And they'll be using the other second-rounder acquired for a pick in this year's draft.
  • Traded down one spot with the Eagles in the first round to draft Darnell Wright while deciding against taking Jalen Carter. They acquired an extra 2024 fourth-round pick with the move back to No. 10 and used that pick in 2024 for punter Tory Taylor.
  • Moved up five spots in Round 2 by trading their own second- and fifth-round picks to Jacksonville and drafted cornerback Tyrique Stevenson
  • Traded back in Round 4 12 spots and drafted Roschon Johnson, while acquiring an extra fifth-round pick they used for cornerback Terell Smith.

2022

  • Traded Khalil Mack in March for a second-round pick used to take Jaquan Brisker, and a sixth-rounder.
  • Traded a sixth-round pick to the L.A. Chargers for seventh-round picks used on Elijah Hicks and North Carolina State punter Trenton Gill.
  • Traded back 20 places in Round 5 and drafted tackle Braxton Jones at 168, while receiving a Buffalo sixth-rounder used to draft running back Trestan Ebner.
  • Went back 16 spots in Round 5 to 166 and picked up an extra sixth-rounder used to take center Doug Kramer, then traded that 166th pick down to 174 and drafted Robinson at defensive end and took guard Ja'Tyre Carter with an extra seventh-round pick acquired for the trade back.

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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.