Bear Digest

Bears go out of their way to cloud up Gervon Dexter's future role

Analysis: The Bears' new defensive line coach provided little clarity on one real mystery regarding how they're going to use their third-year defensive lineman.
Gene Chamberlain|
Is Gervon Dexter a defensive end or a defensive tackle? It's hard to see right now. Maybe the draft will provide a more clear picture.
Is Gervon Dexter a defensive end or a defensive tackle? It's hard to see right now. Maybe the draft will provide a more clear picture. | Talia Sprague-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

The one sure thing about NFL teams in the preseason and regular season is how they'll try to avoid how they're using players.

It's supposed to be a clandestine operation. And in the offseason? Forget it.

The revelation by Dennis Allen that Kyler Gordon might get an expanded role is probably as far as the Bears will go until they're actually on a field practicing.

So when defensive line coach Jeremy Garrett was asked about the future for Gervon Dexter, it was not surprising when he closed like a clam while discussing Dayo Odeyingbo, Grady Jarrett and Montez Sweat without a hesitation.

Asked directly what Dexter's role would be, Garrett turned on the fog machine.

"I will say this, we don’t have a depth chart, per se," Garrett said. "We’re excited (about) all the guys. Every single one brings something to the table that’s unique.

"We've got some work to do, as all teams do. I’m really excited about the group as a whole."

Now that's definitive. Just mentioning the depth chart unsolicited was enough to put radars up about a possible position change.

At issue is whether the Bears are planning an actual switch of positions for Dexter this year to defensive end.

He came to Halas Hall to start conditioning and looked as if he had lost weight.

The 6-foot-6 Dexter came in at 312 last year, definitely good size for the line's interior. It wouldn't be a stretch to see Dexter playing a dual role of interior pass rusher on obvious passing downs and rotational edge to relieve Montez Sweat and Dayo Odeyingbo. It's also a strength of Odeyingbo's that he has versatility at 286 pounds to move inside in pass rush situations if required, which was how the Colts sometimes used him.

According to Pro Football Focus statistics, Dexter has already had a good dose of coming off the edge, as he lined up 144 times out of his 611 plays last year over the tackle or outside of it. He played 132 snaps over tackle, 12 outside of it. Over tackle would be an edge position in this scheme.

Dexter's weight loss--unconfirmed except to the naked eye--would seem to indicate he's going to need speed more this year. When he did line up over tackle one of his real noticeable traits was being able to overpower tackles with a bull rush or a move inside.

Dexter definitely didn't look like your average outside rusher taking the long route around the tackle to the QB.

Dexter wasn't at his best defending the run and had only five tackles for loss as their 3-technique and sometimes edge. He wasn't bad there, though, but labeled his own play when season ended as requiring more consistency.

PFF liked him enough to grade him 28th out of 219 interior defensive linemen overall and 56th against the run.

After last season ended, Dexter was asked whether he viewed himself in a particular role or best suited for a particular style of scheme.

"Nah, I like to play ball," he said. "I'm a ball player so line me up in anything, I feel like I'd do a good job in at."

There's no reason to think at this point that role will be exclusively inside, and maybe there's more reason to think it's on the outside. He might fit in at exactly the size defensive coordinator has had one of his starting defensive ends in past schemes, the 286 to 287-pound range.

There could be good reason to cover it all up at this point and that's the draft. If they come out of it with an edge rusher who they like, no reason for a switch. If they come out with a defensive tackle they like, the switch could be on. Perhaps they have a particular target in mind.

Much could depend on what they're able to do with the defensive line position in this draft.

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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.