Defensive Coordinator Dennis Allen All But Begs Bears to Sign Cam Jordan

The Bears still need to improve their pass rush and it's not a hidden secret what their defensive coordinator feels about the skillset of his former edge rusher.

Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen looks over the rookies at minicamp. | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

No defensive end available still in free agency gets associated more with the Bears than Saints free agent Cam Jordan.

It's obvious why. They're playing the scheme he played most of his career and his former head coach and defensive coordinator is Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen.

Sep 29, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; New Orleans Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan (94) shown on the field before the game against the Atlanta Falcons at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images | Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

Allen held back nothing when talking Saturday about the 36-year-old edge who had 10 1/2 sacks last season and is still available to sign.

"My experience with him was outstanding," Allen said in front of assembled media Saturday. "Cam’s going to be a frickin' Hall-of-Fame player, is a Hall-of-Fame player. I don’t know that there’s been a ton of discussion about that."

Then Allen couldn't even douse the flames of rumor without leaving something to the imagination when it comes to signing another edge rusher.

"I think we feel pretty good about where we’re at and what we have, and, yet, you never know what opportunities might present themselves down the road," Allen said.

Sep 28, 2025; Orchard Park, New York, USA; New Orleans Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan (94) celebrates a sack against the Buffalo Bills in the second quarter at Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark Konezny-Imagn Images | Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

Bears salary cap position isn't great, but could still sign Cam Jordan

Jordan did go two straight years with lower production in sacks after 2022, so it isn't like he is playing like a 25-year-old again. However, he has 132 career sacks and is 22nd in NFL history, and one sack from being in the top 20 all time. It's hard to see how he could fail to fit in as one of the edge rushers in a Bears front that still can use someone in the rotation with Montez Sweat and Austin Booker.

Jordan did have a $9.77 million cap hit last year, and what the Bears are willing to surrender for an edge who turns 37 this summer will be an issue. They can't afford much as they're still 22nd in effective cap space available with $6.88 million according to Overthecap.com. It might mean more restructures of veteran contracts to squeeze out more bucks but could be worthwhile.

Dennis Allen when asked by Sun-Times' Jason Leiser on Cam Jordan and the possibility of working with him again pic.twitter.com/3OiRs28dQw

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How else Bears pass rush improves

Allen does see other ways the Bears get better as pass rushers. For one, he's agreeing with Ben Johnson's theory suggesting they can simply coach it better.

"You look across the board at all three levels of the defense and I just feel like you go in and you watch it and in some ways you’re a little, you’re disappointed because it doesn’t look exactly like you want it to look but you’re also really encouraged because if we can get better at those fundamentals and techniques on all three levels of our defense," Allen said. "How much can we really improve? I think that was a big part of what we do in the offseason. "

What Allen also said about this isn't going to please Bears fans who have been calling defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo a flop as a free agent acquisition since he arrived. He had one sack in eight games before the torn Achilles tendon requiring surgery.

"Well, look, he’s definitely in the mix at defensive end and if you go back and you watch the tape and you watch him improvement from Week 1 til the time that he got hurt in the Cincinnati game," Allen said. "You saw a lot of improvement. That’s one of the things when we talk about the pass rush, one of the things that we’ve talked about.

"It gets back to the fundamentals and how we teach those things. We lost some of that because we were so focused on the scheme. That totally falls on me. I think if we do a better job of the fundamentals and the techniques of doing those things that we’re going to ask them to do, that we’ll get better at that. And I think we’ll see our pass rush improve in terms of our guys rushing as one unit because it’s hard. There’s a lot of times we had a really good rush but we weren’t quite as good on this side so it allowed the quarterback to step up into a lane. That’s an area that we can improve on and I think our guys, when they did it right, it was pretty impressive."

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