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Ryan Poles Downplays Bears' Need for Edge Help with Montez Sweat Battling Illness

The edge rusher position was ignored throughout the offseason by the Bears and now Montez Sweat is ill as they try to determine if they have enough at the spot.
Gene Chamberlain|
Defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo flushes out Tyler Huntley last year in a Bears loss at Baltimore.
Defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo flushes out Tyler Huntley last year in a Bears loss at Baltimore. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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Chicago Bears

The Bears defensive end situation during the offseason received constant scrutiny after GM Ryan Poles failed to bring in someone else to supplement Montez Sweat, Austin Booker, and whoever else is available among a group of injured or non-descript players.

It's not starting out much better. In fact, it's worse as Sweat won't be able to participate in practices immediately doe to illness. The team put him on the non-football illness list at the same time they put safety Elijah Hicks on the physically unable to perform list due to shin soreness.

It all adds up to more trouble for one of the league's worst pass rushes, but Poles saw a bring light on the horizon on Tuesday when players reported for training camp. It's none other than the highly motivated Dayo Odeyingbo, well ahead of pace in his recovery from last year's torn Achilles tendon. Odeyingbo is not on any of the injury designation lists and will be practicing. Whether he's the 100% Odeyingbo remains to be seen, but the Bears got only one sack in eight games from him last year when he was, anyway.

"Dayo did a great job with his return to play," Poles said. "I think it's always good, if you can get one of the guys who was injured in the season to be in that vet minicamp, at least, where they can start."

Where Dayo Odeyingbo stands in recovery

Odeyingbo was practicing throughout minicamp to the surprise of everyone, because an injury like his often can take eight months to a year to completely heal. He even had team reps the last few days of non-padded scrimmaging. Then he had six weeks to get rested and rehab more.

"I think the part we don't talk about enough is just gaining your confidence back as a football player," Poles said. "There's some balance and body control things when it starts moving where it's more reactive than proactive. So he was able to get that phase in and then add another 5-6 weeks of training, so it's really positive.

"Obviously we'll keep an eye on him as we go, but encouraged by not only his work that he put into it but our staff pouring it into him to get him right."

The focus of the defensive end position overall is what's more important. Because even if Odeyingbo returns 100% healthy and Booker takes another step up to complement Sweat once he is healthy, the Bears look shorthanded. Shemar Turner is on the PUP list after an ACL tear. No one else was acquired. The Bears wound up using former two-year practice squad player Jamree Kromah at first-team end during much of the offseason work.

"I think really the development of all those guys is going to be really important," Poles said. "Sweat, I'd like to see him continue to improve and take what he did last year and add to that."

Sweat had 10 sacks and a team-high 13 tackles for loss. Without him available at the outset, they're going to be digging down and could be using Kromah again with starters at times.

"We don't talk about Booker," Poles added. "Last offseason, he was coming on strong before he had a little bit of an injury there that set him back, but he was able to help us down the stretch. He's another guy we're keeping an eye on."

Booker had 4 1/2 regular-season sacks but missed almost half the season with a knee injury suffered in preseason while playing special teams.

So do the Bears add an edge rusher?

The two-ton monstrosity in the room is whether they will sign or trade for someone to help. What they could do at this position and how much time they need before making a decision were issues Poles was asked about and he's not ruling anything out or confirming anything at this point.

"I don't think it's different than any part of the roster," Poles said. "We're going to evaluate and see how they do and then if we've gotta make adjustments or obviously investigate where we can get better, we'll do that."

The problem is it is different than other parts of the roster because they struggled so mightily at getting to the passer last year and stopping the run when they succeeded moving the ball on offense and picking off passes. It's stopping the run and rushing the passer where they didn't possess the healthy talent to get things done.

Saying they do have it now after not making any moves on the defensive line sounds like negligence.

The bottom line is while they're evaluating and seeing how the defensive line is doing in camp and preseason, they'd better be doing more than occasionally looking at waivers for an extra edge player. Too much is on the line.

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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.

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