Bear Digest

Bears Now Seem Less Finicky About Where Draft's Pass Rushers Line Up

The defensive linemen ran the 40 Thursday and gave Ryan Poles and Ben Johnson an idea of who could be athletic enough at end or tackle to reach opposing QBs.
Gene Chamberlain|
Florida defensive tackle Caleb Banks runs the 40 at Thursday's NFL combine.
Florida defensive tackle Caleb Banks runs the 40 at Thursday's NFL combine. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

In this story:

Chicago Bears

At this point, the Bears will take a pass rusher any way they can get on and from anywhere on the field.

When Matt Eberflus coached the team, they talked at length about the need to get pass-rush help on the interior because it's the quickest way to the opposing quarterback.

After three years of that, and a defense that finished next to last in ESPN pass-rush win rate while making only 35 sacks and ranking 29th against the run, the Bears simply want to get to the quarterback anyway they can.

Asked at the combine if defensive tackle or edge rusher is their priority, coach Ben Johnson's answer might as well have been simply, "Yes."

"Yeah, we just need good football players all across the board, and so as far as I'm concerned, I don't mind so much if that's the interior rush," Johnson said. "Oh, sure, we'll take it. If that's the guy that's on the edge fits the bill—sure, we'll take that as well."

Johnson isn't even going to limit it to the draft, even though this has been the order of the day at Indianapolis. Free agency begins in less than two weeks with the legalized tampering period.

"Yeah, well, we're still going through that process right now," Johnson said. "Just free agency, there's some guys out there that we feel like could help us out. We certainly feel good about some of the guys that we currently have in the building, that they will continue to ascend and take the coaching that DA (Dennis Allen) and the defensive staff are providing for them.

"But for us to take the next step as a defense, we do need to pressure  the quarterback in a more consistent clip. And so that is a point of emphasis for us. I do think this draft does have some guys that could possibly help us out in that regard. But that'll be something that we got to look at. And it will be a point of emphasis when we come back in the springtime, just how do we increase our get-off to where we can put more pressure on the Q."

If there is anyone yet to develop, it's Austin Booker, Gervon Dexter and Shemar Turner.

Dexter needs to develop more as a run stopper than pass rusher.

Johnson went through some backtracking then, claiming to need good players, period. Everyone knows they need pass rushers and also run stoppers.

Combine results for D-line

At the combine on Thursday, they saw some good speed from edges and a few defensive tackles when they ran the 40-yard dash, but the bigger edge rushers they would be more interested in either didn't run or ran slow times.

T.J. Parker of Clemson ran 4.68 at 6-foot-4, 263. Zane Durant of Penn State ran 4.75 at 6-1, 290. The fastest edge was Arvell Reese (6-4, 241) of Ohio State at 4.46, and he'll be drafted early but doesn't fit the scheme the Bears play with more stout edges. Texas Tech's David Bailey (6-4, 253) ran 4.51. UCF's Malachi Lawrence (6-4, 253) ran 4.52 and Penn State's Dani Dennis-Sutton  (6-6, 256) a 4.63.

Among the defensive tackles, Zane Durant of Penn State ran the fastest time in 4.75. Kaleb Proctor (6-2, 291) of Southeast Louisiana State ran 4.79. There were five other sub-5.0 40s, including a 4.88 by Kentucky's Dave Gusta (6-2, 308).

Caleb Banks, projected in many mock drafts to the Bears early on in the process, came in at 6-6 1/4 and 327 but ran a 5.04 in the 40.

For comparison's sake, Bears defensive tackle Gervon Dexter at 6-6, 310, ran a 4.88 in the 2023 combine 40.

More important than these speeds is how quickly they play the game. It's not the same thing. It's partly the reason the Bears probably wouldn't get the chance to draft Rueben Bain of Miami even though everyone is afraid of his tiny arms measuring 30-7/8 inches.

He can play the game regardless, and the game film will keep him from dropping past the middle of Round 1.

More Chicago Bears News

X: BearsOnSI

Loading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations

Published
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.