Jordan van den Berg's Minicamp Issue Gives Bears Rookie Clear Focus for Training Camp

Bears rookie Jordan van den Berg struggled in one particular area at mandatory minicamp and now has a clear point of emphasis for training camp.

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets defensive lineman Jordan van den Berg. | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

One of the Chicago Bears' solutions to their defensive line issues was drafting Jordan van den Berg out of Georgia Tech back in April.

The Bears had a pair of issues along the interior of the defensive line last season, with the group not providing enough pass-rush juice (no interior defender other than Gervon Dexter had more than 1.5 sacks) or adequate run defense (sixth-worst).

Safe to say, Bears fans were expecting more than the signing of Neville Gallimore and draft selection of van den Berg in the sixth round of the 2026 NFL Draft.

What makes van den Berg intriguing is his off-the-charts athletic ability. According to Kent Lee Platte, van den Berg tallied a 10 out of 10 Relative Athletic Score before the draft.

Jordan van den Berg's minicamp issue

Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Kaidon Salter and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets defensive lineman Jordan van den Berg. | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

As impressive as van den Berg's elite athleticism is, there is one way he can negate it and we saw that at minicamp based on an observation one beat writer made.

According to Herb Howard of The Bigs, van den Berg has been "struggling with his get-off" at practice. When the Georgia Tech product does gets it right, Howard says his athleticism shines.

"Jordan [van den Berg] is struggling with his get-off. It's a little bit slow," Howard said. "Then a couple times during individual period, he tried to anticipate it, resulting in him jumping offsides. Once he gets out of it, you can see the burst and explosion from his athleticism, but getting out on that first step, which is what they've been working on, he still has a bit of a ways to go on that."

The problem with a slow get-off is that it nearly cancels out van den Berg's best trait, which is his athleticism. Instead of utilizing that trait to put extra pressure on an offensive lineman, van den Berg will be using it to play catch up if he can't get off the line quickly enough.

Being a sixth-round pick, we knew van den Berg was going to need plenty of development, so nobody should be surprised that he has at least one major thing to work on. Rest assured, the Bears will make his get-off a point of emphasis at training camp.

Jordan van den Berg's path to the 53

Wake Forest offensive lineman Melvin Sianiand Georgia Tech defensive lineman Jordan van den Berg. | Zachary Taft-Imagn Images

As a sixth-round pick, van den Berg is anything but guaranteed to make the 53-man roster. That said, he's in a better position than most late-round picks because of the Bears' situation upfront.

There is no question the Bears weren't good enough on the inside in 2025, both in terms of run defense and rushing the passer, as we've already pointed out.

The rookie was an impact run defender, with Pro Football Focus grades of 76.8 and 79.5 the past two seasons, and van den Berg showed improvement as a pass-rusher in 2025 with three sacks and 29 pressures, numbers that were both career-highs for him and more than double what he tallied in 2024 with 75 less pass-rush snaps.

If van den Berg can fix his get-off issue and show he can make the kind of impact he did in college as a run defender and pass-rusher, he should make it through cutdown day in August.