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Building the Case for Bears Trading Back to Plug All Defensive Gaps

The possibility exists that elite players who fit the Bears' scheme could be gone in Round 1 and a trade back can offer more opportunity to find draft help.
Gene Chamberlain|
Akheem Mesidor of Miami seems like the ideal fit for the Bears in Round 1, but too many other teams seem to like this idea as well.
Akheem Mesidor of Miami seems like the ideal fit for the Bears in Round 1, but too many other teams seem to like this idea as well. | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

If trends mean anything, it's easy to deduce what and even who the Bears will be looking to take in the first round of the draft to select.  

GM Ryan Poles and staff are listening attentively to what Ben Johnson or defensive coordinator Dennis Allen need and defensive help in this draft should prove critical. They have too many holes on defense not to address.

"When we first got Dennis in, and it was really for all the coaches - position coaches, coordinators - they came in and talked about what they need and what's the prototype," Poles said before free agency began. "I knew from what Dennis was bringing, scheme change over the last few years, it was going to take a little bit of time to get exactly what we needed but as you go through that season.

"You ask more questions, you’re sitting in the  weekly evals of our roster, all the way to last week here and then we go through their UFA stacks and insert where our players line up in there both guys under contract and not, you get more and more clarity as you go through. I feel pretty good about that."

The Allen model is pretty distinct and the Bears don't really  have what he traditionally had in New Orleans.

Here were all the starting defensive ends the Saints had under Allen as a coordinator or a head coach from 2016-2024.

  • Paul Kruger 6-4 285
  • Cameron Jordan 6-4 287
  • Alex Okafor 6-4 261
  • Marcus Davenport 6-6 285
  • Trey Hendrickson 6-4 265
  • Carl Granderson 6-5 261

The edge players are always taller and in the range of 260-287 pounds. While Austin Booker played it for the Bears effectively late last year, he didn't even hit 250 pounds and they, no doubt, want him to bulk up. Montez Sweat is 6-6, 270, and fits what they do just fine. The reason they brought in Dayo Odeyingbo is he is 6-5, 282 and is perceived as stout, run-stopping edge.

Even if Odeyingbo has a miraculous recovery from midseason Achilles tendon surgery, he's not going to be 100% by the start of the regular season. Finding the stout edge type must be a priority because Odeyingbo's time in Chicago could end after 2026. They could realize a net cap savings of $11 million if he is cut next year. Until then, their cap hit would be huge.

Essentially, Odeyingbo has one season coming off an Achilles tear to prove  himself and that's awfully tough to do.

Of course edge becomes a priority in that case and it needs to be a bigger, stout end based on the scheme.

Allen hasn't operated that defense without a starting edge who was at  least 282 pounds until Odeyingbo suffered his injury last year. Maybe it shouldn't be surprising then that the Bears were 27th against the run when they had personnel not best fitted to the scheme. Booker played well, but he's more of a pass rusher than run stopper and would be an ideal player rotating in for the rush and spelling Sweat or another bigger edge.

Here's who Pro Football Focus' big board has with possible third-round grades who fit the profile, not including Ruben Bain, who would go far too early in the draft but would fit their scheme.

First-round grade

280-plus

  • Akheem Mesidor, Miami 6-3 280
  • Keldric Faulk, Auburn 6-6 285

260-279

  • T.J. Parker, Clemson 6-3 260

Second-round grade

260-279

  • Zion Young, Missouri 6-5 262
  • Gabe Jacas, Illinois 6-3 270
  • Derrick Moore, Michigan 6-3 260
  • Dani Dennis-Sutton, Penn State 6-5, 265

Third-round grade

280-plus

  • Anthony Lucas, USC 6-5, 285

260-279

  • LT Overton, Alabama 6-5, 278

If the Bears really focus on getting an edge rusher first, the obvious pick is Mesidor. Poles gushed about him at the combine and he might be gone by the 25th pick. Faulk scares some as a possible Shemar Stewart type after he had only two sacks and one QB hit last season, although he did get nine sacks the previous year.

"He’s a culture player with high character who earns a grade bump based on his age (20), traits and advanced foundation," NFL.com analyst Lance Zierlein wrote in his draft profile. "A fluid athlete with good movement skills, he works around blocks with finesse but needs more assertive initial strikes to set firmer edges in gap control."

The risk with a 20-year-old seems too great for a team needing some immediate edge production.

Another edge in the 260-pound range doesn't seem like a real need because they already have this in Sweat and Booker is playing undersized.

An alternative shot down

Because Poles and analysts everywhere point out the defensive end crop is more abundant than defensive tackle, and the Bears also have a defensive tackle need, it makes more sense then for them to turn to an interior defensive lineman in Round 1.

Based on PFF ranking, Ohio State's Kayden McDonald, Florida's Caleb Banks and Clemson's Peter Woods are their first-round possibilities at 25.

However, Georgia's Christen Miller and Texas Tech's Lee Hunter have early Round 2 grades from PFF. Then there is a huge drop in grading to early third-round level and Oklahoma's Gracen Halton.

Here is what to know about how Allen thinks about defensive tackles.

These were the starters he had in New Orleans:

  • Tyeler Davison 6-2, 309
  • Nick Fairley 6-5 291 1/2
  • Sheldon Rankins 6-2 305
  • Malcolm Brown 6-2 320
  • David Onyemata 6-4 310
  • Shy Tuttle 6-3 300
  • Khalen Saunders 6-0 323
  • Nathan Shepherd 6-4 315
  • Bryan Bresee, 6-5 305

They selected only two starters higher than Round 4 at this position in nine drafts. The first was Rankins, the 12th pick overall in 2016, Allen's first draft as defensive coordinator.

Rankins was talented but it didn't work out. He was a full-time starter only two seasons and left in free agency after five.

They took Bresee 29th overall in Allen's next-to-last last draft in 2023. 

The only other player they drafted who became a regular defensive tackle starter for them under Allen was Onyemata, a fourth-rounder. Davison was a fifth-rounder but was selected before Allen was coordinator. Tuttle was an undrafted free agent while Fairley, Brown, Saunders and Shepherd were free agent acquisitions. 

Obviously, Allen didn't value defensive tackles as critical compared to other spots such as defensive end or safety and cornerback. And they simply didn't know how to find starters in the draft at the defensive tackle position. They did have several failed later-round draft picks who were tackles.

Perhaps the final draft revealed that Allen had finally realized the importance of getting that defensive tackle and finally took him in Round 1.

Conclusion

The Bears need a defensive tackle and Allen should have learned the importance of the position by now for his scheme, but an ideal edge fit is even more important.

They should be able to find help to develop at both of those positions in Round 2 if a player of the highest quality has gone off the board by No. 25. This would be Mesidor. It could also be safety Dillon Thieneman, who ran a 4.36 40 but is projected in many mocks as a Vikings pick at 18.

Trading back to ensure they can then be positioned for the best possible picks at need positions in Round 2 would be a better, cost-effective alternative than simply taking a player who isn't elite.

In that case, they'd still be able to take talented players at all three positions and have an extra pick rather than take a player who isn't causing a buzz.

The Bears don't need to see Allen's record as a defensive coordinator to know the value of second-round picks.

Their own best defensive picks of this decade have been Jaylon Johnson, Kyler Gordon, Jaquan Brisker and Gervon Dexter. All came in Round 2. Maybe Booker is another, and he didn't even come on Day 1 or 2 let alone Round 2.

Finding the trade partner is the key.

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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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