Depth Check Determines Bears Need Help

The admission by Bears coach Matt Eberflus during minicamp about the possible acquisition of an edge rusher signifies something negative about the quality of their pass rusher.

It says something else. The Bears simply are not deep enough at the position.

Eberflus said plans are to pull either of his new defensive ends inside to rush as tackles at times, and if this is the case there will be too many play reps to keep everyone fresh at end. Another player is needed.

They have other places where they lack depth and also spots on the roster where it appears they are solid.

Depth on any team is critical, especially in the age of 17-game schedules.

The Bears have built some depth but in Year 2 of a rebuild their focus was more on getting proper starting talent than backups as they were woefully low on this last year.

"You try to prepare yourself for anything that could happen during training camp and then leading up to the season," Eberflus said.

For that reason, no one should be surprised if they bring in more than edge rusher. There are always areas on the roster they could fortify.

'I mean, we love the guys that are here, of course," Eberflus said. "But our job is to always make the roster better. We're always going to be looking to upgrade in certain spots that we need to that are premium positions, of course are first and then the role players are second. We always do that."

Here's where the Bears rate best, acceptable and in need in terms of roster depth.

They're Set

1. Interior Offensive Line

There are layers upon layers with the Bears guards and tackles. Left guard Teven Jenkins could play right guard if necessary because he started there last year. Center Cody Whitehair started at left guard from midway through 2020 through last season. Behind starting right guard Nate Davis, Whitehair and Jenkins is former Packers guard/center Lucas Patrick, who didn't get to play extended minutes last year due to injuries but has started 39 times in his career and five times in 2022. Larry Borom has been a tackle, but also played a little guard. Ja'Tyre Carter at guard, Dieter Eiselen and Doug Kramer at center give them extra padding inside.

2. Wide Receiver

It's quite a bit different than last year's start to the season, when they didn't have Chase Claypool or DJ Moore and were counting on players like Byron Pringle and N'Keal Harry. With backups experienced with the offense like Equanimeous St. Brown (26 NFL starts) and Dante Pettis (20 NFL starts) and young receivers Tyler Scott and Velus Jones Jr. behind Darnell Mooney, Moore and Claypool, this is one of the deeper receiver groups.

3. Running Back

They might not have the one all-around experienced back at starter. In fact, they only have 18 games started total from their five halfbacks. However, they do have enough experience playing the position in the NFL and Roschon Johnson could be the all-around back they need playing more. If Khalil Herbert improves as a blocker/receiver, he could be as well. They know very little still about Trestan Ebner so this group is deep enough, and could even be a very talented contingent.

4. Cornerback

There are numbers and a few backups who gained experience behind Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon last year. The addition of rookies Tyrique Stevenson and Terell Smith in a secondary with Kindle Vildor, Josh Blackwell and Jaylon Jones makes for decent depth, although the actual experience is still lacking.

5. Defensive Tackle

The quality of starters might be questioned but in numbers, adding Gervon Dexter Jr. and Zacch Pickens ups their total to four and they also have seventh-rounder Travis Bell. When Matt Eberflus says they will move ends DeMarcus Walker and Rasheem Green inside to tackle in pass rush situations, they only further inmprove their depth situation.

They Can Get By

1. Quarterback

Sure, PJ Walker and Nathan Peterman lack a lot of past starting experience. Walker has seven starts and Peterman five, but the Bears at least know they have players who have had to take over for Justin Fields or other starters in the NFL. If a very experienced veteran came along who didn't mind being a backup for low cost, and they had a little knowledge of the offense, it wouldn't be a bad addition. There are about 15 or 20 NFL teams thinking teh same thing.

2. Tight End

There are three top tight ends with Cole Kmet, Robert Tonyan Jr. and Stephen Carlson, and the two behind them have almost no experience but have been in the offense for a year. Losing one of the three top tight ends would be less than ideal because of the inexperience of

3. Linebacker

Their two free agent additions, Tremaine Edmunds and T.J. Edwards, rate high among NFL pass-defending linebackers and they weren't poor run defenders, while Jack Sanborn has half a dozen games started but not at his position. With Dylan Cole as a backup and fifth-rounder Noah Sewell, the Bears can play without their top two if required, but they can't take many hits to this group because of the lack of overall experience with Sewell and Sterling Weatherford.

4. Tackle

Braxton Jones and Darnell Wright haven't been in the league for two seaons between them and Larry Borom has 17 starts as the backup. Alex Leatherwood got into only four games last year but does have a full season as a starter in 2021 and there are young promising undrafted project types who could eventually develop like Bobby Haskins, Kellen Diesch and massive Lorenz Metz. They definitely could live with one more experienced tackle on the roster, especially because Leatherwood did little last year. However it's an acceptable group for numbers.

Help Wanted

1. Defensive End

With Green averaging 3.4 sacks, Walker 3.25, Trevis Gipson 3.33 and Dominique Robinson with 1 1/2 career sacks for one season, it's obvious they need help from the free agent scrap heap or via trade. Green and Walker might actually be better pass rushers from the inside, so that only makes the need ever more urgent.

2. Safety

They could definitely use a veteran with experience as a fourth safety or even third. Yes, they actually had one named DeAndre Houston-Carson but have chosen not to bring him back so they've left the bench support entrusted to two seventh-round draft picks, Elijah Hicks and rookie Kendall Williamson. There are a few veterans behind them who haven't played much -- Adrian Colbert and A.J. Thomas. A fourth experienced safety might be preferable to a rookie like Williamson. They really know little about Hicks, other than he had the worst possible passer rating against in pro football of 158.3 but he did seem more in command of the situation in off-season practice.

3. Punt Returns

They could have really used an experienced, polished punt returner. Pettis might make the roster again based on this ability alone. They've even let Velus Jones Jr. take a few cracks at fielding punts again after last year's disaster, and Scott has done it for the first time since high school.

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