Bear Digest

Should the Bears trade for edge help after Dayo Odeyingo tore his Achilles?

The Bears' pass rush has been far from consistent this year. It could get even worse without their big ticket free agent in the lineup.
Jerry Markarian|
Oct 26, 2025; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Baltimore Ravens quarterback Tyler Huntley (5) runs with the ball as Chicago Bears defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo (55) chases in the third quarter at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
Oct 26, 2025; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Baltimore Ravens quarterback Tyler Huntley (5) runs with the ball as Chicago Bears defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo (55) chases in the third quarter at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images | Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

According to NFL Insider Ian Rapoport, Bears' defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo is out for the rest of the season with a torn Achilles.

It's a tough loss for Chicago, who signed Odeyingo to a three-year, $48 million contract this offseason. The pass rush has struggled to get consistent pressure on opposing quarterbacks this year, and they are tied for 20th in the league with 17 sacks.

Odeyingbo was responsible for only one of those aforementioned sacks. He was largely a disappointment through the first half of the season after a promising opening performance against the Vikings (when he got his only sack and was a consistent thorn in the side of Minnesota's offensive line).

Still, Dennis Allen hinted at the potential of moving Odeyingo on the inside more often with Austin Booker returning to the lineup. They were hoping that combination, which would seemingly put the six-foot-six, 282-pound Odeyinbo in a more favorable position, would potentially unlock the pass-rush. They'll now have to wait until next year to see if that change will allow him to live up to the investment they made in him.

More importantly, the Bears currently sit at 5-3, and the season is not lost by any means. Still, the question that bears asking is, what's their contingency plan?

Austin Booker played pretty well against the Bengals. He did his best Khalil Mack impression by forklifting a six-foot-eight, 350 lb. offensive tackle on his way to sacking Joe Flacco. He also finished that play with an exclamation point, ripping the ball out of Flacco's hand on his way to the ground to force the first turnover of the game to that point.

Booker also finished the game with a 90.0 grade from Pro Football Focus, which ranked first among the Bears' defense. Regardless, he's a relatively unproven commodity, and it seems like the team doesn't really trust the 245-pounder against the run (evidenced by the fact that backup defensive end Daniel Hardy played much more on early downs in the second half).

The Bears are in a position to compete for a playoff spot. While the injury to Odeyingbo certainly hurts, they are at least lucky (if you could call it that) that the injury happened two days before Tuesday's trade deadline and not five days after it.

NFL Insider Jay Glazer highlighted the Bears as one of the teams being aggressive ahead of the trade deadline. The thought of adding a pass-rusher made sense 24 hours ago, and it makes significantly more sense with the latest development.

So, who could be in play for Chicago?

Kayvon Thibodeaux and Trey Hendrickson have both been thrown around as trade candidates. However, the Giants and Bengals are both reportedly looking to receive first-round picks in return for their pass-rushers. That feels like an easy pass from Chicago's perspective if they're unwilling to lower their asking price at the buzzer.

Personally, I think Jermaine Johnson or Arden Key make much more sense as candidates for the Bears. With the Jets and Titans sitting at 1-7 and 1-8, respectively, they could probably be lured away for a third-round (or probably fourth-round in Key's case) pick. For a team with playoff aspirations and an underperforming pass-rush, that's well worth the price of admission.

We've already seen one (relatively) big-name pass rusher be moved today with the Eagles shipping a third-round pick to Miami for Jaelen Phillips. Could the Bears be the next team to make a move?

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Jerry Markarian
JERRY MARKARIAN

Jerry Markarian has been an avid Chicago Bears fan since 2010 and has been writing about the team since 2022. He has survived the 2010 NFC Championship Game, a career-ending injury to his favorite player (Johnny Knox), the Bears' 2013 season finale, a Double Doink, Mitchell Trubisky, Justin Fields, and Weeks 8-17 of the 2024 NFL season. Nevertheless, he still Bears Down!

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