Bear Digest

Ryan Poles' Fix for Bears Pass Rush Relies Heavily on Dayo Odeyingbo

The Bears defensive line needs to be better against the run and rushing the passer, and their GM is counting on injured players returning to do what they didn't do last year.
Gene Chamberlain|
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes gets off a throw with defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo approaching. Bears GM Ryan Poles is counting on a return by Odeyingbo from an Achilles injury to improve the pass rush.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes gets off a throw with defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo approaching. Bears GM Ryan Poles is counting on a return by Odeyingbo from an Achilles injury to improve the pass rush. | Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

With defensive line looming as a particular Bears need after they finished 29th stopping the run and next to last in pass rush win rate, it seems there is an impossible task ahead for GM Ryan Poles.

He needs to completely restore the defensive line in one offseason, much the way he did the offensive line last year. He thinks it's possible, but the reason it doesn't seem likely is they already tried it last year and can't simply get rid of the players they signed to do it unless they want to take big dead cap hits and damage their ability to bring in talent.

"I think it's always possible," Poles told Chicago area reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine. "Things have got to come together."

Poles blamed the fact that it didn't work last year for the defensive line on injuries, to a large extent.

"I know from a cap perspective we probably don't have enough to make all of that work on the defensive line," Poles said. "I do think on our D-line, I think, there were some situations mostly injury that didn't allow that to really come together the way it was supposed to," Poles said. "So, I look forward to that happening.

"But we're also going to have to continue to bring talent in to create competition so that our defense can take the next step."

Help from within?

If it didn't work, and cap space doesn't line up to rebuild the line now, where the improvement will come from isn't entirely clear.

One source for it will need to be getting back the injured players. In this case, Poles said he is counting on defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo and second-year edge/tackle Shemar Turner as they try to bounce back from season-ending injuries. Odeyingbo went out at midseason with an Achilles tendon tear and Turner with an ACL tear.

Odeyingbo, in particular, was a disappointment because he produced little pass rush pressure in eight games before going on IR. He had six pressures after creating 19 the previous season in Indianapolis. He had 22 the year before that. He also had one sack and four quarterback hits after he made 11 sacks and 41 pressures for two straight seasons.

"Yeah. So Dayo was a little bit unfortunate," Poles said.

Poles said a little-publicized injury suffered before the season initially held back Odeyingbo.

"He was the guy we brought in that we wanted to work inside and outside," Poles said. "And due to some of the injuries, I thought he was coming along in training camp. He had a knee injury at some point in the beginning. So we really didn't get to flex (between tackle and end) as much as we wanted to, to try to improve our rush for the interior and exterior.

"He was coming along. There were a lot of positive things there both in the run—which I know we don’t talk much about—but getting to third down is a huge deal. I thought he was coming along. We’re looking forward to him coming back. I know he’s trending in his return-to-play protocol."

Shemar Turner and Grady Jarrett

Like Odeyingbo, Turner was being counted on to play both at tackle and on the edge.

"Shemar is another one who has flex where we were trying to find out where he was going to be most productive," Poles said. "And it was coming along at end, which was great, because he would have versatility inside and outside, which is what we want.

"So it was a bummer, kind of a freak deal with him and his knee. Both guys are on track, training hard. Again, I’m hoping in the spring–but if anything, training camp--will be the spot where they come back. And there’s a process to that of playing the game and getting comfortable and healthy that we’ll go through. But I expect both those guys to help us next year."

Essentially, something similar happened with defensive tackle Grady Jarrett and a knee sprain that took four or five weeks to bounce back from and required an in-season procedure to fix. Jarrett returned and eventually came on strong at season's end.

Last year makes moves tough

It sounds good to say they'll get help to complement those players when they're back healthy, but it would appear they'll need it to be through the draft. They're over the salary cap by $4 million right now per Overthecap.com and Poles gave Odeyingbo a deal that can't be easily disposed off with a roster cut. They would save only $3 million post June 1 while eating $17.5 million in dead cap. If it's before June 1, they'd have a loss of $1.5 million to the cap and then eat $22 million in dead cap.  Getting rid of Jarrett would make for an even tougher cap situation.

Those contracts from last year that are not digestible in terms of cutting a player essentially are preventing the Bears from adding a high-cost edge or defensive tackle. They would need to create an awful lot of cap space through restructuring to offset this if they intend to add an expensive edge rusher.

Poles' inability to draft effective defensive line help made the free agent route necessary, but he's paying the price now.

This is what happens when players don't pan out who were expensive free agent additions.

He's going to need a deodorizer. They need a rookie contributor who comes in this draft and produces immediately at a comparatively low rate. Either that, or they rely entirely on two injured players bouncing back who didn't prove much last year when they were healthy.

For that reason, this week in Indianapolis at the combine will be critical because there is a surplus of line talent at edge and tackle to measure and analyze.

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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.