Bear Digest

Why Bears can find plenty to choose from at Oregon for D-line need

Analysis: A problem giving up too much on the ground with not enough pass rush is something the Bears could address simply by looking to Oregon in Round 1.
Gene Chamberlain|
Oregon's defensive tackle A'Mauri Washington pressures Wisconsin quarterback Hunter Simmons earlier this season.
Oregon's defensive tackle A'Mauri Washington pressures Wisconsin quarterback Hunter Simmons earlier this season. | Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

With the Bears' defense nearly intact after injuries, it should become more apparent where they need to put their draft focus.

Most discussion of their draft needs centers on the defensive line, as it should when their sack total is only at 23 in December and they're so reliant on Montez Sweat's pressure without anyone else stepping up to do consistent damage.

Dominique Robinson's 1 1/2 sacks is their next-best total from an edge rusher, so the Bears are fortunate he is returning from injury (concussion). And when was the last time you heard that attitude being expressed toward Robinson, who has 3 1/2 sacks in a four-year career?

The NFL Mock Draft Database collects mocks across the internet and it reflects  the Bears' needs, as well. As of Saturday, a whopping 40% had them drafting Oregon defensive end Matayo Uiagalelei.

Getting 40% consensus on any player toward the last five or six picks in Round 1 is never easily accomplished. Half that percentage is even difficult so late in Round 1 and this far in advance of the draft.

Not only would this be a position they need  with a talented player, but it's a potential scheme fit.

Edges must fit

So many of the edges chosen in mocks are players in the ranges of 240-255 pounds and that's fine for a 3-4 scheme but not one like Dennis Allen runs in Chicago, where a bigger edge is necessary. At 6-foot-5, 272, Uiagalelei fits the Allen profile and had 10 1/2 sacks last year, with 12 1/2 tackles for loss. His sack total has declined to 5 1/2 this season. Other strong stat of his are eight career tipped passes and three forced fumbles. He makes an impact even if he's not getting home in the rush.

The Bears slot for the draft is uncertain and  the later the better, but this is a player projected in mocks to be available  for the next-to-last pick of Round 1. It could turn out the available choices are even better if they wind up picking earlier.

Still, this isn't the only defensive line need. In fact, their need for help at defensive tackle for the future looks even greater.

Grady Jarrett will be 33 next season and Pro Football Focus notes a marked dropoff in is play as both a run stopper and pass rusher—although his tackling is graded the best of his career. Andrew Billings is an unrestricted free agent. Chris Williams is a fill-in type of player without a contract.

Then there is Gervon Dexter, who will be in the final year of his deal next season, and started out this season like he had finally arrived. However, he slid from a top-five pass-rush grade among defensive tackles to 18th, is only 61st of 129 DTs overall, and in the last five games hasn't had a PFF grade higher than 60.4 overall. His marks the last two games were in the 40s and he has made half a sack in the last five games without a tackle for loss. Pro Football Reference/Stathead gives him three pressures for those five games. At a time when he should be making an impact, his numbers have declined.

The Bears did draft Shemar Turner in Round 2 at tackle, but just like edge Dayo Odeyingbo, he is out for the year. Turner had a torn ACL and the real problem with him is he ascended and had begun making plays not as a tackle but when they moved him to end.

While they are still waiting on Austin Booker's impact plays, they traded for edge Joe Tryon-Shoyinka, and he has yet to even get a pressure in four games according to Stathead. He did show up with a high pass rush win rate even without much pressure against the Eagles.

There is a glut of players on the edge for the Bears but only Sweat has been getting it done.

Best Bears choice? A DT

Either way, they couldn't go wrong, but the player in the draft who could be a real immediate asset is not an end but a tackle. He also is Uiagalelei's Oregon teammate, and that's 6-3, 330-pound defensive tackle A'Mauri Washington. NFL Mock Draft Database had him going one ahead of the Bears' first pick but that means nothing now.

Washington squats 755 pounds, bench-presses 475 and, incredibly, has been clocked moving at 21 mph. That sounds like a locomotive rather than a lineman.

His measurables make it seem he’s someone whose stock will soar at the NFL combine, and if he is still there when the Bears pick it would at least be a potential interior physical presence who could complement Sweat's rushes rather than increasing their collection of struggling edge rushers.

The physical skillset alone sounds like Dexter Lawrence before this season.

The Bears have long sought a problem on the inside because those players have a shorter path to the QB and also because a powerful presence can cave in the pocket and stop QBs from striding into their throws.

Pro Football Network has Washington going early in Round 2 to Miami, but his stock definitely has been rising according to the NFL Mock Draft Data Base.

Either way, Bears fans looking for draft help on the defensive line only need to look at that area of the first round for someone from Oregon.

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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.