Bear Digest

Why Bears could pick defensive tackle even after signing Grady Jarrett

The Bears would look to be set at defensive tackle after signing veteran Grady Jarrett but the crop at this position and their own need for unique skill sets there will have them on the lookout.
Gene Chamberlain|
Mississippi's Walter Nolan spars with LSU lineman Miles Frazier during Senior Bowl practice drills.
Mississippi's Walter Nolan spars with LSU lineman Miles Frazier during Senior Bowl practice drills. | Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images

In this story:

Chicago Bears

It should surprise no one if Chicago Bears GM Ryan Poles gets the chance in Rounds 1 or 2 to select a defensive tackle and then does it.

Even after they signed Grady Jarrett and brought backup Chris Williams back on a $3 million deal to team with Gervon Dexter, Andrew Billings and Zacch Pickens, they might decide they can't pass on a player like Michigan's Mason Graham if he falls to them, or any number of others like Walter Nolan from Mississippi or Oregon's Derrick Harmon.

The thinking here would be get one while the gettin' is good. The fact Jarrett will be 32 this season and is playing on a surgically repaired knee is a good reason to look for another one, plus the fact the Bears were so bad last year against the run after they lost Andrew Billings for the year.

Last year wasn't a terrible draft for defensive tackles and there were 10 taken in the top 100. The year before it was 11. This year, NFL Mock Draft Database currently projects 13 going in the top 100. The difference is the quality of the 13 is judged to be better.

"It's as advertised," wrote CBS Sports' Chris Trapasso after seeing them at the combine and Senior Bowl. "The defensive tackle class rocks."

He graded it the No. 1 position group in the draft.

Pro Football Focus' Trevor Sikkema rated the talent in the "great" category, along with tight ends, safeties and cornerbacks.

Michigan's Mason Graham is a key reason. At 6-3 1/2, 296, he can be anything from a class three-technique to even lining up at end because of his athleticism.

If Graham fell all the way to the Bears at No. 10, it would be difficult to see how they'd look at another player who wasn't named Ashton Jeanty. Then again, expecting him to fall that far is reaching because of his all-around skill set.

"I pride myself on playing the run and the pass because I feel like that's what a complete D-lineman does," Graham told reporters at the combine. "But obviously rushing the passer, I feel like I'm really good at too. I can run through guys or I can be a finesse guy too at the same time."

This plentiful crop of defensive tackles is deceiving, though. That includes players in the 320-pound class and higher who normally fits for a two-gap scheme on the line. So it's a smaller crop for the Bears than it might otherwise be.

The Bears are looking more for tackles in the class of 295 pounds to 315. Most of those defensive coordinator Dennis Allen had at New Orleans fit into this mold. The bigger ones didn't last long and were ineffective in his attacking scheme. They never had tackles who were 280-ish who were effective, either.

The players who fit the Bears' scheme in Round 1 besides Graham might be Mississippi's Walter Nolen is ideal size for the Bears at three-technique tackle at 6-3, 305, but he's projected in most mock drafts as a middle-to-late first-round talent and the Bears would need to trade down to have a chance at him -- or trade up from Round 2.

He compares himself to a rather elite defensive tackle. That would be Aaron Donald.

"His violence and how fast he gets off the ball, his motor," Nolen said. "I feel like I'll bring some of those same things to whatever team I go to."

Toledo's Darius Alexander, South Carolina's T.J. Sanders, Tennessee's Omarr Norman-Lott, Kentucky's Shemar Turner, Florida State's Joshua Farmer, Texas A&M's Shemar Turner and Indiana's CJ West, the Chicago native, are all players mocked most often in the first three rounds who appear potential picks after Round 1 and would fit the Bears' mold for defensive tackle.

Finding one who could learn the techniques and mentality of Jarrett from the start of his career in a mentor-student relationship would be an idea for the Bears to pursue here.

"Me being somebody who wants to be in a position to compete for championships, encourage younger guys around me, and really share my experience and my hunger for greatness to others who want to achieve it," Jarrett said after he signed in Chicago. "I'm in a special place in a special time, in a special moment where I'm supposed to be."

The question for the Bears is even with defensive tackles in abundance throughout the draft, they would want to invest another earlier pick in the position to reap the benefits of Jarrett's mentoring abilities.

More Chicago Bears News

X: BearsOnSI

Published
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.