The Chicago Bears reportedly met with a top pass rusher at their pro day this week. Head coach Matt Eberflus said at the NFL Combine last month the Bears needed to add an extra pass rusher this offseason, preferably one to line up on the opposite side of Montez Sweat at the defensive end position.
The Chicago Bears have draft flexibility after trading for Keenan Allen
The Bears have two draft picks in the top ten of April’s draft. With the No. 1 pick, they are expected to take a quarterback. The team has flexibility with the No. 9 pick after trading for wide receiver Keenan Allen this week.
Should one of these players be on the board at nine, the Bears could draft wide receivers Malik Nabers, Rome Odunze, tight end Brock Bowers, or defensive end Dallas Turner. (Of course, that is if the Bears don’t decide to move back from No. 9 to add back draft capital they’ve used on trades.)
The Bears met with Adisa Isaac
If the Bears don’t draft Turner, there are other pass rushers the team must consider in the draft. According to Tony Pauline of Sportskeeda, the Bears met with Penn State defensive end Adisa Isaac at his school’s pro day this week. Per Pauline, Isaac performed well enough at the pro day to move up to a second-day pick in the minds of scouts in attendance:
“Edge rusher Adisa Isaac looked sharp in drills after running the short shuttle and three cone. Unofficial times for Isaac were 4.26 seconds in the short shuttle and 6.99 seconds in the 3 cone, the latter being an exceptional mark…
Isaac met with the Chicago Bears, Buffalo Bills and Minnesota Vikings. He cemented himself as a day two pick at pro day. Cornerback Kalen King improved his 40 time from the Combine, timing as fast as 4.52 seconds, one-tenth faster than his mark from Indianapolis.”
The 22-year-old pass rusher earned First-Team All-Big Ten honors for his play last season. He recorded 23 total tackles, 7.5 sacks, and one forced fumble in his final season at Penn State. ESPN lists Isaac as six-foot-four, 254 pounds.
Isaac is a top-ten DE prospect in this year’s draft
Pre Pro Football Focus, Isaac is ranked as the eighth-overall best defensive end in this year’s draft class:
Edge defender Chop Robinson gets most of the hype along Penn State’s defensive line. But Isaac is a future NFL player in his own right — and he might be the more consistent player right now. The 6-foot-4, 250-pound redshirt senior had his best all-around season in 2023, earning an 81.8 overall grade, an 80.2 run-defense grade and a 73.4 pass-rush grade. His pass-rush win rate remains lower, at around 13%, but he will be a solid NFL depth player with a chance to develop into a starter.
The Draft Network projects Isaac as a Day 3 draft pick. However, with about a month to go before the draft, Isaac appears to be impressing scouts enough to be taken by late Friday night.
In the tape I’ve watched of Isaac at Penn State, he appears to have great skills in sniffing out run plays and shows an impressive burst of speed when asked to stunt.
Here are highlights of Isaac by the Big Ten Network:
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