With NFL free agency nearly a week and a half old, the needs that the Chicago Bears will address in the 2025 NFL Draft next month have become apparent. Although Bears’ general manager Ryan Poles has made immense improvements across the offensive line, he has failed to address the team’s other glaring weakness which has been the defensive end position. Despite having new defensive coordinator Dennis Allen and Pro Bowl edge rusher Montez Sweat, Poles has failed both with another top-tier defensive end, which is needed desperately.
Dennis Allen can fix a pass-rush issue that has plague the Bears for years
Through his 14-year career split as a defensive coordinator and head coach, Dennis Allen has relied heavily on pass rush pressure from his defensive line. During the last eight seasons with the New Orleans Saints, Allen’s defense has often featured not one, but two reliable and threatening defensive line pass-rushers. Whether it has been Cameron Jordan or Trey Hendrickson, the Saints defense was consistently good at creating pressure on opposing quarterbacks.
Where Allen’s defense has thrived over the past eight years in New Orleans, the opposite has occurred in Chicago during Poles’ tenure as general manager. Despite the Bears’ Cover-2 defensive scheme being significantly reliant on pass rush pressure from the defensive line, the unit has struggled due to inconsistencies from the defensive end position. Sweat has been the only defensive lineman for Chicago to record six or more sacks in a season, and did so in only eight games back in 2023.
In New Orleans, Dennis Allen featured a defense that had two or more defensive ends record five or more sacks in five straight seasons from 2018 to 2023. Even more impressive was that in the past three seasons, at least one Saints’ defensive end generated seven or more sacks. Although Allen has Sweat as his best defensive edge rusher, the team needs someone opposite of him on the line to avoid opposing offensive lines from focusing all their attention on Chicago’s best pass rusher.
Last season, the Bears defense struggled immensely due in part to the lack of any consistent pass-rush from the defensive line. Sweat, although battling nagging injuries, was often double-teamed by opposing blockers resulting in him only having five and a half sacks. Allen’s defense last year in New Orleans featured at least three players with five and a half sacks or more.
It was expected that Poles would address the other end position by either signing a top-level free agent, such Josh Sweat or Khalil Mack, who has prior experience playing in Allen’s defensive scheme. Although Chicago signed former Pro Bowl defensive tackle Grady Jarrett to bolster the interior of the defensive line, the lone free agent signing for the defensive end position was of Dayo Odeyingbo, who only had three sacks last season with the Indianapolis Colts. If Allen is expected to get the most out of the defense, Poles needs to provide a young talent early on in the draft to ensure Sweat isn’t neutralized by opposing offensive lines in 2025.
Ryan Poles needs to give Dennis Allen a first round talent to work with
With Poles impressive and thorough rebuild of the offensive line this offseason, there still has been little attention paid to the defensive end position, but could change in the draft. The rebuilt offensive line gives the Bears the needed flexibility to take a defensive end talent with the tenth overall selection in next month’s draft to give Allen a much-needed pass-rush prospect. Dennis Allen has been regarded as one of the best defensive coaches when it comes to developing young pass-rushing draft talent.
Hendrickson is a key example of a defensive line prospect getting better year-by-year under the coaching tutelage of Dennis Allen. The 2024 NFL sack leader was drafted by the Saints in 2017 and saw his sack numbers steadily improve year over year, including a 13.5 sack season in 2020. Another example of a defensive lineman improving under Allen was defensive tackle Marcus Davenport, who was drafted in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft and saw his sack numbers climb over the first four years of his career.
It is in Poles’ best interest to potentially pursue one of the top defensive end prospects that will be available for Chicago at the 10th selection, especially if Penn State pass-rusher Abdul Carter falls due to his surgery concerns. Whether be Carter, Mike Green, or Mykel Williams, an elite-level edge rusher would be perfect for Allen to help develop and pair with Sweat. Having a first-round defensive end to work with Dennis Allen would also limit the risk of the Bears’ repeating the weakness of where no other defensive linemen were capitalizing on the blocking attention being paid to the team’s best pass-rusher.
Addressing the defensive end position early in the draft should be imperative to Poles if he wants Dennis Allen’s defense to be as good as soon as possible. Taking another mid-round pass-rusher like Dominique Robinson or Austin Booker, may provide depth at the position, but it won’t provide impact, especially for Allen who has made a career of developing game-changing talent. Chicago can’t afford another season where the defensive line, especially when it comes to generating pressure on opposing quarterbacks, fails to be consistent due to a lack of talent for Dennis Allen to work with.
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