Cutting an Edge No Simple Bears Matter

If it was up to Bears defensive coordinator Alan Williams, there would be no roster cut now.

"Everybody that's on the roster now, I want," he said Monday, as the team went through roster cuts. "There's not a guy on the roster that I don't want."

This includes Trevis Gipson, even if he doesn't want to be with the team.

"Trevis is on the roster, so T-Gip, I want," Williams said.

Gipson asked the Bears for a trade, according to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler.

The Bears defensive end situation is entirely unclear after Yannick Ngakoue and Rasheem Green and needs to be cleared up in the next 24 hours as the roster forms.

Gipson has 10 career sacks, all in the last two seasons, and made two in preseason including a strip-sack in the last game.

"I like his play," Williams said. "I like the man, I like the player. Brings energy. Productive. I like the turnover that he produced."

Terrell Lewis had three sacks in the first two preseason games. It's Dominique Robinson who hasn't been productive. After going without a sack or quarterback hit the last 16 games last season, the 2022 fifth-round draft pick has four tackles and a QB hit in the preseason games. He's easily the least productive player in terms of stats among the defensive ends, except for injured DeMarcus Walker.

Asked to describe what Robinson gives them, Williams came with some qualities, but not quantities.

"Consistency, availability," Williams said. "He's available. Consistency that you can trust him, that you know what you're getting from week-to-week. That's a big deal—that you can say 'hey, I know what I'm gonna get.' The hustle he brings running out of the stack, that's always a good thing where week to week you know what you're gonna get from a guy.

"We do know that, hey, he’s gonna be available and he's gonna be steady. The old adage, that the best ability is availability? There’s some truth to that."

Green wasn't a high-profile free agent signing but Williams sees only qualities to like in his play.

"There are a lot of things," Williams said. "We like that he's dependable. We like the physicality that he brings.

"He's not a guy that’s gonna talk a whole bunch, but he's going to show through his actions how he plays. Where he's still getting his feet wet, so to speak, in terms of crossing over from what he did in his previous lives, different teams, and what we expect of him here. But quietly he goes about his business in a professional way. We like that."

Green has had more than four sacks in a season only in 2021 with 6 1/2. He definitely isn't a sack master at end.

"He does some dirty work that we like," Williams said. "He sets edges, meaning that … we have an adage that, no edge, no chance. Don't let the ball get outside your defense. He does that. He's a physical player.

"The run game, we like what he brings to the table in terms of setting edges, in terms of getting off blocks, taking care of his gap to the football. Those are things people don't always see in terms of the stat sheet, but he does in a big way."

This is what Walker is supposed to do as well, when he gets back from the injury that has plagued him virtually all training camp and perseason.

The sack numbers should come from Ngakoue.

The issue is whether it's Gipson adding to those, Robinson or even Lewis, who wound up tied for fifth in the league in total preseason sacks with three.