Titans to sign former Bears pass-rusher

The Titans are signing the fourth-year edge defender, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com reports. Gipson spent three seasons with the Bears, joining the team as a fifth-round pick back in 2020.

Tennessee, which lost pass rusher DeMarcus Walker to Chicago in free agency, has Harold Landry coming back from a full-season absence stemming from a late-summer ACL tear. After releasing Bud Dupree, the Titans have Arden Key in place as their top complementary outside linebacker. Rashad Weaver is going into his third NFL season, and rookie UDFA Caleb Murphy rounded out Tennessee’s OLB group when the team set its initial 53-man roster. Gipson, 26, will join this quartet.

Making 19 starts over the past two seasons, Gipson produced 10 sacks in that span. Khalil Mack‘s foot injury in 2021 opened the door for Gipson to be the Bears’ top Robert Quinn complementary piece. As Quinn broke Richard Dent’s single-season franchise sack record that season, Gipson tallied seven sacks and forced five fumbles. This helped Sean Desai‘s defense rank sixth in yards allowed. In Year 1 as a defensive end in Matt Eberflus‘ scheme, Gipson’s numbers dipped. The Bears, who traded Mack in March 2022 and then dealt Quinn before the deadline, received just three sacks from Gipson in his age-25 season.

But Gipson totaled a career-best 11 QB hits in 2022. In Tennessee, the 6-foot-4 defender will return to a 3-4 scheme — under DC Shane Bowen — and will be given a chance to carve out a role as a backup in the again-Landry-led OLB corps. The Titans’ roster now sits at 53 players.