Why Bears Must Become More Serious About Edge Help

Bears defensive tackle Justin Jones had been asked to compare what the team was about to lose from the pass rush with Yannick Ngakoue's broken ankle, leaving them with chiefly Montez Sweat's edge rush to challenge QBs.

"He brings a different type of speed and agility to the game," Jones said. "Tez is the more powerful guy. He's still fast off the edge but really powerful.

"Yannick is the more speed and agile guy off the edge."

The Bears apparently could have used more speed and agility from someone to help Sweat or more speed than Ngakoue supplied.

Of the free agent decisions they face when March rolls around, possibly the easiest is not bringing back Ngakoue. His injury aside, the production supplied for play reps required did not come close to meeting the $10.5 million the Bears paid on a one-year deal.

Ngakoue isn't their only defensive end decision in free agency but is by far the most impactful because it was a starting position.

It seemed a miss before it even started because Ngakoue's strength had never been stopping the run but coach Matt Eberflus' scheme attaches a great deal of importance to defensive ends being stout against the run by setting strong edges. 

Selling out to get around the edge to the quarterback exposes the single-gap approach on defense against both the running game and screen game.

The idea of one stout defender against the pass on the edge and one speed rusher can work if the speed rusher is at least interested in stopping the run. This doesn't describe Ngakoue.

Nothing much worked for Ngakoue before he suffered a broke ankle in Week 13.

He achieved the fewest quarterback hits of his career (7), fewest tackles (22), fewest pressures (11), fewest quarterback knockdowns (3) and most importantly the fewest sacks (4).

Because he'd never played fewer than 15 games before, these would have been understandable. But Ngakoue wasn't even close to previous lows with most of those numbers and played only two games less than his previous low. He never had been below eight sacks and had four. He never had been below 26 pressures and had 11.

It will be no-brainer decision to find someone else and the Bears likely would be interested in looking both at free agency and the draft for it.

This is because backup edge rusher Rasheem Green is a free agent and also because they have never achieved the slightest production from edge rusher Dominique Robinson.

Robinson is not a free agent but their 2022 fifth-round pick will be in Year 3 in 2024. He was inactive six times after he'd been in every game as a rookie. He made only 12 tackles and half a sack a year after he had 1 1/2 sacks and 30 tackles.

Green did at least contribute in some ways. He blocked two kicks, which is something he has had a knack for throughout his career with five total. However, his eight pressures and three sacks as the fourth player in the rush for 36% of the defensive snaps he was available was insufficient.

Last year GM Ryan Poles and Eberflus insisted their pass rush could come from the middle of the line if it wasn't coming from the edge, because they hadn't invested much of their league-high salary cap space available in edge rush help. They quickly realized their mistake and rushed to sign Ngakoue when training camp was a week old.

Panic buys rarely work and this one didn't.

Then they realized DeMarcus Walker, Green, Robinson and Ngakoue were enough combined with their new linebackers and their tackle combination to stop the run, but still didn't give them any rush to take pressure off the secondary. 

So they had to make a trade to bring in Sweat.

Sweat turned around everything and now to complement him they could have their pick from a free agent edge rush group that might include Jacksonville's Josh Allen, Carolina's Brian Burns, Minnesota's Danielle Hunter, the Jets' Bryce Huff and Carl Lawson, Sweat's old teammate Chase Young, Houston's Jonathan Greenard, Cleveland's Za'Darius Smith, Baltimore's Jadeveon Clowney and former Eberflus/Colts player Denico Autry of Tennessee. Franchise tags or late contract extensions will determine which of those would be available.

Expect Poles and Eberflus to be a little less adamant about being able to supply required pass rush pressure with their defensive tackles this offseason and a little more interested in spending money on an edge complement for Sweat even if they do eventually draft someone to do it, as well.

Bears UFA Projections

DE Yannick Ngakoue 

Measurements: 6-foot-2, 246 pounds

Age: 28

2023 Cap Cost: $10.5 million

2023 Production:  Four sacks, 22 tackles, 11 pressures, 592 plays, 13 games.

Years with Bears: 1

Years in NFL: 8

BearDigest 2024 UFA Projection: Leaving

DE Rasheem Green

Measurements: 6-4, 279

Age: 26

2023 Cap Cost: $2.5 million

2023 Production: Two sacks, 22 tackles, 11 pressures, 592 plays, two kick blocks, 13 games.

Years with Bears: 1

Years in NFL: 6

BearDigest 2024 UFA Projection: Leaving