Lannie

Some food for thought on where the Bears pass rush stands post trade deadline. Both Ryan Poles and Ben Johnson talked about the good that they saw from Dayo Odeyingbo prior to his season-ending injury, especially once the Bears started to move him inside against New Orleans and how it impacted the pass rush. The idea was to do that more with Austin Booker coming back in Week 9, but now the Bears have a numbers issue they'll have to work around with their edge depth that they hope will be solved (at least somewhat) with the addition of Joe Tryon-Shoyinka. My two cents: It's great when a player has positional flexibility and can play multiple techniques. The Bears identified Odeyingbo as a hard charging 43 DE who can play inside as a subpackage 3 technique rusher. He also can play in a 34 style scheme if reduced to a 4i/5T and play with an overhang outside linebacker on the edge. But the Bears signed him in free agency because they needed a starting defensive end opposite Montez Sweat. They signed Grady Jarrett for help on the inside and drafted Shemar Turner. Chicago didn't get that edge production from Odeyingbo, not for the significant contract that they gave him (3 years, $48M with $32M GTD). It's fair to say this move did not pan out (from a production and injury standpoint) and should foreshadow the type of move the Bears must make in the offseason to shore up the weak link on the D-line.

Jordan Van Den Berg is a ton of fun to study… Incredibly stout at POA but flashes some range too! Plays into/off his gap… Shoots frontside gap… Shoots backdoor gap…

I could see the bears liking Zavion Thomas. Fits the mold of wr Ben likes fast twitchy gets in and out of his breaks easily. Has extremely high route potential excels on the option routes, stop routes, drags and screens. Also a damn good punt returner