Trade top pick? Or draft Alabama pass rusher Will Anderson? Bears have options
INDIANAPOLIS - The Bears need defenders who can disrupt the quarterback. That is no secret.
Head coach Matt Eberflus' team finished dead last in the league with 20 sacks in 2022. The Bears already cut veteran defensive end Al-Quadin Muhammad. They are essentially starting over at the position. Certainly, both starting spots are up for grabs at defensive end, even with Trevis Gipson and Dominique Robinson returning next season.
A big focus of last week's NFL Combine was figuring out how to help this defensive line. Alabama defensive end Will Anderson is generally considered to be among the best in this year's draft. He interviewed with the Bears last week and is one a handful of players in contention for the No. 1 overall pick.
If the Bears trade back a few spots, they could still potentially land Anderson, provided other teams take quarterbacks. But that is no guarantee.
"It would mean a lot [to be drafted first overall], just, like I said, all my hard work paying off," Anderson said at the combine last week. "Just to have that spot, it's big time and I'm really appreciative if I will have that opportunity."
The 6-foot-4, 243-pound defensive end from Hampton, Georgia, said he remembered game planning for Justin Fields ahead of the national championship game two years ago when Alabama played Ohio State. Prior to that game, there was a lot of focus on limiting Fields' running abilities.
A team with both Fields and Anderson could be well positioned for success in the coming years. Anderson totaled 34.5 sacks and 62 tackles for loss in three seasons at Alabama.
Asked generally about the pass rusher position, here's what Eberflus said he looks for in prospects.
"I would just say the ability to turn the corner," Eberflus said. "When guys start to rush and they get their approach, when they get to the move area, the ones that can't get there, they start working away from the quarterback. The ones that do, they have everything pointed - their hips, their toes, their knees - everything toward the quarterback. And they have the ability to work their move around the edge. And then when they get past the quarterback, they have strength to be able to work back inside. Those are the things we look at. Obviously, you have to have great athleticism."
Anderson has that and more. Alabama uses several different looks on defense, but Nick Saban's base defense is a 3-4 scheme. Eberflus' 4-3 scheme would be an adjustment for Anderson, but he's talented enough as a pass rusher that he should succeed no matter what scheme he winds up in.
There's not a team in the NFL that wouldn't happily add Anderson to the mix.
"I feel like football is all about embracing a change," Anderson said. "No matter what type of defense I get in, I'm going to adapt to it, and I'm going to be able to embrace the change. Embrace the challenges there and learn lessons that go within [it], and that's what I'm really excited about - whatever defense I get in, learning how to operate throughout it and having fun doing it."
But the question Bears general manager Ryan Poles has to weigh is whether drafting Anderson at No. 1 overall or trading the first pick puts the team in a better long-term position.
With Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter facing legal troubles, he may now be out of the discussion as the top overall pick, despite his abilities on the field.
Anderson looks like the clear No. 1 defender in the draft.
"There are guys on the outside that are special that are going to create O-line slides that are going to give other people opportunities, too, so that's a multiplier as well," Poles said. "So, really, it just comes down to our evaluations on how much they affect the game in both the run and the pass."