Top pass rush prospects share their thoughts on potentially joining forces with Montez Sweat in Chicago
The Chicago Bears tipped their hand to reveal one of their offseason plans on Tuesday at the NFL Combine. The Bears are expected to add a top pass rusher at some point during the offseason to pair with star defensive end Montez Sweat next season. After acquiring Sweat from the Washington Commanders at the trade […]
The Chicago Bears tipped their hand to reveal one of their offseason plans on Tuesday at the NFL Combine.
The Bears are expected to add a top pass rusher at some point during the offseason to pair with star defensive end Montez Sweat next season.
After acquiring Sweat from the Washington Commanders at the trade deadline, the Bears' defensive turned it around and finished the season as one of the league's top units. Now, the front office is looking into adding another difference-maker on the other side of the defensive front.
Armed with the first and ninth overall picks in the 2024 NFL Draft, the Bears could potentially look to add one of the top pass rushers in the class with their second pick in the Top-10. The Bears have already been confirmed to have met with Florida State's Jared Verse, UCLA Laiatu Latu, and Penn State's Chop Robinson.
All three players are expected to land in the first round and could be on the Bears' radar by the time April's draft rolls around. When asked about potentially being selected by the Bears and joining forces with Sweat, Latu and Verse offered some interesting responses.
"I mean, playing with [Sweat] and learning from him, I can never learn enough about pass rushing in a game," Latu said. "It would be a great opportunity for me to get better and level up."
“To land with a veteran guy as young guy he’ll be able to direct me in the right path," Verse said. "Hope I can get the guidance I need.”
All three pass rushers were listed on Daniel Jeremiah's Top 50 Big Board 2.0 earlier this week. Verse was ranked 14th, Latu was ranked 20th and Robinson was ranked 24th. Jeremiah mentioned Latu's injury history as a potential concern but Latu himself but those concerns to bed after saying no teams so far have inquired about his previous injuries.
Verse was one of the top players I mentioned as prospects who could potentially dominate the Combine this week that the Bears should have on their radar and it appears they have already begun diving into him more as a prospect ahead of the positional drills.
On Tuesday, Bears' head coach Matt Eberflus mentioned the position as being one with high importance to pursue this offseason.
"We got to make sure that we have somebody opposite Sweat," Eberflus said. "We can never have enough of those guys because they affect the game most."
Eberflus also gave some insight on the Bears' interview process with the prospects and the types of things they will have the players do during those meetings.
"We'll take him into the room and ask if they want to do darts or putting," he explained. "They'll decide that and then we'll just teach them something about the offensive or defensive plays. We'll show them their tape and have them talk about their tape and then recall at the end to give us back what they learned in the beginning. It's the same process for all the players."
During his interview with the members of the media in attendance, Latu noted that he chose to play darts and even got close to hitting a bullseye.
The Bears will get to see the top pass rushers they met with today in action on Thursday as the defensive linemen and linebackers perform during the testing drills live on NFL Network starting at 3pm EST.
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