Ben Johnson revealed one of his draft crushes from the 2025 Draft class and that same player could thwart his offensive plans in Week 15
The Chicago Bears are aware of the Defensive Rookie of the Year front-runner.
The Chicago Bears’ loss to the Green Bay Packers still stings on Tuesday but the time for skulking is long over. This is still a 9-4 team still right in the middle of the playoff hunt with four games to go and while everyone wants to look forward to the rematch vs. the Packers in Week 16, the Bears can’t afford to overlook their next opponent coming up on Sunday.
The Bears will be hosting the 3-10 Cleveland Browns, and like he has all season, head coach Ben Johnson is not discrediting the challenge Cleveland will bring despite their current record. And the main challenge comes from the defensive side of the ball for the Browns, with multiple players in contention for league-wide honors in 2025.
“It certainly starts with Myles Garrett but they’ve got play-makers all over the place,” Johnson said on Monday during his interview with Jeff Joniak. “I know they got a rookie linebacker that we really liked in the draft and it sounds like he’s playing at a very high level right now.”
Carson Schwesinger has quickly become a legit player to prepare for in Cleveland
That rookie Johnson is referring to is of course linebacker Carson Schwesinger, the Browns’ second-round selection who is currently the leading man for the Defensive Rookie of the Year award. It’s quite intriguing to hear Johnson say Schwesinger was a player the Bears really liked in the draft.
Cleveland took Schwesinger with the first pick of the second-round and six picks later the Bears landed Luther Burden III after being surprised he was still on the board. So, we now know of two rookies the Bears were really high on at the top of Day 2 in Schwesinger and New England Patriots running back TreVeyon Henderson.
The Bears are likely still pleased with how the second-round went considering the mentality Burden has brought to the offense and potentially finding their left tackle of the future in Ozzy Trapilo. In the meantime, the Browns landed a true impact player on defense that Johnson now has to prepare to go against on Sunday.
As great as Garrett is off the edge and how dominant he can be rushing the passer (currently leads the NFL with 20.0 sacks and on pace to break the single-season record), Schwesinger is the player who can really thwart the offensive plans for Chicago in this matchup.
Only four linebackers in the NFL have more stops than Schwesinger (30) this season and he has 47 tackles on run plays according to Pro Football Focus. The Bears’ offense is built on having a strong outside run game and it’s an area Schwesinger has excelled at defending this season.
Look at his game against the San Francisco 49ers for example. Schwesinger led the team with 10 tackles and had four stops. The unit as a whole held Christian McCaffrey to just 2.7 yards per carry.
Accounting for him is going to be a must for Johnson and this offensive front in the run game. As for the passing game, Garrett is clearly the top threat who can be a game-wrecker. It’s going to be an all-around tough matchup against this defense because of those two players.
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