Sweat on NFI Leaves Bears With No Proven Pass Rusher Behind Him

The Bears placed Montez Sweat on the Non-Football Injury list on July 28, and the timing is about as bad as it gets for a team that was already carrying exactly one defensive end with meaningful playing time last season. Sweat is on an expiring contract. He is also, at the moment, unavailable. Those two facts together make the start of camp uncomfortable.

The depth chart behind him is Dayo Odeyingbo, who is listed as questionable, and Shemar Turner, who is out. That is the entire picture. The internal competition to establish a credible second pass rusher — the one the Bears needed to win regardless of what happens with Sweat's contract — cannot really begin until at least some of those bodies are healthy. Austin Booker is in the mix through the DL grouping, but the Bears enter camp without a single proven edge rusher available and ready to practice.

The broader context makes this harder. Chicago went 11–6 last year on the back of close-game execution more than dominant defense, and the pass rush was already the thinnest part of a thin roster. GM Ryan Poles and coach Ben Johnson were publicly frustrated this week about Kyler Gordon's latest injury in the secondary, which tells you the defensive headaches are stacking up before a single preseason snap. The Sweat situation is one more item on a list that did not need to get longer.