Bears 2026 Offseason Needs, Part 2: 5.0 Yards Per Carry and an Interior That Needs an Overhaul

In Part 1 of this series, we broke down how the Bears have zero safeties under contract for 2026 and examined the options to rebuild a secondary that helped lead the NFL in takeaways. That's a significant problem. But at least it's a problem of losing good players.

The defensive tackle situation is different. This isn't about losing what you had. It's about never having enough in the first place.

The 2025 Bears won 11 games, captured the NFC North, and made the divisional round for the first time in over a decade. They did it with a defense that generated turnovers at an elite rate—33 takeaways, the most in the NFL. But underneath that headline number was a front four that too often got pushed around at the point of attack, particularly on the interior. Chicago allowed 5.0 yards per carry in 2025, the fourth-worst mark in the NFL. They ranked 29th in yards allowed per rush. Detroit, Cincinnati, and San Francisco all hung 40-plus points on this defense. Baltimore put up 30 without Lamar Jackson.

The turnovers masked a lot. And turnovers, historically, don't repeat.

Ryan Poles knows this. At last week's NFL Combine in Indianapolis, he laid out exactly what he's looking for on the defensive line: "Motor, relentlessness, violence, explosive. I just want to continue to improve our defensive speed." Then he offered a telling nugget that may have revealed his draft strategy: he said the edge depth in this class is better than the defensive tackle depth—a signal that the Bears could target interior defensive line early and address the edge later.

About This Series

With free agency opening March 11 and the NFL Draft set for late April in Pittsburgh, the next two months will define whether the Bears can turn a breakthrough season into sustained contention. The offense is largely set—every starter is under contract, and the offensive line that Ben Johnson built is one of the best in football. The defense is another story.

Over the coming days, we'll be breaking down each of the Bears' biggest offseason needs in a multi-part series. For each position, we'll examine why it needs to be addressed, who the realistic options are in both free agency and the draft, and how Poles might navigate the cap crunch while keeping this team's championship window wide open. Here's what's ahead:

Part 1: Safety — Zero safeties under contract. The most urgent hole on the roster.
Part 2: Defensive Tackle (today) — Poles is targeting speed and violence up front. The Combine confirmed it.
Part 3: Edge Rusher — Montez Sweat needs a running mate. Is Maxx Crosby the answer?
Part 4: Left Tackle — Ozzy Trapilo's torn patellar tendon leaves a gaping hole protecting Caleb's blindside.
Part 5: Linebacker & Secondary Depth — The Edmunds fallout and what comes next.

What's Already in the Room

Unlike the safety position, the Bears do have bodies under contract at defensive tackle. Whether those bodies are good enough is the question.

Gervon Dexter Sr. is the headliner. The 24-year-old former second-round pick started all 17 games in 2025 and led the interior with 6.0 sacks, 44 tackles (21 solo), six tackles for loss, and 11 quarterback hits. Those sack numbers are encouraging for a young interior lineman entering his third NFL season. But Dexter's impact against the run was less convincing—he didn't force a single fumble, and opposing offenses routinely found success running at the Bears' interior. AtoZ Sports noted that neither Dexter nor his running mate "proved to be promising" on the interior in 2025, a damning assessment of the position group as a whole.

That running mate was Grady Jarrett, the former Atlanta Falcons stalwart who signed with Chicago ahead of the 2025 season. Jarrett brought an 11-year career résumé that includes 38 sacks and 535 career tackles, but his first season in a Bears uniform was underwhelming. The 32-year-old appeared in just 14 games with only four starts, registering 39 tackles (14 solo), a single tackle for loss, 1.5 sacks, and eight quarterback hits. Jarrett is under contract for 2026, but the days of relying on him as a starter appear to be over.

Then there's the wild card: Shemar Turner. The Bears spent a second-round pick on Turner in 2025, envisioning him as a long-term piece on the interior. Instead, he played just five games before a season-ending injury. Making matters more complicated, Turner began the year at defensive tackle before switching to defensive end midseason—and figuring out exactly where he projects best at the next level could determine how aggressive Poles needs to be at DT this offseason. If the coaching staff believes Turner is a tackle, there's less urgency. If they see him as an end, the interior need intensifies.

Andrew Billings, who provided veteran depth last season, is an unrestricted free agent and unlikely to return.

The Dexter Dilemma

Here's where it gets complicated. Jordan Schultz reported during Combine week that teams have been calling the Bears about a potential trade for Dexter. That doesn't mean a deal is imminent—teams call about everyone this time of year. But the mere fact that Dexter's name is circulating is noteworthy.

The case for trading Dexter would be about surplus value. If Poles drafts a defensive tackle in the first round—which multiple mock drafts have projected—and Turner comes back healthy, the Bears could have a logjam on the interior. Dexter is still on his rookie deal and would have trade value. Moving him could also free up cap space for other needs.

The case against is simpler: you don't trade a 24-year-old who just put up six sacks from the interior when your run defense was one of the worst in the league. You add to the room, not subtract from it. And in a division with Detroit's offensive line and Green Bay's power running game, the Bears need more interior presence, not less.

For now, the safest assumption is that Dexter stays. But it's a storyline worth watching as the draft approaches.

Free Agent Options

The Bears' cap situation—currently about $4.1 million over the $303.5 million ceiling—limits their ability to go shopping for a premium free agent at defensive tackle. But there are options that fit the budget.

Bleacher Report identified D.J. Reader as a bigger-name option if the Bears can clear enough cap space through restructures or the Edmunds trade. Reader is one of the more accomplished run-stuffing nose tackles in the league, and his skill set directly addresses Chicago's biggest weakness on the interior. But the price tag may be prohibitive given how many other holes the Bears need to fill.

The more realistic path might be a veteran on a team-friendly deal. WGN described John Franklin-Myers as the "most realistic" free-agent fit for the Bears along the defensive line. Franklin-Myers is 31 but still provides value as a versatile run defender who can line up at multiple spots along the front. David Onyemata, whom 247Sports projected to Chicago in a mock offseason at roughly $5 million per year, represents another affordable option with starting experience.

But realistically, the Bears aren't going to fix defensive tackle through free agency. Not with this cap. The draft is where the real solution lives.

The Draft Path

This is where Part 2 diverges from the safety discussion. In Part 1, we noted that the Bears are unlikely to spend their first-round pick on a safety. At defensive tackle, the opposite may be true. Multiple mock drafts have linked the Bears to an interior defensive lineman at pick 25, and Poles' Combine comments about targeting speed and violence up front only reinforced that expectation.

The problem? The Combine muddied the waters rather than clearing them.

The Bears confirmed formal meetings with two of the top defensive tackle prospects in this class: Kayden McDonald of Ohio State and Christen Miller of Georgia. They also had informal conversations with several others. But of the top DTs the Bears engaged with, two didn't work out at all—and the one who did had an uneven day.

Start with McDonald, the player most directly linked to the Bears. Mel Kiper has McDonald as his DT1 and mocked him to Chicago at 25 in his latest projection. McDonald told reporters at the Combine that the Bears were "trying to get a sense if they could trust him to be the 25th overall pick." He measured in at 6-foot-2, 326 pounds with 32¼-inch arms, and described himself as "a complete player" who can stop the run on early downs and push the pocket on third downs. His college production backs it up: 65 tackles, nine tackles for loss, and three sacks as a unanimous All-American at Ohio State in 2025. But McDonald did not run the 40-yard dash, and ESPN's Matt Miller reported that his on-field workout was uneven—he struggled with his footing during multiple drills, though he showed the upper-body power that made him one of the best run stuffers in college football. NFL.com graded him at 6.39 overall, and Daniel Jeremiah ranked him 35th on his post-Combine Top 50. Ohio State's pro day now carries enormous weight for McDonald's final draft grade.

Then there's Peter Woods of Clemson, whom Jeremiah previously named as his pick for the Bears. Woods entered the 2025 college season as a potential top-five selection, but an inconsistent junior year—just 3.5 tackles for loss and two sacks across 12 games, despite first-team All-ACC honors—pushed him down boards. The Combine didn't help. Woods measured at 6-foot-2½ and 298 pounds, but his arm length came in at just 31¼ inches (fourth percentile) and his wingspan at 76⅜ inches (10th percentile). More importantly, he didn't work out at all—no 40-yard dash, no on-field drills. Per ESPN's Adam Schefter, Woods will instead perform fully at Clemson's pro day on March 12. Kiper now views Woods as a "late first, early-to-mid second round" prospect. Woods hadn't even met with the Bears as of Combine week, so Clemson's pro day or a top-30 visit to Halas Hall would be the first real evaluation opportunity.

Christen Miller is a name that should intrigue Bears fans. Bleacher Report called him the "dream" Round 2 fit for Chicago, and his profile makes it easy to see why. A four-year starter with 54 career starts at Georgia—and a former high school wrestler—Miller is a prototypical two-gap defender with a quick first step and a relentless motor. Pro Football Focus graded him with the 10th-best run defense grade among all defensive linemen in 2025. He checked the size box at the Combine with a wingspan topping 80 inches, but like Woods, Miller chose not to work out or test in Indianapolis. Jeremiah ranked him 41st on his updated board. His ability to line up at multiple spots along Georgia's defensive front is exactly the kind of versatility Poles and defensive coordinator Dennis Allen value. If Miller is available at pick 57, the Bears should sprint to the podium.

The wildcard of this class is Caleb Banks of Florida. Banks was the undisputed star of the Combine's defensive line group, posting historic measurements: 6-foot-6¼, 327 pounds, with 35-inch arms, 10⅞-inch hands, and an 85¾-inch wingspan—the longest among Combine defensive tackles since 1999. Then he backed up the measurements with testing: a 5.05-second 40-yard dash and a 32-inch vertical jump, both remarkable for a man his size. ESPN's Matt Miller said Banks "could have moved into the first round" after his performance. But there are real concerns. Banks played just three games in 2025 due to a broken foot. His tape is uneven—scouts flag his pad level, gap discipline, and a tendency to play upright. Jeremiah's scouting report noted he's "very disruptive but struggles to finish with production." Banks is a traits-over-tape bet, the kind of prospect a strong coaching staff could develop into a dominant force—or the kind who never quite puts it together. If he slides to 25, the Bears will have a decision to make.

Don't sleep on Lee Hunter out of Texas Tech, either. Jeremiah previously named Hunter as his preferred pick for the Bears, describing him as a defender with "quickness and twitch to get on the other side of the line of scrimmage and make some difference-making plays." Hunter earned a B+ from CBS Sports at the Combine, excelling in pass rush and run-and-club drills, though his 40-yard dash time of 5.18 seconds was pedestrian. His personality was a hit in Indianapolis—Texas Tech's account posted that "if they do the draft based on personality, we're looking at a Top 5 pick right there."

If the Bears wait until Day 2 or 3, the depth continues. Penn State's Zane Durant turned heads at the Combine with a 4.76-second 40-yard dash—the fastest among all defensive linemen—along with a 33½-inch vertical and a 9-foot-4 broad jump. He entered the week as a Day 3 prospect and may have pushed himself into top-100 territory. Domonique Orange of Iowa State, Darrell Jackson Jr. of Florida State, and Dontay Corleone of Cincinnati are additional names to watch in the middle and late rounds.

The Bottom Line

The defensive tackle situation isn't as visually alarming as the safety position—the Bears at least have Dexter and Jarrett under contract. But in some ways, it's more consequential. Safety is about replacing known production. Defensive tackle is about upgrading a group that wasn't good enough to begin with, while playing in a division that demands you be able to stop the run.

The most likely scenario: the Bears use their first-round pick at 25 on a defensive tackle—most likely McDonald if he's there, though Woods and Banks are in the conversation—and supplement with a veteran free agent like Franklin-Myers or Onyemata on a budget deal. Miller becomes the dream target if he falls to 57 in Round 2. Turner's return from injury adds a layer of hope, but also uncertainty. And the Dexter trade calls linger in the background, a subplot that could reshape the entire calculus.

The big Combine takeaway? Pro days are going to matter more than usual this year. Two of the top three DTs the Bears were connected to—Woods and Miller—didn't work out in Indianapolis. McDonald's performance raised as many questions as it answered. The Clemson pro day on March 12, along with Ohio State's and Georgia's upcoming showcases, will be the next real data points for Poles and his scouting staff.

Five-point-zero yards per carry. That's the number that should be written on every whiteboard at Halas Hall this offseason. Until the Bears fix the middle of their defensive line, they'll keep winning games on turnovers and hoping the math doesn't catch up to them.

Sooner or later, it will.

Next up in our 2026 Offseason Needs series: Edge rusher. Montez Sweat needs a partner. Trey Hendrickson is a free agent. And Maxx Crosby wants out of Vegas—with Caleb Williams already appearing on his podcast. We'll break down whether the Bears can land a game-changing pass rusher, and what it would cost.