Former Bears Coach Drops Major Hint About Dennis Allen’s Likely 1st Round Target

Unless the Chicago Bears plan to draft a left tackle in the 1st round this year, it will be the Dennis Allen show on the first night of the draft this April. The team has not selected a defensive player in the 1st round since Roquan Smith in 2018. They are long overdue to change that. Left tackles are almost always gone by the end of the 1st round, so the odds are far higher that GM Ryan Poles will be looking for somebody the defensive coordinator covets. Former Bears coach Clint Hurtt has a pretty good idea of who that will be.

Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune caught up with the longtime NFL assistant down at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama. He’s been coaching players during the week, but one has stood out above the rest. That is Clemson defensive end T.J. Parker. While this class is filled with plenty of talented edge rushers, Hurtt believes Parker brings more to the table than just QB hunting ability. He is a more complete player than he gets credit for, and that will immediately appeal to Allen.

Not to mention, he has the physical profile the coordinator prefers.

I’ll get into Parker and some of the edge rushers here. He was the first name National coach Clint Hurtt mentioned Tuesday night after practice when asked who stood out to him on Day 1. Hurtt, the Eagles defensive line coach and a former D-line and outside linebackers coach for the Bears, has a pretty good idea what he’s looking at.

Hurtt sees Parker, who measured 6-foot-3½ and 263 pounds, as a complete defensive end. He certainly has the size and length Dennis Allen seems to seek.

“Parker is an every-down player as a rookie,” said Hurtt, who interviewed last week for the Dolphins defensive coordinator job. “He can set edges in the run game. He’s got some suddenness, so he can beat blocks with power or a beat a guy across his face. He’s got good rush ability and he has the power to run over a tackle, which to me is critical. You’ve got to be able to do that.

“Everybody goes crazy for the super-fast, quick guys, but if they can’t run a tackle over to collapse the pocket on the QB, they struggle. He can do that.”

Dennis Allen has a decent track record with 1st round pass rushers.

It started with Von Miller in 2011 and was soon followed by Khalil Mack in 2014. Both will end up in the Hall of Fame after they retire. In New Orleans, they added Marcus Davenport in 2018. While he never reached his full potential, he did become a productive player for the Saints before injuries derailed his career. The only true misfire was Payton Turner in 2021. He didn’t amount to much across four years with the organization. The short answer is that if Allen sees the same things Hurtt does with Parker, there is a strong probability that he will be a good player.

There is no question that the Bears need help along the defensive line. Their ability to pressure the quarterback was far too inconsistent. They didn’t have anybody to complement Montez Sweat and Austin Booker during games. Parker would be a major step in the right direction, hopefully giving them a proper three-man rotation that Dennis Allen can deploy in waves. The only question for the Bears is whether Parker is available at the 25th pick. Pass rushers tend to go early and often in the 1st round.