While the offense got most of the attention early in the NFL draft, the Chicago Bears did manage to give their defense some help. It came in the form of Shemar Turner, a defensive lineman out of Texas A&M. The buzz around him cooled somewhat after last season, where he battled through a broken shin and a position change. His production wasn’t what it’d been in 2023, making some wonder if his ceiling wasn’t as high as hoped. This didn’t seem to bother the Bears, who saw certain qualities they loved.
Tony Jerod-Eddie knows about the highs and lows of the NFL. He was an undrafted free agent out of Texas A&M in 2012, signing with the San Francisco 49ers. They immediately reached the Super Bowl that year, losing to Baltimore. From there, they slowly collapsed into one of the league’s worst teams by 2016. In that time, he saw what separated the great players from everybody else. He told Windy City Gridiron that Turner has certain qualities that will make him a nightmare to deal with.
Two reasons? His versatility and his motor.
“He’s played literally everywhere,” Jerod-Eddie said about Turner’s time at Texas A&M, “every position from a nine to a six to a five, 4i, a three-technique, 2i, a one-technique, a zero. I mean, you can do a lot with players like that, especially in the league that you guys are in. I think that’s one of the main reasons that he’s going to thrive in that league is because of his versatility.”
Coach said that in 2024, Turner played mostly defensive tackle (3-tech and 2i), but he feels he was at his best the previous year playing field-side defensive end, saying, “He was just a menace.”
“But the stuff that don’t show up on the stat sheet is the effort and how hard he plays and the motor that he plays with is just stuff that you can’t teach and you kinda just gotta have it and he’s got it.”
Poor coaching decisions undercut Shemar Turner.
In 2023, Aggies defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin used him as described, primarily as a defensive end who could move inside on certain downs. It resulted in six sacks and several pressures. Then last year, Durkin left. His replacement changed the scheme and asked Shemar Turner to gain 30 lbs so he could play defensive tackle. The player didn’t complain, but the body change and questionable scheme obviously impacted his effectiveness. That won’t be a problem in Chicago. Dennis Allen wants the player he saw from 2023. He made great use of this type during his most successful years in New Orleans. Having a player like Turner who can be moved around like a chess piece is rare, and Allen is smart enough to know where to plug him.
