If somebody told you one of the biggest standouts of early Chicago Bears training camp wasn’t your 1st round pick but a 6th round pick instead, you’d be laughed out of the room. Yet that seems to be the case after a week of action at Halas Hall. While most of the attention has been on safety Dillon Thieneman thus far, he hasn’t been the one creating buzz. That honor belongs to defensive tackle Jordan Van Den Berg. After some flashes in the first non-padded practices of camp, he delivered his best performance to date on Thursday in one of the team’s most physical sessions.
It started during a 9-on-7 period between the offense and defense, where the rookie blew up a run play by bulldozing the offensive line. This clearly got the attention of coaches, who put him in 1-on-1 drills against the starters. That didn’t slow him down. Both 2nd round pick Logan Jones and second-year guard Luke Newman both had problems dealing with him. Keep in mind, this was two days after Van Den Berg started a fight by suplexing a player to the ground. It’s not like the offense was unaware of what the 6th round pick could do.
Jordan Van Den Berg is not your normal late pick.
At least that is what the Bears seem to think. Jeremy Fowler of ESPN tweeted that Chicago coaches told him there are big plans for the rookie defensive tackle. They don’t see him as a typical 6th round pick. There is no question that Van Den Berg is a rare physical specimen. He has a mix of size, power, and explosiveness that almost always goes much earlier in the draft. Is it possible that a unique set of circumstances led him to slip through the cracks? When you look at what happened in college, you start thinking that way.
For one, Jordan Van Den Berg spent three years as a backup at Penn State, accomplishing little. That is why he chose to transfer to Georgia Tech. He felt it gave him the best chance to finally start. That he would do, but his first season with the Yellow Jackets was fine, but nothing special. Then he went off in 2025, collecting 3 sacks and 11 tackles for a loss. The tape was really good. However, you had a player who was already 24 years old and had only one good season of production. Teams don’t like risking higher draft picks on such prospects.
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| Season | College Team | Total QB Pressures |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Georgia Tech | 29 |
| 2024 | Georgia Tech | 13 |
| 2021–2023 | Penn State | 14 |
The timing of this can’t be overstated.
Interior pressure was a big problem for the Bears last season. While Gervon Dexter did have six sacks, he wasn’t able to harass the quarterback consistently enough. Garrett Jarrett wasn’t any better, hobbled by a knee injury in the first half of the season. Chicago had planned to use Dayo Odeyingbo on the inside a lot, but that plan was ruined when Austin Booker injured his knee. If you look at the array of players the Bears have at defensive tackle, Van Den Berg represents the purest interior pass rusher on the roster.
Seeing him already get work with the starters is a great sign. It means he has done enough in drills to show coaches he deserves more opportunities. Again, this is not normal for a 6th round pick. Since 1970, the Bears have drafted eight defensive tackles in that range or later. The only one to become a viable impact player was Roger Stillwell in the mid-1970s. He played barely over two seasons, in which he had 11.5 sacks, before injuries forced him to retire. Stillwell went 212th overall. Van Den Berg went 213th.
It can be done.
