Dayo Odeyingbo tore his Achilles tendon in the win over the Cincinnati Bengals last Sunday. It was an unfortunate end to what had been a frustrating season for the Chicago Bears‘ big free agent addition. Many had hoped the big defensive end could provide the necessary pass rush opposite Montez Sweat. Instead, he managed only one sack in the first eight games before going down. Many now see him as the worst free agent signing Ryan Poles has made, even beating out Nate Davis.
Where things get interesting is what the Bears GM said about it during his recent presser. While disappointed for Odeyingbo, Poles stated that how things played out over the first half of the season wasn’t the plan. The truth is, he and defensive coordinator Dennis Allen didn’t see Odeyingbo as their edge rush solution. They saw him more as a good interior rusher. The hope was that they could use him as a strong run defender on the edge, and then shift him inside for passing downs. Then Austin Booker would likely be their edge rush option across from Sweat.
Booker’s knee injury in the preseason derailed those plans from the jump. Then, when he finally returned from IR last week, Odeyingbo is lost for the season. Talk about incredible bad luck.
Ryan Poles still made a mistake, but this at least provides context.
Anybody who watched Dennis Allen’s defenses in New Orleans would realize he employed a similar approach. Sheldon Rankins would often play outside on running downs, then move inside for passing situations. Carl Granderson and Marcus Davenport would then be the edge rush option across from Cameron Jordan. You can’t say it didn’t work. That strategy produced the 4th-best defense in the NFL in 2020. The problem is that everybody needs to stay healthy for it to work. That hasn’t been the case with Odeyingbo and Booker.
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This doesn’t excuse Ryan Poles. He could’ve built the Bears’ pass rush better than this. His overall construction of the defensive line has been underwhelming since he took over in 2022. Still, it is at least nice to see there was a plan for how they wanted to use Odeyingbo, and it was not what you saw for the past two months.
