Gervon Dexter’s breakout season is exactly what Bears would need for a real leap

Who are this year’s potential breakout players in the NFL? We have you covered. The next player in our series is Chicago Bears defensive tackle Gervon Dexton.

The defensive tackle in the 4-3 is a staple of Chicago Bears’ head coach Matt Eberflus’ defense. When Eberflus was in Indianapolis with the Colts, Indy traded for impact DT DeForest Buckner who raised the ceiling of the Colts’ defense through pressure from the interior. The Bears’ defense is ready to make a similar leap after finishing fifth in EPA/play allowed and 10th in Success Rate allowed from Weeks 9-18.

A large part of that is pass rusher Montez Sweat joining the team at the trade deadline. Sweat gave Eberflus and the Bears a legit star on the edge, and one person who benefitted from that is rookie DT Gervon Dexter Sr. Dexter has all the athletic potential in the world, standing at 6’6 and being in the 70th percentile in both the broad and vertical jump, but before Sweat joined, he only had nine pressures. After Sweat, he finished with 20 and showed flashes of a guy who can breakout in a defense that has seen interior defensive line play flourish.

One of the things that stands out about Dexter is how simply massive of a human he is, while showing flashes of quickness off the ball. His snap-to-snap consistency off the ball isn’t there yet, but when he puts it together he’s a monster in the run game. As a 3-technique, he’s primarily responsible for the B-gap and can control it using the raw power and length he has on the inside. He’s really good at disengaging using his arms to go over the shoulder of a guard or to disengage to make plays in the run game. The Tampa Bay game before Sweat arrived was a good one to see Dexter Sr.’s flashes against the run. Being so tall, it makes being doubled or pushed back a little easier because you don’t have the leverage, but Dexter uses his strength to dislodge the guard and then flexibility to swim over to make the play.

Against Minnesota, he used pure strength to move this linemen out the way in the run game. Again, when his stance and pad level are in alignment (which is hard to do because he’s 6’6), he can truly be a force against the run.

As a pass rusher, Dexter put some nice stuff on tape, albeit in spurts. Chicago used him a lot on stunts as the guy coming around, but in isolated situations as a pass rusher he had flashes of nice work. His ability to get the arm over and use his flexibility to get past the linemen is impressive when he uses it, and he can close on the QB to force pressures and sacks. This one against the Cardinals was impressive, even though he gets off the ball late. The ability to string together moves and keep the motor hot is good to see from a rookie pass rusher.

Dexter is relentless on the interior, being able to cross the guard’s face and use power to get to the QB as Sweat bends around the edge is the dream Eberflus and the Bears have in mind for their defense. Dexter can be an impact player if he can put the entire string of tools together.

Dexter has already treated this offseason as a pivotal one. According to Bears’ reporters, Dexter has slimmed down and looks to be in better shape than he was in his rookie year. If that’ll help his conditioning and pad level, his game should skyrocket along with an ascending Bears’ defense.