Bears Draft Target: Gervon Dexter |
When you look at how things are stacked up for the Bears in this year's NFL draft, they have the potential to make some noise and pick up some nice steals. After trading away the No.1 pick to fall back to No. 9, the Bears may not be done as they could trade that pick to acquire additional picks in the first or second round.
This is also a team that made several picks during the season last year to add draft capital this year, so you can bet the Bears are going to be aggressive with the hope of hitting one or two home runs with their selections. Before adding two second-round picks via trades, the Bears were supposed to pick in the third round, which happens to be pick 64. With the addition of their second-round picks, they will now have three picks in 13 spots, as they own 53, 61, and 64. Granted, those may not be first-round picks, but there will be some first-round talent available in this area or, at worst, players with starting potential in these spots. Chicago focused on the defensive side in free agency, especially the LB unit, as that is one of the more pressing needs on this team. Come the draft; many feel they will focus on the trenches, especially the offensive and defensive line. After all, to be a successful franchise, you need to win in the trenches, and the Bears didn't do enough of that last year. Taking Jalen Carter or Paris Johnson at No. 9 would certainly address the need for trench help, but so could some mid-round selections that have steal written all over them. Look no further than Florida DT Gervon Dexter as someone with steal potential written all over them as he is an option for the Bears in Round 2 or round three. If you have noticed anything about the Bears mock drafts this season, it has them focusing on SEC players. Considering the talent level in the SEC, it makes a ton of sense, and Dexter is just another one of the many SEC players linked to the Bears. While Dexter is currently graded as a second or third-round prospect, he is your prototypical Boom or bust pick that many teams use. Should he be the boom pick, you are looking at a third-round steal that emerged into a first-round talent. If he becomes a bust, Dexter would be just another highly regarded prospect that never panned out in the NFL. Breaking down his film from Florida, Dexter has all the traits to be a dominant interior defender at the next level. A big reason for that is his speed and power combo that allows him to overpower defenders and then use his speed to get by them if needed. While the intangibles have always been there, getting him to play consistently has not, and that is something some teams are concerned with. That is one of the reasons he isn't ranked as highly as you would think, as his consistency hasn't shown as frequent as anyone would like. Comparing his size to many DTs in the NFL today, you can see him fitting in well. He is 6-6 and 303 pounds, but sometimes he plays bigger when needed. There are also times when he plays smaller, should he use the speed factor of his game to make plays, so having that versatility is crucial. During his three seasons with the Gators, Dexter saw action in at least 10 games every year and finished with 36 games of college experience. When on the field, he came away with 125 tackles, including 105 in the past two seasons. To go with that, Dexter came away with 10.5 tackles for a loss and five sacks. Ideally, you would love more production than that, but that is where the inconsistency comes into play. This player was one of the best DTs in High School and even had 18 sacks as a senior. He always could give you more than he showed, but now it becomes a matter of how to get that out of him.
