We are halfway through our countdown of the 10 Chicago Bears with the most to prove this season. If you’ve missed it, this is what the first half looked like:
10. Tory Taylor
9. Braxton Jones
8. Rome Odunze
7. TJ Edwards
6. Jaylon Johnson
Starting our top five is defensive tackle Gervon Dexter.
Ryan Poles and the Chicago Bears spent a second-round pick on Dexter back in 2023, and fans were mixed on the selection. Many were excited to see what the Florida Gator could do; others were concerned about how
quickly he got off the ball and if that would impact him at the NFL level.
Dexter had a fairly quiet rookie season, but has had fairly nice seasons in both 2024 and 2025. Dexter has stayed largely healthy and does a decent job creating interior pressure. But he still struggles against the run when he’s at the point of attack.
By no means is Dexter a bad player. He’s a solid player. The question is, is his play strong enough to earn a second contract in Chicago?
Dexter is entering the final year of his contract, and this would be traditionally when a rookie is extended. There have been no signs out of Halas Hall that Dexter will be receiving a contract extension this summer, which means the Bears want to see more from Dexter to see if he’s worth signing to a larger sum of money for the 2027 season.
One thing that certainly plays to Dexter’s benefit is the large amount of churn the defensive line is expected to have next season. When looking at their interior defensive line. The Bears have Jordan van den Berg under contract for the next four seasons. They signed Neville Gallimore to a two-year contract this offseason, so he could still be under contract. Dexter is going to be a free agent, and Grady Jarrett is largely expected to be released before the third and final year of his contract. The rest of the interior defensive line is all on one-year deals.
It’s largely expected that the Bears will overhaul the defensive line after this season when they can get out of a handful of bad contracts, but how much overhaul will they want to do across the interior defensive line? Gallimore will most likely be back for the final year of his contract, but he also has close to no guaranteed money in 2027, and the Bears could release him if need be. But Gallimore isn’t a game-changer; he’s a rotational player.
van den Berg is an athletic freak, so the upside is there, but how much impact will the Bears expect out of a sixth-round pick? Odds are, if van den Berg sticks, he will also be a rotational player.
If the Bears keep the traditional five defensive tackles, that’s two right there. Odds are good that the Bears will spend a draft pick on a defensive tackle next year as well. But that means the Bears would still need two viable starting defensive tackles. So if Gervon Dexter is back in 2027, he needs to prove in 2026 that he is one of those viable starting defensive tackles.
My belief over the last couple of years is that Dexter is a versatile, solid DT3. I do not mean that as an insult to him at all. DT3s still play about 50% of the team’s defensive snaps, are in on plenty of key downs throughout a game, and need to contribute. Dexter can play multiple spots across the interior, and that kind of player can be valuable. But I have a feeling the Bears need him to be something more.
At this point, it’s probably safe to assume that Dexter will never be the dominant penetrating defensive tackle who can wreck a game, but if he can be a solid complement to that type of player that wins more often than not against single blocks, that has value in Dennis Allen’s defense.
But, in my opinion, Dexter isn’t that player yet, and the Bears need to see more from him this year.
I think Dexter’s stats are a little misleading. I think he’s a solid interior pass rusher, but he’s not quite as strong as his numbers state. Many of his sacks were clean-up sacks after someone else’s pressure flushed the QB towards him or coverage sacks where he got in late.
When defending the run, I think Dexter does a nice job moving laterally towards the ball carrier if the play is going away from him, but if the point of attack is at Dexter, I think he struggles with his anchor and gets pushed off the line of scrimmage too easily.
If Dexter is going to return next year as one of the Bears’ starting defensive tackles, he’s going to have to get to the QB a little faster on passing downs, hold his anchor better and be more effective when the opposing teams are running at him. If he can improve and make himself a viable DT2, the Bears may want to keep him around for at least a couple more seasons.
But as Dennis Allen continues to put this defense in his vision, if Dexter looks similar to the player he was in 2025, I think the odds are more likely than not that Dexter hits free agency and is playing for a new team in 2027.
It’s a huge contract year for Gervon Dexter, and that’s why he finds himself at number five on the ten Chicago Bears with the most to prove.
