The Chicago Bears traded Gervon Dexter to the Atlanta Falcons before the season, betting that their defensive tackle rotation could replace what he brought to the interior pass rush. Two weeks into the season, that decision is already getting harder to defend.
Dexter has emerged as one of the Falcons’ most productive interior pass rushers. Through two games, he has eight pressures and one sack.
Meanwhile Chicago traded Dexter for a 2027 fifth round pick and cornerback Clark Phillips III, who has yet to record a single defensive statistic for the Bears this season.
Now that doesn’t mean the Bears’ defense is falling apart without Dexter. In fact, the unit responded extremely well against Minnesota in Week 2, holding the Vikings to nine points and 246 yards…
But that performance also makes the Dexter situation more interesting. Chicago has already shown it can play good defense without him. The question is whether the Bears needed to make themselves thinner at one of their most important positions in the first place.
Gervon Dexter is giving Atlanta exactly what Chicago needed
Gervon Dexter finished 2025 with a 44.0 PFF run-defense grade, which ranked 107th among 131 interior defensive linemen. That gave the Chicago Bears a reason to consider moving on.
Dexter was also entering the final year of his rookie contract, and the Bears weren’t prepared to commit to him beyond 2026…
But now through two games this season, Next Gen Stats credits Dexter with 10 quarterback pressures, tied for second among NFL interior defensive linemen.
That’s a pretty clear sign that the Falcons aren’t treating Dexter like a rotational afterthought. They’re putting him in position to attack. And he’s winning.
Chicago still has time to prove the trade right
The Chicago Bears deserve some credit for what happened in Week 2…
After allowing 37 points to Carolina in the opener, Chicago’s defense completely flipped the script against Minnesota as the Vikings scored three field goals and never found the end zone in a 9-3 Bears loss.
That matters because it would be too simplistic to point at Gervon Dexter’s production in Atlanta and declare the Bears’ defense worse because he is gone. Chicago’s defense played well without him.
The bigger issue is what happens when the Bears need a defensive tackle to create pressure on his own.
The team entered the season with Grady Jarrett, Neville Gallimore, Kentavius Street, James Lynch and Jordan van den Berg among its interior options after moving Dexter. So far, nobody has provided the same pass-rush presence.
Jarrett remains the veteran centerpiece of the group, but PFF has him with four pressures and a 59.6 pass-rush grade through two games. Street has one sack but just one pressure overall, while van den Berg has yet to register a pressure.
The trade may eventually work out. Clark Phillips III could become a useful player in the slot. The fifth round pick could turn into something valuable. Dexter could also cool off as the season progresses. But two weeks in, the early returns aren’t helping Chicago’s case.
For a defense that spent the offseason trying to improve its front, the trade was a risk Chicago didn’t necessarily need to take. And Dexter is already making that risk look increasingly expensive.
Bears’ Gervon Dexter Trade Is Already Looking Like a Mistake