Bears Cut Standout Pass Rusher After Claiming Ex-Colts DE

Getty The Bears have claimed former fifth-round defensive end Khalid Kareem off the waivers from the Colts.

The Chicago Bears are cutting another one of their preseason standout pass rushers after finding one they like better on the waiver wire.

According to the team’s official transaction wire for August 30, the Bears claimed defensive end Khalid Kareem off the waivers from the Indianapolis Colts and are waiving Terrell Lewis from their 53-man roster in a corresponding move.

Chicago also swapped out one safety for another, cutting ties with A.J. Thomas and claiming versatile rookie Quindell Johnson off the waivers from the Los Angeles Rams.

The Bears’ decision to waive Lewis comes as a bit of a surprise. It had seemed the 25-year-old had clinched a depth spot in Chicago’s defensive end rotation for 2023 after a standout preseason in which he notched three sacks and five pressures. His role seemed almost assured when the Bears opted to waive Trevis Gipson at the cut deadline.

Instead, the Bears decided to replace Lewis with another pass rusher who came out of the same 2020 draft class and put up similar numbers for the Colts in the preseason. Kareem has played 27 games with one start over his first three seasons, missing large chunks of time in his second and third years due to injuries. While he recorded three sacks and 11 pressures in the preseason, he has just one career regular-season sack.

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport has also reported that the Bears are signing former Cincinnati Bengals slot receiver and punt returner Trent Taylor to their 53-man roster, but Chicago did not announce the move during Wednesday’s series of moves and will have to make a corresponding roster deduction when they do, likely on Thursday.

Khalid Kareem Was Among Best EDGEs in Preseason

The Bears rolling the dice on Kareem over Lewis as their No. 5 pass rusher is not as out of left field as it might seem to fans who were impressed with’ strong preseason.

Lewis was an effective penetrator on his pass-rushing snaps for the Bears, but he was much less impressive in handling his assignments against the run. He finished with just four defense stops — none in the preseason finale — and received one of the lower run defense grades (48.9) from Pro Football Focus among defensive ends this preseason.

Meanwhile, Kareem delivered better pass-rushing production — seven more pressures and six more hurries — and managed to be one of the league’s better run-stopping defensive ends over the past month, tying for a preseason-most eight defensive stops. He finished with PFF’s seventh-highest overall defensive grade (79.5) among defensive ends who played at least 75 snaps of defense during the preseason, an impressive mark.

Bears assistant general manager Ian Cunningham confirmed that Kareem’s superior run defense was one of the reasons why they added him in place of Lewis when he spoke with reporters on August 30. He also said Kareem was a better scheme fit.

“We had a chance to see him a couple weeks ago in Indy,” Cunningham said Wednesday. “Just the athleticism, the motor. Just his flexibility as a pass rusher, another Notre Dame connection to the Bears roster.”

Bears Trusting Rasheem Green & Dominique Robinson

The Bears will hope that Kareem can contribute to their rotation in a meaningful way, but make no mistake: The bigger burden is going to fall on the other four pass rushers who each have their own things to prove to the Bears during the 2023 season.

Yannick Ngakoue and DeMarcus Walker are projected to begin the season as the Bears’ two starting defensive ends, which comes as little surprise considering they were the only two major free agent investments the team made in the position this offseason. There have been knocks against Ngakoue as a run defender, but the Bears have been clear they envision him as a three-down player for their defense.

Less certain, though, is what Dominique Robinson and Rasheem Green can bring to the table for the Bears. Robinson notched 1.5 sacks in the first game of his rookie season but struggled to find success with his limited set of pass-rushing moves until the Bears were moving down the final stretch of their long losing streak. If he makes a second-year jump for them, it will be great for the rotation — but that’s a big if right now.

As for Green, he was one of the Bears’ lowest-graded defenders of the preseason and seemed to perform far worse than either Lewis or Gipson did. He finished with just two pressures, one quarterback hit and one hurry over his 47 preseason snaps. The Bears are likely more interested in their evaluation of his in-season tape that has seen him rack up 10 sacks over the past two seasons, but it is certainly a gamble with him.