Chicago Bears: 5 best free agent defensive linemen in 2023

Honorable Mention: Ogbonnia Okoronkwo, Edge Defender, Houston Texans

When we think of the most disruptive edge rushers in the league, what traits do they have? Speed, bend and power are the ones that stick out to me the most.

Ogbonnia Okoronkwo has all of them. He is an extremely twitched up player that threatens the edge constantly as a pass rusher.

His high-end reps compare to any of the best edges in the NFL. The name of the game, however, is how often those high-end reps are occurring.

Fortunately for Okoronkwo, they have been happening more frequently as he received more opportunities.

He had never played over 320 snaps until this season in which he played 517. During his time in his most expanded role, he post career highs in true pass rush win rate and pass rush grade (according to PFF).

If he has all of these thing going for him, than why wouldn’t he be sought after? Well, Okoronkwo may not be considered an every down player by some teams.

He is a tad undersized and has never really been great at defending the run. That’s okay with me. Okoronkwo can be used as that situational pass rush weapon that guys like Josh Uche and James Houston have thrived as.

The Bears desperately need pass rushers, and he has shown he can do that at a pretty high level. It will be interesting to see if the Bears view him similarly.