Chicago Bears Draft: Three Big Ten pass rushers to watch this season

The Chicago Bears will have a major need at pass rusher next offseason.

The unit is better from 2022 but is still not elite.

General manager Ryan Poles is hoping DeMarcus Walker builds off his career season in 2022. Yannick Ngakoue is playing on a one-year deal.

Dominique Robinson did not have an impressive preseason. Terrell Lewis did, but that does not always translate to regular-season success. Rasheem Green is a steady veteran.

Armed with two first-round draft picks, Poles should be looking to add an edge rusher with one of them. He could also do what he did in this year’s draft at defensive tackle and take a couple of pass rushers in rounds two and three.

Since college football’s Week 1 is about to get started, there are a few edge rushers you should keep tabs on this season especially if you are watching the Big Ten.

According to Pro Football Focus, Chop Robinson is currently the third-best edge rushing prospect.

Robinson is listed at 6’3″ and 250 pounds. He transferred to Penn State last season after playing his freshman year at Maryland.

Chop registered 5.5 sacks last year for the Nittany Lions and 2.5 sacks for the Terrapins in 2021.

Per PFF, he had the highest season pass rush grade among the edge rushers in the Power 5 conferences.

https://twitter.com/PFF_College/status/1619464711963041794?s=20

He has an explosive first step and good length.

https://twitter.com/PennStateFball/status/1656016446793687060?s=20

However, Chop needs to play the run better. He also could add a few more pounds to his frame.

His game sounds similar to Ngakoue. Maybe he will replace Yannick on the Chicago Bears front four next year.

Tuimoloau might be better than Robinson depending on what draft site you look at. PFF likes Robinson better than Tuimoloau. NFLDraftBuzz.com and Profootballnetwork.com have J.T. ahead of Chop.

The Athletic’s Dane Brugler also has Tuimoloau ranked higher than Robinson.

He has played in 24 games for the Ohio State Buckeyes and registered five sacks along with two interceptions.

Tuimoloau dominated Penn State last year at Happy Valley.

https://twitter.com/B1Gfootball/status/1693346345145303121?s=20

He has to be more consistent in rushing the passer. Also, he needs to improve his bend. Man, he does have good size and pass-rushing skills. He looks like he could be a game-wrecker next year for the Chicago Bears.

Jack Sawyer and Tuimoloau are going to keep a lot of college offensive coordinators up at night.

Sawyer is Brugler’s third-best underclassmen edge rusher. PFF has him among their 10 best pass rushers for next year’s draft.

He has a good frame for a defensive end being 6’4″ and 265 pounds. He has six career sacks and eight career tackles for losses.

Sawyer got some good training for the NFL last year when he had to match up against tackle Paris Johnson in practice. Johnson was the No. 6 overall pick in this year’s draft.

He is a former five-star recruit who has played in 26 career college games.