3 Bears on Thin Ice Heading Into Bye Week

3. Zacch Pickens, Defensive Tackle

You can't help the club if you're always in the tub.

It's tough to get on guys about being injured, but the Chicago Bears are going on two years of not really knowing what they have in 2023 third-round pick Zacch Pickens on the defensive line. Pickens remains out with a groin injury, and hopefully he's going to be able to get healthy over the bye week.

He's appeared in just one game so far this season (against Houston) and did absolutely nothing. The Bears have a really good defense, so the absence of a third-rounder like Pickens is not exactly showing up on the bottom line at this point, but the investment this team made in the former South Carolina star is going to need some type of return in the near future.

We saw Pickens get on the field a little bit in his rookie season and he certainly has the types of desirable traits you look for in disruptive interior defensive linemen.

In today's NFL where we are seeing offensive guards getting paid upwards of $20 million annually to protect the quarterback because of guys like Pickens, those are the types of traits you bet on in the NFL Draft. There's nothing wrong with the Bears picking Pickens when and where they did, and he might even have been a steal in the third round all things considered.

But we need to see this guy out there on the field making plays. Chicago had to make a trade for Chris Williams to supplement its depth on the defensive line and a player like Pickens could be helping keep studs like Gervon Dexter and Andrew Billings fresh. The Bears need to get this guy in the rotation and he might be in danger of being traded or cut after this year if he doesn't quickly put things together.

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