When the Chicago Bears signed Grady Jarrett last offseason, they had to know they were not going to get the player who was competing for an All-Pro honor early in his career. However, they expected more than what he gave them in 2025, and even Jarrett agrees with that. Jarrett was not at his healthiest last year and said during OTAs that he is healthier this year and that he owes the Bears more in 2026.
The Chicago Bears need more from Grady Jarrett in 2026
Jarrett played 744 snaps in 2024 and had 34 pressures with the Atlanta Falcons. Even that was a bit of a drop-off for Jarrett, which is part of the reason the Falcons moved on. However, in 2025 with the Bears, he played 734 snaps and had just 23 pressures. That is not the type of impact the Bears expected when they signed him.
Jarrett is going to be 33 years old this season. He suffered a serious season-ending injury in 2023, and he has not gotten back to his old form over the past two years. However, Jarrett believes he was not fully healthy during that stretch, and now that he feels better physically, he thinks he can return to a higher level of play.
The Bears are going to need it, too.
They added a lot of names to their interior defensive line depth chart, but there is not a lot of proven high-end production behind Jarrett and Gervon Dexter. James Lynch, Kentavius Street, and Neville Gallimore all have good chances to make the roster and get into the rotation.
However, all three are coming from teams where they were primarily rotational players, and those teams eventually moved on. Unless one of them breaks out, they are not expected to dramatically change the outlook of the position group.
The Bears also drafted Jordan van den Berg, but that came late in the draft, and he still has to prove he belongs on the roster before anyone can count on him for meaningful snaps.
That is why so much of the conversation comes back to Jarrett.
The Bears are hoping that Dexter continues his development and takes another step forward in his fourth season. At the same time, they are counting on Jarrett to be more productive than he was last year.
If Jarrett can get back closer to the player he was in Atlanta, it would answer one of the biggest questions on the Bears defense. If he cannot, the Bears may find themselves searching for answers on the interior defensive line throughout the season.
| More Bears News and Rumors |
Add us as a preferred source on Google