The Chicago Bears wanted to see positive snaps from everybody last Saturday against the Tennessee Titans. For the most part, they weren't disappointed. Several players had solid performances. Trevis Gipson delivered eight pressures and a sack. Zacch Pickens had a sack. Tyrique Stevenson led the team in tackles. Noah Sewell, Travis Bell, Terrell Lewis, and Jalen Harris also had sacks. With so much happening on the defensive side alone, it was easy to forget about Gervon Dexter and his progress.
On the surface, his performance wasn't anything to write home about. He finished with three tackles on the afternoon, two of them being for minimal gain. So his run-stopping prowess remains strong. Yet people wanted to see if he's learned anything as an interior pass rusher. The most prominent criticism coming out of college was his perceived slow get-off. He was consistently the last one out of his stance on every snap. His tape against Tennessee showed a different player. Outside of one snap (his first), Dexter was timing his get-off quite well.
The Bears coaches have done a terrific job fixing that issue. Swifty Sports Network did a great job breaking this down on YouTube.
Gervon Dexter is a few steps away from being ready.
The get-off problem appears solved. Next on the agenda, as pointed out in the video, must be his pad level. Dexter still has a bad habit of standing up too straight on each snap. This gives blockers a free pass to get hands into his chest, robbing him of any momentum when pushing the pocket. The responsibility of any good defensive lineman is not to give your opponent an easy target. At 6'6 and 315 lbs, Dexter is a big boy. He has nothing in the way of natural leverage. That means he'll have to create it himself.
Something like this isn't easy. Due to the way he was used to at Florida, leverage wasn't as big of a deal because his primary responsibility was stacking blockers to stop the run. That is no longer the case. Gervon Dexter must learn to marry his newfound get-off with a low pad level if he wants to maximize his obvious athletic gifts. That should come with time. He's also getting lessons from Yannick Ngakoue to weaponize his hands better. Don't be surprised if everything comes together around midway through the season.
