Column: All eyes will be on line play and a group of young edge rushers when Chicago Bears practice in full pads

With a full crowd at Halas Hall on Monday erupting in oohs or ahs during one-on-one passing drills on one side of the field, general manager Ryan Poles intently watched the mano a mano pass-rushing drills going on near the weight room.

You can bet that is where Poles’ attention will be again Tuesday when the Bears hold their sixth practice and first in full pads. It will be the first of six padded practices leading into the Aug. 12 preseason opener against the Tennessee Titans at Soldier Field. The Bears will also be in pads Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.

The Bears will get a snapshot of how first-round draft pick Darnell Wright is faring at right tackle and it will be a chance to evaluate the crop of edge rushers and influence, perhaps, whether Poles pursues outside help at the position. It will be much more telling than these drills without pads.

“That’s another beautiful thing about this game,” Poles said last week when asked about his defensive ends. “You know everything right now is on paper, but there’s guys that we have expectations for that are on our football team that we hope to develop and take that role.

“At the same time, we’re always going to search to improve our roster. So if it’s a defensive end or any position that we think can enhance our team we’re going to stay after them and stay engaged and see if we can improve our team that way.”

At this point, why not evaluate what you have in full pads before jumping to sign a Yannick Ngakoue, Justin Houston or any other pass rusher who remains on the street?

DeMarcus Walker and Rasheem Green have been getting a lot of reps with the first unit. Walker was the biggest addition on the defensive line in the offseason, signed to a $21 million, three-year contract in free agency coming off a career-high seven sacks with the Tennessee Titans last year.

Green had 6 1/2 sacks and 15 quarterback hits two seasons ago for the Seattle Seahawks. He signed a $3.25 million, one-year contract with the Houston Texans last season and posted 3 1/2 sacks. Only 26 years old, he’s playing on a $2.5 million, one-year deal so he could emerge as a bargain buy if he earns playing time and produces.

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Green said he chose the Bears in free agency because of “scheme and opportunity.” The opportunity is there because the depth chart isn’t crowded with proven performers.

Dominique Robinson was pretty honest in his assessment of his rookie season on Saturday. He impressed with 1 1/2 sacks in the season opener against the San Francisco 49ers last year and then sort of disappeared.

“That first game was a lot of athleticism and then I tried doing the same thing the next week and it didn’t work as well,” Robinson said. “It kind of just went downhill from there. I had some flashes within games where I was in the backfield doing stuff. It wasn’t where I wanted it to be at.

“You feel like just because you have athleticism, you can get by, and then you can only get by so far. And then that cuts off because they start to catch on to what you’re doing, the tackle or whoever you’re going against starts to catch on.”

He trained with Robert Mathis, a fringe Pro Football Hall of Fame candidate with 123 career sacks, in the offseason with the hope of refining his craft at a position he is still learning.

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Then there is Trevis Gipson, who had seven sacks and five forced fumbles in 2022 but regressed a year ago with only three sacks. Terrell Lewis has flashed at times and did well in one-on-one rushes Monday. The former five-star recruit at Alabama might be in a better scheme than the one he left with the Los Angeles Rams.

So, there are a handful of young players with fresh legs for the Bears to evaluate and that process can begin in earnest Tuesday. Poles has to weigh the need — it is certainly there — with the value he can get with a potential addition.

There isn’t a pass rusher looking for work who will make the kind of difference where the Bears won’t be saying “edge rusher isn’t a need in 2024.” To borrow from the baseball metric WAR — wins above replacement — what would the true value of Ngakoue or Houston be on the roster?

Poles has parallel goals he’s trying to achieve when considering a move for the present. Ultimately, he’s working to set the roster up for future success, so any signing he makes has to make sense in the bigger picture. After enduring a season with his roster weighed down by dead salary-cap space, he’s not going to splurge for an edge rusher who might not move the needle significantly while commanding a chunk of resources to acquire.

Padded practices will offer a window into the early performance of a young group and perhaps dictate if Poles will stand pat or work the phones with players he’s been keeping close tabs on.

“Pads are everything because you know it’s hard to — talking about offensive linemen — it’s really hard to block a defensive lineman with no pads,” coach Matt Eberflus said. “It just is. And it’s hard to block them in the run game, too.”

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Bears fans cheer for autographs after practice on July 27, 2023, during training camp at Halas Hall. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune)