One of the most underrated young pieces of the Chicago Bears is defensive tackle Gervon Dexter Sr. Selected with the 53rd overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft, Dexter had a brutal start to his career. He looked completely out of place on an NFL field through the first half of his rookie season, but a switch seemed to flip at some point, and he went on a run to close out the year.
Dexter started Year 2 on a heater, racking up four sacks in five games, but the sheer chaos of the Chicago Bears' 2024 season affected even him, especially once the then-head coach Matt Eberflus was fired after a brutal Thanksgiving Day loss to the Detroit Lions.
As his third NFL season approaches, Bears fans have every reason to believe Dexter is headed for a breakout year on what is proving to be a severely underestimated D-line. While he will likely never rank among the league's top defensive tackles, I think he will earn at least a couple of Pro Bowl nods throughout his career, and a quick glance at his social media profiles shows that he believes he's destined for greatness.
That's why it came as a surprise to see Dexter completely omitted from a recent ranking of defensive tackles on ESPN. After polling anonymous executives, coaches, and scouts around the league, ESPN compiled the votes to find the NFL's Top 10 defensive tackles. Dexter not landing in this spot was not surprising, but he also failed to make the list of Honorable Mentions. The surprise did not come until the very bottom of the ranking, which showed that Dexter did not receive a single vote.
I'm not saying that Dexter needed to be included in the Top 10. But not receiving a single vote was baffling. He's an ascending young player who was on an All-Pro pace last year until the organizational dysfunction of the Chicago Bears blew up the entire season. The eye test tells all, but if you'd prefer hard stats, we can look at that, too.
According to data from Pro Football Focus, Dexter played 616 snaps in 2024, or 36th out of all defensive tackles. Despite that, he was Top 20 in both tackles (33) and pressures (39). He also finished the year with the 4th most QB hits of all defensive tackles with 19, just one behind future Hall of Famer Chris Jones.
Take the stats and the eye test together, and the picture becomes clear: Dexter is on the cusp of a major breakout season. He's collapsing pockets and getting closer to sacking the QB than almost anyone else. Perhaps most impressively, he spent most of last season without big Andrew Billings at his side, and he still produced.
Now, with Billings back in the middle and new defensive coordinator Dennis Allen dialing up a more aggressive scheme, Dexter has his chance to prove he belongs in these rankings all along.
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