\n Chicago Bears defensive tackle Gervon Dexter Sr. (99) warms up with teammates during NFL football practice at Halas Hall in Lake Forest, Ill., Wednesday, June 4, 2025. (AP Photo\/Nam Y. Huh)
\n AP\n <\/p>\n
Over the past two seasons, Bears defensive tackle Gervon Dexter has shown glimpses of the player he could become. At times he\u2019s made plays showing why general manager Ryan Poles selected him in the NFL draft\u2019s second round in 2023. But he hasn\u2019t done it consistently enough.<\/p>\n
Dexter\u2019s expecting that to change this season. After spending the spring and the first three weeks of training camp under new defensive coordinator Dennis Allen\u2019s scheme, Dexter feels he can be his best this fall.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll be able to be a more dominant player,\u201d Dexter told reporters at Halas Hall in Lake Forest on Thursday. \u201cMy presence in the game will be felt a little more, I believe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dexter has made his presence known at times.<\/p>\n
After a relatively quiet rookie season, Dexter started last year with 4 sacks, 10 quarterback hits and 14 tackles. But that production slowed the rest of the year. He finished the year with 5 sacks, 19 quarterback hits and 51 tackles.<\/p>\n
Dexter should benefit from some changes both personally and with the team. He told reporters Thursday that he added lean muscle over the offseason. It\u2019s helped him improve in all aspects of his game and be more effective, especially in early downs.<\/p>\n
Poles also boosted the defensive line to add more support around him. The Bears added defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo and veteran defensive tackle Grady Jarrett during free agency and also drafted defensive tackle Shemar Turner in the second round this year. That\u2019ll allow the Bears to attack in waves and keep players fresh throughout a drive.<\/p>\n
Playing in Allen\u2019s defense will likely help Dexter the most. Allen has shown during camp that he will move players around the defensive line and show different fronts to confuse the offense. He\u2019s even included a five-man front.<\/p>\n
In those moments Dexter has primarily played either the nose tackle or three technique. Dexter has enjoyed it so far and the opportunities it could create.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one-on-one,\u201d Dexter said. \u201cI think anytime you got a group of five good rushers against five offensive linemen, I like our odds and the type of players we have in our room. I like our odds. So I think it\u2019s great, it\u2019s how you can get some of the guys on in one-on-ones.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dexter was looking forward to show what he can do against the Buffalo Bills starting Friday. The Bears are set to host the Bills for a joint practice Friday at Halas Hall before playing them in a game Sunday night.<\/p>\n
Bears coach Ben Johnson already announced that the starters will play in Sunday\u2019s game. While it\u2019s still not certain what the Bills will do, Dexter was excited to see how his work over the offseason translates to a game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen myself grow, learning, so I just want to see my stuff take that next step,\u201d Dexter said. \u201cSome of the things that I\u2019ve gotten better with in practice, I wanna see it in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Chicago Bears defensive tackle Gervon Dexter Sr. talks to media during a news conference following NFL football practice at Halas Hall in Lake Forest, Ill., Wednesday, June 4, 2025. (AP Photo\/Nam Y. Huh)
\n AP\n <\/p>\n
Left tackle battle update:<\/p>\n
The starting left tackle competition Thursday looked a lot like it did the previous day when there were some changes on who played where.<\/p>\n
Returning starter Braxton Jones, Theo Benedet and Kiran Amegadjie continued to take snaps at left tackle. Rookie Ozzy Trapilo only worked at right tackle Thursday.<\/p>\n
Jones and Benedet traded off snaps with the first team at left tackle while Amegadjie worked in with the third team. Trapilo earned second-team snaps at right tackle during team drills. Benedet was in with the first team during a two-minute drill toward the end of practice.<\/p>\n
Practice notes:<\/p>\n
Quarterback Caleb Williams had one of his sharper practices of camp Thursday as he continued to build a strong rapport with wide receiver Rome Odunze for a second consecutive day.<\/p>\n
Williams found Odunze multiple times during both 11-on-11 and 7-on-7 drills. He also continued his strong camp connection with wide receiver Olamide Zaccheaus for a couple 7-on-7 touchdowns.<\/p>\n
That connection with Odunze was showcased during a two-minute drill at the end of practice. The Bears first-team offense started a drive at its own 20-yard line trailing 21-20 with 1:46 left in the game.<\/p>\n
After a defensive pass interference and short pass to running back D\u2019Andre Swift, Williams completed a 25-yard pass to Odunze to get the ball to the defense\u2019s 41. Williams hit Odunze for another 15-yard pass to get to the 20, and he spiked the ball with a second left to set up the field goal.<\/p>\n
The Bears ended practice with a fun drill. Johnson had the defensive linemen trying to stop offensive linemen from catching passes.<\/p>\n
Injury update:<\/p>\n
Backup quarterback Case Keenum left near the start of Thursday\u2019s practice and didn\u2019t return. Keenum stretched and took part in individual drills before leaving near the start of the first 11-on-11 session.<\/p>\n
Running backs Roschon Johnson (foot) and Ian Wheeler, safety Tysheem Johnson, linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga, rookie cornerback Zah Frazier (personal) and rookie defensive tackle Turner (ankle) also missed practice Thursday. Kicker Cairo Santos had a day off.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Chicago Bears quarterback Case Keenum delivers a pass just before taking a hard hit from Miami Dolphins defensive tackle Zeek Biggers, who was called for a penalty on the play, Sunday, Aug. 10, 2025, during their game at Soldier Field in Chicago.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chicago Bears defensive tackle Gervon Dexter Sr. (99) warms up with teammates during NFL football practice at Halas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189251,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2070],"tags":[374,692,391,2493,769,7,6,767,768,9,770,771],"class_list":{"0":"post-288354","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-bears","8":"tag-bears","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-chicago-bears","11":"tag-chicagobears","12":"tag-content-providers","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-pro-sports","16":"tag-shaw-local","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-sports-leagues","19":"tag-sports-types"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115029108758152780","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}