The Chicago Bears finally pulled off the Gervon Dexter Sr. trade everyone has been waiting for since the offseason.
ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter was the first to report that Dexter was heading to the Atlanta Falcons in exchange for cornerback Clark Phillips III and a fifth-round pick. With Dexter in the final year of his contract and the Bears not being able to afford him, they had to make a quick change to move on.
This leaves the Bears in a very interesting situation with the defensive tackle position. Grady Jarrett will be one of the starters, but a rookie sixth-round pick, Jordan van den Berg, might end up being the key to Chicago's 2026 success on defense.
Jordan van den Berg is ready to be the man in Chicago in 2026
No one could have expected van den Berg to make the kind of accent that he has over the last few months. ESPN NFL reporter Jeremy Fowler said when the Bears first drafted him, they had high hopes that he would be an impact player right away.
That was evident last year with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, as he was one of the leading defenders in the conference in tackles for loss with 11. He was a first-team All-ACC selection and in 2024 was a second-team All-ACC selection.
Entering training camp, van den Berg was on the bubble to making the 53-man roster, but that changed very quickly. He was getting first-team reps and had multiple reports of him dominating the Bears' offensive linemen. It was clear that he was going to play a role in 2026 with the team.
Jarrett is the veteran leader and the guy that will have to help the defensive tackle position through this transition. Van den Berg is expected to pick up the slack that Dexter has left behind. Watch for James Lynch to be an impact player as well after a really solid preseason with the Bears.
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There is going to be some kind of level of uncertainty with the Bears and how they will fare without Dexter there. Van den Berg has a ton of potential, but that's all that it is right now: potential. If he lives up to the hype from training camp, this trade could be a great move, but if van den Berg doesn't play well right away, there are going to be some big questions that general manager Ryan Poles is going to have to answer.
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