It's time for Chicago Bears fans to face an uncomfortable truth. Ryan Poles isn't going to address the need for an edge rusher in free agency. The Bears have sat back as top free agents like Trey Hendrickson and Odafe Oweh have signed elsewhere. Barring a league-shaking Maxx Crosby trade, fans will likely have to wait until the upcoming NFL Draft to see the position addressed.
Still, there may not be a pass rusher the Bears love in the early rounds. Picking near the end of the first round, Chicago won't exactly have its choice of premium edge defenders. Instead, they could look to some high-upside prospects in the later rounds to solve the need.
Florida's George Gumbs Jr. fits the bill. The uber-athletic edge rusher could be the steal of the draft for the Bears.
Bears could solve their edge rusher need with late-round draft gem George Gumbs Jr.
Before the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine, most football fans had never heard of Gumbs. He was a minimally productive defender from a mediocre Florida team. It took one day for him to flip that narrative on its head.
Gumbs put on a show at the Combine, posting impressive athletic testing numbers and performing well in on-field drills. He forced scouts to take notice, bumping his draft stock up significantly.
Still, he'll likely be available in the later rounds of the draft. Most recent mock drafts have him falling all the way to the sixth or seventh round.
Outside of the physical profile, there isn't much concrete evidence that Gumbs can become a productive player in the NFL. He didn't put up major numbers at Florida, and his tape shows a lack of technical finesse. He had just 2.5 sacks in 2025. At this point, he's an impressive athlete waiting to be molded into an effective defender.
Chicago needs help in their pass rush. Dayo Odeyingbo wasn't the fix that they hoped he would be, and Austin Booker is still developing. After a competitive 2025 season, this is one of the main issues remaining on the roster.
Read more: Nahshon Wright's Jets contract details prove Bears could have kept him
Bears fans may not want to wait on that development arc, but what's the harm in spending a seventh-round draft pick on a player with this level of upside? Chicago would likely need to use another pick on a more proven pass rusher, given their accelerated contention timeline, but that shouldn't preclude them from a late-round gamble on Gumbs.