Less than ideal circumstances tend to yield opportunity for others. When Chicago Bears defensive end Montez Sweat was given a two-game suspension heading into Week 6, opportunity was going to knock for someone. Add in Dayo Odeyingbo going on IR, and that noise got louder.
After playing just seven defensive snaps over the first five games this season, all in Week 1, Daniel Hardy has played 51.4 percent of the Bears' defensive snaps over the last two games (56 out of 109). He has 1.5 sacks, seven total tackles, one tackle for loss, four quarterback hits, and a batted-down pass over that span.
Looking a little deeper, according to Pro Football Focus, Hardy has eight pressures and four quarterback hurries on 55 pass rush snaps over the last two games. With no minimum amount of pass rush snaps as a qualifying criteria, his pass rush win rate (19.6 percent) is tied for sixth-best among edge rushers so far this season. In "true pass sets", his 26.5 percent pass-run win rate is 16th-best.
Daniel Hardy has given Dennis Allen a problem he'll be fine having
Sweat's suspension is now over, and Austin Booker is tied with blitz maven Kyler Gordon for the team lead with four sacks. Odeyingbo had also rebounded nicely before suffering a quad injury in Week 5, with three sacks so far this season. When everyone is available, finding snaps for Hardy may be difficult.
That said, Sweat was not particularly effective or noticeable before his suspension. Over his last two games, he has not registered a sack, with just four combined pressures. As has been said, it'd be nice to see more impact from one of the highest-paid players on the team.
Odeyingbo is an edge rusher by label trade. But he lined up as a defensive tackle for 31 of his 148 snaps before being sidelined (per PFF), and he was effective doing so. Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen is sure to keep leaning into that when Odeyingbo is back, in order to get all his best pass rushers on the field.
Sweat's snap share is already lower than what you see from a lot of other top edge rushers around the league. But if he can't raise his level of play after his suspension, there'd be a case to reduce his snaps a bit.
Odeyingbo isn't expected to be out a long time, but he will miss at least two more games on IR.
Read more: Ben Johnson teases a possible adjustment to account for Cole Kmet's absence
With Sweat back in action, Hardy isn't likely to play more than half of the Bears' defensive snaps in a two-game stretch at any point over the rest of the season. But he has absolutely earned more work than he had before Sweat's suspension, and Allen will welcome the "problem" that comes with having to figure out how to make it happen.
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