The Chicago Bears started off their day two picks by selecting Gervon Dexter, the defensive lineman from Florida. Dexter was one of the top players we highlighted as a great fit here. We knew that the team was debating Jalen Carter at number nine, and they have been looking for that interior rusher since Larry Ogunjobi, so they finally solved that in the 2023 NFL draft.
So, what does Gervon Dexter bring to the Chicago Bears, and how does he help the team now, and possibly into the future?
3. Gervon Dexter is still new to football
Gervon Dexter was a highly recruited basketball prospect as a young high school student and did not even play football organizationally until his junior season of high school. Despite that, he was highly recruited in football as well and went into the SEC with Florida.
Dexter did not play much in 2020 but started all of 2021 and 2022. He finished with 24 starts over three years, and that comes with 4.5 sacks and 9.5 tackles for loss. Overall he finished his career with 1,417 snaps played with 728 snaps in run defense, and 688 getting after the passer.
Overall, he also has 205 snaps in the A-Gap as a 1-technique, 959 snaps in the B-gap as a 3-tech, and even 227 snaps out as a 5-technique, and 20 snaps even further outside. In 2021, he played 157 snaps in the AGap, splitting his reps about halfway. However, in 2022, the Florida Gators pushed him to the B-Gap and he had 515 snaps in the 3-technique role with just 46 in the A-gap.
That change obviously helped his draft stock, and is probably what attracted him to the Chicago Bears. They saw a player who is new to football in general, did not play much in 2020, and played out of place in 2021. So, 2022 was the first year you actually saw him do things that would translate to the NFL. That is a lot of upside to be untapped.
Gervon Dexter is only 21 years old. He also went to Halas Hall before the draft, probably so that the team could make sure that he bought into the work ethic it may take to tap his potential. The Bears are bought in, and if Dexter is too, we probably just saw the best of him.