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The Chicago Bears traded up in the fifth round to select Tulsa defensive end Trevis Gipson. Why the trade, and how does Gipson make sense?
The Chicago Bears didn’t stay put. To no one’s surprise, general manager Ryan Pace traded up in the fifth round to select defensive end Trevis Gipson out of Tulsa at pick no. 155.
The terms of the trade include the Bears sending next year’s fourth-round pick to the Minnesota Vikings for this fifth-round selection.
If you’re like me, your immediate reaction might have been of confusion. However, that’s only natural if it’s not a position you would have expected. Sure, the Bears didn’t go after the offensive line, wide receiver or safety with this pick. But, let’s try and make sense of the Gipson selection.
Last season, the Bears had some injuries up front on their defensive line. We saw both Akiem Hicks and Bilal Nichols miss games at the exact same time, with Hicks missing a large chunk of the season.
In relief, Chicago plugged in veteran defensive lineman Nick Williams. Although Williams is a bit bigger and classifies mostly as a defensive tackle, he filled in extremely well at defensive end. In fact, he played well enough to earn himself a free agent deal this offseason with the Detroit Lions.
So, without Williams, the Bears had to find another defensive lineman to to add for insurance. To me, that’s what they did selecting Gipson in the fifth round.
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In 2019, Gipson registered 8.0 sacks and 15.0 tackles for loss overall.
If you know one thing about Gipson, know this: He’s got a motor. He has one speed, and that’s full speed. Gipson added a bunch of weight over his career at Tulsa in order to get bigger and pack on more muscle, but still possesses a lot of athleticism.
When Gipson gets his hands on you, he’s going to take you down. He rarely lets go, latching onto tackles aggressively. To wrap up well, it helps when you have long arms, and Gipson’s length is one thing that impresses you at first glance.
One thing I notice when I watched him on tape is that he doesn’t have a whole lot of technique when he rushes the passes, and that comes from simply playing so hard all of the time. At the NFL level, he will have to adjust quite a bit and become a more calculated pass rusher.
The positive, though, is that he is within a defense that boasts a ton of talent. He’s joining a group of guys who could be the top unit in all of the NFL, and being able to develop next to that type of talent is a huge advantage.
