Anthony Heron

Because Jalen Johnson, Kyler Gordon, those are Pro Bowl-level players when healthy.

I like the idea of spreading it out.

That's always sort of suited my sensibilities in a lot of ways in life.

For the Bears, when you have, let's say, a Khalil Mack, who's a recent example that the franchise has had, where you say, there's a big ticket item, and you need somebody to go out there and deliver in a way that just sort of tilts the field, where the entire defense can revolve around that individual talent, because you know the entire opposing offense is going to revolve around trying to stop that one guy.

The Bears don't have one of those dudes.

So what do you need to do?

You need to make sure that the guys who are on the field are assignment sound and that they are playing with this sort of ferocious tenacity that allows you to wear them out for a series or a couple of series and then rotate other bodies in up front on the defensive line.

That's where, hopefully, if this is a really deep group up front on the D-line, perhaps even in the full front seven, then you can be in a position where Montez Sweat is just playing so hard and that size and athleticism is flying around.

And then when you do rotate in with other bodies, they can do the same thing because individual talent can certainly be something that takes a game over.

But when you can attack the opponent in waves, especially on the D-line, because it's

It's the least mentally taxing position on the field.

You don't necessarily have to know in detail what the other position groups, what the linebackers, what the DBs are doing at all times.

But it's the most physically taxing position.

So that's where depth up front matters so much, especially in modern football.

You see more teams willing to go tempo than we've ever seen before.

The volume of passing, you can get out of condition just because you're pass rushing so frequently.

But

Now we've seen the run game kind of return to the fore, and so many teams want to run the rock with physicality.

So you get that sort of physical aspect to the game where you've got to hit blocks against the run, but then the cardiovascular aspect of rushing the quarterback consistently.

So for the Bears to be deep.