What do you do when your once-fearsome defensive front, kicking off the transition from a base 4-3 to the linebacker-heavy 3-4, ends the season having allowed the 10th most rushing yards in the entire NFL? You find a player or three known for their space eating, run-stopping ability, and you bring them to town. For the Chicago Bears, heading into the second year of the Ryan Pace-John Fox era and looking to continue their transition to Vic Fangio's scheme, that may be exactly what the 2016 NFL Draft holds.
A year after giving up 1,934 yards on the ground - an average of 120.9 yards per game - the Bears are said to be focusing the early portion of their draft efforts on shoring up their defensive front with former Alabama Crimson Tide defensive tackle Jarran Reed.
Per a recent report, Pace and Co. are giving "serious consideration" to making Reed, a big, powerful defender who specializes in stopping the run, their selection at the No. 11 spot in the first-round.
Considering that the team spent a second round pick on nose tackle Eddie Goldman last year, and Goldman played well during his rookie season, it would seem, on its face, like an unnecessary pick.
But this is where scheme - and the history of the Bears - becomes so important.
"When you think about the Chicago Bears' identity over the years," Pace said, "it's tough, physical defense, and we're going to get back to that."
With Fox having brought Fangio, the longtime San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator, over to the Windy City, the Bears are no longer the 4-3 team of old. Instead, they're a 3-4 team in transition. Fangio doesn't want the penetrating defensive linemen that were the hallmark of the Tampa 2 - he wants two-gap space eaters.
Reed, for all his talents - and he's got plenty - may come to the NFL with something of a limited upside in the eyes of a lot of teams. His pass rush is nearly nonexistent, and though he excels against the run and shows not just the ability to anchor, but also the explosiveness to make the tackle, his overall ceiling might be lower than hoped for some.
But for the Bears, Reed could be the perfect player to pair with Goldman.
Last year, Goldman provided an injection of talent that should, assuming Goldman continues his development, push the successful changeover for Fangio and Fox further along.
But beyond Goldman, bonafide 3-4 defensive starters are few and far between for the Bears.
A player like Will Sutton brings immense athleticism to the 3-4 defensive end position, but his limited tackle numbers - 22 and 23 tackles - through two seasons mean that he hasn't yet given the team reason to believe he's worthy of a fulltime starting gig.
Of course, 3-4 ends tend to be block-eaters, not playmakers, so Sutton can be excused to an extent, but you'd still like a little more impact out of your starting defensive linemen.
The team did also pick up Akiem Hicks, the former New Orleans Saint, to fill out their starting lineup and add a little more playmaking punch - Hicks collected 4.5, 2.0 and 3.0 sacks the last three seasons - which would seem to lessen the need for another defensive lineman, but you can never have enough talented defensive linemen in today's NFL.
Reed, though he may not bring the pass rush punch of some of the other elite defensive tackles available in the 2016 NFL Draft, could combine with Goldman and Hicks - and maybe Sutton - to give the Bears a potential long-term starting trio as stout as any in the league.
And while Reed seems like a redundant selection, pairing Reed with Goldman would create a front that almost no team in the league could run on.
