Bears select Gervon Dexter with 53rd pick in 2023 NFL Draft originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
With the 53rd pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles selected Florida defensive lineman Gervon Dexter.
Head coach Matt Eberflus gets his 3-technique for the defense.
The ESPN broadcast was initially critical of the pick.
"Talented kid, but doesn't apply it on the football field enough week-in and week-out," Mel Kiper Jr. said. "Very athletic, but right now I would say at the pro level the word is blockable."
RELATED: Bears passing on Jalen Carter was right move for many reasons
Local
The hope is Eberflus and the coaching staff can fix those issues.
Kiper also added: "He did show flash. Look at the Kentucky game, the LSU game he had five tackles, a tackle for loss. Against UCF in the bowl game, nine tackles. Against Alabama he had nine tackles in a sack, so he showed he had the capability to get to get the job done at a high level.
Feeling out of the loop? We'll catch you up on the Chicago news you need to know. Sign up for the weekly Chicago Catch-Up newsletter.
"But we said in the second round you get some of these guys who have the ability, you just hope the defensive line coach can get them and make him a more consistent player.
"And take him to the pro level, do something he couldn't do at the collegiate level, which is a consistent player week-in and week-out."
Booger McFarland also noted Eberflus' expectations for the Bears.
"The head coach he is going to play for, a former defensive coordinator, is going to demand it," McFarland said. "He has all the traits. He ran a 4.88 in the (40-yard dash). You just don't see that type of get off when he plays.
"He's got to be able to get off the football, because the front they play is put your hand down, jump the football. But he's scheme-versatile, he can play in the 3-4 or 4-3."
Louis Riddick added: "This is where coaching is going to matter so much. Because that 40 time, when I saw that, I was like no way. No way that's the same guy. It's just a slow, plodding playing style.
"Matt Eberflus and Alan Williams, the defensive coordinator, are going to make all the difference."
Shortly after drafting Dexter, the Bears traded up to No. 56 from No. 61 to take Miami cornerback Tyrique Stevenson.
Stevenson is the third cornerback taken in the second round in the past four drafts for the Bears.
The Bears drafted cornerback Kyler Gordon with their second-round pick in 2022, No. 39 overall. It was also the Bears' first pick of the 2022 NFL Draft and Poles' first pick as the general manager of the Bears. And in 2020, then general manager Ryan Pace drafted Jaylon Johnson in the second round with the 50th overall pick.
In the first round the Bears traded down from No. 9 to No. 10. They used the 10th overall pick to select Tennessee offensive tackle Darnell Wright. Wright figures to be an immediate starter on the right side of the offensive line, protecting Justin Fields.
