Chicago Bears expected to hire former Jaguars defensive line coach

The Chicago Bears defensive line will experience a few changes before the 2025 season starts. They couldn’t get any consistent pressure on the opposing quarterbacks that Chicago would face and other areas of the defense suffered because of that. Montez Sweat is the team’s primary pass rusher and has struggled due to the lack of help around him on the line. In 2024, Sweat recorded just 5.5 sacks on the season while constantly dealing with injuries and double teams.

New head coach Ben Johnson is putting the finishing touches on his first coaching staff in Chicago. The significant hires have been taken care of, with Declan Doyle being brought on as the offensive coordinator and Dennis Allen hired to handle the defense. Another addition was officially announced on Tuesday that will bring more experience to Allen’s defensive staff.

The Chicago Bears are expected to hire Jeremy Garrett

Jeremy Garrett will come over to Chicago after spending 2024 with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He hadn’t coached in the NFL for the previous two seasons after being a part of the Cleveland Browns’ staff for the 2020 and 2021 seasons as their assistant defensive line coach. Before his time in the NFL, Garrett was on staff at Auburn and Liberty where he began his coaching journey.

Garrett played at Ole Miss as a defensive tackle from 2004-2007. His experience playing in the SEC led him on a path to coaching at the next level and earned his opportunity with the Browns in 2020. Garrett’s best season as a player with the Rebels was his junior season in 2006 where he recorded 26 total tackles.

Jeremy Garrett will be a crucial part of the Chicago Bears staff

The Bears have a strong foundation with the defensive line entering 2025, but work will be done to make it a premier unit in the NFL. Allen’s scheme stresses aggressiveness and attacking when given the opportunity, meaning that a lot of pressure falls on the men up front. Chicago should be active in the free agent market at the edge rushing position this offseason, but they will do their fair share of work in the draft and in the trade block as well.

Myles Garrett requested a trade out of Cleveland on Monday and this hiring of Garrett as the defensive line coach could have some pull for the star. The two worked together while the new Bears staffer was with Cleveland and any bit of relationship that they have could get the former number one overall pick excited about the possibility of coming to the Windy City.

While Garrett might be a long shot to become a Bear, there are other available options that could interest Chicago. Josh Sweat from the Eagles will demand a decent-sized contract in the free-agent market, but the front office has enough cap space to make that work.

A couple of familiar faces for Allen that the Bears could take a look at are Chase Young and Marcus Davenport. Young spent this past year with Allen before he was fired in New Orleans and Davenport played the best seasons of his career as a Saint.

Regardless of who Chicago brings in to help the defensive line ahead of camp, it will be up to Garrett to lead the group back to a dominant state. If this unit can apply pressure at a high rate, it will make life much easier for the Bears’ secondary to make plays moving forward.