Former Chicago Bears' third-round pick at risk of being cut ahead of 2025 season

Expectations that come along with being selected in the early rounds of the NFL Draft are always high. It extends beyond just first-rounders, too. Players who hear their names called on Day 2 (rounds two and three) are expected to compete for starting jobs, if not valuable backup roles.

Unfortunately for the Chicago Bears, they haven't received that level of play from defensive lineman Zacch Pickens, who was selected in the third round of the 2023 NFL Draft.

Pickens has appeared in 26 games over the last two seasons and was limited to nine games in 2024 as he battled a multi-week groin injury.

But even when Pickens has been on the field, he's been pretty forgettable. He's totaled just 39 tackles and 1.5 sacks in his career and ended 2024 with the fourth-lowest Pro Football Focus grade on the Bears' defense.

The 2025 NFL offseason hasn't been kind to Pickens' future, either. The Chicago Bears signed veteran defensive tackle Grady Jarrett to a lucrative contract and selected Texas A&M's Shemar Turner in the second round. They represent two significant investments at Pickens' position, which suggests his outlook is bleak.

In fact, Zacch Pickens' future is so unsettled that he didn't make the cut on The Athletic's latest Bears' 53-man roster prediction.

 

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"The interior defensive line looks a lot deeper than the edge, especially if someone like Billings might be the No. 4," Bears reporter Kevin Fishbain wrote. "But that disparity won’t matter if a few things go the Bears’ way. Can Sweat get back to the form we saw when the team first acquired him in 2023? Can Odeyingbo live up to his contract and turn his pressures into sacks? Can Booker and Robinson use their athletic traits and thrive in a new system?"

Here's who Fishbain and Adam Jahns have making the defensive line cut: Montez Sweat, Grady Jarrett, Gervon Dexter, Dayo Odeyingbo, Shemar Turner, Andrew Billings, Austin Booker, Chris Williams, and Dominque Robinson.

It's a logical group. Perhaps Robinson is a product of offseason praise by head coach Ben Johnson, but the Bears' lack of depth at pass rusher hurts his cause much like the team's depth at defensive tackle hurts Pickens'.

Life comes at you fast in the NFL. For Pickens, the euphoria of being selected early in the NFL Draft has quickly turned into panic about his future.