One Chicago Bears player who will benefit the most from the Darrell Taylor trade

The Chicago Bears needed to improve their pass rush and did just that by acquiring Darrell Taylor via trade. He is a clear and obvious upgrade over Dominique Robinson, and that is likely the role he is expected to take on with the team. His addition also could be the best thing to happen for DeMarcus Walker.

When the Bears signed Walker, one of his best traits was his inside-outside versatility. He was labeled a good run defender from the edges and a good pass rush along the interior. In his first year with Chicago, he hardly played along the interior. For example, he rushed along the interior on 31.8% of his snaps in 2022, but last year it was just 12.5%, per PFF.

Walker was much better in 2022, and he was also better after the Montez Sweat trade when he started to move along the line. The issue has been that the Bears do not have enough edge depth to push him inside. They rely on him along the edge. 

This year, that should change. The Bears added Austin Booker via the draft and just traded for Taylor. Neither may be that great, but both are upgrades over what the team has and compared to what Yannick Ngakoue did for the Bears last year, both should be upgrades over him. 

If the Bears can trust both Booker and Taylor along the edge on obvious pass rush downs then they can slide Walker to the inside. A pass-rush group of Taylor, Sweat, Walker, and Gervon Dexter is going to be fast and tough to slow down. 

Having more than just a day-three rookie being the only chance that this plan can work makes plenty of sense. Now, the Bears can push Walker inside much more, and hopefully get the best out of him this year.