Ryan Poles made a pre-season move that brought Clark Phillips III to Chicago, and Phillips has started to make his case every time the Bears put him on the field.
The trade sent defensive tackle Gervon Dexter Sr. to the Atlanta Falcons in exchange for a fifth-round pick and Phillips. The pick is still an unknown, but fifth-round selections rarely turn into anything major. Phillips, though, has already shown enough in limited action to give the Bears something to think about.
His path to the field took a while. Phillips didn’t see much action early in the season, but injuries to Tyrique Stevenson and Malik Muhammad opened the door. Since then, he has made the most of the snaps he’s gotten.
Against the Buccaneers, Phillips played 23 defensive snaps, with 16 coming in coverage. He was targeted twice and didn’t allow a catch.
A few weeks earlier against the Atlanta Falcons, he logged 22 snaps, including 12 in coverage, and finished with three quarterback pressures, two hurries and a quarterback hit. He also wasn’t targeted in coverage in that game.
Two weeks ago against Seattle, Phillips played eight coverage snaps and again was not targeted.
That kind of production should matter. He has shown he can handle coverage work, and he’s also flashed some versatility as a pass rusher.
Still, Phillips’ biggest obstacle isn’t his own performance. It’s what’s happening ahead of him on the depth chart.
Jaylon Johnson has started to turn things around after opening the season looking like the literal worst cornerback in football, next to maybe Tyrique Stevenson, hilariously enough. Johnson looked slow and out of place far too often early on, no matter who was lined up across from him. But over the last two games, he’s begun to settle in.
Is he all the way back? Absolutely not.
The pick-6 against the Buccaneers will certainly help both his confidence and the team’s confidence in him.
If Johnson keeps trending up, he’ll hold onto his starting job. Malik Muhammad is expected back from injury after the bye week and should have the other starting spot locked down. That leaves Stevenson as the first reserve off the bench for now.
If Dennis Allen wanted to shake things up, he could move Phillips ahead of Stevenson and make him the top backup for the stretch run. But at the moment, Phillips looks more like the next man up than a player who’s about to carve out a major role.
That’s why the Bears’ pre-season trade still feels unfinished. Chicago may have landed a much better player in Simmons than Dexter ever was, but in terms of a meaningful on-field return from the deal itself, Phillips may not end up changing the picture enough to make the trade feel fully worth it.
In Other News...
Dennis Allen Faces Three Big Bears Decisions During The Bye
The bye week has given Dennis Allen a chance to step back and assess a Bears defense that has been uneven enough to make some personnel questions impossible to ignore. One of the clearest is at outside cornerback, where Malik Muhammad has played well enough that the conversation is no longer just about getting him on the field more, but about whether he should be treated as a full-time starter over Tyrique Stevenson.
There are similar decisions up front, where Daniel Hardy has made a case for a larger role as an edge rusher, and there is also the broader question of how aggressive this defense should be from here on out. Allen has not been eager to lean heavily on the blitz, but the recent results suggest the Bears may need a more disruptive approach if they want the unit to settle in and create more problems for opposing quarterbacks. [Read more 🡒]
Bears Stadium Debate Just Took Another Turn Chicago Fans Will Feel
A new $10 billion redevelopment plan for the former Michael Reese Hospital site in Bronzeville has added another layer to the Bears stadium discussion, and it comes with a pitch aimed squarely at keeping the franchise in Chicago. The proposal calls for a new domed stadium as part of a sweeping project that would also include buying the Bears Arlington Heights property, a move designed to make staying in the city more appealing while the broader negotiations keep moving with NFL and state officials.
The catch is the scale of the ask. The plan would require demolishing six apartment buildings and a major construction effort, which underscores how complicated any return to Chicago would be. Even with that new option on the table, sources say Arlington Heights remains the Bears favored stadium location, leaving the latest proposal as another twist in a process that still has plenty of unresolved ground to cover. [Read more 🡒]
Ben Johnson Just Got A Huge Chance To Expose Detroit
The Lions quiet trade deadline left their defense looking a lot like the one Chicago has seen all season, with Andre Cisco the only notable new face and the cornerback room still largely intact. Detroit has kept winning anyway, but the numbers have not hidden a pass defense that remains vulnerable in several key areas, which gives Ben Johnson and the Bears a real opening in an NFC North matchup that carries extra weight for both sides.
For Chicago, this is more than just another divisional game. Johnson has had his share of frustration against NFC North opponents, but the Bears do have the kind of receiver talent that can stress Detroit in ways the Lions have not fully solved, and this is the sort of spot where a well-schemed offense can make a statement. If Chicago is going to show it can hang with the best in the division, putting pressure on that defense is the clearest path. [Read more 🡒]