NEWSLETTER
It turns out Caleb Williams wasn’t the only hot prospect hanging out at Halas Hall on Wednesday.
NFL on FOX reporter and Good Morning Football co-host Peter Schrager shared news of Alabama standout Dallas Turner popping in for a visit to the greater Chicagoland area:
ICYMI: Caleb Williams visited the Chicago Bears on Wednesday
Well, now there is a part of me wondering if Caleb Williams and Dallas Turner crossed paths. Was this planned? Or just a happy coincidence? I have so many questions and they are not likely to get answers anytime soon. Perhaps ever.
Nevertheless, seeing news that this draft class’ top QB prospect and the potential first defensive player taken in this draft were in town for top-30 visits this week has the wheels in my head turning.
Dallas Turner makes sense as a Chicago Bears NFL Draft targets
Turner visiting the Bears isn’t a surprise. The All-American pass rusher told reporters in late March that a trip to Chicago was in the works. Here’s what we had to say about the latest Crimson Tide stud pass-rusher:
Turner, 21, was one of college football’s best players last season. And he enters the 2024 NFL Draft as one of the premier edge defender prospects in his class. Whether he lines up as a pass-rushing linebacker or hand-in-the-ground makes no difference to me so long as he ends up feeding the quarterback or a ball-carrier a chunk of turf after a sack, QB hit, or tackle-for-loss. At Alabama, Turner did plenty of that.
In 2023 as he earned Consensus All-American honors, a first-team All-SEC nod, and a SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Year Trophy. Of course, he did. Those were well-earned accolades as he put up 10 sacks, 14.5 tackles-for-loss, and 2 forced fumbles. And in 2021, Turner had an 8.5-sack, 10-TFL season. Sandwiched in between was a modest 2022 campaign in which he collected just 4 sacks and 8 tackles-for-loss. He also threw down some eye-popping numbers at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. And for good measure, Turner’s NFL dot com prospect profile by Lance Zierlein gives him a Brian Burns comp. That sounds good to me.
It makes sense that Turner would be on the Bears’ radar. After all, the team has a need to fill at defensive end opposite from where Montez Sweat starts. Last year, we saw Sweat’s presence help defensive tackles Justin Jones and Gervon Dexter Sr. play their best ball. Plus, Yannick Ngakoue was looking like his old self (before the season-ending ankle injury) when Sweat was in the lineup. Sweat’s arrival also allowed DeMarcus Walker to play different roles along the defensive line. But Head Coach Matt Eberflus’ defense could hit another gear if the team could land a stud pass rusher in this draft. And that is where Dallas Turner fits.
Turner has the type of prospect profile that you would dream of teaming Sweat with on Chicago’s defensive line. Plus, drafting a starting defensive end means the team wouldn’t have to go after the position in free agency later in the summer. If Bears General Manager Ryan Poles can thread the needle here, he could save some cap space for a player at another position or even extend one of the team’s current extension-eligible players. Again, don’t mind me. The wheels are turning.
We just saw the Houston Texans parlay taking a top-tier quarterback prospect and a game-wrecking Alabama pass-rusher into an AFC South title and playoff win last year. And while I won’t predict that drafting Caleb Williams and Dallas Turner will make lightning strike twice, it would be the kind of pairing that would put the Bears on that path.
