MOBILE, Ala. — The Senior Bowl thought Clemson defensive end TJ Parker would be a tough get.
Their executive director was thrilled to be wrong.
“He couldn’t wait to sign up,” Senior Bowl executive director Drew Fabianich said. “He’s like, ‘I’m in.’ I said, “Why are you so excited about it? He said, ‘It’s the Senior Bowl … and I didn’t have a very good year.”
The 6-foot-3 defensive end followed an 11-sack sophomore season with a five-sack 2025. Still, he’s one of the highest-profile prospects in the college all-star game.
“They have some questions — I came here to answer them,” Parker said after practice Tuesday at Hancock Whitney Stadium. “What’s with the lack of production from my sophomore year to my junior year? For me, if you have any questions and there’s an opportunity for me to play some more football, why not go and do it?”
Some of the NFL Draft’s best edge rushers skipped the Senior Bowl — and there are a lot of them. Mel Kiper’s latest mock draft has five going in the first 20 picks of the April draft.
“The edge rushers this year are the strength of the draft,” Fabianich said. “Hands down. It’s not even close.”
That’s good news for the Bears — even though they’re drafting No. 25 overall. Edge rusher is high on their list of upgrades, be it in the draft, free agency or via trade.
“I think that’s an area we’re going to continue to press and get better,” general manager Ryan Poles said last week.
The Bears tried to solve this problem last year, when they signed the Colts’ Dayo Odeyingbo to a three-year, $48 million deal hoping he’d peak in his age 26 season after totaling 16½ sacks in his first four seasons. He had one in eight games with the Bears before tearing his Achilles tendon. By then, the Bears were touting his ability to move inside on passing downs rather than serving as a traditional edge rusher.
They used a second-round pick on defensive tackle Shemar Turner but moved him to end in Week 6 to strengthen what at the time was a putrid run defense. He tore his knee two weeks later, though, and was lost for the season.
Second-year player Austin Booker finished the regular season with 4½ sacks. Amazingly, that’s the most by any Bears edge rusher not named Khalil Mack, Robert Quinn or Montez Sweat in four years.
It’s been 19 years since the Bears had an edge rusher they drafted record 10 or more sacks in any season — fifth-round pick Mark Anderson had 12 as a rookie in 2006.
Still, there are places to find pass-rush oomph beyond the first round.
Of the 17 NFL players who finished with 10 or more sacks this season, only 10 — including Sweat — were former first-round picks. The remaining group included two second-rounders, two third-rounders, two fourth-rounders, and a sixth-rounder.
More telling: Of the 17 players who finished with 10 or more sacks, only six were still playing for the team that drafted them.
The Bears will have free-agent options. Trey Hendrickson is one of the best free agents available at any position. He played only 285 snaps last year with the Bengals due to injury — that’s almost 500 fewer than Sweat played — but was still the sixth-highest-graded pass rusher in the NFL, per Pro Football Focus. He’ll be a free-agent, barring something unforeseen.
Old friend Mack will be a free agent in March, too, one year after he signed an $18 million deal to stay with the Chargers — just days after the Bears happened to post a social media video featuring his highlights from 2018-21.
The Chargers’ Odafe Oweh and the Eagles’ Jaelan Phillips, two players dealt midseason, round out the top tier of the free agent edge rusher class.
The Bears will know by the time they reach the draft how desperately they need an edge rusher. Pro Football Focus graded Parker 53rd out of 852 edge rushers in college football last year, in part because he ranked 76th against the run. That devotion to the run is a trait that coordinator Dennis Allen values.
“For me, you have to earn the right to rush the passer,” Parker said. “If you can’t stop the run, you can’t rush the passer. I’m physical, so I enjoy stopping the run first.”
He’ll have to show it this week to stand out in a strong class. So will others.
“They’re the best of the best,” said Penn State’s Dani Dennis-Sutton, who had 8 ½ sacks in each of the last two seasons. “Obviously, this is where you go to compete, and that’s why I came out here.”
