Chicago's pass rush was a problem last year, finishing 22nd in the NFL with just 35 sacks, and losing Dayo Odeyingbo to a torn Achilles for the final 9 games didn't help. So the Bears went shopping for a familiar name instead of a mystery box, and they landed on Marcus Davenport.
Jordan Schultz broke the news that Davenport is signing with Chicago, and the key detail isn't the player himself so much as who he's rejoining. Davenport spent 5 seasons with the Saints under current Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen, and that stretch produced the best football of his career, 21.5 sacks total with a career-high 9 in 2021.
The last few years have been rougher. Davenport, the 14th overall pick back in 2018, has battled ankle and triceps injuries that cost him 24 games with the Lions across 2024 and 2025, and he's managed just 4 sacks combined over his last 4 seasons. This isn't a splash signing, it's a reclamation project banking on scheme familiarity to jumpstart a stalled career.
Davenport also has ties to Ben Johnson from their 2025 season together in Detroit, so he's walking into a building with two coaches who already know what he can do at his best. For a Bears defense that needs juice off the edge, reuniting a former Saints DC with his old pass rusher is exactly the kind of low-cost, high-familiarity bet worth making in August.
Whether Davenport can stay on the field is the real question. If the injuries finally let up, Chicago gets a rotational rusher who's proven he can produce real sack numbers in Allen's system. If not, it's a camp body that never cracks the 53-man roster. Either way, keep an eye on how much he plays through the preseason.