The NFL wrapped up its preseason on Saturday night. Now, as teams prepare to trim their rosters to 53 players, there’s a lot of wheeling and dealing.
Sunday morning, former Florida defensive lineman Gervon Dexter Sr. was traded from the Chicago Bears to the Atlanta Falcons. Per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the Monsters of the Midway received a fifth-round pick and cornerback Clark Phillips III for Dexter.
Dexter, the No. 53 overall pick of the 2023 NFL Draft, appeared in 49 games for Chicago. He made 95 tackles, including 10 tackles for loss and 11 sacks, across his 32 starts for the Bears over the last two seasons. Dexter also had 30 quarterback hits during those campaigns.
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The stats and tape show that Dexter did not play poorly for Chicago. General manager Ryan Poles felt comfortable trading Dexter, though, because of 2026 sixth-round pick Jordan van den Berg’s emergence. The former Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket reportedly earned starting reps throughout training camp and preseason action. This, and strong play from undrafted defensive tackle Jaden Loving, among others, left Dexter — in the final year of his deal — the odd man out of the Bears’ defensive line room.
In Atlanta, Dexter will form a strong interior pass rushing duo with third-year player Brandon Dorlus. Dorlus, a 2024 fourth-round pick out of Oregon, tallied 8.5 sacks in 2026.
