Trevis Gipson still on roster bubble despite huge game on Saturday

If you ask most Chicago Bears’ fans about their biggest surprise on Saturday’s preseason game against the Tennessee Titans, I think most fans would say the play of Trevis Gipson.

Gipson played over half the game and looked dominant most of the time. Gipson was creating pressures, making tackles and was a general menace for the Titans. But Terrell Lewis also showed why Ryan Poles brought him aboard. Lewis also showed his pass rushing prowess, and the Bears looked like they might have some depth at the edge position.

You can never have too much depth, but for the Bears’ edges, too much depth might mean someone isn’t going to make this roster, but the question is who?

Let’s break it down.

There’s basically no chance the Bears are going to carry six edges. That’s simply too many. They could carry as little as four, but I think the smart money is that they keep five.

Let’s start at the top. Yannick Ngakoue is obviously going to be on the roster, as is DeMarcus Walker. Two down, three to go.

Dominque Robinson is only in his second year in the league. He also only played one season at defensive end in college after being converted from receiver. He was always a project. He’s a Ryan Poles project. He’s not going anywhere. That leaves two spots.

We have three players for those two spots. Trevis Gipson, Terrell Lewis, and Rasheem Green. One of these three will not make the roster this season.

Gipson and Lewis made several splash plays, while Green was largely quiet, so it might be easy to say cut Green, keep Gipson and Lewis, but not so fast. Green only played 12 snaps and as far as I could tell, they were all early in the game. He got the start opposite Robinson (Walker and Ngakoue didn’t play), so he looks like, as of now, he’s pretty securely ahead of both Gipson and Lewis.

Green had a couple bad plays against the Titans, but he did make two tackles and had a pass-rush win rate of 20% which is very good.

If the Bears consider bumping down Green in the depth chart, perhaps he could be the odd man out, but right now he looks secure. Factor in salaries, Green, if cut, has a dead cap number of $850,000, while Trevis Gipson’s dead cap is only $80,000 and Terrell Lewis’ dead cap is $0.

If Green is safe, that means either Gipson or Lewis are going to be cut. After their performances against Tennessee, that seems hard to imagine, but that’s simply the facts. Keep in mind this last factor: Lewis was brought in by Ryan Poles (as was Green), Gipson is a Ryan Pace guy. You may not think it matters, but that absolutely does.

If Gipson continues to play like this, Poles and Matt Eberflus may look at Lewis and give him his walking papers, but they like him, and he showed why they like him against Tennessee.

Despite the huge showing against the Titans, Gipson’s work is not done to make this team. He still has an uphill battle. Bears fans might be clamoring for Green to be the guy that misses out, but it’s still a strong possibility that Gipson is the guy looking for a new team in a few weeks.