Chicago Bears 2015 Profiles: Pernell McPhee

The Chicago Bears are switching to a 3-4 defense (or a 5-2, depending on how you look at it) under ace defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, who has been tasked with turning around a unit that has been among the worst in the league over the last couple of seasons. In San Francisco, Fangio benefited from having some talented edge rushers in Aldon Smith, Ahmad Brooks, and 2014 rookie Aaron Lynch, and he has big free agent signing Pernell McPhee as a marquee piece off the edge in 2015.

Last season, the Bears were last in the division and had a pass defense that allowed a second-worst 7.1 net yards per attempt allowed with the second-most touchdowns surrendered and third-most passing yards allowed. And yet, the headlines were all focused on struggling stars on offense, most namely the ever-polarizing Jay Cutler.

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While the Bears wisely brought in Adam Gase to right the sinking ship on offense, they clearly understood that their main goal had to be to rebuild the defense, and the hires of John Fox and Fangio as head coach and DC respectively showed their desire to turn that side of the ball around as quickly as possible.

Antrel Rolle, Ray McDonald, second-round pick Eddie Goldman, Alan Ball, Mason Foster, and sleeper rookie Adrian Amos were all brought in this offseason, but the biggest addition to the defense was definitely McPhee. Although he could have easily been overshadowed by Terrell Suggs and Elvis Dumervil in Baltimore, he clearly established himself as a top edge rusher last season, but you have to look past the 7.5 sacks to truly appreciate him. 7.5 is quite a bit for a guy who, per Pro Football Focus, had 540 snaps, which is about 300 less than Suggs and 100 less than Dumervil, but there’s more to the story.

Pass rushing is all about pressure, because that’s the best way to measure how effective you were at disrupting the opponent’s passing game. McPhee finished his time with the Ravens by recording PFF’s second-highest “Pass Rushing Productivity” score among all 3-4 outside linebackers in 2014, which is basically a measure of pass rushing efficiency that weighs sacks and QB hits proportionately higher than hurries, while still giving credit to the defender for every type of pressure. You know who was first? Justin Houston, who is unquestionably one of the best players in the NFL.

Does that mean that McPhee is the second-best pass rushing OLB in the league? Of course not. But it shows that he’s up there with the best of them. In fact, he was third among 3-4 OLBs in total pressures, ranking one spot ahead of Suggs despite the fact that he had over 100 less snaps rushing the passer.

Now that’s what I call efficiency, and it’s why the Chicago Bears decided to shell out $39 million over five years with $8.75 million in guaranteed dough. McPhee’s $7.75 million per year matches the amount of money Brian Orakpo will make on his new deal with the Tennessee Titans (he also signed as a free agent this offseason), and it’s less than what current Cleveland Browns edge rusher and former Ravens standout Paul Kruger makes per season (at the time he signed his deal with the Browns).

On the surface, McPhee is tied with Orakpo as the seventh-highest paid OLB per year, but the guarantees are a bit less than what I expected. He’ll earn about $5 million less in total guaranteed money than Kruger did, though he does make $750,000 more in guaranteed money than Orakpo. Of course, while Orakpo is the bigger name, he’s also much more prone to injury than McPhee, who has missed just four games in his four-year career and played in all 16 contests in 2013 and 2014.

Pernell McPhee looks set to be one of the Bears most important players on either side of the ball, and I would be surprised if he isn’t a difference-maker for this defense. Fangio should be able to get the most out of him, and his comment that the Bears defense can be called a 5-2 highlights how aggressively he’ll use McPhee and the veteran Allen to get after the passer.

Currently just 26, McPhee has little tread on his tires and still has some upside that can be molded by Fangio, who is known as one of the best defensive minds in the game today. The Bears defense looks much more balanced after they added a legit safety in Rolle, fortified their depth at CB, and brought in someone who can qualify as a star talent if he’s able to replicate his success with the Ravens.

Kruger has been a disappointment in Cleveland compared to what he was able to do in Baltimore, so there’s some reason to worry about a regression from McPhee now that he’ll be “the guy” in Chicago and won’t have Suggs, Dumervil, Brandon Williams, Haloti Ngata, Daryl Smith, C.J. Mosley, and the rest of the Ravens standouts on defense to support him. But Kruger didn’t even play as well as McPhee did last season, as the current Bears OLB was simply unplayable at times.

Aug 16, 2014; Arlington, TX, USA; Baltimore Ravens linebacker Pernell McPhee (90) on the field during the game against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium. Baltimore beat Dallas 37-30. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

It will be interesting to see how McPhee does against the run and how often he plays in run D (the Bears do have depth at OLB), because he only took 116 snaps in run defense last season. But in those snaps, per PFF, he put up a 10.3% Run Stop%, which were only beaten out by James Harrison and Nick Perry. He missed more than his fair share of tackles, though, so that could be something to watch for.

The Bears front seven now includes Jay Ratliff, Lamarr Houston, Willie Young, Goldman, McPhee, and Allen, so they could be one of the most exciting units under Fangio next season. I can’t wait to see how McPhee does in a bigger role with a new team, and I wonder if he’ll be able to turn himself into a household name after being shielded behind Suggs and Dumervil in Baltimore.

He’ll have support around him with the Bears, but it’s fair to wonder if he’ll be great (as he was last season) or “merely” solid (as he was in the seasons prior to that). I don’t think it’s a fluke, because he did receive the biggest role of his career in 2014.

In all honesty, I think McPhee is a fully legit standout edge rusher, and my only questions relate to how often he’ll play, as the Bears could try to get the most out of his contract and ability or they could optimize his snaps due to their depth at OLB.

Ultimately, I think the Bears will limit his snaps a bit (of course, he’ll play more for Chicago than he did for Baltimore), as he’s never been an every-down player before. That can make McPhee even more dangerous when he’s on the field, and guys like Young and Houston deserve their fair share of snaps (though they’ll probably spell Allen even more often).

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