Could Daniel Hardy's Emergence Eat Into Montez Sweat's Playing Time?

Chicago Bears edge rusher Daniel Hardy has been far more valuable to the special teams unit than to the defensive side of the ball throughout his career.

Prior to this season, he had 853 career snaps on special teams and only 126 on defense. He was still waiting to break out the Jeff Hardy celebration for his first career sack, and only got close to one (via a QB hit) once in his career.

He was, however, a third-phase ace for Chicago. Hardy led the team with 12 special teams tackles in 2024 and a whopping 19 tackles last season. His prowess in that department led Chicago to re-sign him to a two-year, $5 million contract this offseason.

Many were worried when Montez Sweat got suspended for two games for violating the league's substance abuse policy prior to the team's Week 6 matchup against Atlanta. With Dayo Odeyingbo also on the mend with a quad injury, the Bears were in a precarious position at edge rusher.

I, myself, was guilty of counting Hardy out before he got an opportunity to prove himself. I said the Bears could experiment with deploying James Lynch or Neville Gallimore at defensive end over Hardy ahead of their Week 6 clash in Atlanta.

In my defense, Lynch has seen some action along the edge, but that still proved to be a moronic take. Hardy has been impressive, and I couldn't be happier that he made me look dumb.

Daniel Hardy has been on a tear over the past two weeks

Again, since entering the league as a seventh-round pick with the Rams in 2022 (he joined the Bears practice squad the following year), all but three of his 38 career tackles have come via special teams. Nevertheless, he's made a massive impact on Chicago's defense over the past two weeks.

Hardy took down Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. for his first career sack in the team's 31-23 win over Atlanta on Sunday. He then got another half-sack against New England on Thursday night.

Hardy is now up to 1.5 sacks on the season despite playing only 63 defensive snaps. Meanwhile, Sweat has only 2 sacks despite seeing nearly three times as much playing time (182 snaps).

Even more notably, Hardy has been charted with eight pressures (according to Pro Football Focus). Even when not getting home, he's consistently gotten close to opposing QBs. While some of his pressures can be attributed to defensive coordinator Dennis Allen's hyper-aggressive scheme, Hardy has still needed to win one-on-ones. He's not getting unblocked looks at defensive end.

Last year, cornerback Nahshon Wright came out of nowhere to become a key contributor (and takeaway machine) for the Bears. While two games may be a small sample size, Hardy has at least shown some signs that he can follow a similar trajectory this season.

The unheralded edge rusher has earned an opportunity to show whether he can keep the hot streak going. Sweat will obviously have a role, but they can't completely disregard what Hardy has put on tape over the past two games. He deserves a role in the rotation until proven otherwise.