Report: Chicago Bears to interview Florida's Gerald Chatman for defensive line coach position

Florida defensive line coach Gerald Chatman is set to interview for the same position with the Chicago Bears, CBS Sports reported Saturday. He last coached in the NFL with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2020.

Chatman played a key role on the Florida coaching staff last season under Billy Napier, helping develop a young Gators defensive line. Players such as Caleb Banks and Cam Jackson flourished under his tutelage, and his efforts generated an NFL look.

Banks turned in the best year of his career in 2024, totaling a career-high seven tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks despite missing a game with an injury. Jackson was also impressive in his second year in Gainesville, recording 37 tackles, four tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.

Chatman started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Texas A&M in 2015 before a stint as an intern with the Denver Broncos in Summer 2016. He returned to the college level at Elon as defensive line coach in 2016 and became the special teams coordinator and linebackers coach at Tennessee State from 2017-18.

That’s when the Bengals came calling. Chatman spent two years with the franchise as a defensive assistant, working with the defensive ends and outside linebackers, before he headed to LSU as linebackers coach and defensive line analyst in 2021. In Spring 2022, he was Tulane’s defensive line coach until Colorado brought him aboard as defensive coordinator that fall.

Following Karl Dorrell’s departure, Chatman returned to LSU as the interim defensive line coach in 2023 and ultimately took the full-time role at Tulane that fall. He joined Napier’s staff at Florida in 2024.

Throughout his career, Chatman worked with some notable future NFL Draft picks. He coached Myles Garrett during his time at Texas A&M and spent time with BJ Ojulari while at LSU.

New Bears head coach Ben Johnson continues to fill out his coaching staff after taking over for Matt Eberflus. He has both coordinators in place with Declan Doyle as offensive coordinator and former New Orleans Saints head coach Dennis Allen coordinating the defense.

Gerald Chatman is the latest college coach to get a look from Johnson and Chicago. The franchise previously interviewed Ohio State offensive line coach Justin Frye for the same role before he headed to the Arizona Cardinals, and the Bears expressed interest in speaking with Notre Dame’s Joe Rudolph for the offensive line coach position.