Special Teams Player and Reserve Safety

The Bears ventured into the secondary for the first time in free agency by signing Titans safety Dane Cruikshank, who excelled on special teams and made his only four starts last year.

USA Today

Bears GM Ryan Poles ventured into an area almost entirely unaddressed so far in free agency and signed Tennessee Titans safety Dane Cruikshank.

Whether this is a player signed to help special teams or to compete for a starting spot remains to be seen, but Cruikshank's career so far suggests he would a replacement on the roster for reserve Deon Bush.

ESPN reported the signing at $1 million guaranteed for one season.

#Bears are signing Dane Cruikshank, per his agency.

Solid young Safety. Does a solid job covering Tight Ends.

— The GOAT House (@GoatHouseNFL) March 30, 2022

Cruikshank never started a game until last year, when he started against the Jets, Jaguars, Colts and Chiefs in his fourth season. One of his two career pass breakups came last year the Colts, Matt Eberflus' old team, and he made 26 of his 44 tackles on the year in the four games he started. 

A sixth-round draft pick from Arizona by the Titans in 2018, Cruikshank is 6-foot-1, 209 pounds and a workout warrior. At the combine, he ran 4.41 in the 40, did a 38 1/2-inch vertical leap and bench-pressed 25 times at 225 pounds.

However, he had plenty of opportunities over the years to crack the starting lineup and never really managed to do it. Cruikshank has built a reputation for guarding tight ends, but it's questionable how well deserved this is. The receiver he has covered has been targeted by quarterbacks only 26 times in his four-year career. His only significant playing time in pass defense came last year when he allowed a solid passer rating of 86.6 but did give up 70.8% completions according to Sportradar.

The Bears so far had signed only their own free agent safety, DeAndre Houston-Carson, in their secondary to play alongside starter Eddie Jackson. Two-year starter Tashaun Gipson hasn't been signed back and Bush went to the Kansas City Chiefs as a free agent. Houston-Carson is like Cruikshank, a special teams ace who hasn't really started much.

But now the Bears do at least have three safeties on the roster under contract because Jackson and Houston-Carson are the only other two.

As a special teams player, Cruikshank had a great start with 17 tackles over his first two seasons and blocked a point after as well as a field goal.

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