Bears Add Depth at Safety by Signing KC's Jordan Lucas

Kansas City Chiefs strong safety played special teams and was a backup during their run to the Lombardi Trophy

The Kansas City Chiefs connection to the Bears usually applies on offense, with coach Matt Nagy's link as a former offensive coordinator.

On Sunday the Bears signed a former Chiefs player from Nagy's time with the team, but it was on the defensive side. They added safety Jordan Lucas to come in and compete for a vacant spot in the lineup with Deon Bush.

According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, Lucas gets $1 million to come to Chicago.

The Bears are getting a young safety who has started just four games, all in 2018. He was a backup and special teams player for the Super Bowl team, and while his position is listed as strong safety he isn't the classic strong safety who goes down into the box to help stuff runs.

Lucas is 6-foot-1 and just 190 pounds. The former Penn State player is 26 years old and has 47 career tackles. Because Lucas has played so few snaps on defense, there isn't much available in a metric breakdown. SportRadar,com tracked him at being targeted 13 times with eight completions allowed in 2018 during his longest stint on defense, for a passer rating against of 94.9.

Oddly, Lucas had an early connection to the Bears. He was initially drafted in the sixth round by the Miami Dolphins with a pick they obtained from the New England Patriots, one the Patriots had acquired from the Bears in a trade.

The Chiefs obtained Lucas in a trade just before the 2018 season with the Dolphins for a seventh-round draft pick in a season when strong safety Eric Berry suffered a heel injury.

Lucas played last year on a $2.05 million contract, according to Overthecap.com

At worst, the move creates more depth and special teams help for the Bears, who came into free agency with only Eddie Jackson under contract at safety. Safeties usually play vital roles on special teams coverage.

DeAndre Houston-Carson is a free agent who hasn't been brought back yet, and veteran Sherrick McManis is an unrestricted free agent. He went on injured reserve on Nov. 30 last season with a groin injury.

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