Buster Skrine's Double Duty Must Continue for Now
The large number of plays Buster Skrine has been taken playing the outside at cornerback has been one of the surprises of Bears camp to date.
Basically Skrine has moved to the right cornerback spot in the base 3-4 defense, then rotated inside to slot in nickel personnel with Kevin Toliver II playing the right side. It could be temporary but Skrine is fine with giving up his slot cornerback spot at times.
"When I played for Cleveland, I actually played outside," Skrine said. "I played outside, I was always top three in the league in passes defended, so it's nothing new. It's just, I signed with the Jets, we signed (Antonio) Cromartie and we signed (Darrelle) Revis, so I kinda got pushed into nickel and everybody ruled me as a nickel from there on.
"But I played corner, too, for the Jets my third year. So it's nothing new."
Skrine did have a high number of pass defenses in 2013 with 17 and 2014 with 18. Both were while still with Cleveland. The five he made last year in the slot for the Bears were his fewest since his rookie season of 2011.
It doesn't surprise Bears coaches that Skrine moves so willingly between the spots.
"Buster is that guy that when you turn on the tape you know who he is," defensive backs coach Deshea Townsend said. "If you want to see the mentality of the secondary, it's most definitely what Buster brings every week—one guy who you know he's a pro. Some of those guys that are self-made, guys that had to earn it, and he hasn't forgot how he got here at the beginning.
"And that's the approach that you see every day when he comes to work."
Playing both inside and slot on the same drives and alternating between the two is a different situation entirely. But Skrine said he also negotiated this in his third year with Cleveland and third year with the Jets.
"And my fourth year when I played for Cleveland, we actually had K'waun Williams, who plays for San Fran," Skrine said. "I played corner the whole year, so either position I'm good with."
It wasn't exactly what the Bears signed Skrine on board for in 2019 after slot cornerback Bryce Callahan had left for Denver.
"I've always been a team player," Skrine said. "The ultimate goal is to get that championship trophy. I trust every decision the coaches make. So if they want me to play corner, I'll play corner. They want me to play nickel, I'll play nickel. Whatever helps us win games."
How long Skrine has to do this may depend on how fast rookie cornerback Jaylon Johnson comes along. Johnson appeared only occasionally earlier in camp because he's coming off shoulder surger, but increased his participation Tuesday and came away with an end zone interception of Nick Foles in 7-on-7 red-zone play.
"Jaylon approaches the game the right way," Skrine said. 'He does things before practice, after practice. I mean, he's attentive in meetings. And every time he's out there, he's making plays on the ball.
"So he's doing a good job with the reps that he's getting."
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