A Ready-Made Cornerback for Bears
The Bears appreciated improvement shown by rookie Kyler Gordon throughout the year when he lined up at left cornerback or slot cornerback.
Kindle Vildor improved over 2021 at left cornerback, as well.
Yet, whether either started on the left side they struggled through major portions of the season.
Gordon had a 101.9 passer rating against when targeted and Vildor was at 110.1 before a season-ending injury according to Sportradar.
With everyone talking about defensive line, wide receiver and offensive line for the Bears in the draft or free agency, is there a chance they would actually consider a cornerback one year after drafting one in Round 2?
If GM Ryan Poles has any foresight whatsoever he will, and it does sound like he realizes the importance of the position. He called it one of the premier positions.
"We're always going to look at pass rushers, we're going to look at offensive linemen, corners," Poles said.
Poles also said it all starts with a good evaluation of his own players.
"We're gonna put them in certain value buckets and we're gonna attack it and get as many good players in here as possible," he said.
He might find they need to throw some cornerbacks on the team into the out-going bucket. The Bears need help there to complement Gordon and Jaylon Johnson but it doesn't all need to be in the draft. There are players available in free agency, although free agent cornerbacks tend to come at a high cost because everyone else also considers them "premier."
There are choices for the Bears, though. They can continue playing Gordon at both slot and left side. They could find a slot who is better and use Gordon on the left side.
One other choice is finding a cornerback with a real understanding of their defense. That's Rock Ya-Sin.
Ya-Sin played three years in the HITS principle, then went to the Raiders in a scheme different than what he played in with the Colts under Matt Eberflus. Ya-Sin has managed to play effectively whatever has been asked of him.
ESPN analyst Matt Bowen, an assistant coach himself at the high school level in the Chicago suburbs, sees Ya-Sin as an ideal fit for Pittsburgh in free agency. This only shows the versatility Ya-Sin has since he'd be in a scheme emphasizing man-to-man coverage with the Steelers.
In Chicago, Ya-Sin would return to his NFL roots.
The 6-foot, 190-pounder was a Colts second-round pick when Eberflus was defensive coordinator and Bears defensive coordinator Alan Williams was Colts defensive backs coach.
After playing like most rookies do as cornerbacks in the NFL with a 109.2 passer rating against in 2019, Ya-Sin improved his rating against every year he's been in the league. He gave up ratings of 98.7 in 2020 and 88.8 in Eberflus' final season with the Colts.
When he went to the Raiders in a trade for Yannick Ngakoue, he lowered it even more to 82.6. In his last two seasons, he gave up completion percentages of 53.3% with the Colts and 60.9% last year in a scheme under Patrick Graham that emphasizes cover-3 more than it did cover-2.
Pro Football Focus labeled Ya-Sin a dependable outside cornerback, which would mean the Bears put Gordon inside to the slot all the time. They called his 0.67 yards allowed per snap the fifth-best in the league.
"They all cover different," Eberflus said of cornerbacks. "So you just got to learn how that player operates physically and also what his camera looks at. What does he look at? How does he process the game?
"I think that's as important when you're working with and dealing with players to help them to succeed."
The key with Ya-Sin would be the numbers projected. Considering Jaylon Johnson is up for a contract extension, the Bears need to be conservative in any free agent they want to bring on board.
PFF says Ya-Sin will bring in $9 million a year over three years. Spotrac says a little more at $10.8 million a year.
As Eberflus pointed out, training a cornerback requires a time when you learn how they process the game. It's the reason a team might consider bringing in a free agent rather than a rookie to start.
Ya-Sin's abilities are known and could be an immediate fit.
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