A Stone Cold Lock? Iowa Can Supply a Safety in Draft
The knack displayed by Bears GM Ryan Pace for selecting safeties in the middle to late rounds can be of great benefit them in this draft, although they have to be ready in case the best player when they select in Round 2 actually is at this position.
If they find a cornerback, receiver or offensive lineman with their two second-round picks then they could be looking for a safety later in the middle rounds.
The Bears need to approach this as though they are actually trying to replace Adrian Amos in this draft because Ha Ha Clinton-Dix was merely a one-year fill-in after the ideal secondary partner for Eddie Jackson left for Green Bay.
Amos came to the Bears in 2015 from a Big Ten school, Penn State. It's possible they could look to a player who was shunned by that school in the recruitment process for a replacement. It's a safety from another Big Ten school, Geno Stone from Iowa.
Stone, who has had a combine visit with the Bears according to Bearreport.com, doesn't bring along quite the physical skills as Amos did. He's about 10 pounds lighter and 2 inches shorter, and also runs the 40 0.06 seconds slower. at 4.62.
What Stone does have is experience. It's tough to beat the experience of covering Detroit Lions tight end T.J. Hockenson and Broncos tight end Noah Fant on a daily basis in practice.
"I feel like T.J. really helped me a lot," Stone told reporters at the combine. "That's who I was lined up against a lot and just playing against him really helped me with my man coverage on a tight end.
"And I mean, Noah, he's almost a receiver. So I lined up against him in the slot and stuff like that. He had really good speed. Just playing against them guys really helped me a lot."
The experience from college runs beyond those two. Coach Kirk Ferentz, defensive backs coach Phil Parker and strength coach Chris Parker have collaborated to churn out plenty of productive defensive backs from recruits who weren't necessarily running.
"You look at from anyone from Bob Sanders all the way up to Amani Hooker from last year," Stone said. "There you saw guys that people really never thought about in the recruiting process and coach Parker took them, maybe change the position like Micah Hyde, but he took a position change from being a corner to a safety in the league and he's still one of the best guys in the league.
"That's just from coach Ferentz, coach Parker, coach Doyle, drilling all the fundamentals into us and all the little details we've got to pay attention to and they turn out to be great players, All-Pro players."
For the Bears, Stone could have the ability to cover against the run or drop the way they had from Amos.
"I mean, I try to work in practice as much as I can just running to the ball as fast as I can and making sure I'm in the right fits," Stone said. "But same time, I know I still have some work to do.
"Past year, I didn't do my best tackling I feel like myself. So I have a lot to prove."
Stone had 126 tackles and wix interceptions at Iowa. He had four passes defensed and four forced fumbles.
"I'm a versatile player," Stone said. "I can play either down the box or deep one high."
It's just what the Bears are looking for, whether it's Day 1 or late on Day 3.
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