Another Matt Nagy-Ryan Pace Mistake?

After Monday night's debut by Thomas Graham Jr., the first thing the Bears might need to do is get him signed to a roster spot and a standard contract.

Sitting on the practice squad all year, the sixth-round draft pick was exposed to the possibility of being signed away by any other general manager, and against the Minnesota Vikings in a 17-9 loss he gave not only those GMs but everyone in the country something to see. It would be tough to keep him on the practice squad after that debut.

Matt Nagy should be fired for many reasons but having Thomas Graham Jr stashed on the practice squad all season is reason enough #DaBears
— mat newton (@mattnewts) December 21, 2021

The former Oregon player made three pass break-ups and helped spark an entire secondary of subs who had to play after COVID hit the top six defensive backs on the roster. It's one of the few really positive stories to come out of a 4-10 season

"My goal, I've always been the underdog, so coming in here today and seeing all the ESPN highlights talking Justin Jefferson is going to do this, the Minnesota Vikings are going to throw for so this yards, this many Bears secondary is out and we took that and ran with it because at the end of the day, we all are here and we are all professionals for a reason and we wanted to show them who we are," Johnson said

On the plus side, Thomas Graham Jr. ends his NFL debut with 3 pass deflections tonight.

For reference, Kindle Vildor has had 4 deflections in 13 games.
— Jacob Infante (@jacobinfante24) December 21, 2021

Despite no starters in the secondary and some of the top subs being out due to COVID-19 or illness, the Bears held Kirk Cousins to 87 passing yards and Jefferson to four catches for 42 yards. The 87 passing yards included 19 yards on touchdowns of 12 and 7 yards but the Vikings could do little else, and had 61 net passing yards after sack yardage was take away. Graham had a big hand in stopping the passing attack.

It was a long way back for him since being cut and then put on the practice squad.

"Personally, once I got cut, I was just kind of butt-hurt, but I knew that I didn’t show everything that I needed to in camp," Graham said. "I made mistakes and I think the one thing that I didn't do that they wanted me to show was consistency. That's one thing that I showed my whole college career was a consistent corner that can go make plays in and out and I feel like during camp and during preseason, I didn't do enough of that.

Thomas Graham Jr. was rotting away on the practice squad while Kindle Vildor was getting cooked like stir fry every Sunday afternoon.
— illwill (@79illwill) December 21, 2021

"I felt, and they felt, that I needed to develop."

The year away from football when he opted out probably cost Graham a spot in the draft, and apparently did enough to his skill level to lead coaches to cut him initially.

"It was kind of a hard truth, but I took a year off football," Graham said. "It was hard. Me and (GM) Ryan (Pace) had talked about it. He gave me film to watch of other corners that are similar to my game."

Returned to the practice squad, Graham didn't waste his chance.

"It was a rollercoaster for me and I'm not going to act like it was easy," he said. "It wasn't an easy moment for me, but just eventually my confidence started growing, started making more plays in practice and I just knew whenever your opportunity comes, you gotta take advantage of it because God is only gonna give you this chance once."

Graham drew from all the coaches and many of the players who were out from COVID-19 when he went about rebuilding his game on the practice squad, everyone from Eddie Jackson to Tashaun Gipson to his friend since youth, Jaylon Johnson.

"I'm going against Allen Robinson, Darnell Mooney, Marquise Goodwin every day," Johnson said. "They come to me, they tell me what I need to work on and stuff like that. It was just a great opportunity to be able to do that, being in the room, seeing Jaylon, Kindle (Vildor). There's so many more people I can name, seeing them work everyday and setting the standard. I had to match it.

"And that was able to allow me to come out here and be the next man up and make the plays I made."

He even drew on something the late Kobe Bryant said.

"Like Kobe (Bryant) always say, he ain't got to be nervous when he prepared."

Now Pace needs to be prepared to match the effort with a regular roster spot, or fend off inquiries from other teams by protecting him on the practice squad.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven