The Risk and Reward of Bryce Callahan
When the Bears assess free agency and their own situation in the secondary, there are several holes to fill.
They are missing sufficient numbers of off-ball linebackers who can play the 4-3 defense after being in a 3-4 for seven years, they lack a bona fide three technique at tackle and the cornerback play they had last year fell far short of acceptable standards.
The linebacker and tackle situations can be remedied in the draft and free agency. Cornerback is a trickier situation because it involves two very different positions.
Cornerbacks Duke Shelley and Kindle Vildor were typical of how GM Ryan Pace overestimated his ability to come up with viable Day 3 draft picks after hitting on some early in his career. Safeties Adrian Amos and Eddie Jackson were great Day 3 successes, so Pace played the trading game with Day 2 picks and relied on his Day 3 expertise, which didn't turn out to be nearly as special as he believed.
Vildor and Shelley couldn't just be plugged into spots after the team lost Buster Skrine and cut Kyle Fuller, the latter because they foolishly ruined their salary cap situation.
Vildor has allowed passer ratings of 131.2 and 136.1 as an outside cornerback in two seasons. It's little wonder he was benched.
In his two seasons playing slot cornerback, Shelley did show slight improvement but not enough. He has allowed passer ratings of 118.1 and 100, as well as 80% and 74.4% completions when targeted. Those numbers for both years, from Sportradar, are mirrored by poor Pro Football Focus grades.
The real Bears problem is slot cornerback because outside cornerbacks are often merely a matter of signing or drafting one. More often than not, finding a slot cornerback is a matter of practice and waiting for his training to take root.
When Matt Eberflus was asked after his first press conference about roots of his cover-2 defensive allegiance and what key positions in the defense are, he quickly included the nickel or slot cornerback as critical. He was fortunate to have Kenny Moore II in his cover-2 style defense in Indianapolis.
Passer ratings of 118.1 and 100 or 80% and 74.4% completions are not going to work in this defense. They need a slot cornerback just as much as they need a starter on the outside.
Slot Corner and the Bears
It's possible Thomas Graham Jr. might fit into that mix somewhere as he showed real moxie, but his playing time was kept to the outside and he didn't even see a field until the final quarter of the season. This made absolutely no sense considering how poor pass coverage had been on the outside and inside while he was kept on the practice squad.
The Bears had a team passer rating against last season of 103.3, which was last in the NFL.
They tried Xavier Crawford at the slot position after Shelley had an injury and COVID. Over the past two seasons Crawford played only 144 defensive snaps and gave up four touchdown passes. So that's probably not going to work out.
It takes time to train a slot cornerback. It's uncommon for slot cornerbacks to simply come right out of college at the position and begin playing there in the NFL. It does happen more often now, but the best cornerbacks who could be NFL prospects will be on the outside in college.
Better college receivers play on the outside and there aren't enough good college cornerbacks to waste putting them where the receivers are less talented. Less talented college cornerbacks who are exclusively in the slot are the type generally not good enough for the NFL.
It is changing, though not fast enough to help the Bears at this time.
Where all of this is leading is the fact Bryce Callahan is a free agent in March.
Callahan was the best Bears slot cornerback of this era, and possibly the best ever. During Lovie Smith's era, Ricky Manning and D.J. Moore were two of the better slot cornerbacks for their cover-2, but Smith never really found his own version of potential hall-of-famer Ronde Barber. Instead, he had Charles Tillman and the "Peanut Punch" moving all over the field on the best receiver the way the Bears did last season with Jaylon Johnson. That isn't true cover-2 It both alters and hurts the overall scheme to do this.
Vic Fangio uncovered Callahan as an undrafted Bears free agent and he was good enough in four years to eventually receive a big contract from Denver in 2019 when Fangio went there as head coach.
Callahan is not entering free agency this time as a success story. He had his worst season last year since becoming a slot cornerback. He is 30 now but still shows extreme quickness.
His problem remains the same one he had with the Bears—he gets hurt. He plays with reckless abandon and often throws his body around to get the job done. Then he pays the price.
Callahan missed the entire 2019 season with a foot injury he brought along from his Bears days, and then had to tear up the three-year $21 million deal with Denver to sign a lesser version. He has missed 31 games over the last four seasons in Denver and Chicago due to injuries. The last time he missed as few as three games was in 2018 with the Bears, and the injury came when he was really needed most. They didn't have him on the field against the Eagles in the playoffs and substitute Sherrick McManis allowed the winning touchdown pass on fourth down.
Callahan makes plays on the ball. He had two interceptions a season in 2017, 2018 and 2019. In each of the last two seasons, the Bears have had one total interception by all of their cornerbacks combined.
Do the Bears take a risk signing Callahan while knowing he has never played a full season, and has missed 39 games in the six seasons since becoming a regular nickel cornerback?
The Price of Doing Business
They'd likely get plenty of competition for Callahan. Minnesota needs cornerbacks and will be using a version of Fangio's defense under former Bears assistant Ed Donatell, the new Vikings defensive coordinator. Former Bears assistant Brandon Staley could use a slot cornerback with the Chargers in the same defensive scheme, too.
Pro Football Focus calls Callahan the most underrated cornerback in free agency this year regardless of whether it's outside or in the slot. That's a pretty bold statement.
They estimate his value at $5 million a year for two years. It seems rather low considering the possible payback.
However, the injuries and age could work against him. He had to accept a pay cut after missing all of 2019 and signed a new deal for two years and $12.4 million.
Whether he would be a fit for the 4-3 cover-2 they are running in Chicago now might be questioned, but zone coverage is zone coverage and the slot is universally difficult to play regardless of system.
Callahan is someone the Bears may need to take a long look at when the legal tampering period for free agency starts in a little over three weeks. Then again, another 30-something defensive player might be the last thing a rebuilding team needs.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
