Skip to main content
Bear Digest

Clark Phillips Willing But Bears Have Slot Cornerback Priorities in Order

Clark Phillips III appears ready to handle the Chicago Bears slot cornerback challenge but others are in line first for defensive coordinator Dennis Allen.
Gene Chamberlain|
Cornerback Clark Phillips III talks with the media after Wednesday's Bears practice.
Cornerback Clark Phillips III talks with the media after Wednesday's Bears practice. | Chicago Bears On SI Photo: Gene Chamberlain

In this story:

Chicago Bears

It's late in the game now for the Bears to be introducing a new player to a new team, new position, and new scheme.

Where the Bears use Clark Phillips III might eventually depend on need more than anything else. For now, he's playing cornerback and that must suffice. Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen on Wednesday said one practice too soon to figure out if Clark might be an eventual solution to Kyler Gordon's absence at slot cornerback, or a backup outside.

“I can't really speak to that other than what I saw on tape," Allen said. "A guy that looked to me like he had some football savvy and some football intelligence. The majority of the tape we saw, he played a little bit more outside. And yet, I see him fitting into that nickel mix a little bit and we'll see how quickly he picks everything up and then kind of go from there. But we're certainly very early in the evaluation process there.”

The reason the slot is a concern is rookie Malik Muhammad wasn't really one but has been forced to play it throughout camp and preseason with Gordon gone. On Wednesday at practice, the first-team secondary continued working with Muhammad in the slot, while veteran Xaiver Woods split some plays with the first team at safety with Cam Lewis. Lewis also can figure into the slot role.

“I do think that over the course of training camp, not just the joint practices or whatever the case may be, I think the picture is becoming more and more clear to us in terms of what guys can do and where they're going to fit within the scheme," Allen said. "We probably won't go into all that stuff here.

"We'll kind of wait until we get to the Carolina game and figure out what we're going to do there.”

Phillips pointed out he has played some nickel cornerback but almost all of it was in college and it's much different than the outside.

“Obviously guys have got a two-way go, you’re not able to use the sideline as much as your friend," he said.

ONE BEARS DT IMPRESSED DENNIS ALLEN EVEN MORE THAN JORDAN VAN DEN BERG

The receiver can go any direction inside and it's a problem.

"You’re dealing with different (receiver) body types a lot of the time, too, in the slot, so that’s something that obviously comes up," Phillips said.

Allen feels it wouldn't be extremely different for Phillips, but right now this is a conversion being made by Muhammad.

Phillips doesn't have experience in this scheme or at position, but what he does have is a friend in the secondary who is helping him. That's Jaylon Johnson, a Utah product like Phillips. The two didn't play together but sort of passed in the night as Phillips arrived while Johnson was coming to the Bears. As a result they did get to know each other briefly and Phillips estimates he talked at least once a year to Johnson to get advice. Now he's doing it on the same team.

"After practice just today we were talking about the nuances and the fine things in the defense that I need to be aware of from the inside perspective and the outside perspective and how we fit and all those things,” Phillips said of Johnson.

At 5-9, Phillips is built more for slot than Muhammad, who is about 3 inches taller. Phillips' plate is full at the moment, but it isn't keeping his defensive coordinator from thinking about possibilities.

"Look, it’s easier when you can just go and play one position and that’s the only position that you do, right?" Allen said. "And you get all your reps at that one position. The progress gets accelerated tremendously when that’s the only thing that you do.

"And yet when you’re a veteran player that’s played in this league, that’s played multiple positions in this league, I don’t look at it as a major challenge."

The Bears would be much better off with Phillips outside like he was in Atlanta. They'd be better off with Muhammad outside, like he was at Texas. They'd be much better off with Gordon in the slot, as they were 4-1 when he played there last year and far more efficient stopping offenses. They don't have him.

A tape of him running barefoot surfaced on social media on Wednesday as he tries to come back from the calf injury, but not fast enough to suit the Bears.

All the Bears can do is worry about who they have, the player who has been at the position all camp and go with that. But they need to be ready and fortunately, they have some depth at outside cornerback so they can let Phillips focus on learning the inside, as well.

Sign Up For the Bears Daily Digest - OnSI’s Free Chicago Bears Newsletter

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Loading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations

Published
Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.

Home/News