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Where the Bears Could Still Add Help

Analysis: Wide receiver might be the position where all the whining occurs among Bears fans but there are other spots where GM Ryan Poles has left them understaffed.
Gene Chamberlain|
Where the Bears Could Still Add Help
Where the Bears Could Still Add Help

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When GM Ryan Poles finished the draft, he commented on where he goes now in continuing to find players.

"It's going to be a process all the way through training camp," Poles said.

The Bears will be looking now for players cut at specific positions by other teas, and that will go on right up through the final cutdown.

It wasn't uncommon under former GM Ryan Pace for the Bears to bring in one or two players from other rosters after cutdowns, and it could be more than this in early September considering their current rebuilding status.

In particular, they'd be looking at places where they're thin on the roster in terms of quality, but above all else simply bodies.

It appears there are six positions where they can help themselves most with a signing on the eve of the regular season or even during the end of preseason. 

Here are the positions ranked in order where Poles seems to have understaffed the team, the spots they could look to add players for depth or otherwise.

6. Tight End. When Jerry Angelo was Bears GM, he used to cite tight end and safety as the positions where injuries occur the most. Maybe he said this about safety because Mike Brown was injured a lot. The reason tight ends get hurt so often, he explained, was they were bigger players who weren't quite as athletic as linebackers and definitely not as athletic as safeties. Yet they are often playing out in open space against these faster, more agile opponents. Or they are playing on the line where other players are bigger. They're constantly overmatched and collide with bigger linemen or cut sharply at higher speed in the open field to try to get free against faster coverage men. So they get hurt more often by overtaxing their bodies.

A team needs to stockpile tight ends一maybe not to the extent the Bears did in 2020 when they had 11 on the offseason roster but definitely with a few extras who could fill in at a moment's notice. Right now they are at three with real playing experience in Cole Kmet, James O'Shaughnessy and Ryan Griffin. It's not enough. Both O'Shaughnessy and Griffin have injury pasts and are in their 30s. They do have veteran Rysen John, but it's not clear he is actually a tight end. At 6-foot-7, 227 pounds, he's more the size of a bigger wide receiver and not close to a tight end. In fact, some websites list him as a wide receiver.

It would be sufficient if they had drafted a tight end but the only other tight ends on their roster are udrafted rookie Jake Tonges from California and undrafted Chase Allen from Iowa State. They'll have their eyes open for actual tight ends, especially those young enough to assist in special teams as a fourth tight end.

5. Wide Receiver. This is the spot everyone complains about. They haven't helped Justin Fields enough, the whining, er, narrative goes. You're not helping Justin Fields much by bringing in cast-off receivers on the eve of a season. Perhaps eventually a player like this helps out, but they have much work to do learning the routes and offense. They also need to get in synch wth the quarterback. It can be done to some extent. They brought in Dontrelle Inman in 2017 at midseason and he wound up being one of their better targets, but then again it was largely because the rest of the wide receiver corps was so bad. This receiver corps is nowhere near the low quality of that one, although if something happened to Darnell Mooney it might be close.

There are 12 receivers on the roster and they've gone to camp with more in the past. They'll watch for help, but they've been very selective about the type of player and receiver they've brought in so far. Potential backup receivers need to be able to contribute in many ways, including special teams. Finding this is almost as rare just before cuts as finding someone who could step in and start.

4. Tackle. Of course they could use a veteran starting left tackle with skills like Eric Fisher had for Kansas City. Paying for him is entirely another matter. Starting tackles command big dollars. And they wouldn't be getting the Fisher from Kansas City because of the Achilles injury he suffered in the AFC championship game in 2021. He's in his 30s and struggled a bit with the Colts last year. Expecting a starting quality tackle to fall out of the sky on cutdown day is like hoping for rain in the desert. It's extremely rare when it happens because these players are usually early draft picks, and it's also too wasteful  for a team to train them and then simply decide to discard them.

3. Cornerback. There are plenty of cornerbacks on the roster but as any GM knows, you can never have enough players at this position. It's a passing game. You need cornerbacks who can run and cover but also tackle. They frequently get hurt. The Bears really are taking a risk at slot cornerback. Unless they move rookie Kyler Gordon or veteran Jaylon Johnson there, it will be a spot manned by Tavon Young一who has done it well at times in his past but is injured often一or totally inexperienced Thomas Graham Jr. or Duke Shelley. Last year Shelley was only marginally better than in his second season. It would be no shock to see another healthy veteran slot cornerback come on board if cut elsewhere, especially because coach Matt Eberflus says his defense is an easy one for players to pick up and play in immediately.

2. Guard. The level of play at the position is the concern here. Bringing in another player on par with Dakota Dozier or Sam Mustipher, or with the inexperience issues of late-round rookies Zachary Thomas and Ja'Tyre Carter doesn't do much good. They would be looking carefully at anyone capable with extrensive starting experience. It's why many people are pointing to potential Eagles cut victim Isaac Seumalo, although his profile doesn't exactly fit the style of play the offense is now using.

1. Defensive Tackle. The three technique merely describes where a player lines up in this four-man front, in the B gap, over the guard's outside shoulder. The actual position name in the scheme is the under tackle. It appears Poles has understaffed the Bears at under tackle. When Matt Eberflus was in Indianapolis, he had DeForest Buckner at under tackle. The former 49ers draft pick is 6-foot-7, 295 pounds. He's ideal size. He's big enough and fast enough to get into a gap and wreak havoc. Pro Football Focus released its top 25 interior defensive linemen this week and of course there are no Bears to be found.

"The three technique can affect the quarterback," Bears defensive coordinator Alan Williams said. "Usually it's the three technique and you'll hear one of our coaches refer to it as the under tackle, the three, he affects the quarterback. It’s the nose that usually gets all the doubles.

"And if it's the nose getting the doubles, the three gets to run to the ball. Usually if you have a good three and you have a good nose, the ball never gets outside the three and the nose, and you can play football between the tackles."

Being able to affect the quarterback is key because it lets their zone coverage be more effective even if they don't get a sack. They need pressure and in some ways it's better than a sack because it can lead to an interception.

"But that guy, in essence, can affect the quarterback, and anyone that you get一any position that you get that can affect the quarterback in a positive way for the defense一is a huge plus because it’s a quarterback-driven league," Williams said. "And any time you can get the quarterback to worry about a guy, or that guy, it's a big plus for the defense."

It might be the most important position in this scheme. Slot cornerback and weak side linebacker would be a close second.

Buckner has made 36 sacks in his last four seasons and is a force. The Bears have no one similar. They are relying on Justin Jones with 4 1/2 career sacks in four years. Mario Edwards is the backup. He hasn't played more than 31% of snaps since 2017 and his play has been spotty. These two rank seventh and eighth in taking up Bears cap space, as well. Edwards is 6-3, 280, and undersized for a three technique. It's been pointed out he is the same weight as Aaron Donald. It's easy not to confuse Donald with Edwards. 

Jones hasn't applied enough pressure in his career as a three technique and Edwards hasn't done enough, period. Beyond them, they have untested, undrafted practice squad types and perhaps could slide over Angelo Blackson, who doesn't even fit this scheme as a nose let alone an under tackle.

This is easily the most understaffed position the Bears have and it's one of their most important. It all stems from the failed physical of free agent Larry Ogunjobi.

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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.

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