Eddie Jackson Looks to Finish What He Started

There is a sense of urgency with Eddie Jackson.

The Bears safety is the "old man" of the team's defense at age 29, a holdover like guard Cody Whitehair, from two past failed coaching regimes.

"These years we can't waste them," Jackson said. "I feel like I go out there, I got to lead the right way. I got to lead by example. I got to go out there and play the best ball that I can, and go out there and make plays.

"We got a young team, you know? I just feel like a lot of those guys, they look at me, especially in the secondary. How I act, how I go out there, how I perform."

Time waits for no one in the NFL and Jackson's seventh season will start next week with his health no longer an issue.

The season-ending foot injury suffered against the Jets, the one that probably cost him a third Pro Bowl appearance, healed enough that he was able to take part in the final two weeks of off-season work on the field.

Where once Jackson was the young safety trying to learn in the Bears secondary, he now leads a group of very young pass defenders but not so young they rank among the bigger Bears worries.

In fact, they were doing quite well for themselves last year until injuries began removing players from the secondary. They dropped from third against the pass through Week 7 to 18th by season's end.

Jackson had a chance at his own personal best of six interceptions in a season before the injury and wound up with four. He easily would have topped his career-best tackles total but had 80, two tackles shy of the mark as he played a defensive scheme seemingly well suited to his skills covering deep.

As good as the secondary played at times, they still allowed 88 explosive passes, or gains of 20 yards or more. That ranked only 18th best overall and it's on Jackson and second-year safety Jaquan Brisker to make sure there are less of those.

Making explosive passes and preventing them is a pathway to NFL success today. The top two teams at this in differential last year made the Super Bowl.

According to the NFL stat analysis site Royal Football, every team plus-25 in explosive-play differential made the playoffs last year. Only six of 18 teams with a negative differential made the playoffs--Cincinnati, Seattle, Minnesota, LA Chargers, NY Giants and Tampa Bay.

The rush-and-cover relationship of this defensive scheme works best when there is a rush. The Bears had a league-low 20 sacks and it's a question how much more support they can provide the secondary this year considering they're still out scrounging around in quest of an edge rusher.

"We feed off that in the back end," Jackson said. "(Coordinator) Alan (Williams) always says our front, they are the staple of our defense, so we go as they go. We need those guys to go out there and continue to do what they do and roll over into Sunday on game day."

The sense of urgency needs to be there for the entire defense the way it seems to be for the safeties, and for that matter the secondary as a unit.

The Safety Starters

Eddie Jackson: No. 4, a 6-foot, 206-pound seventh-year player, has been their best deep pass defender since arriving in 2017. No Bears safety has had more than Mike Brown's Bears total of 17 for his career since he left in 2009, and Jackson needs three to hit 17. Jackson is coming off a season when he allowed only a passer rating of 66.4 when targeted, a huge improvement over 2021 when he allowed 143.6. The 66.4 is closer to the 40.5 and 57.6 he gave up his first two seasons.

Jaquan Brisker: No. 9, a 6-1, 200-pound 2022 second-round pick from Penn State, led the Bears secondary in tackles with 104 and had a 98.6 passer rating against when targeted, 56.3% completions when targeted. Brisker forced a fumble, recovered one and made four sacks to lead the team, as unlikely as it sounds considering his position. Brisker missed 6.3% of his tackles while allowing four TD passes as a rookie starter from Day 1.

The Safety Backups

Elijah Hicks: No. 37, their 5-11, 200-pound seventh-round pick from Cal in 2022, got onto the field for 168 defensive plays last year and moves up the depth chart after the decision not to bring back DeAndre Houston-Carson. Hicks was burned for two TDs last year and it resulted in his 158.3 passer rating against for only seven targets, the worst passer rating possible. He forced a fumble and recovered one, while making 28 tackles. He tied for third on the team at getting in on special teams tackles with seven.

Kendall Williamson: No. 36, a 6-foot, 203-pound seventh-round pick from Stanford who was the next-to-last player in the NFL draft this year. He is known for an ability to arrive and hit, and made 213 tackles in five seasons with one interception and 13 pass breakups for 44 games.

Adrian Colbert: No. 23, a 6-2, 205-pound seventh-round pick by the 49ers in 2017, he has played in undrafted Texas Miami 22 games played in 41 games with 22 starts, the last one with the Jets in 2021. Last year the Bears signed him to the practice squad at the end of November and he got into two games without making a tackle.

A.J. Thomas: No. 38, a 6-2, 214-pound strong safety who signed as an undrafted free agent last year and was on the practice squad before getting into five games after Eddie Jackson's season-ending injury. He got into 13 defensive plays and 66 special teams plays

Bralen Trahan: No. 45, a 5-11, 196-pound undrafted rookie from Louisiana, was known as a premier ballhawk in the Sun Belt Conference with 13 career sacks, 16 passes broken up and two fumble recoveries. He also forced two fumbles while making 323 tackles in six seasons.

Macon Clark: No. 24, a 5-11, 203-pound undrafted rookie from Tulane, was another player with a nose for the ball in college with nine interceptions and eight pass breakups, to go with two fumble recoveries and four forced fumbles. He also had five sacks and made 202 tackles total.

2023 Bears Safety Prospectus

The Bears rate well above average at safety but need more consistent tackling. Jackson has always battled with the physical aspect of it and Brisker sometimes is moving so fast ball carriers bounce right off. They are taking a bit of a risk in terms of inexperience with their depth. Not signing DHC left them with only a smattering of players who have played a role in actual NFL games behind Brisker and Jackson. Look for Brisker to take on a bigger play-making role if they can manage a better pass rush and to be moving around more in the formation this year than he did last year when coaches tried to keep the big plays down by keeping him home more often. The goal is to keep Jackson in the deep position more and let him continue making plays on the ball as they did last year with good success.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven

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