Filling Defensive Holes Rates High for Bears

There is more going on with the Bears than their decision whether to use the first pick of the draft on Caleb Williams or trade it and use the picks provided to build around Justin Fields.

There are other positions and needs, some of which they created by cutting safety Eddie Jackson and center/guard Cody Whitehair.

At the NFL combine, coach Matt Eberflus provided a somewhat startling answer when asked essentially about whether the team was going to be ready to compete this season.

“We're in the process of building that team right now, so we have a lot of work to do between now and April 15 and April 15 all the way to June 15, so there's a lot of work there to be done," Eberflus said. "I see it as a natural progression to our building of this franchise, and we're certainly excited about that."

They've had two years to build already, so now adding a few pieces to fill some holes might be a more appropriate depiction. Eberflus did at least provide the answers to what he'd like to see added and it does actually appear they're focused on plugging a few holes and continuing their late-season momentum.

"To answer your question, you could always have more rushers, you could always have more corners," he said. "You know I love that. But we're close to being a pretty solid group.”

As for safety, he's looking for a particular type at the combine. They need the deep safety type for their zone coverage to use with Jaquan Brisker.

"You're looking for a guy that pairs well with him," Eberrflus said. "Jaquan is a guy that's a strong safety. He comes down, defends tight ends. He's a big hammer.

"The guy that we would be looking for has to have athletic ability, he's got to have range, hp's got to have great communication skills, he's got to have ball skills."

Jackson, after all, was the winner of the team's first ballhawk award in 2022.

"We want all of our guys to have the ability to take the ball away," Eberflus said. "He's to have that too, then eventually grow into a leader."

Jackson was always a leader in the secondary and even with a foot injury each of the last two years he was able to provide this. Eberflus doesn't discount the possibility they find this replacement in free agency, either.

"If it's a free agent, he is gonna have to feel the temperature of the room and then dive into the leadership role," Eberflus said. "If he's a rookie, then he's gonna have to develop with the other guys."

Miami's Kamren Kinchens, Minnesota's Tyler Nubin, Georgia's Javon Bullard and Utah's Cole Bishop are graded possible Day 1 or 2 safeties by NFL Draft Scout.

The other defensive starting position needed is a pass rusher. Like with safety, they can find the complement to Montez Sweat in free agency, as well, but UCLA's Laiatu Latu, Florida State's Jared Verse, Alabama's Dallas Turner and Chris Braswell, Penn State's Chop Robinson and Washington's Bralen Trice all own first-round grades from NFL Draft Scout.

"We got to make sure that we have somebody opposite of Sweat," Eberflus said. "We can never have enough of those guys because they affect the game the most."

Offensively, Eberflus called receiver a prerequisite but not necessarily for another starter.

"Right now depth," he said. "We don't have a lot of depth there first of all. That's the first part.

"Adding some dynamic pieces there through free agency or through the draft potentially; so to me when you're trying to defend that, when you have a weapon at tight end and you have a weapon at the X-receiver like DJ, when you add a piece or two to the other side, it really balances you out. It's hard to defend for sure."

That's not really depth. No one gets by with one threat at receiver, so either Eberflus knows something about the team bringing back free agent Darnell Mooney or it's possible he's thinking Tyler Scott or Velus Jones Jr. are bigger potential threats than they showed last year.

Receiver or edge rusher are the positions most often associated with the Bears' second pick in Round 1, No. 9 overall. They might be just a bit too far back to come up with either of the top receivers, Ohio State's Marvin Harrison Jr., LSU's Malik Nabers and Washington's Rome Odunze.

If they target a running back at some point, it would likely be a specialty type or someone to complement Roschon Johnson and Khalil Herbert. However, they do need one because D'Onta Foreman is a free agent and both Herbert and Johnson missed time last year with injuries, so the third running back started eight games. They even had to go to a fifth back by bringing back former Bear Darrynton Evans.

"Yeah, I love Roschon," Eberflus said. "He's done a great job and we'll see where he develops, right? His rookie year, I've always said from first year to second year that's where you make your bggest jump and I love right now where he is right now in his development."

Eberflus never got around to center, where Oregon's Jackson Powers-Johnson rates No. 1 at the position and West Virginia's Zach Frazier, Georgia's Sedrick Van Pran and Arkansas' Beaux Limmer rank as possible Day 1 or 2 types.

With no centers under contract at the position who have played more than two NFL snaps, it's obvious Eberflus simply ran out of time as he was shooed off the podum so another speaker could begin.

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