Most Unsettled Bears Roster Spots

The Bears have plenty of roster or starting battles but there are several entirely unsettled spots with more questions than answers.

It was Bears defensive coordinator Alan Williams who probably summed up what has been seen to date in OTAs as it pertains to regular season the best.

Williams said not to, "... put any credence into who walks out there, who goes out there first. Zero."

There are competitions but there are totally unsettled situations as well.

They've looked at numerous players at numerous positions. The starters at most spots are known. Backups are fairly solid at some.

However, those unsettled spots are either position or roles with the team and they need to be better defined.

Here are the most unsettled spots on the Bears roster going into minicamp.

The Green Rush

This isn't just the defensive end situation, but the entire six-, seven-, or eight-man rotation on the defensive front to pressure quarterbacks. It's entirely unclear how they plan to do this. Adding to the confusion of the situation is the possibility they could bring in another edge player.

"We've brought some guys in," coach Matt Eberflus said. "We might bring in some other guys.

"We obviously brought some D-tackles in and all that. We'll find out where the 'green rush' is—our pass rush team in the passing situations. We'll put our best four out there and we'll probably have two more guys that will rotate in that rush group. But it's just all about competition now."

Try to figure this out by starting with DeMarcus Walker, who might even figure into it at tackle or end. He had plenty of success as a three-technique rush man in the past. Do they want Dominique Robinson there on the edge instead of Trevis Gipson? Rasheem Green is another possibility in this group as he has had good pressure for the number of reps he's played. Justin Jones was effective at making tackles against the run for loss, but is he part of that six-man green rush? Do they even have six men for a green rush might be the best question?

Backup Safety

It seems incomprehensible that DeAndre Houston-Carson isn't back after his impact playing the first backup safety spot and then especially special teams. He's still unsigned and it usually doesn't require much money to add backup safeties with valuable experience. Who knows, maybe coaches saw enough bad play from him over the final five weeks following the loss of Eddie Jackson to think they can do better with rookie Kendall Williamson and second-year player Elijah Hicks, both seventh-round picks.

Can any of them be DHC?

"I don't know if all of them can do what he did, but somehow someway, we'll find guys to complement what we want to try to do an find different packages off of that," safeties coach Andre Curtis said.

Williamson has impressed.

"He's a good kid. He's learning. He flashes. He's very astute," Carter said. "He's picking up the defense. He's growing. He's got a really good personality. Fits in with our guys, and he's doing some good things on special teams as well. Usually those two for a young guy go hand in hand. The better you do at one, the better you do at the other."

Hicks has been around the ball repeatedly in 7-on-7 and full-squad passing during OTAs.

It's also possible they could decide the lack of experience at safety is an issue and bring in someone. Either way, special teams will be huge for whoever winds up as the No. 3 and 4 safeties.

"He was a core piece of what we do," special teams coordinator Richard Hightower said of DHC. "He's not here anymore, but it's time for someone else to step up.

"I'm sure he'll be excited to see who steps up too. He's a good dude. I've been knowing him for a long time. A good dude."

Punt Returner

Dante Pettis signed on again for one year but it's going to make game-day eligible decisions difficult decision for the coaching staff if they're counting on Pettis as a punt returner but his receiving skills don't really put him higher than the seventh-best receiver.

Immediately they put rookie Tyler Scott back to return punts and test him at fielding the ball even though he was only a kick returner at Cincinnati and had only six of those.

"So he did it as a backup returner in college, which we knew from our studying and studying the kid and he also did it in high school," special teams coordinator Richard Hightower said. "No matter who the receivers or the DBs are, this time of year we try to train all of them because on game day you never know who you're going to have. You want to make sure that you give them every opportunity to make the team. At this point, we’re just looking for guys that are Bears fits."

Someone like Scott or even backup slot cornerback Josh Blackwell doing it could solve some game-day eligible issues, but whether it could give them a viable threat at returner is the real issue.

Usually, teams can find punt or kick returners late into free agency.

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