Bear Digest

Why There Was More to Bears Changing Safeties Than Money

Kevin Byard is being paid about hathlf of what Eddie Jackson made but a strategic situation also may have contributed to "Bojack" being dumped.

Gene Chamberlain

Safety Kevin Byard addresses media at Halas Hall. Eddie Jackson's replacement has a history of good healthy and versatility.
Safety Kevin Byard addresses media at Halas Hall. Eddie Jackson's replacement has a history of good healthy and versatility. / Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports
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When the Bears decided cutting safety Eddie Jackson benefited the team more moving into the future, money loomed as an obvious reason.

Counting $14 million more against the cap for their veteran starter seemed to make little sense considering he missed five games each of the last two years with injuries and was now over 30.

Although Kevin Byard was over 30, as well, he signed for half the cost and he hasn't been injured like Jackson.

There appears to be more to it than this, however, and Byard talked about it Thursday after Bears OTA practice when he discussed why he likes playing alongside Bears safety Jaquan Brisker.


"Yeah, just his versatility," Byard said. "I think, that's one thing I like about playing with him because I know a little bit of last year was kind of like Bojack was kind of in the back or whatever and he (Brisker) was kind of in the box.

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"I don't want to see that this year at least for us early on. Just kind of work it, hey, let's be versatile. I don't want teams to get a bead on 'hey you're in the box or I'm deep' or anything like that. Let's both do the same things so teams can't really get a bead on what the coverage is. He's been really good with that. He's vocal like I am about wanting the details with different coverages with the coaches and stuff like that."

The idea for the safeties in this scheme always has been interchangeable parts. The concept of strong and weak safety does not apply in this Tampa-2.

"I mean, it's just I think that's what the league is now. You want guys to be versatile," Byard said. "And like I said I think it's a lot for just for quarterbacks and things like that.

"Like, as you watch film, teams are looking for any type of keys or clues to tell what type of defense these guys are going to run. So we don't want to be able to give that away. We want to be able to be versatile and try to make it hard for offenses."

Beyond the scheme itself, Byard thinks even at age 31 he is able to be in the box defending the run so they should be able to let Brisker play back more.

"I mean, I like both," Byard said. "I had 122 tackles last year so I like to mix it up a little bit. I just like playing football. You know what I mean?

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"Like, I played a lot of ball. I can do both. It just depends. I like to be back too. I like to catch interceptions. It really just depends on the call. So like I said anything I can do to help the team that's what I'm willing to do."

After his rookie season, Brisker had expressed a desire for this type of interchangeable situation with his "soap" comment. Playing only in the box didn't suit his skills as well, he said.


"They should use me," Brisker said. "Like use me, like a lot. Like a bar of soap. Like literally, like Dove. Like use me. You know what I mean? Like literally.

"So just use me like I've always been. Just move me around. Let me help my teammates, let us help us win. That's why I'm here. To win games, to go to the playoffs and win a Super Bowl."

Consider the Bears defense more confusing now with two safeties who can swap out duties, with the end result better coverage and run defense overall. That is, provided both can do what they say they can.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven

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Gene Chamberlain

GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher 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.