Chicago Bears: Full Position Breakdown and Depth-Chart Analysis at Safety
Published by Matt Eurich on June 25, 2015
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
No Chicago Bears position group has received more scrutiny over the course of the last decade than safety.
Mike Brown manned the free safety position for the Bears from 2000 to 2008 and is considered the team’s last star safety. He was an All-Pro in 2001 and 2005 and was also named to the Pro Bowl in 2005. He struggled with injuries throughout his career, but when he was healthy, he was a playmaker on the field.
The Bears have used a plethora of different safeties over the years, and while guys such as Chris Harris and Danieal Manning were serviceable at times on the field, former draft picks such as Chris Conte, Major Wright, Craig Steltz, Al Afalava and Kevin Payne all struggled as starters.
The Bears primarily used Conte and Ryan Mundy at safety last year, but of the five safeties who finished the 2014 season on Chicago’s roster, only Mundy and Brock Vereen remain with the team.
The team currently has seven safeties on the roster, and all of them will be competing for only four or five roster spots during training camp and the preseason.
What does the depth chart currently look like at the position as the team heads into training camp later next month? We explore that ahead.
The Starters
To help solidify the position this offseason, general manager Ryan Pace signed former All-Pro and Pro Bowl safety Antrel Rolle to a three-year, $11.25 million deal.
Rolle later said part of the reason why he signed with the Bears was because he felt like he was welcomed by the organization.
“Especially being in my 11th year, you want to go where a team makes you feel wanted,” Rolle said in an interview with SiriusXM NFL Radio (via the Chicago Tribune’s Dan Wiederer). “You want to go where a team feels like they’re going to appreciate you. Therefore, you’re going to fight extra hard for them.”
In his 10-year-career, Rolle has played in 148 games and has registered 799 tackles, four sacks, 68 pass deflections, 26 interceptions and four touchdowns. He is not the same guy he was when he entered the league in 2005 as the eighth overall pick, but he is a big upgrade at the position for the Bears.
He has been a consistent presence against both the pass and the run throughout his career, but he did struggle against the run last season. According to Pro Football Focus, he finished last year with a minus-10.5 grade against the run. He played a total of 408 snaps against the run, and his 12 missed tackles tied him with Kansas City’s Ron Parker for third-most in the NFL among safeties.
Despite his drop-off last season, he still brings Chicago’s defense something it has not had since the days of Brown in the early 2000s, according to Bleacher Report’s Dan Pompei:
At the age of 32, Rolle might not have the ability to cover as much field as he was able to when he was 24 years old, but he still thinks he can be a playmaker this season.
“You always want to be a playmaker. That’s always my primary goal,” Rolle said, according to Jeremy Stoltz of BearReport.com. “It’s what you do between the white lines that really matters. So just being a veteran leader and being a guy that the younger guys can look up to. And I just want to be an all-around force. That’s how I like to play the game.”
Leadership is something that is hard to quantify, but teams often need players to step up and be vocal on the field and in the locker room. Fox said he was drawn to Rolle not only for what he brings on the field, but also for he brings off the field, saying, according to Newsday‘s Bob Glauber:
Leadership is important. There’s kind of a 10-80-10 percentage on a football team. There are 10 percent of the guys that are doing it right all the time. The key is to get a big majority of that 80 to see it done right so they can climb up to the 10. We think he’s in that 10. He has the ability. He’s done that before. I’ve seen him even at the Pro Bowl show leadership.
Rolle has seemingly already solidified himself as a starter and leader in Fox’s eyes, and it looks like the veteran safety will have a chance to play alongside a former teammate this season.
Mundy signed a two-year, $3 million deal with the team last offseason and started all 16 games at strong safety. He led the team in tackles with 103 and hauled in a career-high four interceptions. He started nine games alongside Rolle in New York in 2013, and he turned to Twitter in March after Rolle was signed to express his excitement:
Mundy is a prototypical box safety who plays well up against the run, but he showed flashes of his ability in pass coverage at times last season. According to Pro Football Focus, Mundy finished last year with a plus-2.6 pass coverage grade and allowed 34 catches on 50 passes thrown his direction.
He does not possess the same range Rolle does, but he is serviceable in pass coverage and is an above-average run-stopper.
The combination of Rolle and Mundy will not be viewed as one of the best safety duos in the league in 2015, but they are both veteran contributors who will help bring stability to Chicago’s secondary.
Mundy appears to be the most logical choice to play strong safety this season because of his experience and familiarity with Rolle, but a pair of backups will be gunning for the position in training camp.
The Backups
The Bears moved up in the 2014 NFL draft to select Minnesota safety Brock Vereen in the fourth round, and the young safety appeared in all 16 games last season and made four starts. He finished the year with 39 tackles, one pass deflection, one interception and one forced fumble.
He is an athletic safety who played cornerback, nickelback and free safety in college, and he could be in the running for the strong safety position this offseason. He is fluid in pass coverage and displays good athleticism, but he needs to improve his anticipation and timing. He is not a prototypical box safety like Mundy, but he has the ability to stop the run.
Pompei had an opportunity to watch Chicago participate in organized team activities (OTAs) this offseason, and he feels good about Vereen’s future in Chicago:
He needs to play more physical and has to improve his tackling, but he could push Mundy for the starting strong safety job later in training camp if new defensive coordinator Vic Fangio favors athleticism at the position.
If Fangio opts for a more athletic strong safety, Vereen could face competition from another young safety.
The Bears decided they needed more youth at the position, and they selected Penn State’s Adrian Amos in the fourth round of this year’s draft. Amos became the 14th safety selected by the Bears since 2000, according to Chicago Bears radio-network sideline reporter Zach Zaidman:
Like Vereen, Amos has experience playing cornerback from his days in college, but he is a better fit at safety. In four seasons at Penn State, Amos collected 149 total tackles, nine tackles for loss, three sacks and seven interceptions.
He is more of a free safety, but he could slide into the strong safety role if needed. He showed off his playmaking ability at the start of OTAs last month.
“The 6-foot, 218-pound Amos made a nifty interception of an overthrown pass in Week 1’s open organized team activity, a play that showcased Amos’ skills as a center fielder-type free safety,” wrote ESPN.com’s Jeff Dickerson.
The young safety struggled as a tackler at Penn State and will have to improve in that area in order to be considered a viable option at either safety position. He will likely start the season as a backup at both safety positions, but he could make a name for himself this year as a special teams contributor.
Vereen and Amos are both good bets to make the roster in 2015, but they will face competition from Malcolm Bronson, Sherrod Martin and Anthony Jefferson.
Bronson signed with the Bears just before the NFL draft, and the former McNeese State star joined the Kansas City Chiefs in 2013 as an undrafted free agent. He spent his whole rookie season on the practice squad and was released by the Chiefs last summer.
He gives the Bears a developmental player who could possibly stick on the roster if he can produce on special teams.
The Bears signed Martin last week to a one-year deal, and the former second-round pick of the Carolina Panthers gives the Bears another experienced veteran. He started 31 games for the Panthers between 2010 and 2011 and has registered 215 tackles, 22 pass deflections and eight interceptions in his five-year career. He spent last season with the Jacksonville Jaguars and made two starts.
Martin is a below-average tackler, but he possesses good hands and makes good breaks on the football. He gives the Bears a serviceable backup who can play both the free and strong safety positions.
Jefferson went undrafted this past May, but the former UCLA Bruin has upside. He played both cornerback and safety in college, but he is viewed as a box safety in the NFL.
He plays a bit heavy-footed at times, but he is smooth in his hips and makes nice breaks on the ball. He is a long shot to make the roster because he is still very raw, but he is an ideal candidate for the practice squad.
Statistical information courtesy of NFL.com and Sports-Reference.com unless otherwise noted. All contract information courtesy of Spotrac.
Matt Eurich is a Chicago Bears Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and a member of the Pro Football Writers of America.
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