Searching For CB Help In A Tight Market.....

[soulman]

Bears surely will shop at the corner market

The secondary for the Bears faces a tough test in Week 1, as the Rams have a talented receiving corps, including Robert Woods (above). Kelvin Kuo/ap

 

Bears director of player personnel Josh Lucas appeared on the Fox-32 pregame show Saturday in Tennessee and referred to the approaching blitz of cuts to the 53-man roster by 3 p.m. Tuesday as the “Super Bowl.”

That’s what roster purging represents for NFL scouts, who comb the personnel notices for names that could potentially fill back-end roster spots. What’s the old adage? One team’s garbage is another team’s fourth cornerback? Not exactly, but you get the point.

If the Bears are going to be active in this process over the next 48 hours — and rest assured they will be scouring the list of available players — the prize might be a cornerback or two instead of the Lombardi Trophy.

The team feels good about Kindle Vildor, the fifth-round draft pick from a year ago who has ascended into the starting spot created when the Bears released Kyle Fuller in March. Vildor hasn’t had a lot of competition, but the coaching staff and front office are aligned in believing the moment won’t be too big for him.

Fuller’s release, the product of salary-cap management catching up to the organization with the pandemic-related rollback for 2021, left last year’s second-round pick, Jaylon Johnson, as the unquestioned top cornerback on the team.

After Johnson and Vildor, however, there are considerable questions.

Who will line up as the nickel cornerback, a position that’s needed for roughly 70% of snaps?

Who will be the first backup on the outside? What does the depth look like beyond that?

The answers are murky, and though potential solutions could arise this week, it’s unlikely another team would simply cast off any major talent. Last week the Ravens, one team with a surplus at corner, traded rookie Shaun Wade to the Patriots for a seventh-round pick in 2022 and a fifth-round pick in 2023. Not a bad return for this year’s fifth-round pick after it was apparent the Ravens had too much talent in front of him.

The Saints are another team said to be closely monitoring the market for cornerbacks.

“A lot of teams are looking for cornerbacks right now,” one personnel man said via text. “I’m not sure who the sellers are though. More demand than supply.”
There’s optimism the Bears will be in good shape with their starters on the outside, but if they had a high level of confidence in Duke Shelley at nickel, they wouldn’t have continued to rotate different options with the first unit through training camp and the preseason. Marqui Christian got more time with the first unit in Saturday’s 27-24 victory over the Titans. He has been primarily a safety in his NFL career, with the Bears introducing him to the nickel spot toward the end of the offseason program.

Few offenses can test a nickel cornerback like the Bears’ Week 1 opponent, the Rams, who have Robert Woods, Cooper Kupp, DeSean Jackson and Van Jefferson at wide receiver.

Nickel is a complicated position, and it would be challenging to get a newcomer up to speed quickly.

As for depth on the outside, Johnson missed the final three regular-season games and the playoff loss in New Orleans last season with a shoulder injury, the same thing that plagued him at times during his college career at Utah. Vildor was tested only briefly at the end of last season, and beyond them it’s unclear.

Veteran Desmond Trufant has been excused for personal reasons for about two weeks after his father died. Because he has been gone, he would be subject to a five-day COVID-19 intake period if he returns. Artie Burns, who suffered a torn ACL during training camp last summer, has received substantial playing time in the preseason. The former Steelers first-round pick didn’t look great against the Titans. Rookie sixth-round pick Thomas Graham experienced a bumpy preseason as well.

“That competition with those guys there on that back end with Kindle and Artie Burns and some of these other guys, it’s been good,” coach Matt Nagy said Monday. “And I like where Kindle’s at. I think the depth behind — like, when you say nickel position, I think Duke Shelley and (Christian) have been doing a good job of battling, and that’s again stuff that we’re going to be working through tonight and into (Tuesday).

“But we feel good with where we’re at. I think (defensive coordinator) Sean (Desai has) done a really good job. Sean’s background is that nickel position — he’s coached it. He knows it. He understands it. So he can put those guys to use their strengths within this defense, so I feel good about that.

“Same with the corners too. You want to be able to see a guy like Kindle come in and do what he’s doing. But the depth guys behind him, they’re all competing and I think that’s going to be one of the (spots) where we’ve got to really make some big decisions.”

The Bears don’t have enough salary-cap space to make a considerable investment at any position.

They will be 20th in line when it comes to waiver claims — the order is the same as the draft — so the chances of them making a successful claim for an intriguing cornerback aren’t great.

Maybe that will lead general manager Ryan Pace to seek a potential trade partner. Perhaps the Bears are comfortable enough with the players they have — but you can bet the front office is preparing for its Super Bowl.

Edited August 31, 2021 by soulman

[soulman]

2 minutes ago, soulman said:

The team feels good about Kindle Vildor, the fifth-round draft pick from a year ago who has ascended into the starting spot created when the Bears released Kyle Fuller in March.

 

And they may be the only ones who "feel good" about him.

I feel good about the tires on my car too but whenever I take a long trip I always carry a full size spare so if I have a flat 20 miles outside of Bumphuc Nebraska at 3:30 AM I'm not stuck driving on a "donut spare" and waiting for a tire shop to open in the morning.