When Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen surveyed the talent on his defense, he focused attention on the line, where there is an obvious need for help.
He definitely came away from his first glance happy with the secondary.
“I felt like there were some pieces in place,” Allen said. “In particular, I think there’s some things that we have in the secondary that I like. There are some pieces at linebacker that I’m encouraged by.”
Tremaine Edmunds and T.J. Edwards have to feel positive about this. It was just last month that Overthecap.com listed a projection of potential salary cap cuts for all teams and the Bears had five on the chart, including both of their starting linebackers. The projection was basically a guess based on
“I like the fact that they have some man coverage ability, we’ve got some versatility at the safety position. I see the fit,” Allen said.
While there are players who stand to benefit on offense from Ben Johnson’s attack, there are also players who can do the same on defense with Allen’s scheme.
Here are the players on the Bears defense who could be elevated most by playing in Allen’s 4-3 defense.
CB Tyrique Stevenson
When Allen said he liked the pieces in the secondary he expressed particular delight in the size and reach of the cornerbacks. In particular, Stevenson fits here. At 6-foot, 204 pounds, he seems a perfect fit for the scheme because of the use of both man-to-man and zone. Allen’s DBs have always been very physical, at safety or cornerback, and Stevenson’s tackling ability has often been praised by Bears assistants despite the mental gaffes he had at times.
Co-director of player personnel Trey Koziol had called it a general goal of the defense to get bigger defensive backs when both Stevenson and Terell Smith were drafted, and praised Stevenson’s man-to-man coverage ability.
