Chicago Bears Rookies: REPORT TO CAMP!
Published by Michael de los Reyes on May 12, 2009
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
This year’s Chicago Bears training camp and preseason will provide an insight to the team’s chances of making the playoffs. At the end of last season, the team had vacancies at the third linebacker position, defensive tackle, both safety positions and nickel cornerback.
Considering the multi-million dollar, long-term contracts invested in linebackers Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs, cornerbacks Charles Tillman and Nathan Vasher, and defensive lineman Tommy Harris, the franchise chose to take younger and less-expensive players in free agency and the draft to fill the open positions.
Five of the Bears’ nine draft choices were used on defensive players this April. The most notable were defensive lineman Jarron Gilbert from San Jose State University in the third round, cornerback D.J. Moore from Vanderbilt University in the fourth round, and Oregon State free safety Al Afalava in the sixth round.
NFL scouts view the Bears’ selections as value picks. Gilbert displayed his athleticism on a now-famous Internet video when he launched his six-foot-five-inch, 288-pound frame out of the shallow end of swimming pool and landed on his feet.
Moore has shown exceptional jumping ability and ball-awareness, and is considered the steal of the draft by some NFL draft experts. Afalava is considered an immediate special teams starter because of his hard-hitting nature.
In free agency, the Bears picked up two fleet-footed veterans to bolster the defensive backfield: New Orleans safety Josh Bullocks and Texans cornerback Glenn Earl.
If the Bears have a chance at the playoffs, Head Coach Lovie Smith must develop those late-round draft picks into immediate contributors on defense. NFL scouts expressed concerns about the Bears draftees on the National Football League Web site.
Gilbert may be more athlete than football player. Moore is considered too short and a bit slow to be an NFL cornerback. Afalava’s strong tackling may hide a weakness in is coverage skills. Bullocks and Earl have the stigma of playing for the league’s worst secondaries.
The new players will have a lot to accomplish during training camp. They will need to develop veteran techniques to create leverage and position advantages against larger and stronger NFL opponents. And everyone will need to learn, or re-learn for the veterans, the nuances of Smith’s Tampa-two defensive scheme.
The Bears should not have a problem with rookies missing training camp because of contract negotiations. Players drafted in the first-round draft choices are more likely miss training camp time because their contracts are signed later in the year.
Newly hired Bears Defensive Line Coach Rod Marinelli, a former Detroit Lions head coach and former Buccaneers defensive line coach, may be the key to improving the Bears defense in 2009.
Last, the Bears pass defense ranked near the bottom of the league. Opposing quarterbacks threw for more than 4,000 yards and were sacked only 26 times against the Bears pass defense. The Super Bowl XLIII Champion Pittsburgh Steelers, in comparison, had 59 sacks and gave up less than 2,900 passing yards last season.
Marinelli’s priorities will be to improve the defensive line’s technique, further develop linemen’s skills, add roster depth and create immediate contributors to rotate into the game. Marinelli worked with Bears Head Coach Lovie Smith, while Smith was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ linebacker coach, to create the high-pressure Tampa-two defense.
During Smith’s and Marinelli’s time together, Tampa Bay led the league in sacks and had pro bowl defensive linemen Warren Sapp, Simeon Rice, Anthony McFarland, and Corey Simon.
The key to the Buccaneers’ success in the Tampa-two scheme was the ability of the four defensive linemen to generate pressure up the middle of the field, occupy multiple blockers and disrupt the flow the play. Because the offense’s options were limited, the seven remaining defenders were free to make the drive ending plays.
The Steelers, despite their 3-4 defense, are a good example of team that had effective linemen. The Steelers were second in the league in gang-tackles, with 341, but ranked near the bottom of the league in solo tackles with 784 last season.
That means the Steelers had more defenders around the ball to stop the play and to inflict twice as much pain on the ball carrier.
The Bears’ ineffective defense line made life difficult for the rest of the team. Last season, the Bears led the league in solo tackles, with 918, but ranked second to last in gang-tackles with 172.
Those statistics indicate that the Bears had fewer players around the ball carrier and were more likely to give up a big play if someone a missed tackle.
