Bears: Ideal player that can help fix one of the team's biggest problems
It might not be the biggest need for the Chicago Bears, but it remains a need nonetheless. The linebacker position, more specifically the WILL linebacker position remains in question for Chicago. Nicholas Marrow is set to hit the open market, and behind him is an unproven player going into his second year in Sterling Weatherford. […]
It might not be the biggest need for the Chicago Bears, but it remains a need nonetheless.
The linebacker position, more specifically the WILL linebacker position remains in question for Chicago.
Nicholas Marrow is set to hit the open market, and behind him is an unproven player going into his second year in Sterling Weatherford.
Head coach Matt Eberflus has already made his stance known about the WILL position as well as the three-technique.
“If you do it like we do it, the old school Tampa Bay Buccaneers/Chicago Bears, they would put Lance Briggs/Derrick Brooks behind the 3-technique [and] they’d always travel together," Eberflus told reporters a while back. "That means you’re covered “to the hit”. You can create a lot of things with that. The last place I was at with DeForest [Buckner] and Shaq [Leonard], he [Leonard] was always covered to the hit.
“Those two positions are really important to us.”
So let's talk about one fit: Clemson linebacker Trenton Simpson.
Simpson is everything you look for in a WILL linebacker. He is athletic, he can hold up in coverage, he is rangy, and he is sure-handed as a tackler which should help out with the broken tackle percentage.
Now the downside of his game.
Simpson doesn't handle contact all that well. In fact he would rather try to out-athlete the blocker and avoid contact altogether. When he gets engaged with offensive linemen, he does not posses any advanced maneuvers to disengage from the block. He does not have the frame to hold his own on the strong side in runs.
This all makes him the ideal WILL linebacker. Get him on the weak side of the formation, where he has the least amount of blockers in his path.
Let him be an athlete and prosper.
Solid play at the WILL position is very important in today's NFL due to the fact that defenses are in subpackages (nickel and dime) more often than not. For instance, per Sports Info Solutions, the Bears spent 55% of their defensive snaps in the nickel formation last year.
As it turns out, the defense wasn't very good when in nickel. The Bears pass defense registered the seventh-worst EPA per play and opposing quarterbacks averaged 7.6 yards per attempt, which finished as the fourth-worst mark in the NFL last year.
The rushing stats tell a similar story: they weren't great. While in nickel the Bears run defense averaged the 11th-highest broken tackle and missed tackle percentage at 11.7%. The unit also yielded the second-highest in first down percentage allowed at 31.5% and teams averaged 5.4 yards per carry, which was the eighth-worst mark.
Simpson is someone the Bears would have to take in the second round with the pick they got from the Ravens in the Roquan Smith trade, so I get the hesitancy this might cause some fans. The head coach has made his intentions known however, so it shouldn't come at a shock if he is the selection.
© Ken Ruinard / staff / USA TODAY NETWORK
