Ben Johnson’s latest comments on Coby Bryant answer the last remaining concern fans had about the Bears top free agent signing
Coby Bryant is exactly what the Chicago Bears needed at the safety position.
When the free agency window opened earlier this month, the Chicago Bears moved quick to lure starting safety Coby Bryant away from the Seattle Seahawks after playing out the final year of his rookie contract, a deal that was capped off with a Super Bowl win.
“Anytime you bring a player in and your phones go off from coaches, front office, on how pissed off Seattle was not having him back, but also how fortunate we are to have a guy like this in our building, that’s what you want to hear,” Bears general manager Ryan Poles said of acquiring Bryant. “That’s exactly what happened. We’re fired up.”
The timing of that process is what excited Bryant the most. The Bears moving as quick as they did showed how much Chicago wanted him and proved the team was ready to made some tough decisions to upgrade the position. One of those decisions involved letting All-Pro safety and two-time team captain Kevin Byard III walk out of the door and sign with the New England Patriots.
At the NFL Annual Meeting, Bears head coach Ben Johnson shared more about the process of acquiring Bryant and how his leadership qualities can mitigate the loss of someone like Byard.
Ben Johnson believes Coby Bryant as the ‘it factor’ as a player and as a leader
“My little exposure with him when he came in was, ‘Holy cow, this guy has got the ‘it’ factor to him,’” Johnson said. “He’s got some dynamic traits in terms of his personality that I think are going to rub off on our guys—and not to mention the way he plays the game is what we want our defense to look like as well.”
That leadership aspect is an untapped part of Bryant’s game. He’s only four years into his career and still just 27-years-old. Quite a difference compared to Byard, who is 32-years-old with 11 seasons under his belt. We all knew the Bears were getting a tone-setter and faster player in Bryant that will be a better fit in defensive coordinator Dennis Allen’s system.
The problem was whether or not Bryant would be able to make up for the loss of Byard from a locker room standpoint as a team leader. Johnson clearly sees those kind of traits in his new free agent addition and the belief that Bryant has what it takes to be a leader in Chicago.
Bryant is about to embark on a new chapter of his career with the Bears and part of the expectations will be taking up more of a leadership role. It’s big shoes to fill replacing Byard but the Bears have been blown away by what Bryant can bring so far and he hasn’t even stepped foot on the field yet.
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