The Chicago Bears just signed their 'tight end eraser'
The Chicago Bears made a free agent signing on Wednesday that mostly flew under the radar. Chicago reportedly signed free agent defensive back Dane Cruikshank to a deal (terms of the deal haven't been disclosed yet). The immediate reaction on social media from a lot of Bears fans was "who is that". That's understandable. Cruikshank isn't […]
The Chicago Bears made a free agent signing on Wednesday that mostly flew under the radar.
Chicago reportedly signed free agent defensive back Dane Cruikshank to a deal (terms of the deal haven't been disclosed yet).
The immediate reaction on social media from a lot of Bears fans was "who is that".
That's understandable. Cruikshank isn't an NFL star. The former Arizona defensive back was selected in the fifth round of the 2018 NFL Draft by the Tennessee Titans. He spent the first four years of his career with the Titans.
Cruikshank has battled injuries the last two years, but when healthy he's a key special teams contributor, and more importantly, he completely shuts down opposing tight ends.
Check out this breakdown of how Cruikshank is a "tight end eraser":
Cruikshank is specifically great at jamming tight ends at the line of scrimmage and covering tight ends in man coverage.
There are a lot of great, athletic tight ends in the NFL that are extremely difficult to cover because of their size/speed combination. Linebackers are often too slow to cover tight ends and defensive backs can be too small. It's a mismatch that teams love to exploit.
Cruikshank, however, is able to eliminate that mismatch and level the playing field a bit.
This might not be a signing that moves the needle for Chicago fans this offseason, but it's absolutely a great signing by Bears general manager Ryan Poles.
Featured image via Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports
