Tag: Duke Shelley

Bears’ most exciting roster competitions heading into summer

Let’s take a look at the Bears’ most exciting position battles to watch heading into training camp.

The Chicago Bears have several starting jobs up for grabs this offseason during what’s sure to be an entertaining offseason. And while jobs won’t be won or lost during Organized Team Activities, which kick off Tuesday, it’s the start of what’s going to be an important training camp and preseason for a number of players.

That are several position battles that are likely to capture attention, both on offense and defense. Not only are there starting spots up for grabs, but roster spots, which is likely to leave some players without a job when all is said and done.

Let’s take a look at the four most exciting roster competitions to watch heading into training camp.

Bears injury report: Jaylon Johnson, Buster Skrine ruled out vs. Jaguars

Here’s a look at the Bears’ full injury report from Friday’s practice, as well as game designations vs. the Jaguars.

The Chicago Bears released their final injury report ahead of Sunday’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, which included a couple of key starters in the secondary that have already been ruled out.

Chicago has ruled out cornerbacks Jaylon Johnson (shoulder) and Buster Skrine (concussion), which means more of Duke Shelley and Kindle Vildor in Week 16.

There were also a handful of players deemed questionable against the Jaguars, including Shelley, outside linebacker Khalil Mack, defensive tackle Akiem Hicks, receiver Allen Robinson, defensive tackle Bilal Nichols and kick returner/running back Cordarrelle Patterson.

Here’s a look at the full injury report from Friday’s practice, as well as game designations against the Jaguars.

Bears CB Jaylon Johnson ruled out vs. Vikings in Week 15

Beating the Vikings just got a little harder as the Bears will without an important member of their secondary in what’s like a playoff game.

Beating the Minnesota Vikings just got a little harder for the Chicago Bears as they’ll be without an important member of their secondary in what’s essentially a playoff game for the Bears.

Rookie cornerback Jaylon Johnson has been ruled out for Sunday’s game. Johnson, who didn’t practice all week, was originally ruled questionable with a shoulder injury sustained in last Sunday’s win against the Houston Texans.

Safety Deon Bush, who was questionable with a foot injury, was also downgraded to out. The Bears also activated cornerback Xavier Crawford to the active roster.

Johnson has been an immediate impact player for the Bears as a rookie this season, where he’s started every game since Week 1. He’s been the best cornerback in the 2020 draft class, even though he was the seventh cornerback off the board.

Johnson’s loss is huge given Minnesota’s receiving tandem of Adam Thielen and rookie Justin Jefferson. In the last meeting, Jefferson went off for 135 receiving yards on eight receptions — and that was with Johnson in the line-up.

The Bears were already without cornerback Buster Skrine, who remains in concussion protocol for the second straight week. Get ready for a steady dose of Duke Shelley and fifth-round rookie Kindle Vildor on Sunday against the Vikings.

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5 takeaways from Bears’ dominant 36-7 win over the Texans

All three phases exceeded expectations and the Bears finally have life again in the playoff race. Here are our takeaways from the win.

The Chicago Bears’ two-month long nightmare finally came to an end on Sunday when they dominated the Houston Texans on the lakefront, winning 36-7 and snapping their seven-game losing streak.

The win was a complete team effort, as the offense started fast and didn’t look back, while the defense made life miserable for Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson, sacking him six times and forcing two turnovers on the day.

Though the season has slipped away, this was a win fans can feel good about. All three phases exceeded expectations and the Bears finally have life again in the playoff race. There was a lot to unpack from this victory, so here are my key takeaways following the win.

Bears 2020 training camp preview: Cornerbacks

Here is a breakdown of each cornerback as the Bears prepare for the start of training camp.

When the Chicago Bears cornerbacks take the field in just under a week, there will be some familiarity but also quite a bit of change. Pro Bowl cornerback Kyle Fuller returns as the team’s top option as he continues to establish himself as one of the best corners in the game, but he doesn’t know who his counterpart on the other side of the field will be.

Former starting cornerback Prince Amukamara was released in February and the Bears have brought in a bevy of players in free agency and the NFL Draft to compete for the starting position opposite of Fuller.

The position group will certainly be one to watch when camp officially begins. Here is a breakdown of each cornerback as the Bears get ready for the 2020 season.

Kyle Fuller

Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images

Kyle Fuller continues to rewrite his own history as the former 2014 first-round draft pick went from bust to beast. Fuller put together another fine season in 2019, intercepting three passes and posting a career high in tackles with 82. His production did slip from his outstanding 2018 season, but that was in part due to the Bears’ front seven not generating enough pass rush. Fuller is a player who plays off the ball, able to watch the quarterback and receiver to make last-minute plays on the ball.

Fuller is one of the longest-tenured Bears and will be expected to lead the position group on and off the field more than ever now that Amukamara, one of the team’s key leaders since 2017, has moved on. His first task? Mentoring the Bears hotshot second-round draft pick.

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Ranking each Bears draft class under Ryan Pace

When you put each of Bears GM Ryan Pace’s first five draft classes next to one another, how do they stack up?

We’re down to just hours before the 2020 NFL Draft officially begins in Las Vegas, NV virtually, giving teams yet another opportunity to improve their roster as the offseason marches on.

For Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Pace, this year’s draft will be his sixth and like most GMs, he’s found his share of diamonds in the rough while missing badly on top prospects.

But when you put each of his first five draft classes next to one another, how do they stack up? Below is a ranking of Pace’s worst to best draft classes between 2015 and 2019.

5) 2019 draft class

Daniel Bartel-USA TODAY Sports

Key hits – None

Key misses – None

It seems a little unfair to rank the Bears most-recent draft class in last place, considering the players have only had one season to develop. But the truth is, none of the Bears five picks have shown they are true hits yet. They also relinquished their first and second-round picks when they traded for All-Pro outside linebacker Khalil Mack prior to the 2018 season.

Their first selection didn’t come until pick No. 73, trading up in the third round for running back David Montgomery. The former Cyclone was decent and definitely showed flashes throughout the season, but he wasn’t consistent enough and only averaged 3.7 yards per carry. He wasn’t bad by any means, but he wasn’t a standout. Most notably, he was the only rookie to play a significant amount of snaps.

Their next pick, wide receiver Riley Ridley, didn’t play a single down until Week 13 and failed to make an impact. Cornerback Duke Shelley, the Bears’ sixth-round pick, spent a large portion of the season inactive, and their pair of seventh-rounders in running back Kerrith Whyte Jr. and cornerback Stephen Denmark were released and spent the year on the practice squad, respectively.

It was a rough year for this rookie class, but the bright side for this group is Montgomery, Ridley, and Shelley will have more opportunities to prove themselves and take the next step in their careers in Year 2.

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NFL.com gives Bears 2019 rookie draft class a C+ grade

It was an overall disappointment for the Bears’ rookie class during one of the more disappointing seasons in recent history for Chicago.

It was an overall disappointment for the Bears’ rookie class during one of the more disappointing seasons in recent history for Chicago.

With no first or second round draft picks, the Bears had just five selections. They traded up 13 spots to take running back David Montgomery, who had 889 rushing yards and six touchdowns in his rookie season. But Chicago’s other four picks didn’t has big an impact.

NFL.com ranked the Bears’ rookie draft class third in the NFC North with a grade of a C+, which trailed the Packers (B+) and Vikings (B-).

Beyond the well-documented quarterback issue (SEE: next paragraph), the biggest culprit behind Chicago’s unexpectedly blah season was the offensive line. Bears GM Ryan Pace openly acknowledged the unit’s shortcomings in his end-of-season press conference: “We struggled in that area this year — that’s real.” And therein lies the problem in evaluating the rookie campaign of Montgomery, whose yards-per-carry mark (3.7) left a lot to be desired. But honestly, Chicago’s O-line hung Montgomery out to dry pretty routinely — and obviously, opposing defenses weren’t too worried about getting burned by the Mitchell Trubisky-led passing game on a snap-by-snap basis. Montgomery did his best to overcome these adverse circumstances, breaking the eighth-most tackles in the NFL (47) — which is how he finished second among all rookies in both rushing yards (889) and rushing touchdowns (6).

Montgomery was the only draft selection that made an impact for Chicago in 2019, which made the Bears’ draft class unimpressive considering just one of their five selections saw the field for a significant amount of time.

Besides Montgomery’s production, the Bears didn’t get much of anything out of the rookie class. This isn’t all that surprising, considering Chicago made just five selections last April, with Montgomery being the only player taken before Day 3 of the draft. Coming out of Georgia, Ridley was advertised as a polished route runner — like his brother, Calvin — but he couldn’t even crack the game day roster until Week 13. Adding insult to ineffectiveness: The very next two wideouts selected after Ridley — Hunter Renfrow and Darius Slayton — provided significant Year 1 contributions.

Receiver Riley Ridley and cornerback Duke Shelley saw little playing time. Then there was seventh-round picks running back Kerrith Whyte and cornerback Stephen Denmark that didn’t make any impact on the active roster. Denmark spent the season on the practice squad while Whyte was dealt the the Steelers.

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Bears’ 2019 rookie class ranked 8th in NFL

It was hard to expect much from the Bears’ 2019 rookie class considering that they had 5 selections. But where did they rank in the NFL?

It was hard to expect much from the Bears’ 2019 rookie draft class considering that they had just five draft selections, including no picks before Round 3 and three selections in Round 6 and 7.

The Bears’ rookie class was less than impactful. David Montgomery was the only rookie that saw substantial playing time in 2019, as he took over as the team’s starting running back.

Surprisingly, ESPN and Pro Football Focus ranked the Bears’ rookie class the eighth best in 2019.

The Bears have a strange class. They had only five picks, none before Round 3, with three of those five selections coming after Round 6. As a result, their expected return was low. Running back David Montgomery was really the only Bears’ rookie to play significant snaps, and he managed to provide enough return from his third-round selection to land them at No. 8.

While Montgomery showed flashes of potential in Matt Nagy’s limited rushing offense, you could argue that it wasn’t enough to garner the Bears’ underperforming rookie class in the top-10. Montgomery had 889 rushing yards and six touchdowns as a rookie.

Highly-touted fourth-round receiver Riley Ridley was shelved for most of the season, and it took injuries to the Bears receiving corp. for Ridley to get some playing time in the final three games. He finished his rookie season with six receptions for 69 yards.

Sixth-round cornerback Duke Shelley was confined to special teams in his rookie season. While seventh-round running back Kerrith Whyte Jr. was signed off the Bears practice squad by the Steelers, where he had 24 carries for 122 yards in six games. Then there’s seventh-round cornerback Stephen Denmark, who spent his rookie season on the Bears’ practice squad.

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Bears rookie draft class has played fewest snaps in the NFL

Despite receiving high praise coming out of the 2019 NFL Draft, the Bears’ 2019 draft class has been nowhere to be seen.

It’s been nearly seven months since the 2019 NFL Draft concluded in Nashville, and 254 players saw their NFL dreams come true. Five of those eventually becoming Chicago Bears.

Running back David Montgomery, wide receiver Riley Ridley, cornerback Duke Shelley, running back Kerrith Whyte Jr. and cornerback Stephen Denmark rounded out the 2019 Bears rookie class, a group that received high marks following the draft.

But despite the high praise, you may have noticed that outside of Montgomery, the Bears rookie class has been nowhere to be seen. It’s not your eyes playing tricks on you, it’s reality.

After calculating each team’s snap counts via Pro Football Reference through Week 10 of the NFL season, the Bears rookie draft class has played a total of just 366 snaps, the fewest in the NFL. For context, NFL rookie draft classes have averaged 1,441 snaps. The New York Giants, led by quarterback Daniel Jones, have the most snaps at 3,226.

Out of the Bears’ 366 snaps, Montgomery, their top draft pick selected in the third round, accounts for 329 and Shelley, their sixth-round pick, has played the remaining 37 plays. Ridley, Whyte Jr., and Denmark have yet to see the field.

Without a first or second round pick due to trades involving outside linebacker Khalil Mack and wide receiver Anthony Miller, respectively, the Bears relied on their mid-round picks to find talent.

General manager Ryan Pace has had success in rounds 3-7 throughout his tenure, finding gems such as safety Adrian Amos, linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski, safety Eddie Jackson, running back Tarik Cohen, and defensive tackle Bilal Nichols, who contributed immediately in the regular season and/or developed into solid players in the NFL.

But after a slew of success in those rounds, the Bears appear to have stalled this season, only utilizing one rookie regularly in games. While they did tie with the New Orleans Saints for the fewest amount of picks in the draft, the Saints’ rookie class has played 1,095 snaps so far in 2019, ranked 23rd in the league.

With such few picks, the need to hit on draft picks is more crucial than ever. Montgomery has shown flashes of his hard-nosed running that made him a popular back while at Iowa State.

Ridley was touted as a precise route-running receiver who would translate well to the next level, and Shelley was a ball hawk at Kansas State before injuring his ankle, hurting his draft stock. Both players are on the active roster, but have been healthy scratches for most, if not all the games. Ridley has not been active for any game this year and Shelley last played in Week 4 against Minnesota on special teams. Whyte Jr. and Denmark have spent the season on the practice squad.

With six games remaining and a spot in the playoffs still achievable, it’s unlikely fans will see the other members of the rookie draft class barring injury. But at some point, Matt Nagy and the rest of the coaching staff need to know what they have in their rookies and how they can contribute in 2020 and beyond.

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