Tag: Jordan Lucas

Bears ILB Danny Trevathan considered opting out of 2020 season

The Bears only had two players that chose to forgo the 2020 season, but they were close to losing another valuable member of their defense.

The Chicago Bears suffered a brutal blow to their defense with nose tackle Eddie Goldman choosing to opt out of the 2020 season due to health and safety concerns amid COVID-19. New Bears safety Jordan Lucas also chose to opt out.

While the Bears only had two players that ultimately chose to forgo the 2020 season, they were close to losing another valuable member of their defense.

Inside linebacker Danny Trevathan told reporters that he considered opting out of the 2020 season due to health concerns with his family as his fiancée and his children have asthma.

“I was definitely concerned about the virus,” Trevathan said Friday, via the team’s website. “I definitely took some hard thought about the whole situation. My fiancée? That’s like my backbone. She has chronic asthma and allergies that are crazy. So I really thought about her and all the sacrifices she made. I took it into consideration just because of her and her sacrifice and how important family is and how important she is to me.”

Ultimately, Trevathan decided not to opt out after he saw what safety measures the Bears had implemented at Halas Hall. Following a massive expansion last year, the Bears were able to make sure high-traffic areas like the cafeteria, locker room, training room, weight room and meeting rooms met the guidelines of social distancing.

“I had to see it firsthand, so I came in and I feel like they did a pretty good job handling the situation,” Trevathan said. “You know, this thing is so wild. It’s the first year I’ve ever seen something like this, anybody’s seen something like this, so it definitely made me nervous a little bit. But I feel like I made the right decision.”

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Matt Nagy has ‘no idea’ whether Bears will have more opt-outs ahead of deadline

Matt Nagy believes his team is in a great place, but there’s no way to know what will happen between now and Thursday’s opt-out deadline.

The Chicago Bears have had two players decide to forgo the 2020 season due to health and safety concerns with COVID-19, including nose tackle Eddie Goldman and safety Jordan Lucas. While the losses are significant, especially Goldman, the Bears understand and respect those players’ decisions to opt out.

The NFL set a Thursday deadline for players to decide to opt out, but it excludes emergency situations if a close family member gets sick with COVID-19 or if players are newly diagnosed with a high-risk condition. As of Wednesday, there have been 60 players that have opted out of the 2020 season.

When asked if he believes any other Bears players might opt out, head coach Matt Nagy was upfront with his answer. While he believes his team is in a great place, there’s no way to know what will happen between now and Thursday’s late-afternoon deadline.

“We have no idea,” Nagy told reporters on Wednesday. “I think right now the pulse of our team, we’re in a really good place. We’re kind of in a rhythm right now. You ask some of the guys how they’re feeling in regards to the setup that we have here, and controlling what we can control is giving them a lot of space.

“And then also just talking through this whole procedure, everything about it, we spent a lot of time into where we’re at and how we go about it and the details of everything and then we let them make their decision. But I think for them it’s just to make the best decision for them, and then we fully support anybody that does that.”

The deadline for any other Bears players to opt out is Thursday at 3 p.m. CT.

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NFL sets opt-out deadline for Bears, league this Thursday

There’s been a lot of discussion surrounding the NFL’s opt-out deadline, and it appears the deadline has been set for Thursday.

If there’s one word to describe the NFL in 2020, it’s uncertainty. Uncertainty surrounding the regular season. Uncertainty surrounding the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the game.

One of the options that’s been put on the table has been an opt-out option, where players can forgo the 2020 season in exchange for a stipend. There’s been a lot of discussion surrounding the NFL’s opt-out deadline, specifically when the deadline would finally be set.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the NFL and NFLPA have agreed to set the opt-out deadline for this Thursday at 3 p.m. ET.

There have been nearly 50 players that have elected to opt out. The Bears have already had two players opt out for the 2020 season: Nose tackle Eddie Goldman and safety Jordan Lucas.

Goldman’s opt-out is a brutal blow to Chicago’s defensive line. But general manager Ryan Pace believes in the players on the roster to step up in his absence. John Jenkins is the in-house candidate to replace Goldman, although the Bears could certainly turn to free agency for his replacement.

With Lucas’ decision to opt out, that leaves Tashaun Gipson and Deon Bush to battle for the starting strong safety job opposite two-time Pro Bowler Eddie Jackson.

Last week, Pace told the media that he didn’t expect any other players to opt out after Goldman. Although Lucas has been the lone exception.

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Former Chiefs DB Jordan Lucas opts out of 2020 NFL season

The Lucas Locomotive is off the tracks for the 2020 season.

A member of the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl-winning squad that is no longer with the team has opted out of the 2020 NFL season amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

Former Chiefs DB Jordan Lucas has elected to opt out, the Chicago Bears announced on Monday. Lucas left Kansas City during the 2020’s free agency period to join the Bears, where he was expected to have a legitimate chance to compete for a starting role. Dave Toub’s son, Shane, is part of the Chicago staff and likely played a part in the special teams ace signing a one-year deal worth up to $1 million.

The Chiefs originally acquired Lucas in a trade with the Dolphins ahead of the 2018 NFL season. In his two seasons in Kansas Cty, Lucas appeared in 30 games and started four. He recorded 32 tackles, one tackle for loss, one sack, one interception and two passes defended in 2018. Over the course of his career in Kansas City, he played a combined 485 snaps on special teams, mostly at the gunner position.

This had to be a tough choice for Lucas as he really had a shot to prove himself worthy of a starting job in a weak safety group. Now, he’ll have to wait for another opportunity in 2021.

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Jordan Lucas opts out, Bears activate John Jenkins off COVID reserve list

Safety Jordan Lucas becomes the second Bears player to opt out of the 2020 season following NT Eddie Goldman.

Chicago Bears safety Jordan Lucas has decided to opt-out of the 2020 NFL season due to health and safety concerns about COVID-19, the team announced Monday.

Lucas is now the second player for the Bears that will be sitting out this season. Nose tackle Eddie Goldman was the first player on the Bears roster to opt-out.

The Bears signed Lucas in March after spending two seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs. The 27-year old signed a one year contract worth $1 million.

This comes after the report from ESPN Dan Graziano saying the NFL and NFLPA are expected to extend the opt-out deadline to either Thursday or Friday. The NFL now has over 40 players opting out of the 2020 season.

The Bears have also activated defensive tackle John Jenkins and tight end Eric Saubert off the reserve/COVID-19 list.

Jenkins’ return to the active roster is good news for the Bears, who were left without a true nose tackle on their roster following Goldman’s opt-out and Jenkins being placed on the COVID-19 reserve list. He’s the in-house favorite to replace Goldman this season. Although the Bears could look elsewhere in free agency should they desire.

The Bears also waived offensive lineman Dino Boyd.

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Bears 2020 training camp preview: Safeties

With Eddie Jackson sliding back over to his natural position at free safety, the Chicago Bears defense should get a big boost.

Potentially a question mark entering the offseason, the Chicago Bears quieted the doubters when they signed safety Tashaun Gipson to replace Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, who departed in free agency. Clinton-Dix was persuaded by friend and former Alabama teammate to join the Bears on a one-year, “prove-it” deal, which turned into another one-year deal with the Cowboys.

In order to accommodate Clinton-Dix, All-Pro safety Eddie Jackson slid over to strong safety, taking him away from plays on the ball. Now that Jackson is back in his natural position at free safety, the Chicago Bears defense should get a significant boost.

Let’s review what the Bears safety room looks like as a whole.

Eddie Jackson

Stacy Revere/Getty Images

Back at free safety this season, Jackson should be more comfortable doing what he does best, which is making plays on the ball. The former fourth-round pick has quickly become one of the best safeties in the league, highlighted by an All-Pro year in 2018 where he tallied six interceptions, returning two for touchdowns.

Both of Jackson’s interceptions last year came in desperation mode for the opposition, but the Bears will be counting on him to create turnovers this year.

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Bears safety Jordan Lucas says he ‘110 percent’ plans to kneel during national anthem

New Bears safety Jordan Lucas was afraid of the fallout that would’ve come with taking a knee in 2016. But now, he’s not hesitating.

While the Chicago Bears haven’t discussed as a whole how they plan to approach protesting racial inequality — by kneeling or not kneeling during the national anthem this season — there is one player that already has his mind set.

New Bears safety Jordan Lucas told reporters Tuesday that he “110 percent” plans to kneel before games this season.

“In 2016, my rookie year, I was scared to kneel,” Lucas said, via the Sun-Times. “I didn’t want to lose my position on the team… I didn’t want to lose anything. But I think a lot of people are seeing right now its much bigger than the flag. we’re not disrespecting the flag, nor the military. I think people are really starting to understand that now.”

Following the brutal murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, Lucas has been doing his part to help, which includes donating money to bail protesters out of jail.

“We just want peace,” Lucas said. “We just want justice. We want to be treated the same way as everybody. That’s just the cold, hard facts.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Nagy told reporters that he hasn’t talked to Bears’ upper management about players potentially kneeling during the national anthem, but that it was a conversation that was going to happen.

With Lucas’ statement on Tuesday, that conversation is surely going to happen sooner rather than later.

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5 questions we have following Bears’ 2020 NFL Draft

There are still some unknowns continuing through this offseason as a result of the Bears’ 2020 NFL Draft.

The 2020 NFL Draft in the books, but the work has only begun for the Chicago Bears ahead of the scheduled start of the regular season.

While the Bears addressed some issues on their roster — including cornerback, tight end, pass rush and wide receiver — there are still some unknowns continuing through this offseason as a result of the draft.

Here are five questions we have following the 2020 NFL Draft:

1. What’s the plan at strong safety?

Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

Heading into the draft, there was a strong belief that the Bears were going to bring in a strong safety to pair with Pro Bowler Eddie Jackson. When guys like Antoine Winfield Jr., Grant Delpit and Jeremy Chinn were still on the board when Chicago’s second-round picks rolled around, it was a surprise when the Bears chose to bypass a safety for a tight end and cornerback.

The Bears currently have four safeties that figure to battle for that strong safety job — Deon Bush, Jordan Lucas, DeAndre Houston-Carson and Kentrell Brice. But none of those guys inspire confidence on a starting basis in the secondary.

Bush figures to be the favorite to win the job. But if the Bears were confident that Bush was the guy, they wouldn’t have brought in Ha Ha Clinton-Dix last season. There are still some safety prospects on the free-agent market, including Tony Jefferson, that the Bears could bring in. Otherwise, it’s likely we’re going to see Bush or Lucas opposite Jackson in 2020.

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Minnesota safety Antoine Winfield Jr. had pre-draft meeting with Bears

The Bears are in need of a new starting safety, and they recently had a pre-draft meeting with Minnesota safety Antoine Winfield Jr.

The Chicago Bears have two vacant starting spots in the defensive backfield, making safety and cornerback important offseason needs.

Ahead of the 2020 NFL Draft, the Bears are doing their due diligence on defensive backs following the departures of safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix and cornerback Prince Amukamara.

Minnesota safety Antoine Winfield Jr. appears to have caught their eye, as he recently held a pre-draft meeting over FaceTime with several teams including the Bears, according to Draft Wire’s Justin Melo.

The Bears recently re-signed safety Deon Bush and added safety Jordan Lucas in free agency. Both are expected to compete with the starting spot opposite Pro Bowler Eddie Jackson.

But it wouldn’t be surprising if the Bears chose to target a young safety in the NFL Draft, like Winfield Jr. He’s one of the most versatile defensive backs in this draft class, capable of covering receivers and tackling running backs.

While he played mostly at the free safety spot, which many expect Jackson to return to this season, Winfield Jr. has experience playing multiple positions.

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Report: Bears re-sign S DeAndre Houston-Carson

The Bears continue to add depth to their defense and special teams units with the re-signing of DeAndre Houston-Carson.

The Chicago Bears have been busy inking defensive players to one-year deals over the last few days and Monday was no different.

According to the Chicago Tribune‘s Brad Biggs, the Bears have re-signed safety DeAndre Houston-Carson to a one-year contract.

Houston-Carson, drafted in the sixth round of the 2016 NFL Draft, has become a key player on special teams. Last season, Houston-Carson played in all 16 games and totaled 6 tackles.

The former William & Mary standout is the latest Bears defender to return to Chicago, as the team agreed to terms with safety Deon Bush, outside linebacker Isaiah Irving, and defensive end Brent Urban on one-year deals, all within the last few days.

The team also recently signed cornerback Artie Burns, strong safety Jordan Lucas, and outside linebacker Barkevious Mingo to one-year contracts as well.

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