Bears Preseason Week 1: Position Battles (Defense)

Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

Position: Free Safety

Up: Brock Vereen – While Vereen didn’t have any “wow” plays, he played well enough in his first NFL game ever that I think he took the lead as the #1 FS at least until Conte comes back. My biggest concern when the Bears drafted Vereen was his ability to tackle NFL players. Vereen was a strong safety in college, but he’s not a big guy (5’11, 199). I feel much more confident about Vereen’s ability to lay the wood on opposing wide receivers after Friday nights game. Vereen had 3 solid tackles, wrapping up the ball carrier with a textbook technique that I haven’t seen from a Bears safety since Mike Brown. In the passing game, Vereen was a step or two too slow to make any plays, but the fact that he was right there a foot or two from breaking up the pass is encouraging. Pretty good overall performance for his first NFL game.

Down: M.D. Jennings – After getting some 1st team reps early in training camp, Jennings didn’t see the field until early in the 4th quarter. Not a good sign for his chances to make the roster.

No Change: Danny McCray – It’s a good sign that McCray started the game across from Ryan Mundy, but outside of an early tackle I don’t remember seeing McCray on the field. He has been getting time with the 1st team in practice, but he wasn’t impressive at all with the Cowboys last year and I will need to see more from McCray before I have any faith in him contributing this year.