Chicago Bears Mini-Camp – Undrafted Rookies to Watch
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MLB – The fact that the Bears ignored the linebacker position in the off-season was a pet peeve of mine and I was relieved to see Emery finally address it even though it took till the undrafted free agent portion of the draft. I was bummed when the Bears pased on MSU’s Max Bullough, WKU’s Andrew Jackson, and Stanford’s Shane Skov but they did sign the next guy in my MLB rankings, MLB DeDe Lattimore from South Florida. Lattimore is a tough as nails run defender who has great instincts shooting the gaps to stuff the run or blitz and is a more physical run defender than any of the Bears current LBs except Lance Briggs. Lattimore’s lack of height (6’1, 237) will make it difficult for him to cover tight ends down the seam, but the Bears had the worst run defense in the NFL last year and Lattimore will improve that if he’s on the field. He is a big hitter who forced 4 fumbles last season and his first step quickness allows him to shoot gaps and blow up plays near the line of scrimmage. Lattimore was a team captain last season and led the team in almost every defensive category. Few people are talking about Lattimore as an impact player, but I think that is exactly what he can be and wouldn’t be surprised if he took over for DJ Williams as the starting MLB in 2015.
CB – The Bears are set at corner for the 2014 season with Pro Bowl starters Tim Jennings and Peanut Tillman, good depth with 1st round pick Kyle Fuller, promising nickel back Isaiah Frey and solid veteran Kelvin Hayden. Three of the five are on the wrong side of 30 though, so the Bears need to start building depth for the future. They have 2nd year players Demontre Hurst (OKL) and Derricus Purdy (TXS) under contract but they also invited some undrafted talent to their rookie mini-camp. I couldn’t decide who my favorite option was so I went with two since there are usually at least three corners on the field at all times anyway.
The closet to making an impact is CB Ciante Evans from Nebraska. I thought Evans had a chance to get drafted and had graded him as one of the top 51 priority free agents. He fell to the Bears as an unsigned mini-camp invite because he doesn’t stand out as an athlete. He has decent size (5’10, 193) and just average speed for a corner (4.59), so doesn’t jump out on the athleticism scale, but he is a good productive football player. Evans was a two-year starter at corner for the Huskies, was voted 1st team All-Big10 by the coaches, and a team captain by his teammates. Last season Evans had 4 INTs, 11.5 TFLs and 3 sacks. He may not wow scouts athletically but he understands how to play corner, makes receivers work to get open, is a willing tackler vs the run, and an instinctive blitzer when asked to do so. Evans doesn’t have the long speed to be a man corner or the size to be a press corner, but he is a good fit in a zone scheme like the Bears play and I think he could contribute as a solid sub package corner for the Bears this year.
While Evans is close to a finished product, CB Al Louis-Jean is a project with elite potential. Coming out of high-school Louis-Jean was a 4-star prospect being recruited by Florida, Ohio St, Miami, and Oregon but ended up at Boston College after Miami’s coach got fired. ALJ had a promising freshman year, starting a few games and showing lock-down corner potential. He ended up missing his sophomore season with a broken foot and when he came back the next year (2013) BC had a new coaching staff that ALJ feuded with right off the bat. He missed 4 of the first 5 games his sophomore year (2013) and then the last two games as well. After a total of only 20 games during his college career and with two years of eligibility left, ALJ decided to declare for the draft instead of transferring which probably would have been the better move. That ship has sailed, so now ALJ is a 20-year old corner prospect with almost no college experience as a starter, but great size (6’1, 187), long arms (32 3/4), and excellent speed (4.50). The Bears used one of their 30 official pre-draft visits on ALJ, so there is legitimate interest and I think he will end up on the practice squad this year. I hope he does because ALJ has unlimited upside.
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FS – This was a tough choice because the Bears brought in three very promising prospects at free safety. I don’t have as much faith in Brock Vereen as most analysts and have none in Conte or Jennings, so I am glad Emery finally addressed the position. Temple’s Abdul Smith and Indiana’s Greg Hebron have almost as much of a shot as my favorite option, FS Marcus Trice out of North Texas. He is a transfer from Oklahoma who was an all-conference free safety as a senior at North Texas. Trice is short (5’8) but a stocky 193 pounds. He is very quick with decent long speed (4.57) and very good ball skills (5 INTs, 9 PDs in 2013). He would be short for a safety in the pros, but has the skill-set to have a chance at free safety or as a slot corner. Trice is an aggressive tackler despite his small size (91 tackles) and packs a punch (3 forced fumbles). Trice’s size makes him a long-shot, but he’s a great football player. I see him as a poor man’s LaMarcus Joyner.
SS – I like the Bears new strong safety, free agent acquisition Ryan Mundy, but they have little depth at the position. The combination of Craig Steltz and Danny McCray should never see the field except on special teams and that is pretty much all the Bears have behind Mundy on the depth chart unless they plan on using Vereen at SS which he doesn’t really have the size for. The Bears passed on some solid SS options in the draft, but luckily they did invite one good option to their rookie mini-camp. Larry King from Indiana St started every game for the Sycamores from his freshman through junior year racking up 191 tackles and 7 interceptions. King came into his senior year as a team captain and the team’s #1 NFL prospect, a projected 6th-7th round pick. On the first series of 2013 practice King tore his ACL and missed the whole season. Months ahead of his recovery date, King decided to participate in the Indiana / Indiana St pro day and ran a 4.5 40-yard dash and broad jumped 10’4″. Both of those numbers would have been top 5 among safeties at the combine and the best numbers for a safety with his size (6’2, 215). King has the size and athleticism to be an NFL safety and while his injury crushed his draft chances, it may have given the Bears a steal.
Twitter: @MikeFlannery_