Chicago Bears Week 7: Rookie Report
FS Brock Vereen – The Bears finally gave Vereen a chance to start and for the most part he played pretty well. Vereen played every snap on defense and held his own in both coverage and vs the run. The most notable play was a missed tackle on Ryan Tannehill’s 30-yard run on a key 4th & 1, but Tannehill was already 10 yards down field so it’s not like a Vereen stop would have done much anyway. That missed tackle may have been Vereen’s signature play, but after reviewing the tape he actually played well for his first start. He finished with just 4 tackles but did a decent job in coverage down field and was adequate in run support. PFF graded Vereen at a mediocre -.5 for the day, but considering that it was his first start I think he showed enough potential to earn another one.
P Pat O’Donnell – Outside of Jeremiah Ratliff, O’Donnell may have been the Bears MVP. He only had 3 punts, but boomed them for a 53 yard average. O’Donnell pinned two of the three punts inside the 20 yard line and showed a glimpse of why the Bears spent a 6th round pick on a punter.
OLB Christian Jones – I have no idea why the Bears thought Shea McClellin deserved to get his starting spot back this week, but hopefully they learned their lesson after McClellin was exposed on multiple read option runs. Jones took McClellin’s spot late in the 2nd half but it was too late by then. Jones only got 11 snaps but had a nice stop near the line of scrimmage on Daniel Thomas. He has only played about a game and a half this season, but Jones has already shown more potential than McClellin has in 3 games.
RB Senorise Perry – It looks like the kick returner job is gone for good after Chris Williams had a break out day on Sunday with a 37.5 yard average on kick returns. Perry continued his solid work on the kick & punt coverage units though and his spot on special teams should be secure through the rest of the season.
CB Al Louis-Jean – Played on special teams and made a nice play on punt coverage. Hopefully ALJ gets a shot at corner again at some point this season, but with Sherick McManis healthy and Demontre Hurst playing well ALJ will be stuck on special teams for now.
LB DeDe Lattimore – Played on special teams for the 2nd consecutive week and assisted on a kick return tackle. Lattimore and fellow rookie Louis-Jean have improved the special teams coverage unit the last two weeks and should stick around on the roster for the short-term at least.
Inactives
SS Ahmad Dixon
T Charles Leno Jr.
CB Terrance Mitchell