Chicago Bears Draft Profile: CB Jacoby Glenn
Matthew O
Strengths:
Good length (6’0) with the frame to support another 15-20 pounds eventually. A former wide receiver in high school, Glenn has excellent ball skills, fluid hips, changes direction smoothly, closes on the ball with explosion, consistently attacks at the high-point, and catches just about everything within his radius. Glenn has shown a knack for both zone coverage due to natural timing and press coverage with a jarring punch at the line of scrimmage, which makes him an ideal fit for Vic Fangio’s scheme. He was also a strong, aggressive run defender despite his slight frame (179 pounds). Glenn left college after his red-shirt sophomore year, so he is understandably raw but he showed elite football instincts in his limited time as a starter.
Weaknesses:
As I mentioned above, Glenn left school after his red-shirt sophomore season, so he is a bit raw. Glenn also needs to gain some weight. Even though he is a willing run defender, at just 179 pounds he’s going to struggle to bring down NFL RBs in the open field. The weight issue shouldn’t be hard to fix, but his most glaring weakness is a high backpedal, it wasn’t exposed much against college WRs but it will be an issue at the next level. Glenn’s lack of straight line speed (4.60) could be a problem as well, but he did run a 4.55 at his pro day and Fangio’s scheme protects outside CBs from deep routes enough that Glenn could develop into a useful outside corner by 2016.
Bears Fit:
I touched on it above, but new Bears DC Vic Fangio prefers tall, aggressive corners and he potentially got one in Glenn. He needs to bulk up from 179 pounds, but has ideal length and has the elite ball skills to become a play-maker outside. Glenn was surprisingly effective vs the run (100 tackles in 2 seasons), but it has yet to be seen if he can bring down NFL-sized ball carriers. Either way, the Bears got a potential steal in Glenn after the draft and he could compete for defensive snaps in 2016.
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