Chicago Bears 2015 Position Preview: Safety

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With free agency and the NFL draft completed, the core of the Chicago Bears 2015 roster is in place. There may be an undrafted player who makes the team via mini-camp, like RB Senorise Perry and CB Al Louis-Jean did last year, or a free agent signing of a cap casualty late in the preseason, but for the most part the roster is in place. Over the next few weeks I will be breaking down the Bears depth chart at every position.

The Bears may have had the worst group of safeties in the NFL over the last two seasons. Some teams were worse last year, some were worse in 2013, but I don’t think any team was as bad both seasons. The Bears signed Ryan Mundy before the 2014 season and while he wasn’t great, he was a big improvement over the player he replaced, Major Wright. Chris Conte was still in the mix last season and had another bad year, ranking 63rd among 64 starting safeties, but has signed with Lovie Smith and the Bucs for the 2015 season.

After former GM Phil Emery ignored the safety position for the last three years, new GM Ryan Pace addressed it early in free agency with the signing of veteran Antrel Rolle. He’s a good fit for Fangio’s scheme in that he is versatile enough to play both free and strong safety. The Bears still have veteran safety Ryan Mundy, drafted safety Adrian Amos in the 5th round and still have last year’s 4th round pick Brock Vereen on the roster. The Bears signed former Chiefs practice squad safety Malcolm Bronson and rookie undrafted free agent Anthony Jefferson as depth.

Position Previews: QB | RB | WR | OT | OG | C | TE | DT | DE | OLB | CB | S

2015 Bears CB Depth Chart:

Projected Starters

Antrel Rolle

Struggled the last three weeks of the 2014 season with a -9.6 grade, but his decline in play coincided with the Giants being mathematically eliminated from the playoffs so I’m giving Rolle a pass. The 11-year vet played pretty well the first half of the 2014 season before his garbage time collapse and the 3-time Pro Bowler is just one year removed from being ranked 9th overall among all safeties by Pro Football Focus (9.0 grade in 2013).

DC Vic Fangio prefers safeties who have the versatility to play either safety position so he can disguise his coverages until the snap. Rolle has the size (6’0 | 206) to play deep or in the box and has had a solid career with 3 Pro Bowl nominations, 2 All-Pro awards, a Super Bowl ring, and was ranked #72 by his fellow players in the 2014 Top 100 Player rankings by NFL Network.

Rolle has been a play-maker throughout his career with 26 interceptions, 8 forced fumbles, 69 pass defenses, and 4 return touchdowns. Bears fans (especially Conte apologists) are going to be surprised the difference a legit NFL safety makes in the secondary.

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Ryan Mundy

In the first half of the 2014 season it looked like the Bears made a mistake signing Mundy. He had a -3.6 grade from Pro Football Focus through week 8 and struggled in both run and pass coverage. After the bye in week 9 Mundy looked like a different player with a +5.4 grade the rest of the season. Overall, Mundy ended the season with a positive 1.8 grade which was good for the 36th best grade among 64 starting safeties.

2014 was the first time in his 6-year NFL career that Mundy started 16 games in a season and for the most part over the last two years, he has graded in the positive. Take away one real bad game in each season (both against the Lions strangely) and Mundy has a +10 grade which would be in the top 15 among all safeties who played the last two seasons. Granted I’m playing with the numbers a little and his struggles with the Lions are a big deal since the Bears play them twice a season, but my point is that Mundy has been an above average-average safety since getting a chance to start in 2013.

Mundy is solid against both the run and pass, though not great against either, and fits well in new DC Vic Fangio’s scheme. Fangio likes to disguise his defensive formation until the last possible moment, which requires safeties that can play both in-the-box and in deep coverage. Mundy has that versatility and is all but a lock to start across from Antrel Rolle.