Bears Sign CB Prince Amukamara
After missing out on the top three free agent cornerbacks, the Bears finally found one willing to come to Chicago. The Bears signed CB Prince Amukamara this morning to a one-year deal for an undisclosed dollar amount.
Amukamara is a former first round pick, 19th overall in 2011, who spent the first five years of his career with the Giants before signing a one-year deal with the Jaguars last season. He’s been plagued by injuries for most of his career, with only one season that he’s made it through all 16 games (2013).
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Last year he appeared in 14 games with 12 starts and played pretty well. Amukamara has never lived up to his first-round pedigree but did earn a solid 76.6 grade from ProFootballFocus last season, which was 12th among free agent corners and significantly better than any of the Bears cornerbacks in 2016.
Amukamara has good size (6’0, 202) and had elite speed when coming out of college with a 40-time as low as 4.28 on his pro day. After multiple injuries, it’s unknown how much speed he has left, but he should still have at least league average speed at corner.
The Bears had a problem creating turnovers last year with just eight interceptions from their defensive backs, but Amukamara probably won’t help much in that department. He has just seven interceptions in his six-year career with none last season.
The talent is there though for Amukamara to improve the Bears secondary, if he can stay healthy. He has the size, speed, and awareness to be a solid #2 corner for most teams, which would make him the #1 on the Bears unless they add a better corner before the season starts.
Amukamara isn’t the top-tier corner most fans expected the Bears to add in free agency, but he’s an upgrade at the position over who was already on the roster and should improve the Bears secondary overall.