Chicago Bears reach for quarterback in seven-round mock draft

Round 6, Pick No. 190

Even though the Chicago Bears should be focusing on the offensive side of the ball, they need to keep in mind their safety depth. The Bears are set at free safety for a long time with Eddie Jackson locked up for quite some time, but at strong safety, all three of their other main safeties in Tashaun Gipson, Deon Bush, and DeAndre Houston-Carson are all pending free agents. The Bears could use some depth as all three likely won’t return.

The great thing about Leon O’Neal Jr. is that he is the perfect opposite of Eddie Jackson. O’Neal has the versatility of Jackson to play both free and strong safety. The difference is Jackson is a main free safety who can play strong safety effectively. O’Neal is the opposite. He is a dominant box safety for the Aggies with physical tackling and aggressiveness.

I doubt Chuck Pagano will be here next season, but one of his main things with safeties is he likes to move Jackson and Gipson around to confuse defenses since they are versatile enough to do that. O’Neal could do that as well while favoring the box and Jackson can favor the cover deep.