Chicago Bears: Early look at free agents to target in 2021
By Joseph Herff
Keanu Neal, Strong Safety
Keanu Neal got very unlucky the past two seasons suffering season-ending injuries in both seasons. However, the former first-round pick has proven his worth this season to the Atlanta Falcons.
Neal is playing the best football of his career thus far earning himself a solid PFF grade of 70.1. He is a hard-hitting strong safety that loves to play in the box and swallow a lot of tackles. This season, he has plenty of tackles for the Falcons with 76 total tackles. The Bears lack a true hard-hitting safety that they’ve missed since Adrian Amos left.
Neal has struggled in pass coverage, but that is common for a box safety that essentially plays linebacker with blitzes and mainly stopping the run. The addition of Neal would improve the Bears’ run defense greatly as they don’t have a true safety that flies up to stop the run.
He would likely come cheap as well as he hasn’t proven that he can handle a full NFL season injury-free and the Bears could also bring back Deon Bush to compete with him and back him up.
Next. Bears reach for a QB in mock draft. dark
Final Thoughts:
Nobody knows if the Bears can turn it around quickly next season, but they have the assets to do so. It depends on how the next regime of the Bears wants to handle their team. They either will sell everyone of value or build back quickly. The draft can additionally help them greatly especially at quarterback.