Chicago Bears: 3 of the best remaining free agents Ryan Pace must target

Chicago Bears should bring in Karl Joseph if they don’t resign Tashaun Gipson

Part of me thinks that the Chicago Bears should bring back Tashaun Gipson. This revolving door at the safety position next to Eddie Jackson has not been a complete disaster, but it also has not been as great either.

Last season might have been Jackson’s worst season of his career, and that’s not just because of a lack of interceptions. When we look at Jackson’s performance in 2018 and 2019, he only allowed 50 and 53% of passes thrown in his direction to be completed. Last season though, he allowed 67.4% of those targets to go for catches. Is this because of Gipson? Maybe it’s the scheme? Maybe Jackson just had an off-year.

The thing is, this team would be better off with the likes of a player like Karl Joseph playing next to Jackson. Joseph is a true strong safety. Although he might not be as versatile as the likes of Gipson or Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, he brings what Adrian Amos brought to this team — a downhill run-stopper who is not going to fill the stat sheets with turnovers.

Health has been an issue for Joseph, but he would fit in well with this Chicago Bears defense. He played in 14 games last season for the Browns and came away with 67 combined tackles. If we go back to Eddie Jackson’s unbelievable 2018 season, Amos finished with 73 combined tackles in 16 games. Amos averaged 4.56 tackles per game in 2018, whereas Joseph averaged 4.79 tackles last season — nearly identical.

I am not saying signing Joseph will be a for-sure way to bring Eddie Jackson back to form, but I do think he’s an improvement over Tashaun Gipson and worth the extra few million it will likely take to sign him.

Notable Mentions: Tashaun Gipson, Tre Boston