The Chicago Bears signed veteran cornerback Tavon Young to a deal recently. The move fills a huge need at the cornerback position for the team. Still, while Young has been an NFL starter, he could be a bit unknown to Bears fans. What will he bring to Chicago?
3. Upgrade over what Chicago Bears had
There is really no way to look at Tavon Young other than suggesting that he is an upgrade over what they had. On paper, Thomas Graham could play the slot but he played outside at Oregon, and last season most of his work came on the outside.
Duke Shelley started in the slot for most of the season and it is rather easy to look at the two and say that Tavon Young was better.
According to PFF Tavon Young allowed a catch every 9.1 snaps. That would rank him 14th among slot cornerbacks. Duke Shelley would allow a catch every 7.1 snaps, which ranked him 33rd in the NFL.
Teams were going after Shelley, and for good reason, as he was allowing 1.56 yards per snap, which was the 6th worst in the NFL amongst slot cornerbacks. Tavon Young was down at 1.21.
The big difference was that Shelley was allowing 8.9 yards after the catch while Young was allowing 8.3 yards after the catch.
Still, no matter how you look at it, teams targeted Tavon Young less, he gave up fewer receptions and fewer yards after the catch. This is an easy upgrade.