Chicago Bears 2022 roster ranking: No. 32 Matt Adams

The countdown of the Chicago Bears roster will continue as the day’s countdown until training camp. We have made our way to number 32 overall. Our list is looking at which players will have the biggest impact on the Bears’ record in the 2022 season.

Chicago Bears 2022 roster ranking: No. 32 Matt Adams

Matt Adams is a free agent linebacker from the Indianapolis Colts. He gets this high pretty quickly with the fact that he has that experience in Indianapolis. That puts him as one of the few players on the roster who actually played for Matt Eberflus.

Beyond Eberflus being the defensive coordinator for Matt Adams throughout his entire career, Dave Borgonzi has been the linebackers coach for Adams that entire time as well. Even Roquan Smith cannot say that he is as close to the linebackers coach as Matt Adams.

That may not help against someone like Smith, but when he is competing for snaps, and a roster spot against the likes of Caleb Johnson, Jack Sanborn, and Joe Thomas, it will go a long way.

The coaches obviously like Adams because he was drafted by the team, but also because he went from a special teams player to a role player on defense to someone who was getting actual snaps as a starter for the Colts.

He was often the third linebacker in a league that was going from 4-3 to nickel and dime much more often, so he was never quite an every-down player, but the progression is notable.

It shows he bought into the coaching staff and he is doing what they asked. Beyond that, he stuck on special teams the entire time, so this gives him a floor and locks him onto the roster.

Sanborn is a UDFA, and Caleb Johnson is from the past regime. Considering Adams was drafted by most of the coaches on the Bears, and he can start or play special teams, he is likely to beat out both and be an impactful player.