Week 1 Winner No. 2: Jaquan Brisker
The intelligence and awareness that Jaquan Brisker plays with makes it easy to forget he is a rookie playing in his first career NFL game. His effort today was solid on all facets, and he was one of the standout players for the Chicago Bears in Week 1. While there will be some learning and growing pains with a rookie, he is playing at a very high level at search an early stage in his career.
Brisker ended the game with four tackles and one fumble recovery, with a tackle for loss mixed in there as well. He was around the ball all the time and was there to recover the fumble on the 49ers first drive of the game that kept San Francisco from scoring in the red zone.
There were a couple of missed tackles from Brisker, including one on a key third-down run by Trey Lance. There were also a couple of miscues in the secondary that led to some wide-open receivers, but luckily the Bears’ defense avoided any major defensive blunders and were able to keep the team in it until the offense picked up.
Like Robinson, Brisker showed a lot in the preseason, even in limited time. The hype around him coming out of the draft and in training camp was high, so his showing in his first game earned him high praise from fans and coaches. He plays with the HITS style that head coach Matt Eberflus lives by, so it’s easy to see why he had so much success in his first game. He plays such complementary football with fellow safety Eddie Jackson, and their games flow off each other nicely. Brisker showed out in his first game both in coverage and tackling, and his awareness is off the charts for a rookie defensive back.