Grading Chicago Bears coordinators after one year
Richard Hightower, Chicago Bears special teams coordinator
If there is a coordinator from the main three phases that will be on the hot seat, it may be Richard Hightower. When you look at the overall DVOA, the Chicago Bears rank 17th, and when you adjust it for opponent, they fall to 20th.
Cairo Santos is not helping, and that is tough to blame Hightower for in some instances. Still, the Chicago Bears have also shown poorly in both kick and punt coverage. This is a pretty big issue when you look at the Chicago Bears roster.
Josh Blackwell, DeAndre Houston-Carson, Jack Sanborn, Matt Adams, Elijah Hicks, Sterling Weatherford, and more represent players who were viewed as core special teams assets. Weatherford and Blackwell were specifically added because the team knew they could get special teams’ value.
This is arguably the one area of the roster that did get enough talent to do their job. Still, they struggled.
Next. 5 Bears who made their last start with the team. dark
Velus Jones has started to get better in kick returns, but he had to be benched from punts. The decision to put him out there has to be on Hightower, and then the decision to make him inactive has to fall on him too. There is enough here to look at him a bit differently than the other two when questioning his job security.
Richard Hightower Grade: D