If the Chicago Bears wanted to take steps this year, they not only needed to see their draft and free agency pan out, but they needed to see some improvement from players on the roster. So far, that has not happened enough. Which players did we want to see take a step, but so far, we are not seeing anything?
3. Is Jaquan Brisker less impactful for the Chicago Bears?
After the rookie season was a success, there was a thought that Jaquan Brisker was going to take a step toward being one of the better safeties in the NFL. According to PFF, his overall grade is down from 67 to 49.7, and his coverage grade is down from 65 to 43.1. If you watch the tape, you can see it as well.
It does not help that he left at some point in the first four weeks with an injury. Now, it looks like he is playing through a hamstring that stuck with him in week four. Since then, we have seen him at his worst. He gave up a touchdown to Courtland Sutton in week four and then a long pass down the sideline in week five. In week six, it was a couple of key catches for T.J. Hockenson.
His run defense and tackling have been fine. His pass rush is not quite the same in terms of sacks, but he is getting pressure when needed. So, it looks like a lot of this is coming down to trying to play through injury and getting exposed on the back end in coverage because of it.
Will Brisker be able to shake this off and get healthy, or will this be an issue that plauges him all year?
2. Velus Jones is officially a bust for the Chicago Bears
We are now 23 games into the career of Velus Jones. He has 125 rushing yards and 112 receiving yards. That is not great for a wide receiver, especially not for one who was selected in the third round. This one was pretty obvious from the jump. He was never really a good wide receiver and was always a gadget player.
He has hardly been that, as two rushes for 15 yards is his big contribution this season. Jones is the kick return man and had a nice return, but returns are down this year and they are slowly being taken out of the game. So, the skill set he is best at is one of the most useless in the NFL.
There is no hope for Velus Jones. The Chicago Bears started Tyler Scott over him this past week. That is after Chase Claypool was traded and Equanimeous St. Brown was injured, and that is competition for the third wide receiver spot. So, the third and fourth wide receivers are out, and the fifth wide receiver is Scott. He is the sixth-best man on the Bears, and the Bears do not have one of the best units in the NFL. His inability to push a fifth-round rookie in Tyler Scott tells you everything about where Velus Jones is.
1. The Chicago Bears getting nothing out of Dominique Robinson
It would have been hard for Dominique Robinson to get worse as a rookie. Still, that was expected. Robinson was a fifth-round rookie who was drafted based on upside and had the label of a project. So, year one was all about learning and growing and getting used to the NFL. Year two was supposed to show some growth. That has not happened.
Dominique Robinson posted a 5.3% win rate and 3.4 pass-rush productivity rating last year. Those were some of the worst rates in the NFL. This year, his win rate is down to 1.2%, and his PRP is slightly up at 3.6.
Still, among qualified rushers, he ranks 85th out of 88 in productivity, and he ranks 88th in win rate. He is the worst pass rusher in the NFL by many standards. As we said, that actually is not an issue as a rookie due to the lack of experience. Even if he was around 60th this year, it would have been a sign of improvement. To somehow get worse when it looked like he was already at the bottom is stunning. Robinson does not look like someone who will contribute to NFL teams.