Starting Safeties?

Ali-Frazier said:

Rolle & Mundy. It'd be great if Amos pans out, but the guy is a 5th rounder.

Click to expand...

Also, my best guess is they start the two vets and let Vereen and Amos compete for time as the season moves along. But hey, if one of them tears it up at camp, who knows. I am expecting they play it safe with the vets to start with though.

I've never been a fan of rookie safties, it's a position on D I most want guys to sit and learn the nfl reads about before sticking to their college instincts. It's so hard seemingly to develop a safety who can play with ball skills.

So I'm voting Vereen at FS and the competition being more significant at SS with Mundy/Rolle

Rolle and Mundy to start but I see Amos as the nickle safety and be used similarly how Fangio used Jimmie Ward last year and if he wins a starting gig then all for it.

Also to me Vereen looked completely physically outmatched last year and doesn't have that nastiness that under sized safeties need. He's still fast and a decent tackler so he could thrive in STs

Rolle and Mundy, but hopefully Amos gets on the field a lot, and will probably take the starting position from Mundy (if we're lucky)

Chris Conte and Major Wright

james sanders said:

Chris Conte and Major Wright

Click to expand...

Those 2 didn't look so bad when Lovie was here.

Spunky Porkstacker said:

Those 2 didn't look so bad when Lovie was here.

Click to expand...

They never looked good.

NEVER.

theOHIOSTATE! said:

They never looked good.

NEVER.

Click to expand...

I agree but they took bad to a new low when Lovie left and MT arrived.

Spunky Porkstacker said:

I agree but they took bad to a new low when Lovie left and MT arrived.

Click to expand...

I thought it was more a matter of just having more hope when they were younger TBH.

Conte was a disaster from the start in space and in pursuit. Bad angles galore....bad tackling....bad bad bad.

Major just never looked like a starter and seemed limited in his abilities.

I wonder if they were both projected as 3 rnd picks. You would hope a player drafted in the 3 rnd would bring more than what either one of theses guys did. Dave Duerson was a 3rd rnd pick.

Our Safeties are still a very weak bunch. As I see it, it is the weakest part of the defense as it was last year. Hopefully, the improvement(s) will come in the scheme and player positioning but talent still wins out normally and I don't see a lot of talent and certainly not a lot of depth.

Spunky Porkstacker said:

Those 2 didn't look so bad when Lovie was here.

Click to expand...

Major Wright was always terrible. Chris Conte played well enough for a rookie in Lovie's base Tampa 2 shell, but was completely exposed by Mel Tucker's heavy use of single high looks.

I am thrilled they are both gone, but its still a sorry position here. Rolle knows how to play, but is about hundred years old.

Will be watching that kid we just drafted, but Fangio needs to create a better pass rushing line than Tucker did to keep quarterbacks from feasting on our terrible, terrible safeties all year long.

TL1961 said:

The scary thing about the Bears is that a 5th round safety could be the best safety on the team, and yet still only play like a 5th round safety.

Click to expand...

It's more of a league wide issue and less of a Bears specific one. How many teams have one good safety let alone 2? I think of my Eagles and I really like Malcolm Jenkins, but aside form that he'll be lining up with one of the following:

Earl Wolfe - Guy that can't stay healthy and has a hand full of starts in his rookie year to his name.
Chris Maragos - Career speicial teamer who's never started a game at safety.
Jaylen Watkins - Late round draft pick from last year who was asked to bulk up to compete at the spot.
Chris Prosinski - Who?
Ed Reynolds - Last year pick who never saw the field.

Going a bit further I think of the NFCE and there's really no safety better than Malcolm Jenkins, so that's an entire division. Thinking of the NFCN the Packers have a nice combo in Clinton-Dix and Morgan, but overall that's the exception, not the norm. Harrison Smith is okay, but far from great.

I just think safety is one of those positions where it's tough to get one guy, let alone two. The Pats won a Superbowl with McCourty and Chung. McCourty is very good, but Chung was cut by the Eagles while only being one season into a 3 year contract. He completely sucks in coverage, but in the right system can be hidden.

Overall I just don't think there's enough good safeties in the NFL for each team to be adequate in that position. It's sorta like QB, but for the defensive side of the ball.

Jay Cutler played safety in High School. Coincidence? I think not.

Amos and Rolle

Get the biggest and most athletic guys on the field and live with the Amos growing pains.

Mundy captains special teams and plays in sub packages.



There is a ton of benefit to getting Amos into the line up, Mundy is just average at is not going to get better.

The Hawk said:

Our Safeties are still a very weak bunch. As I see it, it is the weakest part of the defense as it was last year. Hopefully, the improvement(s) will come in the scheme and player positioning but talent still wins out normally and I don't see a lot of talent and certainly not a lot of depth.

Click to expand...

It's better than last year, but I get your point.

I am just hoping for solid play from the safeties, which would be a huge upgrade from the abomination of the last 2 years.