Kyle Fuller

Chris Sojka said:

A ton of people are unhappy about the play of the first round pick. Some just think he isn't a guy who can play as the #1 corner in this specific system.

Now lets go back and remember what happened that made the defense so awful in the first place and so hard to watch. We had aging linebackers mixed with young inexperienced linebackers... We had a defensive line with 1 aging veteran who is still a star surrounded by a bunch of players who just couldn't get to the QB. We had no help at safety and our best players were all over 30 years old....


This is the situation that Kyle Fuller came into... And he showed that he was able to make big plays early on in his career but as time went on he wasn't able to contribute to making many big plays... His fault? Hard to argue that it is IMO... There hasn't been a solid pass rush from the Bears in many years and our best safety last year was a rookie in Adrain Amos. We still had 2 ILBs that couldn't fill holes or provide top notch coverage. This makes playing on the corner much more difficult..

Teams were running the ball down our throats so we focused our attention on the defensive line and it allowed for some improvement in the run defense. With teams not able to run the ball as easily and not committing to the run they were put in more predictable 3rd and long situations more often. This helped the pass rush which is why you saw Willie Young come out of no where for a bunch of games and rack up sacks.

Moving into this year with an improved run defense both from the defensive line and the linebackers we should see an even larger increase in 3rd and long situations that are predictable and allow for our pass rush to pin their ears back.... This means we should see an increase in sacks or an increase in turnovers for our defense. Kyle Fuller is a solid playmaker and has shown that when we get a QB uncomfortable and making bad decisions he can make big plays on the ball... That hasn't happened in some time.

With the addition of young pass rusher Leonard Floyd with the 9th overall pick and the continuity coming in from last year with McPhee Houston and Young we should see an increase in production from our secondary.

I'm guessing most are still sleeping on Fuller... But I think this year he has a breakout year on defense and makes the pro-bowl. We finally have a solid run defense, competent linebackers, and depth on the edge to get after it consistently. The pieces are all in place for our corners to have break out years... My money is on Fuller

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Ares said:

A great corner doesn't run head down into WRs after getting beat deep time after time after time... I mean if it happened a few times and he adjusted I would understand, but he did that all year last year.... WR would get a step, QB would bomb it deep, Fuller would run head down and either the WR would catch it or Fuller would put his head into the WR's chest and cause a DPI call.

I hope he grows and improves, I really do.... but his flaws such as this one are not because of a shitty supporting cast.... even if erbody around him was bad and the safety was out of position, Kyle Fuller should still be able to turn his head and locate the ball and defend the throw without running head down into the WR's chest.

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Burrberry said:

I'll take solid, but I guess you want more.

Last year he played average to above average. The first 6 or so games he was torched, by good teams and good receivers. He generally didn't have his name called the rest of the year. The downside to that obviously is that you want a 1st round pick to show up more often than not against the better receiver/quarterback tandems rather than the guys drowning in the middle of the pack(Yes, yes, front 7 not getting pressure etc...). http://bearswire.usatoday.com/2015/...r-has-been-a-top-10-cornerback-since-the-bye/

He was benched one of those games IIRC and they said he had problems adjusting to the system. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt with a year under his belt and familiarity with the system, but so far nothing I've seen screams "great CB" or even "good CB" like a Charles Tillman just from an individual skill level. I expect his play as well as everyone else's play in the secondary to jump exponentially with the improvement on the front 7.

Not trying to make it into a damned if you do or don't situation, but that's just the facts. If he never flashes potential of being that super lockdown guy, but he can be an above-average league starter then I'd be okay with him.

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Ares said:

A great corner doesn't run head down into WRs after getting beat deep time after time after time... I mean if it happened a few times and he adjusted I would understand, but he did that all year last year.... WR would get a step, QB would bomb it deep, Fuller would run head down and either the WR would catch it or Fuller would put his head into the WR's chest and cause a DPI call.

I hope he grows and improves, I really do.... but his flaws such as this one are not because of a shitty supporting cast.... even if erbody around him was bad and the safety was out of position, Kyle Fuller should still be able to turn his head and locate the ball and defend the throw without running head down into the WR's chest.

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Chris Sojka said:

You have been asking him to peek into the backfield because we haven't been able to stop the run... then you are asking him to not allow the deep ball without safety help...

Kyle Fuller is listed as 6' 190.. He hardly has the body type to run with 6'3 WRs deep 1 on 1 without any safety help...

Defense has a ton to do with scheme and with an improved scheme and improved players in that scheme you should expect tons of improvement from the corner position.

Again, my money is on Fuller... And yes I do believe the corner position becomes the most difficult to play in the NFL if your defensive line is lacking. Linebackers are built to trained to look into the backfield and play the mid field game sideline to sideline... Corners are coverage players first. Yet on this team they have been forced to keep their eyes in the backfield on a consistent basis due to the lack of respect that teams have for our defensive line. Biting on play play action and fake draws make corners hesitate for a second and by that time a world class receiver is open.

Not having a competent safety for 2 out of the 3 years to play with is just rough. I'm sorry but you are kidding yourself if you expect big things from players on terrible defenses. We see star players rise and fall all the time when the players around them suck... Brian Urlacher wasn't the same guy without a decent defensive line, nor was Briggs, Julius Peppers was booed out of town then went on to be a probowl player at a position he never played because he had a decent surrounding cast..

This is the NFL and every player on the field matters.

But at no position does it matter more on defense than at the corner back position.

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Burrberry said:

^

But Revis Island is 5'11, Josh Norman is 6'0, Chris Harris Jr. is 5'10.

At cornerback if you got it, you got it regardless of size.

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Chris Sojka said:

Revis is a legend...

Norman was on one of the best defenses in the league? wtf are you talking about...

Chris Harris Jr was on the best defense in the league in the Broncos?

I hope this is sarcasm...

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Rory Sparrow said:

Fuller's career is now following a well-known narrative..."instead of looking at the lack of impact this guy has on winning football games, lets blame the supporting cast and figure that once we get guys like Hampton, Marshall, Singletary, Dent, Fencik on defense, then Fuller will reach his potential".

I would hope a 1st round pick would be decent enough on his own merit to not be a liability. I don't think that's too much to ask. Fuller has actually had a "Zach Bowman Regression" curve to it, which is a terrible sign. I hope he can put it all together this year. If not, then Fuller is probably destined to become just another below-average CB.

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Chris Sojka said:

A ton of people are unhappy about the play of the first round pick. Some just think he isn't a guy who can play as the #1 corner in this specific system.

Now lets go back and remember what happened that made the defense so awful in the first place and so hard to watch. We had aging linebackers mixed with young inexperienced linebackers... We had a defensive line with 1 aging veteran who is still a star surrounded by a bunch of players who just couldn't get to the QB. We had no help at safety and our best players were all over 30 years old....


This is the situation that Kyle Fuller came into... And he showed that he was able to make big plays early on in his career but as time went on he wasn't able to contribute to making many big plays... His fault? Hard to argue that it is IMO... There hasn't been a solid pass rush from the Bears in many years and our best safety last year was a rookie in Adrain Amos. We still had 2 ILBs that couldn't fill holes or provide top notch coverage. This makes playing on the corner much more difficult..

Teams were running the ball down our throats so we focused our attention on the defensive line and it allowed for some improvement in the run defense. With teams not able to run the ball as easily and not committing to the run they were put in more predictable 3rd and long situations more often. This helped the pass rush which is why you saw Willie Young come out of no where for a bunch of games and rack up sacks.

Moving into this year with an improved run defense both from the defensive line and the linebackers we should see an even larger increase in 3rd and long situations that are predictable and allow for our pass rush to pin their ears back.... This means we should see an increase in sacks or an increase in turnovers for our defense. Kyle Fuller is a solid playmaker and has shown that when we get a QB uncomfortable and making bad decisions he can make big plays on the ball... That hasn't happened in some time.

With the addition of young pass rusher Leonard Floyd with the 9th overall pick and the continuity coming in from last year with McPhee Houston and Young we should see an increase in production from our secondary.

I'm guessing most are still sleeping on Fuller... But I think this year he has a breakout year on defense and makes the pro-bowl. We finally have a solid run defense, competent linebackers, and depth on the edge to get after it consistently. The pieces are all in place for our corners to have break out years... My money is on Fuller

Click to expand...