While the Chicago Bears might not admit it, the franchise is going through a rebuild here in 2022 and this upcoming season could be a tough one. However, with a rebuild and the focus on contending in 2023, the coaching staff will get the chance to look at players on the roster and determine their status for the future.
One player that could benefit from a total change here in Chicago is safety Eddie Jackson.
After a big year in 2018 and then landing a big extension, Jackson hasn’t been able to duplicate what he did in that season. However, it doesn’t mean his career here is coming to an end and new head coach Matt Eberflus says that Jackson has a ‘clean slate’ for this 2022 season:
“I think he’s got really good instincts,” Eberflus said, according to ESPN’s Courtney Cronin. “You look at the positive, what he can do, and he’s taking the ball away. He’s really proficient at blitzing. I think he times it up well, does a good job there, does a good job in coverage, so we’ll see where it is.”
"times it up well, does a good job there, does a nice job in coverage, so we’ll see where it is."
— Courtney Cronin (@CourtneyRCronin) March 29, 2022
Jackson wasn’t awful by any means in 2021 and it was actually one of his better years in some areas of his game. The problem is, fans are expecting that 2018 Jackson every single year and rightfully so with that contract he signed.
We even saw Jackson line up in the nickel towards the end of the 2021 season in Sean Desai’s defense, something he never did as a pro up until that point. I imagine he will be the starting safety going into this year with the other safety spot still to be determined.
The hope is that Jackson can bounce back and use this as a clean slate, playing well and going back to being that ball hawking safety he once was.
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