Chicago Bears 25 Most important players of 2024: #23 Jack Sanborn

Our series profiling the 25 most important Chicago Bears players in 2024 continues. At number 23 we have linebacker Jack Sanborn.

The Chicago Bears are preparing for the start of training camp. Once training camp starts in mid-July things will go fast. The pads come on and the cuts start. Then, in just over a month (though it will feel like five minutes), the regular season will begin. Leading to the start of camp, we continue our series profiling the 25 most important players. Next up is linebacker Jack Sanborn.

Sanborn was a big find for general manager Ryan Poles. Poles signed him as an undrafted rookie in 2022. That ended up being one of Poles’ savviest moves. Sanborn worked his way up the roster and made the team. He was one of the most popular players during camp and in preseason games.

It was fortunate for the Bears that Sanborn was on the team. Poles had a problem with Roquan Smith. Smith was in the final year of his contract and was looking for an extension. Specifically, he was looking for a $100 million extension. With many holes on the team at the time, Poles did not want to spend that much on one player.

Eventually, Poles traded Smith. The team then tapped Sanborn to become the new

starting middle linebacker. Sanborn stepped up and played well. He finished with 64 tackles (5 tackles for loss), 3 quarterback hits, and 2 sacks. He was a great replacement for Smith. However, his season was cut short due to a chest injury.

Last offseason, Poles used the money he saved by not signing Smith to sign multiple players, including linebackers T.J. Edwards and Tremaine Edmunds. Instead of having Smith for $100 million, the Chicago Bears spent less than that and had a very good linebackers unit with Edwards, Edmunds, and Sanborn.

In 2023, Sanborn played the strong-side linebacker. At that spot, Sanborn would not be as involved as he was at the middle linebacker. However, he was still an effective player. He had 65 tackles (7 for loss), a quarterback hit, a sack, and an interception. He was especially effective against the run, helping the Chicago Bears lead the league in that category.

Sanborn’s hard work and leadership were recognized by the team last year. He won the Ed Block Courage Award. The award is given by each NFL team to one player who best exemplifies the qualities of courage, compassion, commitment, and community displayed by Ed Block, a former Baltimore Colts trainer.

Now Sanborn is ready to continue his good play. He looks to continue to be strong against the run. He can provide supplemental help to Edwards and Edmunds, However, he needs to improve his missed tackle percentage. In 2022, when he was in on a lot of the action, he was at 4.5 percent. Last season, being less involved in the action, that percentage took a big spike to 14.5 percent.

The Chicago Bears return 10 of their 12 starters from last season (that includes slot corner Kyler Gordon). There are high hopes that the unit will build on its success from last season. After a slow start in 2023, the defense was one of the top defenses in the NFL.

The hope is that the defense succeeds throughout the entire season. The unit spent last season playing together and jelling. The players feel they can have a top-ten defense. Sanborn is a big part of that. He’s had two solid seasons and could have a third.

Sanborn is excited to get the season going. He also has high hopes for the defense. 

Expectations are high. Expectations should be high. We want to be the best defense in the NFL or one of the best defenses in the NFL. And I think with the coaches and players we’ve got, we definitely have an opportunity to do that… We had so many guys come in right at the beginning of last year. Not much continuity. But then to finally have it click and guys start playing well — to have that going into next year… It’s definitely exciting.

Sanborn wants to use his two seasons of experience to help win more games than they have recently. This could be the start of a new era of winning Chicago Bears football. Sanborn has done a great job going from an undrafted rookie to a starter in two different positions. He wants to continue to improve and be an essential piece to the defense.

Previous entries: Number 25  Number 24

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