Positioning for Bears Success

Attempts by the Bears to assemble a roster in free agency and draft command attention while they occur.

After all the drafting and all the signing ends, intrigue is not going away.

There are uncertainties about the team regarding positions and how players will be used. Some of this will continue right up until the regular season because football coaches love to keep from tipping their hands.

The perfect example came when linebackers T.J. Edwards and Tremaine Edmunds signed in free agency. They both were asked how they figure to be used in the defense and both side they didn't have a clue because no one had talked to them about it yet.

Right. A team is paying them millions of dollars but no one is telling them how they'll be used.

The cloak-and-dagger routine is old and anyone who follows the NFL sees it every year.

However, when they start organized team activities on May 22 some mysteries will be solved. Here are the real positional mysteries yet to be revealed. It might be that some could even be revealed by Eberflus at the owners meetings this week but don't count on it.

1. Will and Mike

Which of the two newly acquired linebackers be deployed at weakside and which at middle linebacker? It might be that each gets trained well at both because they both have traits lending themselves to both positions. For instance, Tremaine Edmunds is 6-foot-5 and when he came into the league he had an arm length in the top 3% of linebackers and top 2% of wingspans.

When you see this, it cries middle linebacker out loud in the tradition of Brian Urlacher. If Edmunds had been extremely effective as a run-stopping linebacker or pass rusher, then it might not.

However, he played 60.1% of the time in pass coverage last year, the highest percentage since he came into the league according to Pro Football Focus. And he was the No. 1 linebacker for pass coverage in the NFL but not as good as a run stopper.

Lining someone like that up at weakside seems a waste of athletic ability. He should be playing out in space.

Edwards was graded sixth and Edmunds fifth overall among all linebackers last year by PFF but Edmunds was not as good of a run-stopper as Edwards according to grades. It wasn't close. 

Edwards is a tackler and football player, not a track athlete. He was in the lowest 14% in height (6-foot-1/8) and wingspan (75-1/8) and had no posted 40 time and went undrafted. Yet, his run defense has consistently graded on par with his pass coverage through his career, both being very good.

Edwards' body type is almost exactly what Lance Briggs' was, he's just a little shorter and a pound or two lighter at 242. Playing someone like this behind the three technique to disrupt run plays makes sense in the traditional sense of this defensive scheme.

"The old school Tampa Bay, Chicago Bears, they would put Lance Briggs, Derrick Brooks behind the three technique," Eberflus said at the end of last season. "They would always travel together. That means you're covered to the hit. It would create a lot of things with that.

"Last place I was at with DeForest (Buckner) and Shaq (Leonard), he was always covered to the hit. Those two positions are really important to us."

Then again, there's no doubt Leonard is the impact player and Edwards is not the explosive impact athlete Edmunds can be.

When Leonard played for Eberflus, he was deployed as weakside linebacker but played as a pass rusher on the line 224 times in four years by PFF counts, but 2,094 times in pass coverage. Edmunds has been a pass rusher extensively with the Bills, too, but not last year when he focused on coverage more and had a higher grade and effectivness.

It seems a better fit for Leonard away from the ball playing coverage as middle linebacker, but not entirely. 

Perhaps they'll use both interchangably.

In an article commending the approach by the Bears this offseason, Sports Illustrated's Conor Orr talks about how having two linebackers who cover and play the run effectively hurts offensive coordinators who have thrived by scheming against defenses using six- or seven-man boxes, saying, "...those (linebackers) who can cover well are becoming increasingly valuable because they mitigate some of the damage a defense takes if they're stranded. Edmunds and Edwards are two of the best coverage linebackers in the NFL."

Would Eberflus move the two between positions depending upon whether they're facing a run-heavy personnel package or not?

In the end, it may not matter which is middle or weakside and they might both play at both spots situationally. Use Edmunds in the middle against passing formations and at the weakside if it's a run-heavy personnel package. You can get away with deploying Edmunds' athletic ability up at the line pressuring the run behind the three technique from the weakside spot sometimes because if a team passes from a run-heavy personnel grouping you're covered with Edwards playing the middle as a solid pass defender.

More or less, you're maximizing Edmunds' athletic skills and able to do it because of Edwards' versatility.

Doing something like this can give the upper hand back to the defensive coordinator in the eternal guessing game between offense and defense.

2. Interior O-Line

Poles said they'll move Cody Whitehair to center, which only makes sense since he was a Pro Bowl player at this spot. Then they're moving Nate Davis from right guard to left, where he has never played? Or are they moving Teven Jenkins to left guard because he has only played one year at right guard and is a big, mobile presence?

Perhaps none of this is correct. It's going to be anyone's guess when they take field who is where. It might be like the old Abbott and Costello baseball routine, except, who's at left guard, what's at center, I don't know is at right guard.

3. Chasing Claypool

Last year the Steelers moved Chase Claypool from outside receiver to the slot. It didn't work well. When he came to the Bears, his impact at midseason and with only a few games played when both he and Justin Fields were on the field together, indicated nothing.

Will the Bears use Claypool outside with DJ Moore a receiver who played 75% of the time on the outside? It would seem Darnell Mooney is the slot. Last year they lined him up there 60% of the time. But he was far more effective in terms of total catches and yards in 2021 when he lined up in slot at 43.6% of the time and wide 55.6% during a season when Allen Robinson was plagued by injuries.

This entire mix is going to be interesting to watch as Luke Getsy determines it each week, but it will be the regular season before this can be determined.

4. Tackle Side

This is yet to be determined because it will depend greatly on the tackle they draft or if they sign one of the unsigned free agents later.

Considering how positive the results were they had from Braxton Jones last year at left tackle, it seems silly to anticipate they would move him to right tackle.

However, as stated, it could depend on the player they draft or sign.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven