Bargains available at key spot for Dennis Allen's Bears defense

The Bears have talent covered at many defensive positions for coordinator Dennis Allen's scheme but may need to add at a position where bargain free agents exist.
Dennis Allen's scheme requires some player with specific skill sets and might require the Bears to add at one position.
Dennis Allen's scheme requires some player with specific skill sets and might require the Bears to add at one position. / Stephen Lew-Imagn Images
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Bears GM Ryan Poles seemed unconcerned about personnel type for the new defensive scheme relevant to personnel prior to the hiring of defensive coordinator Dennis Allen.

His contention was the Bears had plenty of players who can switch between 3-4 and 4-3, adding, "...a lot of our guys have the flexibility to do that."

The scheme Dennis Allen brings to the team is 4-3 so no switching required, and it does rely on a lot of cover-2 defense like the Bears have played.

A Nola story on Allen's scheme written a year after he had implemented it gives a good description of what he's been trying to reveal and another paints it as a morphing style of defense, one where the front can even use two-gap on occasion instead of single-gap.

However, it's still possible they'll need personnel tweaks to implement it.

One position not mentioned often as a draft or free agency need very well could be. It's going to require a thoughtful and honest assessment of their talent on hand.

That position is safety.

In an assessment of the schemes Allen used, Tribune beat columnist Brad Biggs described Allen's use of safeties as a real key as he relies "...heavily on having interchangeable safeties to key late movement and disguise in the secondary."

Either safety can be the one going into the box or be fast enough to move just before the snap into a coverage. It's complicated and immediate help might be better from a veteran than a rookie, especially with Jaquan Brisker already well-versed, healthier now and planning to move ahead with his career.

The Bears tried to do this some with their scheme under Matt Eberflus and Eric Washington but not to the extent the Saints did it under Allen.

The interchangeable safeties is critical because of their need to disguise coverages under Allen.

With Kevin Byard turning 32 for this season and Brisker coming off his third concussion in three seasons, it's safe to wonder whether the Bears have the safety personnel to implement a scheme placing so much emphasis physically on safeties to be in position and to handle plays. Having an extra effective veteran on hand can't hurt.

There are more than three safeties on the Bears roster, with Elijah Hicks and Jonathan Owens being the best backups, but there's a reason they were backups. The Bears ranked sixth against the pass when Brisker suffered his concussion and they wound up ranked as low as 23rd before finishing 16th.

Drafting a safety is always possible but the reality is they have far more pressing needs along the line of scrimmage.

There are safeties available in free agency as well. In fact, it's a good year in free agency to have a need because Pro Football Focus' top 100 free agents is top heavy with safeties. Their list now includes their salary projections and there are 11 on the list who look like bargains based on PFF projections. There are others who will command deals somewhat like the one the Bears gave Eddie Jackson in 2019 for $58.4 million.

Miami's Jevon Holland, Minnesota's Camryn Bynum (3 years, $47.7 million), Kansas City's Justin Reid (3 years, $46.5 million) and the Raiders' Tre'Von Moehrig (four years, $60 million) all are projected at deals in this range per annual average value and a team with greater needs would be looking to spend cash more wisely.

The list included a few mis-fits for the Bears' system like 35-year-old Vikings safety Harrison Smith and classic strong safety Jeremy Chinn.

Here are those potential bargain fits with projections putting them in a range for the Bears.

1. Talao Hufanga, 49ers

An effective player when healthy but he only played seven games last year with wrist and knee injuries. The wrist was enough of an issue that he needed surgery. PFF calls him the 23rd best free agent but projects him at only $12.5 million a year for two years. It would be a bargain for a safety graded second among free agents available at the position after seven interceptions over the 2022-23 season.

2. Justin Simmons, Falcons

Going into his 10th year and a little younger than Byard, he could be the real steal for a few years at this position if PFF is right because they project him at a $6 million deal for one year. He has even more career interceptions (32) than Byard (29).

3. Elijah Molden, Chargers

The problem with Molden is he suffered a broken leg in the season's next-to-last game and it might be why PFF has him projected for a one-year, $4.5 million deal. While a broken leg might limit offseason work it shouldn't be an issue by training camp. Molden's PFF description as a jack of all trades who can easily disguise intent sounds like a perfect fit for the Allen system and he was graded 15th among safeties by PFF last year before his injury.

4. Andre Cisco, Jaguars

He picked off Caleb Williams in London, the last interception the Bears QB threw before starting his record-setting streak of throws without an interception. Projected at $9 million per year as he starts his second contract, Cisco was ascending until last year's struggles but that could be said of numerous other Jacksonville players.

5. Julian Blackmon, Colts

Blackmon had been more of a pure deep safety at one time but looked more effective playing the kind of role Allen's defense would require. He graded top 40 in the last two seasons and is projected at three years and $21 million.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.