Nicholas Morrow Continues Unlikely Journey

From playing safety at tiny D3 Greenville to earning his place as an NFL inebacker, Nicholas Morrow is healthy now and ready to start for the Bears.

Nicholas Morrow isn't sure which of the three linebacker positions he'll play for the Bears but says it really doesn't matter.

The former Raiders linebacker can't imagine it will be different than anything he's done already in football, from fighting into the league as an undrafted player to playing safety, to playing in front of crowds of less than 100 at tiny Greenville University.

"Including the band," he said.

Morrow made it to Halas Hall Friday healed from a season-ending ankle injury that required surgery with the Raiders, and he passed his physical before signing a contract一which is more than could be said for the first Bears free agent signed, defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi.

"Well right now I'm healthy," said Morrow, who is known for his speed. "I'm ready to go. As a matter of fact, if we had won our first round in the playoffs last year, I would've been able to play. So, I'm ready to go and healthy."

Morrow is moving to a defense designed to use his speed, the question is where: weak side (Will), middle (Mike) or strong side (Sam).

"I started off at Will when I came into the league," he said. "I played safety in college, and I've played一2020 I played Sam, Mike and Will. Sometimes I played all three in the same game. So I'm comfortable at any position."

With speed very similar to Roquan Smith's, Morrow might be a best fit in the middle with the Bears. Either way, he is confident coach Matt Eberflus will find the right way to use him after developing a reputation for defenses taking away the ball with the Colts.

"Well, I think his resume speaks for itself. It’s in the tape, right?" Morrow said. "You see what he did in Indy, with the turnovers they had, the defense that they had together, and the staff they put together here.

"So I think that in itself was his resume. I kinda knew, being able to follow their defense a little bit. In the offseason, I’ll go back and watch defenses and stuff like that, so I was familiar with some of his schemes."

The scheme being used by Eberflus is similar to the old Lovie Smith defensive scheme used, when former Lions head coach Rod Marinelli was Bears defensive coordinator. The Raiders' defensive line coach while Morrow was there was Marinelli.

"Marinelli showed a lot of Bears tape," Morrow said. "We've seen a lot of those guys with (Lance) Briggs, (Brian) Urlacher, Charles Tillman, all those boys. We've seen a lot of those tapes. I'm familiar with at least that year that Marinelli was here."

Coming from Division III Greenville in southern Illinois near St. Louis, he's at least familiar with the Bears for another reason.

"A lot of my teammates from Greenville are huge Chicago Bears fans," he said. "I got a lot of texts from them. But I'm excited for the opportunity."

One text was musical.

"One of my friends sent me the 'Bear Down' song," Morrow said. "He was like, 'You've gotta learn this.' "

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