Bears Rookie Trio Honored by PFF

The Bears used more rookies than any team in the league and they had three excel enough in the eyes of Pro Football Focus to earn All-Rookie honors.

It might be one of the big surprises of postseason honors.

Bears rookie linebacker Jack Sanborn made Pro Football Focus' All-Rookie team.

The Bears landed three players on the team, and two probably surprised no one. Left tackle Braxton Jones and safety Jaquan Brisker both made it after being starters from Day 1.

Sanborn, though, didn't even play half the season. He started six games as middle linebacker after Roquan Smith was traded to Baltimore and middle linebacker Nick Morrow switched from middle to weakside linebacker to replace Smith. Sanborn impressed in the six starts but then missed the last three games against Buffalo, Detroit and Minnesota on injured reserve with an ankle injury.

Sanborn made 64 tackles, five for loss and had a fumble recovery.

There are only two linebackers on the team. He and sixth-rounder Malcolm Rodriguez of the Lions were the two linebackers, making it over players with draft pedigree like Green Bay's Quay Walker and Jacksonville's Devin Lloyd, both first-round picks, and Atlanta's Troy Andersen.

Brisker was no surprise after missing only two starts, both due to a concussion. Brisker finished with 104 tackles, second-highest total on the team. He had an interception, forced fumble and a recovery and had a team-high four sacks.

Jones started every game at left tackl and PFF graded him the 19th best tackle in the league despite allowing seven sacks and committing 12 penalties. He graded out 10th in run blocking and overall was graded better than any rookie tackle by PFF.

"I mean, I was proud of Braxton," Bears GM Ryan Poles said. "He's got a long ways to go to reach his ceiling but for his path and if you look, not many people look at the schedule for a player who goes into the offseason, Senior Bowl, combine, comes in as a fifth-round pick, battles through camp, gets a spot and then plays every single snap through the season.

"That's an accomplishment right there. That tells me he’s wired right. He's got mental toughness, roll the ups and downs. So I'm hoping that he continues to work on his body, his technique and that's someone that we can play with and be successful with for a while."

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