Finding Jaquan Brisker More to Do
It's possible as many as seven starting positions on the Bears defense could be manned by someone else next year, although five or six seems more likely.
With so many new players, leadership will again be critical but veterans will be launched. This year's rookie will qualify as next year's veteran leader. So safety Jaquan Brisker could find himself helping to direct people.
He's already unafraid to speak his mind.
This season was fine for a start to his career but the former Penn State player, drafted with the pick the Bears got for trading Khalil Mack, expects more from himself. He hopes the Bears do, too.
"Yeah I would say I enjoyed it," he said of his rookie year, not the 3-13 record. "You know I enjoyed my rookie year except for you know just getting banged up in the beginning during preseason and then in the middle of this year. It's the only thing I didn't really enjoy.
"You know I wish I had finished off a full year cause I was rising before I messed up my thumb and then rising ... before I got a concussion."
Brisker suffered a thumb injury after a solid preseason opener effort against Kansas City, then sat out until the regular-season opener and played with his hand in a cast for a while with a thumb injury. In Week 12, he suffered a concussion against Atlanta and missed two more games.
Brisker has 94 tackles, the most by any Bears safety since Ryan Mundy made 103. His four sacks lead the team. When someone in the secondary must make so many tackles and sacks, it's probably a signs of defensive problems. It was that case with Mundy because his 103 tackles came in 2014, a year when the Bears defense collapsed.
Brisker thinks he might have been more effective used differently and could be next year. It's here where he doesn't mind making his opinion heard.
He wants to be good enough with the scheme to switch positions at times with Eddie Jackson.
"Yeah, play both safeties, be more involved," he said. "Be more involved with the defense and things like that, not just being in the boundary and things like that. Move me around, just like college, high school, things like that.
"You know I've never been just playing one side, just playing boundary safety. I've always played moving around, always been involved, my number has always been called."
Brisker said he thought he would get this chance to move around more coming into the season.
"That was a conversation we had," he said. "We just never went forward with it, you know with me and Eddie back there, or DHC, we all can play different positions and things like that, but they kinda just kept us at free safety and boundary safety."
Brisker might be a rookie but he realizes the defense will look much different next year.
"I know it's going to be a lot of different faces, but enjoy that because you're not going to see that (current lineup in the locker) room again," he said. "Just (will) always keep that relationship tight and close (with former players), and with the new guys that come in, bring them in and let them know it's time to work."
His plan is to work out with teammates who will be back and try to make a turnaround in his second season.
"With the old teammates that are still going to be here, just try to build that chemistry," Brisker said. "Just keep trying to build that chemistry."
The mix will be different, of this there can be little doubt.
It has to be.
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