Bear Digest

Cornerback Starter Should Be Clear to Bears

One projected starting Bears lineup seems to be giving too little credit to one of their highly respected draft picks.

Gene Chamberlain

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The official Bears depth chart doesn't come out until the first week of preseason.

In the offseason you'll find them all over the internet, including this website, and these are merely projections.

A more accurate depth chart projection will be coming next week when the Bears begin OTAs and are lining up players at positions where they figure to play.

However, one projected starting lineup caught the eye this week and it's from analytical website Pro Football Focus.

One Bears rookie assumed to be a starter in many places was not projected as a starter by PFF. Nothing was said about the position but it stood out either as a mistake or a statement expressing little confidence in a draft pick. Or possibly it could mean confidence in the holdover starter.

PFF projects Kindle Vildor as the starting left cornerback for the Bears.

He is now and will probably go into OTAs and possibly minicamp in that spot, maybe even training camp.

However, Vildor is a fourth-year player who was a fifth-round draft pick (163 overall) from a smaller school, Georgia Southern.

His competition this camp will be from second-round draft pick Tyrique Stevenson, the former Georgia and Miami cornerback who went in Round 2.

Expecting Vildor to be No. 1 on the depth chart for the starting lineup over Stevenson is expecting a great deal of improvement from a player who has had passer ratings against of 100 or higher every year since he came into the NFL.

Vildor actually did improve last year but injuries ended his season early. He started only nine games, played in 11 and missed six. Vildor was benched during the 2021 season before getting back onto the field and seemed to improve in 2022. He allowed a 110.1 passer rating against when targeted, which isn't good in and of itself. However, after 131.2 and 136.1 in his first two seasons, it was movement in the right direction.

His completion percentage allowed when targeted inched downward, as well, to 65.8% (25 of 38) from 69.7% his first two seasons.

Still, the improvement was minimal and the Bears not only drafted Stevenson in Round 2 but they actually moved back into the draft, traded away the first pick of Round 5 with their own second-rounder (No. 61) for the chance to take Stevenson at No. 56.

"Didn't feel really comfortable with him making it to us, so we got a little bit of aggressive and went up and grabbed him," GM Ryan Poles said at the time. "Big, physical corner. Tackles. Will strike you. Good ball skills."

Bears defensive backs coach Jon Hoke after rookie minicamp had been impressed with Stevenson's skills and also his ability to quickly pick up their coverage schemes. He also liked the fact Stevenson has seen competition from the SEC and ACC on a regular basis.

"I think, it's probably a little easier acclamation for him because a lot of those guys obviously that he's played with or played against and the conferences he's been in, especially the Georgia guys he's been with, have all done well," Stevenson said. "And obviously Miami with the skill sets of people in the ACC.

"So I always think it's the acclamation. It's (NFL quality receivers) nothing that he hasn't seen speed-wise. Now, he's going to see more of it. But he's seen it."

Expecting Vildor to hold off this type of competition is probably unrealistic at best, or it says something about what Pro Football Focus thinks of Stevenson.

It's true rookie cornerbacks often struggle in the NFL but the Bears were willing to go with Kyler Gordon despite some poor rookie numbers, like 76.8% completions allowed and a 101.9 passer rating against. In Gordon's case, those numbers are inflated by long stints playing slot cornerback, where it's more difficult to prevent catches than on the outside.

The Bears can afford to play another rookie now at a cornerback spot because Gordon improved by the end of his rookie year. So anticipate at least that change from the starting lineup projection made by PFF.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven

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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.

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