The Only Drawback Ahead for Eddie Jackson

Having Tashaun Gipson back at safety and Sean Desai using the old Vic Fangio defense are encouraging aspects of the 2021 plan for Eddie Jackson but not everything is perfect for the veteran Bears safety.

Bears safety Eddie Jackson sees so much familiarity, from the defensive coordinator, to the scheme the Bears will play, to Tashaun Gipson lining up in the secondary at the other safety spot.

Something new could be a real problem for the Bears in the secondary, though. 

That's the absence of cornerback Kyle Fuller, who often was the teammate nearest Jackson lining up on the left side of the field. 

"I mean, I don't really question what the organization chooses to do but what I can say is when you play this game you get relationships with good people, and Kyle is like a brother to me," Jackson said.

"Kyle (Fuller) is like a brother to me."

                                                                -Eddie Jackson

The team chose to let go of Fuller in an attempt to get under the salary cap. They had two former All-Pros in their secondary, Jackson being one and Fuller the other.

"So of course I felt some type of way about it just seeing him leave," Jackson said. "But you know, being a professional athlete that's just part of the game. Everybody's not going to spend their time on one team for their whole career so that's kind of how this works. 

"You know, I felt some type of way, just the chemistry me and Kyle and how Kyle is built, me and him, he was the last guy that's been here since I got here in the secondary. So to see him leave was kind of frustrating, but now we've just got a lot of young guys who are hungry and they know it's time to compete and time to step up."

If Jackson doesn't have Fuller's familiar face nearby, at least he has his old No. 4 back that he wore in college at Alabama as he tries to rebound from his first season without an interception.

The Vic Fangio style defense is something he also knew well for Jackson's first two years with the team, and new defensive coordinator Sean Desai was the position coach he has worked with the last two years.

When he heard about Desai being hired as defensive coordinator it made Jackson's attempt to bounce back from his first season without an interception into an easier task.

"I was happy man, I was very excited," Jackson said. "You know, just the relationship that me and Sean have and what he's been through. You know, he's been a guy behind the scenes for a very long time, even before I got here. Through the process of when I was here that was one of the guys that helped me the most, you know, learning the plays, learning the schemes.

"So for him to get that type of promotion man I feel like is huge and it's well deserved."

The system Fangio taught Desai and Jackson played in is well known for disguises.

"Just the scheme-wise, you know that scheme-wise he likes to do a lot of different things," Jackson said. "I don't want to put too much stuff out there obviously but he does a lot of different things and he emphasizes on the same things that coach Vic emphasized—you know with disguise purposes and just challenging us. You know, coming in and challenging us both on and off the field to be better players and teammates and things like that."

Desai's approach beyond the scheme is similar to Fangio's, and Jackson said the younger players who have been on the field this spring when defensive starters weren't at the voluntary work have been experiencing this.

"It's aggressive," Jackson said. "He's coming in and he's holding us to a standard and you know I haven't been here but from what I've heard he's holding these guys out here to a standard: Run to the ball, finish, be in your playbook, run through your keys, be on top of your keys, pursue."

While Jackson won't have Fuller lining up in the secondary, at least Tashaun Gipson returns. The last two years Jackson has had to play alongside a different safety and change in the defensive backfield often leads to confusion.

"It's huge, it's huge," Jackson said. "I haven't played with a safety two years in a row since Adrian Amos. So to come back and have that chemistry, man, it's huge, especially back there."

The disguise factor Fangio liked and Desai is expected to deploy can work better with two safeties familiar with each other.

"I'm in his head, he's in my head," Jackson said. "The type of athlete that Gip is, he brings a lot of stuff that we can use, me and him together and also for the defense that Sean can for disguise purposes. 

"I can play this role, he can play that role. We're both ready to take sacrifices to do what needs to be done to help this team win. But it's very huge and I'm excited."

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