The Chicago Bears are in full offseason mode now. Much of their primary focus in the past week has been situating their coaching staff. Matt Nagy made some significant changes including a new offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach, offensive line coach, and tight ends coach. Not to mention adding an entirely new job in passing game coordinator to the mix. Yet while Nagy has been focused on that, GM Ryan Pace hasn’t let his scouts waste any time.
Several of them are currently in St. Petersburg, Florida. This is the location of the East-West Shrine Game, the first gathering of potential picks in the NFL draft. Many of them coming from smaller schools and even Canada. While not the hotbed of talent other events like the Senior Bowl and scouting combine are, this game has produced more than a few future stars. Among them including Za’Darius Smith, Jimmy Garoppolo, and Steve Smith.
So it’s not something teams should ignore. The Bears certainly haven’t. They’ve been quite active with interviews down there thus far. They’ve met with a quarterback and a couple of wide receivers. Not all that shocking. However, they’ve also been pretty persistent in their meetings with another position group. That being safeties.
Chicago Bears met with two interesting safeties
It shouldn’t be a huge surprise that the Bears would be this active on the safety market. No fewer than three players at that position are coming out of contract this coming March in Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, Deon Bush, and DeAndre Houston-Carson. Given the limited amount of money they have to spend, there is a strong likelihood at least two of them won’t be back. If any at all. So it makes sense the team would be hunting for possible draft options.
Subscribe to the BFR podcast and ride shotgun with Dave and Ficky as they break down Bears football like nobody else.
The first meeting they had was with Jeremiah Dinson of Auburn. Pro Football Focus gave him their highest grade of any safety in the SEC in 2019. He finished with 88 tackles, two sacks, and two interceptions. An athletic 6’0 kid, he plays the game with good speed and toughness. He can handle coverage duties but isn’t afraid to drop down into the box and deliver the wood either. Current projections have him going somewhere on Day 3 in April.
The other name the Bears made sure to get a meeting with was Rodney Clemons of SMU. It’s difficult for players from smaller programs to get noticed so it’s not a surprise Clemons received an invitation. He certainly showed promise in college, especially in 2019 where he finished with 77 tackles and four interceptions. Another versatile defender who can play coverage and around the line of scrimmage.
Like Dinson, Clemson is projected to go somewhere in the later rounds of the draft. Given the success the Bears have had getting safeties in that range (Eddie Jackson and Adrian Amos), these are two names fans should absolutely keep in the back their minds as the draft gets closer.
