Competition was the buzzword for GM Ryan Poles and head coach Matt Eberflus when the off-season began. They wanted to create as much of it as possible going into Chicago Bears training camp. No position should be without it. They believe competition makes players better. One is often at his best when he feels he must fight for his job. It sounds like the mission was accomplished. The Bears have several intriguing battles unfolding across the roster. Tyler Scott and Velus Jones are trading shots at wide receiver. Andrew Billings and Gervon Dexter have both looked strong at defensive tackle.
However, easily the most even fight to start training camp has ironically been between two rookies. Chicago selected two cornerbacks in the 2023 draft: Tyrique Stevenson in the 2nd round and Terell Smith in the 5th. Poles traded up for Stevenson, indicating how much the Bears liked him. Smith was the surprise. Many in the building had felt he should’ve been long gone by that point. It felt as if they’d gotten a steal. Now the two have traded reps with the 1st-team defense to start camp, and both are making plays. Stevenson had an interception on Monday. Smith replied with a tipped pass that led to another on Tuesday.
Neither is backing down.
The Chicago Bears are elated with this development.
They feel they already have two solid cornerbacks in Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon. To see two rookies step up immediately like this is a welcome sign for their secondary going into this season. It also speaks to the job Poles did in finding both of them. Time will tell if they can translate great play in practice to the actual games. It is likely this battle will carry into the preseason later this month. It feels like Stevenson has the slight edge for the moment, but Smith has gained ground over the past week.
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What makes it more impressive is they’ve done this against a pretty solid receiving corps of proven NFL veterans like D.J. Moore, Darnell Mooney, and Chase Claypool. It’d be one thing if this were last year with Byron Pringle and Dante Pettis taking snaps with the #1 offense. These rookies are showing their stuff against legit players. That would explain why the coaching staff is so excited. It should only get more competitive moving forward as the clock ticks down.
I think everyone needs to slow the hype train down a bit. Both of these guys can play and are solid athletes, but to say either of them are better than JJ or even a threat at this stage is a misguided side effect of the media hype train. Remember facts, and and those are still proven and uncontested. JJ is still the CB on this roster by more than a few yards, K Gordon is still proven and better than both of these rookies. Until we actually these either one or both of them in pre-season games at least,… Read more »
The defense will be better than we think
@Ronzi2 just being honest. I played football for a long time and i know what good QB play looks like. I don’t see it. I’ve followed the Bears for a long time. Every year we get fed the same BS and what??? If our media was more open we wouldn’t be so surprised when the Bears suck. Like day 1 practice. All these rave reviews about how awesome Fields is. Only a “couple mistakes”. Like the 3 picks he threw. Those mistakes. The rest of the league has the Bears as a bottom 10 team. I’m going with that. Still… Read more »
@ Chief Tomahawk: It’s time to sharpen your blade and get a real axe to hone your negative views on everything BEARS. Last count I saw, 53 negative responses to your opinions.
Love hearing this news!! BUT, you really don’t know shit until they play some truly live reps in actual games. But still, very encouraging to hear. As others have said, can never have too many good DB’s.