A highly debated topic going into the 2018 NFL Draft was whether or not the Chicago Bears were going to take Derwin James with the #8 overall selection if he was still on the board. The speculation was out there that the Bears needed to potentially make an upgrade to their already solid secondary.
However, as we now know, the Bears didn’t take James with their pick in the first round. Instead, they chose Roquan Smith and chose to focus their attention elsewhere. In fact, the Bears didn’t address their secondary at all throughout the draft…only adding a couple of corners as UDFA’s.
A large reason why they felt comfortable not addressing the position rests on the shoulders of #38.
Adrian Amos is entering his fourth season with the Bears in 2018 and has shown his ability to step up his game year after year, even in the face of adversity. He was benched at the beginning of last season, but after an injury to Quintin Demps, Amos stepped up to have the best year of his short career.
Subscribe to the BFR Youtube channel and ride shotgun with Dave and Ficky as they break down Bears football like nobody else.
Amos recorded 2 forced fumbles, 67 tackles and an interception returned for a touchdown in 13 games. He stepped up to provide Chicago, alongside Eddie Jackson, solid safety play for the first time in years.
A 90+ yard pick-6? Have a day, Adrian Amos! #CHIvsBAL pic.twitter.com/hc18aSz1qN
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) October 15, 2017
The national media took notice of Amos’ stellar play, as Pro Football Focus rated Amos as an elite safety in the league and deserving of an All-Pro honor. Bleacher Report, in their NFL1000 series, deemed Amos as the #1 Free Safety in all of football last year. Extremely high praise for such a young player, but Amos isn’t motivated by the accolades or recognition…
Amos appeared on Good Morning Football to discuss the Bears 2018 season outlook, but he also answered the question of what truly motivates him. His answer should excite Bears fans…
In his words, he “wants to be the best”. He’s motivated to achieve this personal goal through hard work, dedication and blocking out all the external noise. From what he says in the video above, it doesn’t sound like he feels he’s gotten there yet.
We might be just beginning to see all that Adrian can be in this Vic Fangio defense.
2018’s going to be a fun year to watch the Chicago Bears. With guys like Eddie Jackson and Kyle Fuller patrolling the secondary, alongside an up-and-coming safety like Amos, this might be the year that we see the Bears secondary take a massive leap forward.
Amos might not be the safety that has 5+ interceptions every year, but that’s not what they’ll ask him to do. They’ll ask him to come down and punish backs in the run game just like he did last year with Jerrick McKinnon. Bring on more highlights like this, Smash. Bring it on.
Adrian Amos monster hit on Jerick Mckinnon pic.twitter.com/9pQdY2KL7s
— NFL Update (@MySportsUpdate) October 10, 2017