Chicago Bears vs. Denver Broncos Preseason Week 1: 5 players to watch

3. Eddie Jackson, S

The Chicago Bears had obvious issues in the secondary last season. Pace and company have assembled a strong defensive front seven, but their secondary has fallen far behind. The Bears did a nice job of adding impact cornerbacks and safeties in free agency and they also added safety Eddie Jackson in the fourth round of the 2017 NFL Draft.

Free agent addition Quintin Demps will start at one safety position for the Bears. Incumbent Adrian Amos is likely the favorite to start next to him. However, I think Jackson has a real chance to give Amos a run for his money.

Jackson is a fantastic coverage safety who shows great playmaking skills on the back-end. He is an ideal deep coverage safety who fits Vic Fangio’s defense extremely well.

Jackson shows great speed and athleticism from the deep safety position and has big-time ball skills. It is not rare to see him range from one side to another to make a play on the ball. He is also a turnover machine who is looking to pick the ball off in the air at all times.

There is a lot to like about Jackson’s game and he fits the Bears defense extremely well. Amos is a solid player, but Jackson has much more long-term upside. As long as he stays healthy, I think we see Jackson take over that starting safety job heading into the regular season. That will begin on Thursday night against the Broncos.