Five major takeaways from Chicago Bears preseason Week 1
Rookie safety Eddie Jackson must start over Adrian Amos
Last season, the Chicago Bears had a strong defensive front seven. However, their play in the secondary severely held the entire unit back. Ryan Pace and company worked hard to improve the secondary over the offseason and the early returns are positive.
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The starting cornerback duo of Prince Amukamara and Marcus Cooper is not elite, but they are considerably better than the options they had last season. Add in Bryce Callahan and Cre’Von LeBlanc as slot defenders and the Bears have a pretty solid mix of cornerbacks.
Safety Quintin Demps was brought in via free agency and will undoubtedly start at one of the spots. The safety position opposite of Demps is seemingly wide open. Adrian Amos has been a starter for the Bears for two seasons. Amos is a decent player but he is far from a high-level option. There is undoubtedly an opportunity to upgrade the starting safety spot next to Demps and rookie Eddie Jackson could be that guy.
The Bears drafted Jackson in the fourth round of the 2017 NFL Draft. He was a fantastic playmaker at the safety position at the University of Alabama and would have likely been drafted much higher if not for a broken leg suffered last season.
Jackson has come in and impressed in training camp, and on Thursday night, it was painfully obvious how much better than Amos he is. A great athlete with fantastic natural instincts, Jackson has elite coverage upside at the safety position. He is a smooth player who really shined on Thursday night.
I was already leaning this way before the game, but now there is no doubt in my mind. Eddie Jackson is already a better player than Adrian Amos and needs to start over him in 2017. Amos can still be a valuable member of the roster as the third safety.