Chicago Bears: Initial undrafted free agent haul proves direction of team

The Trenches

Defensive Lineman Abdullah Anderson, Bucknell

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: Ryan Pace signs a small school prospect with an upside.

Abdullah Anderson is quite an athlete, and if you watched the above highlight, you would have heard that this guy once played point guard for his basketball team. Now, he’s playing defensive line at the pro level? That’s pretty remarkable.

At 6-foot-4, 295 pounds, Anderson is an athletic lineman who uses his hands well. He plays with fantastic pad level and doesn’t like to waste a lot of movements, especially with his upper body.

Anderson has blocked four kicks in his career, according to his NFL.com profile.

As is a big knock on many small school standouts, Anderson failed to compete with anybody up to snuff with his talent level. He’s going to have to prove he can hang with the pros if he wants a shot at sticking on the roster.

Offensive Lineman Dejon Allen, Hawaii

Count this as another of several players that could have been drafted in rounds six or seven, yet fell into the Bears lap without using a draft pick. Dejon Allen is a versatile offensive lineman who has experience playing multiple positions.

Is there a theme with this group up front? I am sensing one. Allen will join guys like Cody Whitehair and James Daniels who also excel at multiple positions.

Because Allen is a bit undersized, he might be best-suited to play on the interior, thus will compete for a backup job in camp. NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein compares him to a former Bear, Roberto Garza. If he’s anything like Garza, I’ll take him in a heartbeat.