Chicago Bears 2019 NFL Draft Primer: Everything you need to know

9. Darnell Savage, Safety, Maryland

A physical, versatile, and hard-hitting safety, Darnell Savage is a guy who the Bears might potentially have to trade up for. To be clear, Pace and co. won’t be trading up into the second round for Savage, but they will likely have to trade up in the third-round if they are interested in drafting him.

Savage is a rangy safety who showcases impressive speed and the ability to close in on plays in a hurry. Additionally, he’s also a guy who excels heavily in man coverage. Despite having many traits that make it easy to think that Savage is the ideal prospect, there are some aspects to his game that cannot be overlooked.

One of the major red flags with Savage is that there are times where he is overly aggressive. While this was something that he could get away with at times in college, he won’t get away so easily in the NFL.  The reality is that Savage will need to learn how to be more disciplined if he’s to take his game to the next level once he reaches the pros.

One of Savage’s most underrated traits is his ability to process what the offense is doing very quickly. He’s able to show that he understands what the offense is going to do and then acts accordingly.

With four interceptions and 5.5 tackles for loss in his final season at Maryland, he’s shown the ability to be an ascending player. Savage is clearly one of the more complete prospects in this safety class, despite the fact that there are a few areas of his game that need to be touched up just a bit for him to become a more complete player.