The Chicago Bears' secondary has plenty of shuffling entering the second week of the preseason. Unfortunately, there are plenty of injuries in the group, making it hard to find a complete resolution this week. What will the secondary look like against the Bengals?
Chicago Bears secondary brings major questions to Preseason Week 2
The Bears are expected to play some starters. However, Tyrique Stevenson has not been practicing, Kyler Gordon remains on the PUP, and Coby Bryant is out with his injury. Considering Elijah Hicks is also on the PUP, plus Jaylon Jones and Terell Smith are also out, the secondary will be a bit thinner than usual.
The Bears only have one more practice until the preseason game, so it is hard to see any of those names suiting up.
This would make the first-team Jaylon Johnson, and potentially Malik Muhammad, start on the outside again. Muhammad has played both outside and the slot in his rookie year, so this would be a big role. This would allow Cam Lewis to play in the slot, where he has worked most.
Xavier Woods and Dillon Thieneman are expected to start in Week 1 at safety, and those two will get some more work in the preseason.
Last week, Muhammad shifted from outside to the slot with the second team. You can assume that would happen again. Josh Blackwell played slot and outside in the preseason opener and could join Dontae Manning as the two outside options when the starters get pulled.
The Bears could decide to play Cam Lewis at safety. However, they also might choose to get longer looks at Anthony Johnson and Skyler Thomas, as they compete for the last roster spot at safety.
Lastly, the third string unit would feature Blackwell following Muhammad of shifting from outside to inside. They can bring in William Wright and Beanie Bishop on the outside.
Marlen Sewell will then get work at safety. One of the safeties who did not play second-team snaps, or needed more snaps, would get to work in with him.
Overall, they will get to see Muhammad in the slot and outside. They will see the safeties together. If they want to see Cam Lewis in the slot and at safety, they can also do that. The injuries do not help, but there is still plenty to see in the secondary from the Bears' second preseason game.
| More Bears on DaWindyCity |
Add us as a preferred source on Google