JAHNS ON DEIONDRE’ HALL

Hall was a standout in Thursday’s preseason opener and Adam breaks down the physical traits that make him a fit for this defense.

At 6-2 and 201 pounds, Hall fits Fangio’s preference for big cornerbacks. He also played on the first kickoff unit against the Broncos.

His arm length, like an offensive tackle’s, makes him special. Assistant secondary coach Sam Garnes said Hall’s rules for technique differ because of it.

“[It’s] eyes, hands and feet, and then just staying patient,” Hall said. “I’m longer than pretty much everybody else out there, so I’ll be able to get my hands on a lot quicker.”

Hall said becoming a cornerback who excels in press coverage is a process, but he already was able to show Thursday how useful his long arms can be.

CAMPBELL ON FULLER 

Kyle Fuller is dealing with a nagging knee injury and isn’t with the team in New England. Rich pries into the enigmatic Fuller, analyzing his status with a hierarchy not responsible for drafting him.

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Here are the 10 best players on the team as they enter training camp.

10. Kevin White, WR. There’s definitely projection in this ranking but almost everyone has the same report on White: stud. While far from a finished product, most expect him to be a playmaker right away. He has the potential to be one of the best wide receivers in the league.

9. Jerrell Freeman, LB. When I watched Freeman, the one thing that really stood out to me was his ability to make blockers miss. Even in a phone booth, he’d make a little move to slip the block and make a play. Last season was by far his best, but the arrow seems to be pointing up even though he’s 30 years old.

8. Adrian Amos, S. A lot has been made of Amos not having ball skills, but I’m not too worried about that. He’s a torpedo who delivered more big hits than anyone else on the team last year. He has the potential to be one of the best safeties in the league.

7. Willie Young, LB. It was evident when Young got back to 100 percent last season. He had 18 hurries and  5 1/2 sacks in his final eight games as he recovered for a torn achilles suffered a year earlier. In two years with the Bears, he has 70 tackles and 16.5 sacks

6. Eddie Goldman, DL. A bit of projection in this one too but it seems safe. He was a good player at just 21 years old last year, showing more pass-rush than the Bears could have imagined. He struggled against the run early last year, but got better. He says he’s leaner this year, if that’s true, he could be able to dominate the middle of the line.

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Another guest column from the artist known as Data.

Every offseason (and throughout most seasons) there’s a lot of talk amongst Bears fans about whether or not the Bears can win with Jay Cutler as their quarterback. Today I’m going to attempt to answer that question by looking at Cutler’s peers around the league.

I identified five players who are, statistically speaking, Cutler’s peers: Carson Palmer, Matthew Stafford, Eli Manning, Joe Flacco, and Alex Smith. Including Cutler, these six quarterbacks all have started at least 90 games, thrown at least 3500 passes, and posted passer ratings between 83.5 and 88.1.

Basically, they’ve all been around for a while performing, as a whole, at an average to above average level.

Cutler is smack dab in the middle of the group with 134 starts (3rd), 4354 passes (3rd), and an 86.0 passer rating (2nd).

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With so much talk about Alshon Jeffery’s contract and value, it’s been largely forgotten — or ignored — that the Bears wide receiver is poised to have a career season.

You know, if he stays healthy.

While on the field, Jeffery was mostly great last year. His per game averages total out to about 96 catches, 1,435 yards and 7 touchdowns. Great numbers for sure, but not far from what we saw from him in 2013, especially considering the increase in targets. In 2016, however, the stars appear to be perfectly aligned for the fifth-year receiver to explode.

Here are a few reasons why:

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It’s the time of the season when major media outlets waste time and space by ranking players. And Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer is regularly ranked amongst the best quarterbacks in the NFL, despite not even being on the radar two years ago.

Which begs the question: Can Jay Cutler do the same?

The question isn’t can Cutler be as good as Palmer. I’d argue he currently is and always has been the betteir player. Even after Palmer’s last two monster seasons, they’re comparable statistically. The consensus amongst mainstream media members, however, appears to be that at 36 years old with a number of major knee surgeries and a brief retirement, Palmer is somehow better than he used to be.

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All the public buzz about how good Kevin White looked at practice last week was quickly followed by spattering of buzz-kill designed to manage expectations. But, why? There are plenty of reasons to think White is going to have a big year for the Bears.

The big knock on White is that he’s raw because he played in a spread offense in college. Here’s a news flash: over half the teams in the league — including the Bears — run a high percentage of spread concepts. The Bears had 21% of their passes travel behind the line of scrimmage last year and Jay Cutler threw from the gun nearly 86% of the time. Bill Belichick reshaped his entire offense around what he learned from Urban Meyer and Chip Kelly. Even classic West Coast guys like Mike McCarthy have incorporated spread concepts. It’s a safe bet that most of the people saying White won’t make an early impact also said the same about Marcus Mariota.

This is the league now.

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Since taking over before last offseason, Ryan Pace and John Fox have completely rebuilt the Bears defense and it should result in a team that contends for the NFC North in both the near and long term.

I don’t care what happened last year. The Packers are still the team to beat in the NFC North. They have the best coach, the best quarterback and – while they’re certainly declining – I’m not ready to proclaim the Vikings or any other team the new King of the North. But what the Bears did to the Packers on Thanksgiving wasn’t a fluke and now they’re building up their talent level to do it consistently. At the very least, with a good defense, they’ll give themselves a consistent chance.

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With just two drafts under his belt, Ryan Pace is doing something neither of his predecessors did. He is using the draft to build an offense and support the quarterback.

One of the first things I wrote for DBB came at a time when we didn’t know if Jay Cutler was going to be the quarterback. It was clear the Bears had failed to provide the quarterback with necessary weapons and I argued Pace needed to do better.

Through two drafts, he has.

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While still unlikely, the possibility of the Bears drafting a quarterback with the 11th pick in the first round is no longer as crazy as it once seemed.

Daniel Jeremiah’s most recent mock draft created a stir amongst Bears fans because he had them taking Carson Wentz in the first round. Ryan Pace has made it clear he wants to build around Jay Cutler, but he has also said he would take the best player available in the draft. The moves he made in free agency should give him the option of doing just that and if it’s a quarterback, so be it.

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Over the next few weeks, we’ll be evaluating each of the position groupings of the 2015 Bears. Today we’ll start with quarterbacks. Monday we’ll address running backs, Tuesday wide receivers, Wednesday tight ends and Thursday the offensive line. Defense will come the following week.

Jay Cutler did everything possible in 2015 to earn the starting quarterback job in 2016. He showed a command of the offense, assumed a serious, vocal leadership role, limited his risk/reward tosses and overcame a myriad of injuries at the skill spots and offensive line to provide Bears fans a season far more entertaining than was expected from their shaky roster.

He’s the guy. Indisputably.

But behind Cutler, what are the Bears doing at the position? Nothing.

Chicago determined David Fales was worth protecting from pilferage, I guess. But the decisions was less a vote of confidence in Fales’ ability and more an extreme willingness to allow James Clausen a one way ticket to Anywhere, USA. And while Matt Blanchard continues to taxi on the Bears runway, the chances of him ever finding Gate 53 are slim.

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