Safety first? Bears could end up rebuilding the entire position group
INDIANAPOLIS — The top safety in this year’s draft was listing off his favorite NFL players at the position when he came upon a name familiar to Bears fans.
“Kevin Byard,” Ohio State safety Caleb Downs said at the NFL Scouting Combine. “His film this year was crazy.”
The Bears want Byard back after he was named first-team all-pro and led the NFL with seven interceptions last year. They plan on engaging with him on contract talks in the coming days. Despite being 32, he could fetch a two-year deal around $20 million.
While Byard said he’ll consider his family obligations, he wants to keep playing for a winning team. He has ties to Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel, who coached him in Tennessee, and could consider rejoining him. Still, his success in Chicago — and the fact general manager Ryan Poles has lobbied publicly for his return — is a good sign he stays.
If he doesn’t, the Bears have a complete rebuild to do at the position. Jaquan Brisker is likely to get a more lucrative deal elsewhere, and backups Jonathan Owens and Elijah Hicks are pending free agents.
In 2017, the Bears sent out a smokescreen — even to their own head coach, John Fox — that they were interested in drafting safety Jamal Adams. Instead, they traded up to draft quarterback Mitch Trubisky.The Bears took Brisker with the 48th pick in 2022, the highest they’d picked a safety since 2006.
Many in the league consider safety a fungible position — one that teams can fill on the third day of the draft and in the second wave of free agency. That’s probably true at one starting safety spot, but not both.
This year’s draft, though, puts a higher premium on the position than some recent ones. Downs is considered a top-10 prospect — and maybe the player with the highest floor, regardless of position. ESPN has Round 1 grades on two other safeties — Oregon’s Dillon Thieneman and Toledo’s Emmanuel McNeil-Warren are ranked 26th and 28th overall, respectively, by ESPN. Only six safeties ran the 40-yard dash faster than Thieneman, who transferred from Purdue to Oregon to, he said, improve his draft stock.
“I really focused on where I wasn't good at, and then was able to expand my game play and play multiple coverages over there,” he said. “Oregon and prepare for the next level.”
Emmanuel-Warren, who profiles as an enforcer, ran just a 4.52-second 40-yard dash. Downs didn’t do on-field work at the Combine.
There’s no doubt in Downs’ mind where he stands, even at an undervalued position.
“It's not really positional value — it's, ‘Who affects the game?’” he said. “If you affect the game in a lot of ways, that's what's most important. So that's really all I can worry about honestly. I can't worry about what anybody else says or what the coaches have done. …
“My film is what it is, and they can make a decision based off of that.”