Could Bears’ Braxton Jones, Gervon Dexter, Tyrique Stevenson have breakout seasons?

Could Bears’ Braxton Jones, Gervon Dexter, Tyrique Stevenson have breakout seasons?

welcome back we’re going to go on the beat now presented by Chevy drive chicago.com with Sam Monson from Pro Football Focus hello Sam how are you I’m doing well how are you not long now until training camp Begins the season is nearly upon us so let’s take a look at the Bears you write about the second-year players who might be under the most pressure to perform and certainly the Bears have one of those Javon Dexter is in the middle of Matt eberl’s defense Javon has been talked about in Chicago like a guy who already has arrived boy do they need him to arrive Sam what do you expect from Javon Dexter in year two yeah and and I don’t even think that the pressure is necessarily his fault it’s just that they need him to be a really good player on that defensive line for that group to give the kind of pressure that the Chicago defense needs for that secondary to be at its best for that defensive line to have more than one threat than just Mont has sweat and Dexter he’s an intriguing player as a prospect he was somebody that had never really put it together in in his college career he’d had one season where he was a pretty good pass rusher one season where he was a pretty good run Defender last year he was a pretty good pass rusher as a rookie um did not bring much in terms of run defense but I think Chicago would take that if he’s able to take the next step and develop really into a consistent source of pressure in the interior but Chicago desperately needs somebody on that defensive line outside of montz sweat to step up and become a consistent source of pressure and Dexter looks like the guy that they’ve kind of anointed as the one who’s going to do it you also go back to the defensive line you rank them Pro Football Focus does 27th best in the league around these parts Sam I think that sounds like blasphemy only because we refer so often to the Bears defense as a top 10 unit potentially top five unit how can they get there if they have the 27th best defensive line where are the areas they need to improve upon the most yeah it would be a struggle it’s a really interesting group because I think they dramatically outperformed their talent level last season particularly during the second half of the Year obviously things changed upfront when they brought in Mont sweat they went from having literally the worst pass rush in the NFL to at least being in contention with other teams along the bottom they didn’t move far off the bottom of the NFL rankings but sweat brings a consistent source of pressure which just wasn’t there before he arrived but this group did not have the kind of talent ability and even the pressure rate to say that it should be a top 10 or a top five defense the way they were performing for a big chunk of last season so it’s kind of a group that almost screams regression or a potential step back next season unless guys like Dexter can take that step forward and provide that additional source of pass rush pressure if they’re not able to do that it’s really difficult to see how they can perform at that kind of level over the course of a season it would be a huge sort of outlier um or just unusual run for any team to be able to do that it would rely on all of their star players hitting on all cylinders as well as all the young guys kind of taking a step uh forward together at the same time they’re going to need that defensive line to help a secondary that I think could be the strength of this team the numbers don’t necessarily reflect that the rankings certainly don’t but Sam I look at Jaylen Johnson as an elite cover corner you look at Kyler Gordon ready to take a step I think Tyreek Stevenson is a really good football player in his second year could be a breakout kind of guy and I think they upgraded at safety replacing Eddie Jackson with Kevin Bard and you have jquan brisker if he can stay healthy Sam I think that group could be the strength of this team do you agree no definitely that’s a very strong potential group there Jaylen Johnson was phenomenal last season arguably the best corner in the NFL Kevin ber has been one of the best free safeties in the NFL for a long period of time and I think can still bring some juice to that team Tyreek Stevenson I think is the guy that has the the big X Factor there I didn’t love him as a draft prospect coming out but I was much more impressed by his rookie season than I expected it to be and even behind him you’ve got a guy like Terrell Smith who I think is is also extremely talented and could take a step forward as well so they have a sort of built-in contingency even if one of those rookies does not develop the way they expect them to but I think generally it sort of reflects the approach of this defense overall which is we have a couple of star players a couple of veterans but we are relying on these young guys that we’ve drafted to take that step forward in their development and now emerge as really good players speaking of guys ready to emerge I found your offensive line rankings very interesting indeed five offensive linemen poised for breakout Seasons Braxton Jones the left tackle in his third season now on that list they need him to be solid they need him to be durable they need him to stay in the lineup what made you think braxon Jones is capable of being a breakout player yeah well I think Braxton Jones has already been solid in his 2 NFL season so far and and really I think we might be about to see the power of changing the quarterback on an offensive line or an offensive line man um those guys really control the amount of pressure that they’re getting it’s it’s and Justin field held on to the ball on average longer than any other quarterback in the NFL so if Caleb Williams is able to change that Dynamic a bit play Within structure the offense a lot more we could start to see that entire offensive line but braxon Jones in particular immediately look a lot better than they did before that without changing anything you know if he doesn’t get better at all I think he will look significantly better just with the change of quarterback that he’s protecting and then if he does take a little bit of a step forward in year three which is the year here that offensive lineman typically do take a significant leap he’s already improved in terms of pass blocking in the NFL cut down the number of sacks he gave up the pressure rate I think he’s really primed to take a next step forward and maybe he’ll never be great maybe he’ll never be an all proo but I think he can be a very good starting left ankle I think a lot of Bears fans find that intriguing to consider because this week you saw odds offered that David bakari could odds favored that he’s signing with the Bears the team at the top of the list I don’t know if that makes sense Bak tiari coming off an injury he has obviously started for 11 seasons for the Packers to me bakari would fit better on a team ready to maybe make a leap the missing piece to a Super Bowl Contender I don’t know if it makes sense on a young offensive line like the Bears have yeah I mean Bak tiari the injury is such a question mark like potentially he’s still the best pass blocking left tackle in football and for a team that’s doing everything in their in their capability to make their quarterback’s life better that’s a good thing you know bringing in a guy that good is obviously a huge boost especially if it’s not going to cost him that much you know if his asking price is not huge um but his injury is such a huge question now he was almost a part-time player there there’s it’s sort of um the thought to be certain games that he just can’t play between the the time difference between each game between the Surface so maybe they can bring him in as a kind of almost a part-time starter at left tackle with Braxton Jones as the the capable backup and the alternative option to turn to it all depends on the asking price but he’s still an incredible player let’s talk wide receivers obviously the Bears still have to sign Roma dun but if they do when they do DJ Moore Keenan Allen gives them quite a trio if you are ranking Bears wide receivers in terms of the league in the trios where are they I mean they’re arguably the top Trio in the NFL already if romad dun is half the player that he looks like he’s got the capability to be the the Chicago Bears have done a phenomenal job of putting a receiving core around Caleb Williams and giving him one of the best situations that any rookie has stepped into in in years um DJ Moore showed that he’s basically quarterback proof he’s able to get open have production regardless of who it is Keenan Allen is still one of the best route runners in the NFL incredibly Savvy gets open just a really good player and then radun is the guy with no limitations on what he can be the the physical tools the the uh potential of what he could become at the NFL level and he doesn’t have to be anything more than a number three in this offense so I think it’s an incredible group and maybe the best Trio in football before we let you go Sam okay you watch a lot of tape you evaluate a lot of quarterbacks when Caleb Williams takes his first snap for the Bears whether it’s in preseason and or maybe the regular season as well what are the things you’ll be looking for what are the key things to evaluate to know whether or not he’s making progress or not I really want to see that Dynamic we talked about before can he play more within the structure of this offense and play less hero ball than he did in college right we don’t know whether that was something inherent in Caleb Williams the way he wants to play the game and you’re going to have to really battle to get that out of him at the next level or if that was simply a product of the situation in college with that USC team knowing that he was going to have to put up 40 points otherwise they weren’t winning the game and it was a necessity of of the way he was playing in college so if you can get that style of play just a little bit more under control I think he could be a genuinely special quarterback if he’s always going to be a little bit too much of a Maverick that’s when you might get some of the struggles we saw last year against Notre Dame for example when he just turned the ball over a little bit too much trying to do too much even with all the talent even with all the upgrades do you expect the Bears to be more 6040 run or more than that run to pass ratio I mean I I think they’re going to try and be a balanced offense try and use the Run game as much as they can but if Caleb Williams is as good as he looked in college they’re going to put the ball in his hands and let him go to work as well Sam mson from Pro Football Focus thanks for your time tonight great stuff time thanks for having me congrats you finished the video if you want to build on that success download the NBC Sports Chicago app it’s got high highlights exclusive insights and push 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On this episode of Football Night in Chicago, PFF’s Sam Monson joins David Haugh to explain why Bears DT Gervon Dexter, OT Braxton Jones and CB Tyrique Stevenson are likely to take big steps forward this year.

#ChicagoBears #tyriquestevenson #gervondexter

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