Chicago Bears rookie Jordan van den Berg flashed brute power and elite quickness against the Cleveland Browns, but inconsistent balance and hand placement show the interior defensive lineman still has improvements to make.
Chicago Bears sixth-round draft pick Jordan van den Berg made his NFL debut on Saturday against the Cleveland Browns at Soldier Field.
Van den Berg played 28 defensive snaps in the 34-10 win over the Browns. While the 6-foot-3, 310-pound rookie interior defensive lineman from Georgia Tech proved why he has earned first-team snaps in training camp with a few standout plays, his performance also revealed plenty of room for improvement.
Here's everything I saw from van den Berg's performance against the Browns.
Brute Power
This is van den Berg's last play of the game. It's at the start of the fourth quarter, and the rookie is lined up in the B gap. He does a nice job of working up field and attacking the outside shoulder of the right guard and then uses a strong hand swipe to get inside. He closes on the quarterback and ends up hitting him low, which easily could have drawn a flag.
Outside of the ending, the power and quickness on this rep is what you get with van den Berg. It's a good way to go out for his first game in the NFL.
Active Hands
On third-and-5 with 9:33 left in the third quarter, van den Berg shows off his get-off and his active hands against the Browns' right guard. As van den Berg is fighting up field, he is resetting his hands to not allow the offensive lineman to get a secure block. He does lose his footing at the end and can't complete the play, but the start of the rep was encouraging.
Washed Out
As van den Berg continues to gain experience with the players around him and understands what offenses are trying to do to him, there should be fewer of these types of plays. Honestly, everyone to the left of van den Berg could have done a better job on this run play, but the rookie is washed out of his gap and a lane is created.
If you pause the clip at two seconds, van den Berg is facing horizontally to the sideline. That's not where he wants to be, but the backside defensive end, Daniel Hardy, does a nice job of pursuing the ball carrier and making the tackle.
Going Down
Nearly midway in the second quarter, van den Berg ends up on the ground with the Browns' center on top of him to finish the play. Off the snap, it doesn't look like the rookie has the best balance and it doesn't help that his own teammate plus two additional offensive lineman knock into him.
However, contact from all directions is almost a given for interior defensive lineman. Van den Berg's teammates still limit this run to a 1-yard loss, but the rookie will want to avoid ending up on a ground like he did on this rep.
There were also several snaps where I wanted to see some type of counter move after his initial rush was stalled. Also, I noted that his head was down on a few reps, causing him to lose sight of the ball carrier. He was credited with three pressures on 15 pass rush snaps, according to Pro Football Focus.
There was definitely a lot to like from van den Berg's NFL debut and I came away encouraged with what I saw on tape, but there are still areas to improve his game as he prepares for Thursday's joint practice against the Cincinnati Bengals and Saturday's road preseason game.
