League insiders weigh in on Chicago’s new defensive anchor, revealing how a former Super Bowl champion’s cornerback background transforms him into a versatile, hard-hitting weapon in the secondary.
The Chicago Bears had to replace two vital starters on defense this offseason.
It's brutal for a team to lose one key starter, but the Bears lost two.
Kevin Byard led the NFL with seven interceptions during the regular season, also accounting for 93 total tackles and three TFLs.
Jaquan Brisker had a solid season in the final year of his rookie contract, recording 93 total tackles, one interception, one sack and one TFL. For whatever reason, the Bears and these two could not reach a deal.
Byard returned to Mike Vrabel, who now coaches the New England Patriots. Vrabel was his head coach when he was with the Tennessee Titans. Brisker is now back in his home state of Pennsylvania to play for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Replacing both Byard and Brisker is going to be hard, but the Bears are doing their best. General Manager Ryan Poles added Coby Bryant from the Seattle Seahawks in free agency and then drafted Oregon safety Dillon Thieneman in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Bryant is a bona fide starter from his time with the reigning Super Bowl Champions. Thieneman's versatility in college did him a lot of favors and is expected to start alongside Bryant.
There are high hopes for both Bryant and Thieneman, but on Thursday, we found out what the NFL world thinks of the former Seahawks safety.
ESPN's Jeremy Fowler published an article in which anonymous NFL executives, scouts, and coaches ranked the top 10 safeties in the league. He has gone around and had them reveal their thoughts on quarterbacks, running backs, receivers, tight ends, edge rushers, cornerbacks, offensive linemen, and off-ball linebackers.
Bryant wasn't considered one of the top 10 safeties in the NFL, but was an honorable mention. One NFL coordinator had this to say about him.
"I love him," the coordinator said. "He's a corner by trade, so he has good feet and ball skills, but he will hit, too, now."
Whoever the coordinator was is right. Bryant did primarily play corner at Cincinnati in college. He came into college as a safety but then was moved to corner for the remainder of his Bearcats career.
He even attempted to play corner once he got to the NFL, but it wasn't too long into his professional career that the Seahawks moved him to safety, and it was a perfect fit.
This gives Bears fans insight into the kind of player they are getting to replace one of their starting safeties from a year ago. It sounds like there was a theme for Poles in the replacements for Byard and Brisker.
Poles wanted to find players who spent time at multiple different positions when it came to his search for two starting safeties.
These qualities in both in Bryant and Thieneman, so it makes sense why Poles brought them into the team.
Versatility was the name of the game for the Bears when it came to finding replacements for Byard and Brisker.
