Bears know Urlacher, Briggs can’t go forever
Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs are still going strong, but they can’t continue to play at a Pro Bowl level forever, even though they did last season for the eighth and seventh time, respectively.
Unheralded Nick Roach has started 45 games over the past four seasons and was sixth last season with 61 tackles and fourth with 6 tackles for loss, even though he comes off the field and is replaced by an extra defensive back in passing situations.
But, aside from the starters, there is no experienced depth. None of the backups have ever started a game in the NFL. Considering Urlacher is 33 and Briggs is 31, that could be a risky gamble. So, while there may not be an immediate need to draft a linebacker, at some point the Bears have to start replenishing the position.
Dom DeCicco, an undrafted rookie last season, was second on the team with 17 special-teams tackles; and unrestricted free-agent addition Blake Costanzo also had 17 special teams tackles last season for the 49ers. But neither figures to see much action on defense.
Since Biggs was drafted in the third round out of Arizona in 2003, the Bears have used only one draft pick in the first three rounds the last eight years on a linebacker. That was in 2007, when they took Michael Okwo out of Stanford, who was an unmitigated bust.
In those eight drafts, a total of only seven linebackers have been drafted, and only one of them is currently on the roster, last year’s sixth-round pick J.T. Thomas, who spent his rookie season on injured reserve.
They really can’t afford to ignore the position much longer, and this draft class is fairly solid at linebacker, so it might be a good time to plan for the future.