Chicago Bears secondary isn't fixed quite yet
Editor's note: This story is eighth in a series on the Bears and their needs in the NFL draft.
The Bears attacked a longtime problem area in their secondary with numbers last year.
They added five veterans: cornerbacks Tracy Porter and Alan Ball, and safeties Antrel Rolle, Chris Prosinski and Sherrod Martin.
And they added four rookies: safeties Adrian Amos and Harold Jones-Quartey and cornerbacks Bryce Callahan and Jacoby Glenn. That plan brought varied levels of success.
The Bears' defense was No. 4 in passing yards allowed, 18th in average gain per pass allowed and 30th in interception percentage.
The secondary combined for just 4 interceptions, 2 by second-year cornerback Kyle Fuller.
Defensive backs
Starters: CB Kyle Fuller, CB Tracy Porter, S Adrian Amos, S Antrel Rolle.
Backups: CB Bryce Callahan, S Harold Jones-Quartey, S Chris Prosinski, CB Alan Ball, CB Sherrick McManis, CB-S Demontre Hurst, CB Jacoby Glenn, S Sherrod Martin.
Injured reserve: Rolle, S Ryan Mundy.
Unrestricted free agents: Ball, Martin, McManis, Mundy, Porter, Prosinski.
Fuller started unimpressively but played better as the season progressed, though not as well as expected from a first-round pick.
In addition to his team-high 2 interceptions, Fuller is a willing run supporter, who was sixth on the team with 56 tackles.
Porter was, by most accounts, the secondary's top performer in coverage, and he had a team-best 22 pass breakups. He earned a longer-term deal after making good on a one-year $870,000 contract.
Amos, a fifth-round draft pick, started all 16 games and led the Bears with 108 tackles but made very few plays on the ball.
There's room for improvement, but Amos could be a mainstay. He could have benefited last season from more time alongside 11-year veteran Rolle, who missed nine games after signing a three-year $11.25 million contract.
Rolle had missed just one start in the previous seven seasons, but he may have to prove he hasn't lost a step to guarantee his return for another season.
Callahan is a bit undersized but showed promise as a nickel corner after McManis played himself out of the job. But McManis continued to play exceptionally well on special teams, leading the Bears with 17 tackles.
Ball returned very little on his one-year, $3 million UFA contract and isn't expected back.
Undrafted Jones-Quartey made a big leap from Division-II Findlay, and late in the season he won the safety job back from the veteran Prosinski. Both of them played well on special teams.
Draft need: moderate.
Feeling a draft: The injury-prone Porter, who played in 14 games in 2015, has played all 16 games just once in his eight-year career.
Fuller and Amos still have much room for improvement, and Rolle began showing his age last season. So the secondary is far from fixed despite last season's tinkering.
Among the cornerbacks in this year's draft, Florida State's Jalen Ramsey is the most coveted and considered an immediate impact player because of a varied skill set that could see him being a Day 1 starter at corner, nickel or safety.
Florida's Vernon Hargreaves is just a notch below.
Both could be gone before the Bears' No. 11 pick, but the CB class is considered deep enough to find rookie starters through the third round.
Teams needing help at safety might be able to wait until the second round. Duke's Jeremy Cash is an in-the-box tackling machine who was the ACC defensive player of the year.
Ohio State's Vonn Bell has the coverage skills defenses crave as they seek solutions to the athletic tight ends that create mismatches with their size and athleticism.
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