There have only been three days of training camp practices with OTAs and minicamp in the rearview for the Chicago Bears but safety Jaquan Brisker can already see the difference.
Bears’ Jaquan Brisker Notices Change Around Halas Hall
Jaquan Brisker Notes ‘Different Vibe’ for Bears
“Oh, for sure. There’s a different vibe just in the building period,” Brisker said on July 28. “Defense, way different vibe. A lot of different swag, and the chemistry is really different from the back seven to the front four. So everybody feel it.”
Brisker is one of just six players who figure to return to starting roles from last season along with fellow safety Eddie Jackson, fellow 2022 second-round pick Kyler Gordon, second-year linebacker Jack Sanborn (base defense), and veterans Jaylon Johnson at corner and Justin Jones at defensive tackle.
The 24-year-old Penn State product was one of the few bright spots for a unit that ranked 32nd in net yards allowed per pass attempt.
He led the team with 4.0 sacks.
.@JaquanBrisker on the stop 😤
📺: #BUFvsCHI on CBS pic.twitter.com/gvjUR6ZDL2
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) December 24, 2022
Things should be different this season with the Bears adding some beef up front with Rasheem Green and DeMarcus Walker on the edges. Neither is a pure pass rusher but the bar is historically low for this group.
Even more than just them, though, the defense should be more formidable with linebackers Trumaine Edmunds and T.J. Edwards joining Sanborn at the second level. The Bears were routinely gashed by intermediate routes and yards after the catch last season and ranked 32nd against the run which inflated some of their passing defense stats.
With Brisker and the rest of their parts, both added and retained, this Bears defense shouldn’t leave the offense hanging nearly as much as it did in 2022.
But the offense isn’t without a new feel to go with an overhaul of its own.
Jaquan Brisker: Bears’ Offense Looks ‘Dangerous’
“Offensively, you can definitely feel it,” Brisker said. “Justin [Fields] and those guys, they’re coming together. They look different. They look like they’ve been out there for years right now, I’m telling you. The timing, things like that. It looks dangerous – on both sides of the ball, and I told him that yesterday. That we look very different, and we just gotta keep it going.”
Chicago added wide receiver D.J. Moore and tight end Robert Tonyan to a group that includes a healthy Darnell Mooney, an extra motivated Chase Claypool, and a newly-minted Cole Kmet all of whom offer a more formidable palette of options for Fields to work with than he had last season when it was Mooney-or-bust for most of the seasons before Kmet came on.
Your daily dose of @justnfields ➡️ @idjmoore pic.twitter.com/vV9IdD1eG7
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) July 27, 2023
They also added big-bodied runner D’Onta Foreman to the league’s top rushing offense in place of David Montgomery, though Khalil Herbert is still around for what figures to be a timeshare. But the most important thing the Bears did occurred along the offensive line.
The Bears let Sam Mustipher walk in free agency, shifting long-time guard Cody Whitehair back to center, the position he played to start his NFL career.
To fill the void left by Whitehair, they flipped Teven Jenkins over to the left side.
Finally, they rebuilt the right side of their offensive line completely, taking right tackle Darnell Wright with the No. 10 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft and signing Nate Davis away from the Tennessee Titans in free agency. At this time last season, they were integrating veteran Riley Reiff and Michael Schofield into the fold with both starting multiple games last season.
Main Photo: Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports
