Next on the list of veteran IDP winners and losers after the NFL Draft is the Chicago Bears! They have some players you want to get for your IDP teams! The Bears might just have some players you want to move on from also.
Chicago Bears
IDP Veteran Winners
Safeties – Jaquan Brisker and Eddie Jackson
The winners on the IDP veteran winners and losers list for the Chicago Bears have to be the returning safety tandem of Jaquan Brisker and Eddie Jackson. Their first year together was a strength on a rather weak defense. The Bears had the 29th-ranked team defense overall in yardage allowed. Their pass defense was their strength with a ranking of 17th in passing yards allowed. The Bears added only added a seventh-round rookie to the safety room. Kendall Williamson will be a 23-year-old rookie come August.
Brisker was a second-round pick in the 2022 NFL draft out of Penn State. He was immediately inserted into the starting lineup and played 96% or more of the defensive snaps in the 15 games he played in. Brisker played 100% of the defensive snaps in 12 of those games. Diagnosed with a concussion, Brisker missed both of the Week 12 and 13 games.
Brisker delivers triple-digit tackles as a rookie in just 15 games.
He ranked eighth in the league out of all safeties in solo tackles. Brisker also tied for second in sacks by safeties. He lit up all of our IDP fantasy scoreboards with 104 tackles (73 solo), 5 tackles for loss, 4 QB hits, 4 sacks, 2 passes defended, 1 interception, 1 forced fumble, and 1 fumble recovery. The Bears look to have complete confidence in him as one of the leaders for a revamped defense in 2023.
The other half of the Bears’ safety tandem is Eddie Jackson. He was a fourth-round selection in the 2017 NFL draft out of Alabama. He just had his second-most productive year. This was done even though Jackson missed the final five and a half games of the 2022 season with a Lisfranc injury.
Jackson was super productive in his 11 1/2 games.
In his 11 full games, Jackson played 100% of the defensive snaps in nine of those games. He played 98% in one of the other games and 88% in the other game. Jackson delivered a very impressive 80 tackles (59 solo), 1 tackle for a loss, 6 passes defended, 4 interceptions, and 2 forced fumbles. The Lisfranc injury did not require surgery, so he will be at full strength to continue the domination with his fellow teammate, Brisker.
Losers
Defensive Tackle – Justin Jones
Justin Jones will be the first loser on my IDP veteran winners and losers list. He joined the Bears after spending his first four years with the Los Angeles Chargers. The former third-round pick out of North Carolina State, signed a two-year, $12 million contract with the Bears last year. He was supposed to nail down the middle of the Bears’ defensive line. Jones got more than 70% of the defensive snaps in seven of his games. In those seven games, he produced just five solo tackles and one sack. In his 10 other games with fewer defensive snaps, he produced 23 solo tackles and two sacks.
The more he played, the less effective Jones was.
Jones looked to wear out if he broke the 70% threshold of defensive snaps. His total stat line for 2022 was 52 tackles (28 solo), 12 tackles for a loss, 7 QB hits, 3 sacks, 4 passes defended, and 1 fumble recovery. This was his career best in all categories.
Seeing how Jones seemed to wear out with more play, the Bears went looking for solutions. They came up with two high draft picks selected to help keep Jones fresh. With the 22nd pick in the second round, the Bears selected defensive tackle Gervon Dexter out of Florida. They followed that choice up with the first pick of the third round on defensive tackle Zacch Pickens out of South Carolina. Back-to-back premium picks on defensive tackles do not signal huge confidence in Jones.
Linebacker – Jack Sanborn
Jack Sanborn is the ultimate loser on the IDP winners and losers list. He got the slap-in-the-face treatment. Sanborn was an undrafted free agent out of Wisconsin. In 2022, Roquan Smith was traded to the Baltimore Ravens after the Bears’ Week 8 game. Who would the Bears call on to fill his shoes? Sanborn would get his name called. He would start the next six games and play nearly 100% of the defensive snaps. Then, in his sixth start, Sanborn would suffer an ankle injury and missed the rest of his rookie season.
Sanborn was uber-efficient in his five complete games. After just playing one snap in the first seven games of the 22′ season, Sanborn played 13 defensive snaps in Week 8. His five starts between Weeks 9-13 were very impressive. He would total 54 tackles (43 solo), 5 tackles for a loss, 3 QB hits, 2 sacks, and 1 fumble recovery. These are such crazy numbers for five games. The problem with him is he is still not participating in any of the OTAs or mini camps because of that ankle injury. That must have brought concern to the Bears’ front office and coaching staff.
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The Bears spent $91.5 million on new linebackers.
Two new linebackers are calling Chicago home. The Bears signed Tremaine Edmunds and T.J. Edwards to take over the middle of the Bears’ defense. Both players rarely leave the field and do immediately upgrade the defense. Edwards has only missed five games in his four-year career. Edmunds, however, did miss four games last year due to thigh and groin strains.
The upgrade to the linebacker position comes in the form of a combined 261 tackles (165 solo), 16 tackles for a loss, 8 QB hits, 3 sacks, 14 passes defended, and an interception. The only way I see Sanborn seeing the field is with an injury.
Thank you for checking out my 2023 Team Veteran IDP Winners and Losers article! You can read all of my articles on my IDP Guys author page. Be sure to follow me on Twitter at @OldMan_FF and @IDPGuys (we have offense, too), and please consider becoming a subscriber!
