Nickel corners are becoming more and more prevalent to defensive success in the NFL, and the Chicago Bears seem to be embracing that reality.
It shouldn’t be a huge surprise. After all, their head coach John Fox understand the value of that position better than anybody, having seen it played at its absolute best up in Denver when he signed and developed a young kid out of Kansas named Chris Harris Jr. He quickly became a complete football player for the Broncos defense, reaching two Pro Bowls and helping them to win Super Bowl 50 this past season.
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One could understand Fox wanting to find a duplicate of such a fine player, but things just don’t work that way in the NFL. Or do they? Seems the Bears have their own undrafted free agent cornerback who is turning a lot of heads at the nickel position. Bryce Callahan joined the team last year out of Rice and took over that spot midway through the season. Despite injury problems, he played well when on the field and has since elevated his game according to reports from practice.
Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribunes elaborates.
"Callahan is the leading candidate to be the nickel cornerback, a position he played last season. He took advantage of ample time working outside while an undisclosed injury sidelined Kyle Fuller. Callahan led all defensive backs with four interceptions in the offseason, a statistic kept on the wall of their meeting room.“That’s one of the main things Vic (Fangio) was preaching,” Callahan said. “We need more takeaways and more interceptions.”Callahan has added nearly 10 pounds of muscle to his upper body, getting to him 193 pounds. He felt being under 185 might have led to getting dinged last season. While he’s not tall at 5-foot-10, he has a 41-inch vertical jump and is fluid in the middle of the field."
This is nothing new. Few coaches have better luck at turning unheralded defensive backs into quality contributors than Vic Fangio. Callahan is set to join that long list. There is no doubt the Chicago Bears defense benefits from his presence. Last season they were 3-4 and giving up 17.4 points per game when he played the majority of games. They were 3-6 and allowing 29.1 when he didn’t. For all the attention that Kyle Fuller and Tracy Porter get, this young man may end up being their best corner when 2016 expires.