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Shaw Local is counting down the top 25 most important Bears for the 2023 season.
What makes one player more important than another? That’s subjective, of course. But for our purposes it comes down to this: Are the Bears worse off if this player can’t play? Does this player have untapped potential or past greatness to live up to? Is his story going to be one fans follow closely this season?
The best player on the team isn’t always the most important, but he certainly can be. We will announce one player every day between now and the start of training camp.
No. 16 Kyler Gordon
Position: Cornerback
NFL experience: Second season
Last year’s ranking: No. 11
Looking back: A year ago, Washington cornerback Kyler Gordon became the first draft pick of the Ryan Poles era in Chicago. Poles selected Gordon with the 39th overall pick in the 2022 draft (the Bears didn’t have a first-round pick after trading up for Justin Fields a year earlier). The selection showed that Poles was less concerned with filling holes on the roster and more concerned with finding good football players. The Bears didn’t necessarily need a cornerback that badly, but Poles liked Gordon so much that he couldn’t pass on him.
Gordon had his ups and downs as a rookie. Aaron Rodgers and the Packers picked on him in Week 2, and those were far from the only struggles early in the season. But Gordon slowly settled into his role with the Bears, and he was playing his best football before a concussion sidelined him for two weeks midway through the season. When he returned, he had interceptions in back-to-back games in December, finishing the season with three interceptions and 71 combined tackles.
Looking forward: In April, the Bears drafted a cornerback again in the second round, selecting Miami’s Tyrique Stevenson with the 56th overall pick. Adding Stevenson to the mix allows Gordon to focus solely on his role as a nickel corner. Last season, he played both inside and outside. Focusing on one job could be a good thing for Gordon.
The Bears’ defense could benefit greatly from having a rock solid nickel corner who they can trust. For Gordon, that means he has to play confidently against the run and when asked to blitz. He also sometimes will have to hold his own against bigger receivers and tight ends in the slot. If it goes well and Stevenson and Gordon can both hold their own, the Bears should be feeling really good about their secondary moving forward. It’s possible it could be one of the strongest areas of the team in 2023.
Gordon made plays on the football late in the year that helped lead to turnovers. The Bears are hoping he can pick up right where he left up in that regard.
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