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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 release one player every day between now and the start of training camp.
No. 13 Jaquan Brisker
Position: Safety
NFL experience: Second season
Last year’s ranking: No. 12
Looking back: Nine picks after selecting cornerback Kyler Gordon with the 39th overall draft pick in 2022, Bears general manager Ryan Poles went for another defensive back. He drafted safety Jaquan Brisker with the 48th overall pick, using a draft pick the Bears received in exchange for trading Khalil Mack. The move was a bit surprising, given all the areas where the Bears needed to improve. The Bears’ new GM wasn’t worried about positions of need. He was more focused on finding good football players.
Brisker may go down as Poles’ best pick of the 2022 draft (although left tackle Braxton Jones will have something to say about that). Brisker proved to be the versatile safety that the Bears needed. He performed well when asked to play deep in space, and when tasked with playing near the line of scrimmage. He led the team with four sacks and finished the year with 104 combined tackles, five tackles for loss, one interception, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery in 15 games.
Brisker’s emergence allowed veteran safety Eddie Jackson to play center field. It resulted in a resurgent season for Jackson.
Looking forward: Brisker could be an even better player in 2023. He injured his thumb midway through training camp last year and only just made it back in time for Week 1. He said this spring that the injury did set him back in his preparation and he felt like he was playing catchup for much of the regular season. If Brisker can stay healthy throughout training camp this summer, he will have a chance to hit the ground running during the regular season.
Brisker clearly had success as a blitzer, as evidenced by his four sacks, but there were times last season when he blitzed the wrong gap – including one notable play against Jalen Hurts and the Eagles. The hope is that Brisker’s understanding of the game at the NFL level will continue to evolve with another year of experience and film study.
If Brisker and Jackson can remain healthy, the Bears should feel good about where the safety position is, and the secondary as a whole.
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