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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. 14 Tyrique Stevenson
Position: Cornerback
NFL experience: Rookie
Last year’s ranking: N/A
Looking back: The Bears didn’t necessarily need a cornerback when they selected Kyler Gordon with the 39th overall pick in the 2022 draft. But general manager Ryan Poles wanted to take the best players available to him and he believed Gordon was a first-round talent. Again in 2023, cornerback wasn’t the biggest area of need, but the Bears selected Tyrique Stevenson with a second-round pick (56th overall).
The Bears already have a promising young duo with Jaylon Johnson and Gordon at cornerback. Gordon improved as his rookie season went on. Johnson played well, but missed six games due to injury. Kindle Vildor was the third cornerback last year. The 25-year-old has been a steady contributor in his three seasons, but was the weakest link in the secondary last season. He was also limited by injuries to just 11 games.
In drafting Stevenson, the hope is that the Bears can upgrade that third cornerback spot.
Looking forward: During OTAs, Stevenson played as a boundary corner, often with the starting unit, while Gordon focused on his role as a nickel corner. Stevenson is a hard-hitting corner out of Miami who originally played at Georgia before transferring closer to his family. The Bears hope that he can not only beat out Vildor for the other boundary corner position opposite Johnson, but also prove to be an upgrade over Vildor.
If Stevenson does that and has a good rookie season, Matt Eberflus’ 4-3 defense will have a rock-solid secondary with Stevenson, Johnson and Gordon at cornerback, as well as Jaquan Brisker and Eddie Jackson at the two safety spots. When all five are healthy, that unit has the potential to be really good, especially if Brisker and Gordon continue to develop in the way that the Bears believe they can.
Stevenson is going to be picked on this season. Rookie cornerbacks are always the target of opposing quarterbacks. Stevenson will show pretty early on whether he has what it takes to hold his own against some of the NFL’s best. The Bears believe he can, but he’ll have to prove it on the field.
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