The slot position has become a disaster area for the Bears on both sides of the football.
If they want to improve their ability to damage defenses or to match up against offenses, they need to pay more attention to players who can be mismatches or handle matchups in the middle of the field besides tight ends or linebackers.
They had such a player on defense once in slot cornerback Bryce Callahan and he progressed so well he wound up with three-year, $21 million deal to play in Denver's secondary. Bringing in Buster Skrine as a replacement has been a patch job.
On offense, wide receiver Anthony Miller's catch total declined in 2020. His yards per catch dropped, as well. He got punked into a playoff fight and his future in Chicago ranges from uncertain to unlikely.
So paying close attention to slot cornerbacks and slot receivers this week at the Senior Bowl can go a long way for the Bears in this upcoming draft. In some cases, the Senior Bowl won't provide this look.
Fitting the Slot
Last year slot cornerback Buster Skrine struggled and then had his second concussion of the season, sixth overall, and didn't play again. They found Duke Shelley as a replacement to be a tough player who could make open-field tackles but his coverage ability needs dramatic improvement.
Skrine's passer rating against ros from 91.8 last year to 125.7 this year and he allowed one more TD catch than last year (5). In terms of catch percentage allowed, Skrine was beaten much more often. Opposing receivers caugh 78.1% of passes when Skrine was targeted in the slot (50 of 64) while it was only 59.3% in 2019.
Shelley played the last 4 1/2 games and the playoff game. He gave up a regular-season completion percentage of 80% and passer rating of 118.1 so it wasn't a lot different than when Skrine played. These numbers were all courtesy of Sportradar via Pro Football Reference.
Since the Bears were a zone-heavy team, some individual numbers in coverage don't exactly mesh, but what does tell a tale is the way teams attacked them. According to NFLGSIS.com, the Bears ranked 29th at preventing passing yardage over the middle of the field at 8.38 yards per catch. Teams knew where to hit them and did—Bears opponents threw 158 passes in the short, middle area of the field against them, the second most in the league.
On offense, the need in the slot is more a personnel decision than overall ineffectiveness the way it is on defense.
With Miller's future uncertain after his playoff meltdown and his drop in production, the Bears could be looking for a different slot receiver.
The Allen Robinson contract situation aside, it's one of their biggest needs on offense. Robinson, after all, could be retained with a tag if this is the desire. The Bears can't have diminished production from Miller again on the inside and increasing their speed at this position could never hurt considering none of their wide receivers ran sub-4.5 40s at the combine except Darnell Mooney.
D'Wayne Eskridge and Others
Slot receivers to keep an eye on in the Senior Bowl are UCLA's Demetric Felton, Clemson's Amari Rodgers, Florida's Kadarius Toney and an emerging name,
D'Wayne Eskridge of Western Michigan. Toney and Rodgers are well known and polished receivers who can hurt teams on the edge or in the slot.
Felton is a player who might be available later because he actually has been a running back a big portion of his career and adapted to slot receiver well. During Senior Bowl practices he's been earning positive reviews from those in attendance.
Eskridge is an exciting player judged to be a sixth-round type by Walterfootball.com, but with rising stock after consecutive outstanding Senior Bowl practices.
At the Senior Bowl, Jack Despeaux of FanNation.com said Eskridge "...is going to be a fast riser on draft boards after this week."
The chief reason is blazing speed, the kind the Bears should covet because the only real speed like it they have in their receivers is Darnell Mooney and he's a "Z" receiver and not a slot.
There is no combine this year in Indianapolis, so the 40 times will have to come out of pro days. There is speculation Eskridge could run in the 4.3s, like Mooney did.
Eskridge isn't just a fast, flashy player. His blocking has earned rave reviews, as well. Damond Talbot of NFL Draft Diamonds labeled Eskridge a real "go-getter" due ot his ability to be physical beside being fast.
He can be physical because he was also a cornerback. For a while he played both positions but then switched completely to offense. He's also a return threat.
Part of the reason Eskridge started so low in scouts' eyes is the Mid-American Conference thing. He's not in the SEC, but plenty of good players come out of the MAC and the Bears have one wearing jersey No. 52 impacting games greatly at edge rusher. Detroit's Kenny Golladay is another.
The Bears covet speed greatly and it can come from anywhere. Tyreek Hill played at Northern Alabama and was a fifth-round pick, somewhat like Tulane fifth-rounder Mooney was.
How Committed Should the Bears Be?
The Senior Bowl and practices might not be as revealing at nickel cornerback as the slot receivers. The top pick in this regard, Ohio State's Shaun Wade, isn't participating.
Washington's Elijah Molden and LSU's Kary Vincent Jr. are and Vincent's quick feet have been lauded by scouts at TheDraftNetwork.com as being an ideal quality for slot coverage.
Molden's "elite mental processing ability" has been noted by many scouting reports including FanNation's. He seems to see it before it happens and might even be a better safety prospect as a result, but his lack of size probably lends itself to the slot.
The Bears never drafted Callahan. He was an undrafted free agent, so the talent is not always as apparent at these positions.
Wade is wide regarded as one of the best cornerbacks in the draft but would teams draft a slot cornerback in the first round?
And for the Bears, the question has to be whether they could consider it a position worth addressing in the second or third round with a few of the higher-level cornerbacks when they have Shelley and Kindle Vildor already on the roster and they could be future slots.
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