Who Wins Bears Starting Strongside Linebacker and Why

Bears GM Ryan Poles saw a group of linebackers upgraded immensely over last year with free agents Tremaine Edmunds and T.J. Edwards, and then he drafted Noah Sewell.

"I called our linebacker coach and said he was spoiled because he's got so many good players in his room," Poles said. "So that's gonna be a really competitive room with a bunch of good guys and he's gonna help us in many different ways."

Sewell can fit into the discussion at strongside linebacker. It's the linebacker position on the field for the fewest plays because the Bears go to nickel personnel so much. However, it's a necessary spot.

It figures to be one of the two real job battles on defense this training camp. The competition actually starts this coming week with the next phase of OTAs, when offenses league-wide are allowed to go against defenses without pads and with little contact.

The three-way battle has more of a long-range look to it than last year, when Joe Thomas and Matthew Adams played the spot. It seemed a long shot for either to be with the team longer than the one season they signed on for, and neither made it back a second year.

It's last year's middle linebacker, Jack Sanborn, battling Sewell and veteran acquisition Dylan Cole. There are a few other veteran street free agent types and undrafted players who could fit into the discussion, at least early. But those three essentially will be involved and it can't be assumed Sanborn is the winner just because he started last year.

Here are the factors working toward a real tough call by coaches for that third starting spot. The BearDigest call is Sewell will eventually get the job, either by the start of the season or a few weeks in and thereafter the rest of the year. And here's why.

1. Sanborn's Skill Set

Sanborn is a good football player. He is a traditional downhill type of linebacker who any team can use but is not a good enough athlete to be a standout on the weakside or even in the middle over time. He has short, 30 1/2-inch arms, a smaller wingspan of 74 1/8 inches. His 40 time was 4.73 seconds so it's not a fast time by any means. His solid vertical leap of 35 inches and 6-foot-2 height make him a good middle linebacker candidate in this scheme, and he has nice enough size to do it at 236 pounds. However, the Sam linebacker, or strongside, and the weakside are taking the first two shorter receivers in short zone coverages when the Bears are not in nickel personnel. So the middle handles the deeper zone area. The strongside frequently is on the tight end and needs to have good lateral speed to get this done. Sanborn did a decent job as a middle replacement after Nicholas Morrow got moved to weakside last year when weakside linebacker Roquan Smith was traded. He didn't necessarily excel. It was a decent job. That required a different set of athletic skills than chasing around after backs and tight ends.

2. Sewell's Athleticism

Sewell is a superior athlete to the other two. He's also a bigger athlete than the other two at 6-foot-3, 253 pounds. Sewell's arms aren't particularly long, either, but at 31-5/8 they are longer than Sanborn's to make them more suitable in covering tight ends or backs. Even though he is 17 pounds heavier, he is also faster at 4.64 in the 40. In the 10-yard split, he was at 1.57 to Sanborn's 1.59.

The other measurable that makes him more ideal for this position or even to start is Sewell did 27 reps in the bench at 225 pounds. He's stronger than Sanborn, who did 20 reps. This is a great quality to possess because one of the chief requirements of the strongside is to fend off blocking tight ends or fullbacks leading the back on a given play.

As a bigger, faster athlete, Oregon found uses for him even when he wasn't lining up as a regular linebacker. They put him in as a pass rusher.

"They thought they could utilize me in every aspect from the middle, the edge," Sewell said. "They thought it could grow my game to a whole other level."

It wouldn't be difficult to make an argument for Sewell also being the top backup at middle linebacker to Edmunds because he's built along the lines of the new Bears starter except is a few inches shorter.

3. Sewell's Pedigree

Sewell is a draft pick, a fifth-rounder. The other two didn't get drafted. This matters. It tells you teams thought much more of him.

"You could probably argue, say last year if he came out he would have been much higher than he was," Poles said.

They're paying him more as a fifth-round pick and would want to get their money's worth from him while also finding out whether he can be a part of the future as starter.

The time for undrafted free agent linebackers to play was last year after Smith left. Now they have drafted players who fit the position.

4. Cole's Career

It's unlikely Cole enters into this discussion at starter beyond early preseason. He has been in the NFL since 2017 and if he had the skills to be considered a starter then it would have happened by now. He never had more than 205 defensive plays in a season until last year, when he had 438 and played 43% of the time with eight of his nine NFL starts for Tennessee.

Cole has been more of a backup/special teams player throughout his career.