Jayden Loving from chicagobears.com
Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune empties his notebook. He notes the surprises that have emerged at defensive tackle over the summer:
[Jayden] Loving, who spent two seasons at Bethune-Cookman, two at Western Kentucky and finished his college career at Wake Forest last fall, was one of 10 defensive linemen on the initial 53-man roster and the fifth defensive tackle.
He played his way onto the roster with four tackles, one sack and two pass deflections in the preseason. The hope is he can develop into an explosive force on the interior.
Loving had 2½ sacks last season for the Demon Deacons. How he fits into the puzzle at the bottom of the depth chart will be interesting, but it’s clear the Bears see developmental potential at a position that’s likely to have some turnover next offseason.
He primarily played nose tackle and five-technique at Wake Forest and believes he can do whatever he’s asked in the team’s front.
Jordan van den Berg, who has been a more high profile development, had 3 sacks at Georgia Tech and lasted until the sixth round for the Bears to take him in the draft. However, he did have 11 tackles for loss.
I’m both nervous and excited about what the Bears are doing at defensive tackle this year. Neither of these players was high on anyone’s radar going into the draft and neither had spectacular years in college. The Bears are taking a risk in depending upon their ability to develop players that haven’t shown a lot to this point at other, lower profile stops.
Like the Bears, I like what I’ve seen from these players, especially van den Berg, in preseason games against backups. Presumably both performed well in competitive practices against the Bengals and the Titans.
That’s good because the Bears are presumably going to depend a lot on generating pressure on the quarterback up the middle this year. This could offset presumed deficiencies in the pass rush from the outside.
Its goingo the be an interesting year once again for the Bears defense as they once again attempt to overcome adversity in the form of injuries by relying upon the coaching staff to adapt and extract performances from what they have been given. Its going to require mental toughness from everyone involved. I can’t wait to see it.