With the Chicago Bears parting ways with safety Eddie Jackson, they have a hole to fill. Here are three free agents who could be good replacements.
The Chicago Bears have already started to make changes to their 2023 team. Days after the regular season ended, they fired offensive coordinator Luke Getsy and most of his staff. A couple of weeks later, they hired Shane Waldron to replace Getsy. They also filled all the open positions, including defensive coordinator.
Now that the Bears have their coaching staff in place, General Manager Ryan Poles can concentrate on the roster. Last week he made two significant moves. He cut both safety Eddie Jackson and offensive lineman Cody Whitehair. With these cuts (and likely some more) Poles knows what he needs to improve on a roster that won seven games in 2023.
Jackson was an excellent player for the Chicago Bears. In his first three seasons, there was no other safety who was as close to being the ball hawk he was. He had 10 interceptions and 5 fumble recoveries. Additionally, he returned three interceptions and two fumble recoveries for touchdowns. If the ball was close to Jackson, he was going to make the play.
However, Jackson had two seasons in which he could not buy a turnover. He had just one fumble recovery and zero interceptions. He could have had at least three interceptions, but they were wiped out by penalties.
Then, in 2022, Jackson was back to his old form. He had three interceptions in his first four games. By Week 12 he had four. He suffered a foot injury in Week 12, though, and things started to go downhill after that. He was out for the season after that injury. He came back in 2023 but did not look like the same player. He had just one interception and seemed a step slower.
With his big cap hit for 2024, the Chicago Bears could not keep him so they released him. Now they need to find a replacement. Poles could look both at free agency and the draft to find someone. In this article, we will look at free-agent safeties. Here are three who could be good targets.
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