Almost every Chicago Bears draft pick has been discussed in detail over the past two weeks. Darnell Wright, Gervon Dexter, Tyrique Stevenson, and Zacch Pickens were top selections. Roschon Johnson and Tyler Scott were considered steals. Noah Sewell and Terell Smith offered fascinating upside. Even Travis Bell had a cool story as the first pick ever to come out of his school. Yet there is one player that seems to have already been forgotten. He is Kendall Williamson, the Standford safety and final pick of the draft. It’s hard to tell what sold him to the Bears over other options. The best guess is this choice came from head coach Matt Eberflus.
Why? It stems from some interesting connections Williamson shares with another safety the Bears head coach knows well. During his time as defensive coordinator with the Indianapolis Colts, Eberflus helped draft and develop a young man named Khari Willis. He was a 4th round pick in 2019 and quickly became a starter. People might be interested to hear his scouting profile shares a lot in common with Williamson.
- Good athletic tester
- Limited production
- Questionable range in coverage
- Tough and physical presence against the run
- Immediate special teams value
The key difference between the two seems to be Willis’ consistency when it came to reading and reacting to what offenses did. Williamson sometimes struggles to play the proper run angles.
Matt Eberflus may believe he can have similar success with Williamson.
Willis was an immediate contributor for the Colts as a rookie, becoming their primary starting strong safety halfway through the season. Since then, he’s been one of their best players in the secondary. Obviously, Williamson doesn’t have the same clear path to playing time. Jaquan Brisker makes that obvious. However, the young man has the same athletic profile this defensive scheme can take advantage of. It comes down to whether the coaching staff can clean up some of the mental mistakes that held him back at Stanford.
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Seventh round picks rarely work out. It’s not like the Bears will lose too much sleep if Williams doesn’t live up to his potential. Still, it’s clear they have a vision for him. He can be a replacement for DeAndre Houston-Carson on special teams. If things go as planned for Matt Eberflus, he might be the Bears’ version of Khari Willis one or two years down the line. That wouldn’t be a bad development, giving the defense terrific depth on the back end.
This is a depth pick at best. The difference between 7th round picks and UDFA is nothing more than timing.
Tonkaman, every pick is a gamble. With each pick, the Bears chose the player they felt has the best odds of succeeding at the position(s) of need. That is true from pick 1 to pick 7. Do the Bears make that pick thinking that 7th rounder has little chance of making the team? More likely, they have high expectations and feel they made a great pick and will get, at the very least, a productive player…. until he proves otherwise … as will be the case of all of the other picks.
This guy won’t make the team but may be a Practice Squad candidate if he shows some traits and especially ST ability this summer. Wish him the best.
Hello Mr. Lambert. I don’t know if you read your comment section, but if you do I’d like to request two articles. Obviously, prioritizing normal news over these. 1. Your opinion on the Claypool Trade. (This would also be for everyone to discuss it. I myself would love to break down what I think. Perhaps we can solidify opinions on Claypool, the trade, and perhaps even his future.) 2 Where do you think the Bears are in relation to the rest of the league? (I’m of the opinion that we are severely undervalued. That being said, we are no powerhouse,… Read more »
7th round picks are pure gambles. Basically they are priority UDFAs that teams draft to prevent them from getting picked up after the draft by another team. With that being said, it sounds like they had good reason for selecting him. I hope it works out for him. I always love pulling for the underdog/ for the guy who exceeds expectations.