Older Chicago Bears fans light up whenever they hear the name Rosevelt Colvin. Back in the early 2000s, he established himself as their best pass rusher. He had 21 sacks between 2001 and 2002 and appeared poised to become a star on what was becoming a great defense. Then just like that, he was gone. Stuck in a numbers game on the contract front, he headed off to join the New England Patriots in 2003.
Then-GM Jerry Angelo put in a good word for him. A sign the Bears didn’t want to let him go but with contracts needed for Brian Urlacher and Mike Brown, they had no choice. Colvin harbors no ill-will. He understood the business back then and can’t really complain. He got a nice $25 million contract from the Patriots and ended up with two Super Bowl rings. It set his family up for life.
That said, he still can’t help but wonder where his stature in the league would be had he stayed. According to Kevin Fishbain of The Athletic, the former linebacker saw how the career of Lance Briggs blossomed next to Urlacher after he left.
Would he be revered like that today had he stayed put?
The Bears drafted Lance Briggs in 2003, and he became the star next to Urlacher for the next decade. Colvin knows that he doesn’t have a lot of “fanfare” and that the ’01 Bears are “kind of like a forgotten piece.” But Chicago still holds a special place.
“I always hear about Lance and Brian and whoever else they filled in, and I would’ve loved to have stayed in Chicago and played,” Colvin said. “Great city, great organization. The cards didn’t fall that way. We really had a good time playing with each other. To this day, we could not talk to each other for 10 minutes or 10 years and then it’s like a light switch.”
Rosevelt Colvin is a great Bears what-if story
Things tended to work out for everybody. Colvin went on to win championship in New England. The Bears scooped up Briggs in the 3rd round that year and became a seven-time Pro Bowler. Still, it’s fun to wonder where the team might’ve been during the mid-2000s had Colvin stayed. Odds are it probably would not have gone as many think.
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Remember a year after he left, the Bears hired Lovie Smith as their new head coach. He brought the Tampa-2 defense with him. Would he have utilized Colvin as the primary pass rusher he was? That’s hard to envision. It’s more likely Smith would’ve tried to shift him into the role Briggs played alongside Urlacher. A role that he might’ve been okay at but was never his strength.
Then again maybe Smith would’ve used him properly. Maybe the Bears might’ve had him in the Super Bowl in 2006. That added pass rush presence could’ve made a huge difference against Peyton Manning. It’s a fun what-if story.