Competition is the buzzword in the Chicago Bears secondary going into training camp. At safety it appears to be a battle between incoming veteran Tashaun Gipson and longtime backup Deon Bush. Cornerback might even be more interesting. Most see rookie 2nd round pick Jaylon Johnson as the favorite. He’ll battle with former 1st rounder Artie Burns and CFL star Tre Roberson among others. Yet the Bears coaching staff made it a point to not ignore Kevin Toliver.
For those who forgot, the third-year cornerback was an undrafted free agent in 2018 out of LSU. He spent the next two seasons as the primary backup to Kyle Fuller and Prince Amukamara. In that time he made two starts and mixed in some snaps from week to week in between. While he didn’t make any big flash plays, his play seemed to catch the attention of his coaches.
Especially last year.
Deshea Townsend, their secondary coach, singled out his performances against Dallas and Green Bay late in the season as signs of legitimate progress. Mark Potash of the Chicago Sun-Times clarified.
“KT has a great opportunity,” Townsend said. “Prince got hurt. He came in and showed what he was supposed to do. He showed that he is a starter in this league. Now it’s his job to hold everybody off that comes to get it.
“Competition’s gonna bring out the best in everybody. For KT, he knows that this is his opportunity and that’s all he can ask for. If he does what he did against Davante Adams, the plays he made against Amari Cooper, he showed that he can play in this league. From what I saw of what he did at the end of the year … he has a great opportunity to continue to make a lot of plays for this defense.”
Kevin Toliver has the talent but needs to start making plays
It was a big surprise back in 2018 that Toliver wasn’t drafted. He was highly recruited out of high school and had more than enough ability to at least go on Day 3. Yet for some reason he slipped through the cracks. The Bears eagerly scooped him up and have groomed him for this opportunity ever since. Amukamara is out of the picture. The job is wide open and his for the taking.
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The performance that seemed to put him on the map was against Dallas. He played a big role in frustrating Cowboys star Amari Cooper most of the night. Don’t be fooled by the 83 yards and a touchdown he had. A total of 61 of those yards and the score came in the 4th quarter. By that time, the Bears were up 24-7 and in total control of the game. So Toliver had helped limit the Pro Bowler to just 22 yards through the first 45 minutes. Not bad.
While Johnson may get the hype this summer in training camp, it feels like Toliver could be the quiet favorite to win the job. The key will be whether he can start making more impact plays. Something that has been a bit of an issue for him since college.