The Chicago Bears Go International With Stephen Denmark

With the Bears final pick of the 2019 draft, they went international, and took Danish superstar, Stephen Denmark. Over in Europe, all people take the last name of where they are from, kind of like Jesus of Nazareth. Denmark played at Valdosta State which I believe is one of the premiere European "Clubs" (they don't have teams over there). Since over there, they don't have games, they have "matches" I couldn't find any film against one specific opponent, but I did find a highlight reel that was published by the man himself.

Although he was not invited to the combine (international travel was likely too expensive), he did put up a 4.46 at his pro day, and the speed is evident on the field. That's the good news. The bad news is his 7.40 3-cone drill number would be the fifth worst that has been recorded at the combine in the last 20 years. That's a greater indication of his ability to change directions and definitely hinders his upside. Still, there are plenty of positives with his film.

This is a bold move, Stephen.

Sure, pushing a receiver out of bounds is something that is going to happen, but taking him directly into his own bench is the work of an absolute mad man. I'm guessing that his opponents are Swiss as they chose to stay neutral during the conflict. But physicality was the thing that showed up over and over in his highlight tape. When he is in press coverage, he looks to take his opponents out of the play, and he doesn't look to tackle, he looks to hit when somebody has the ball near him. I was very surprised by this since he was a receiver his first three years and just switched over to the defensive side of the ball for his senior season. You would assume good footwork but afraid to hit, but the latter is certainly not an issue for Denmark.

That physicality in press coverage pays off on this play.

He gives the quarterback nowhere to throw this ball, but the quarterback throws it anyway, and Denmark makes him pay by making the interception with those wide receiver skills and then using his speed to cross the field into the endzone.

He gets lucky here.

He misses on his press, and the receiver creates good separation. Denmark's speed helps somewhat, but the quarterback underthrowing the ball is what really saves him on this play.

Another thing I was impressed by is his ability to diagnose plays.

He is dropping into a zone here, and immediately recognizes that the quarterback is looking deep so instead of staying shallow, he sprints back to undercut the deeper route and breaks up the play.

I know with these foreign players, it's a little tough to evaluate with their level of competition. I would probably compare it to Division II football in Georgia. At 6'2" and well built, he is a big defensive back who can definitely make plays. He has the speed, but the quickness isn't quite there for me to really trust him as a consistent defensive back. I do think he has all the traits to be very good on special teams as that size, speed, and willingness to lay the hammer could get him a roster spot even without the potential to ever start at defensive back. Welcome aboard, Stephen, or as the Danish say, Velkommen ombord.

Chicago Bears Scouting Reports
3rd Round - David Montgomery, Running Back, Iowa State
4th Round - Riley Ridley, Wide Receiver, Georgia
6th Round - Duke Shelley, Cornerback, Kansas State
7th Round - Kerrith Whyte Jr., Running Back, Florida Atlantic

Breaking Down the Chicago Bears Fourth Round Pick: Northern Iowa Defensive Back - Deiondre' Hall

The NFL Draft has come and gone, and it appears that the Bears have a plan in place. Did I agree with that plan at every twist and turn? No, not really, but I also really enjoyed some of their moves so it all balances out. And they were active, and that definitely made for an exciting weekend. But what's done is done. The picks I like will obviously work out, and hopefully my genius fails me on the picks that I didn't like. So far, I have had the chance to break down:

First Round Pick: Leonard Floyd, Linebacker, Georgia
Second Round Pick: Cody Whitehair, Offensive Guard, Kansas State
Third Round Pick: Jonathan Bullard, Defensive Lineman, Florida
Fourth Round Pick: Nick Kwiatkoski, Linebacker, West Virginia
Fourth Round Pick: Deon Bush, Safety, Miami

And today we move to the Bears final fourth round pick, a guy near and dear to my heart hometown state, Deiondre' Hall, a defensive back from the University of Northern Iowa. The first thing that you may notice is that I'm using the vague term of defensive back instead of cornerback or safety, because it's still unclear where he might fit in. He's not only 6'2", but he is long. I mean, just look at that picture up top. He is Stretch Armstrong come to life (with a little bit of a tan as well). He fits the mold of the big corner, but he did dabble at safety last year as well, so his role is still up in the air. For a mid-round pick, Hall is actually a very good athlete. His 40 time at the combine was only 4.68, but he was able to run a 4.55 during his pro day, and I think had he done that at the combine, he may have gone a round earlier. Thanks to Draft Breakdown, I was able to check out his games against Portland State and North Dakota State. One of these is not actually a state. Unfortunately, it's impossible to know which one.

If you want a safety who is going to lay a punishing hit on anybody coming over the middle, well, Hall probably isn't your guy. He's a bit of a Deion Sanders tackler, as he seems to avoid the big contact and goes for the ankles of running backs. Sometimes it works better than others.

I will admit that he did seem more willing to lay a hit on people during the Portland State game, but there were still examples of him trying to make the tackle with as little contact as possible, and that's not a recipe for tackling success.

He had 13 interceptions in college, but it was tough to judge his coverage skills as Northern Iowa played a lot of soft zone coverages where Hall gave guys plenty of cushion. I can't say whether this was by design or he was super cautious, but I would assume it was more the former than the latter. What I did see was a guy who had a good backpedal and appeared to be fairly fluid in turning his hips when necessary. With that, I think he fits better as a safety than he would as a corner as he seems more used to playing in a zone than man coverage.

Overall, well, it's defensive back tape. There wasn't a whole lot there. He seems like a fairly fluid athlete, and since he played both corner and free safety in college, it wouldn't be too surprising if the Bears saw him in a similar role where he could fill in where they were weakest. I think he's a depth guy to start out, and hopefully he can develop into a starter down the road.

Breaking Down the Chicago Bears Fourth Round Pick: Miami Safety - Deon Bush

The NFL Draft has come and gone, and it appears that the Bears have a plan in place. Did I agree with that plan at every twist and turn? No, not really, but I also really enjoyed some of their moves so it all balances out. And they were active, and that definitely made for an exciting weekend. But what's done is done. The picks I like will obviously work out, and hopefully my genius fails me on the picks that I didn't like. So far, I have had the chance to break down:

First Round Pick: Leonard Floyd, Linebacker, Georgia
Second Round Pick: Cody Whitehair, Offensive Guard, Kansas State
Third Round Pick: Jonathan Bullard, Defensive Lineman, Florida
Fourth Round Pick: Nick Kwiatkoski, Linebacker, West Virginia

And today, we take a look at the Bears second fourth-round pick, Deon Bush, a safety out of Miami. As you probably could have guessed from a fourth round safety, he's not some incredible athlete that set the combine on fire. He is nothing special athletically, but doesn't look to be a liability either. Safety is always a tough position to evaluate, as they aren't even on camera half the time from the normal television feed. Luckily, the good people over at Draft Breakdown had the tape from his games against Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, and Nebraska.

One of Bush's strengths as a safety is that he can come up and make a hit when necessary. There were a few examples where he worked through blocks to impact a running play. This was one where he took the easy way out and just avoided the fullback and took down the quarterback on this failed sweep attempt.

More importantly, he'll lay the wood on a receiver going over the middle.

If that isn't Tyler Boyd going across the middle, that's probably going to be an incomplete pass.

And here's an example of that.

As you can see, for a less talented (white) receiver, they aren't able to hold onto the ball, as he does a very good job of breaking downfield on the receiver and knocking the ball loose.

Maybe the most impressive aspect of Bush is that he clearly has Jesus Christ himself doing him favors.

You can work hard as a safety to make great plays, but it always helps to have the Big Guy on your side.

As I stated, safety tape is limited. Still, from what Bush showed in these games, he has the ability to be a successful safety in the NFL. His athleticism isn't great, but his instincts seem to be there. With the Bears lack of talent on the defensive side of the ball, Bush has the ability to come in and start on day one. I don't think there's pro bowls in his future, but even without elite athleticism, I think he has enough instincts to not be a liability in the secondary. Worst case, he's a special teams contributor, which means he is exactly the type of player you're hoping to find in the middle of the draft.