[CBFF] Healthy Brown buoys Bears secondary

[Steve Behrens]

Healthy Brown buoys Bears secondary
By Larry Mayer


In the eighth of nine position previews in advance of training camp, Steven
Wilks discusses the Bears defensive backs:

How big of a boost is it to get Mike Brown back on the field?

It's a major boost for us because Mike is truly a leader back there. He's
definitely a guy that everybody looks up to and respects, so to have his
presence on the field is not only good for the secondary but for the
defense.


What makes Mike such a special player?

He is the complete package. As I mentioned, he's a leader and he's also a
student of the game. He puts himself in great position to make plays as well
as communicating to get other guys lined up and get them going. It's just a
major plus for us. He's such a student of the game.

Have you seen any lingering effects from his foot injury?

No, none whatsoever. He's come back off of rehab and done an outstanding
job. He's been himself out there every other day doing the things that he
did before, so we're excited right now.

What are your impressions of Adam Archuleta and what he brings to the table?

Adam's a guy that's been in the system before in St. Louis, so he's
definitely familiar with what we're trying to do. I like Adam's skill. He's
a great "box" guy, a great run fit. He's a guy that understands the game
from an offensive standpoint, so I like what he brings to the table.

What are Chris Harris' strengths and what area of his game are you working
to improve?

Chris is another guy who's smart. He understands his limitations and tries
to put himself in a great position to make plays. He's a guy who when you
start talking about man-to-man technique, that's an area we need to improve.
But he's a physical guy and a great run stopper.

How would you assess the performances of Charles Tillman and Nathan Vasher?

Charles is coming off that [back] injury. He's a little behind as far as
just his repetitions. But he's a guy who will be back to his performance
that he had last year. I don't think that it's going to take him long to get
back to that. I love the way he works. He's a hard worker. He's out there
trying to get better each and every day. Nate Vasher had an outstanding
offseason. He's probably the most improved right now. He's trying to have
the best season he's had so far.

How about Ricky Manning Jr.?

Ricky's doing an outstanding job. We concentrated more this offseason with
Ricky at nickel, trying to get that quality work in with his reps,
particularly by having Danieal Manning play some at corner. Ricky's
definitely had an opportunity to improve with his man-to-man technique in
the slot and his cover-two drops and things, so we're real pleased with our
depth.

With Danieal Manning lining up at both safety and cornerback during the
offseason, what type of role do you envision for him this year?

Danieal's definitely a swing guy for us. Right now he's still going to be a
safety. That's where he's going to line up. He's going to be at safety about
80 percent of the time [in training camp]. But we still feel like we have
the ability to be able to move him to corner at any time, just like we
adjusted last year with him being in the slot and playing a lot of
man-to-man. He brings that particular asset for us there. Danieal is just a
tremendous athlete and we feel that he brings a lot for us being able to
have him move to corner. He's picking it up pretty good. It's a little
different for him, but he's shown major progress in that particular area. I
love the way he works and where he is right now.

What pleased you most about how the secondary performed last season?

I was definitely pleased with what we pride ourselves on, and that's not
giving up the big play. Tampa hit us with a slant for a touchdown and that
was disappointing. But as far as the ball getting over the top of us deep,
that didn't happen last year and that's one of the things we want to
continue to do—play with good technique and keep everything inside and in
front of us.

What area are you working most to improve as a unit?

The one thing that we want to improve at as a whole is our tackling; being
more physical at the point of contact and creating a mindset and that
attitude of just being a little bit more nasty. I thought our guys were
physical last year, but we didn't have that nasty attitude that I like in
the secondary.

What are your impressions of the three defensive backs the Bears drafted?

I'm very pleased with our young guys. Trumaine McBride is doing an
outstanding job. He's truly shown us a lot; that he's a playmaker. He has
great mechanics in terms of his backpedal, burst and close. He plays with an
air of confidence back there and we're seeing him do a lot of great things.
We're very pleased with what he's doing.

Kevin Payne is doing a great job at safety. He's picking up the defense
slowly but surely. There's a little bit more to learn at safety than there
is at corner, but he's a smart player. I think he's definitely going to show
up when we put the pads on at training camp.

Corey Graham is coming off a [knee] injury and he's getting back into the
swing of things. The biggest thing with Corey right now is just starting
back with the basics; working his mechanics, his backpedal and everything
that he needs to be a success at the position. That's what we're focusing on
right now with Corey. We're just doing the little things.