2. Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears hold a lot of veteran talent, and a few younger faces filled with potential at linebacker. Unfortunately, as of late they haven’t been the healthiest bunch.
Lamarr Houston and Willie Young would be considered old men at this position. Both of them will be 31 years old at the start of the season. Young has been great since joining Chicago in 2014, and now it’s just guessing when his production will fall off.
Houston, on the other hand, has been fighting injuries since leaving Oakland. Last season, he only managed to play in two games before tearing his ACL for the second time. The Bears hope that they can get him back before this season starts, as a constant switch between Houston and Young would be great for them.
Pernell McPhee was the Bears other starting outside linebacker that had to fight with an injury last season. He had shoulder surgery after tearing his labrum last season, but even before that, he wasn’t producing as he normally does. This year, he should bounce back and have another stellar season as the Bears defensive leader.
The Bears final production from the outside should come from second-year player, Leonard Floyd. However, he was only in for 12 games last season as he battled with concussions. Now I don’t want to get into all the concussion and football talk, but when former players are speaking out about your side effects you need to be careful. A healthy Floyd is a dangerous player to go up against.
Inside the Bears also have a lot of talent. Injury-risk talent obviously. Danny Trevathan is the best of the bunch. He made a name for himself on the Denver Broncos, where he helped their stellar defense secure a Super Bowl.
But last season Trevathan only managed to play in nine games last season after suffering a thumb injury. Now he’s fighting just to get back in time for training camp.
The Bears also brought in Jerrell Freeman last year to start with Trevathan. Freeman managed to put together a great season even after being suspended for the first four games. His year was so great in fact that he was named as the PFF top linebacker last season.
The top linebackers from 2016 pic.twitter.com/9IwfIhy4PO
— PFF (@PFF) June 12, 2017
If the Bears can just stay on the field together they should have a great core of linebackers this season. But it’s the NFL, and injuries are just part of the game.