Bears have family ties to top CB
Oregon's Jairus Byrd is one of the top cornerbacks in this year's draft, and no NFL team has more information on him than the Bears.
That's because Byrd's father is the Bears' assistant defensive backs coach, Gill Byrd, a two-time Pro Bowl player who holds the Chargers' franchise records with 42 interceptions and 546 interception-return yards.
Jairus Byrd left school a year early after starting 37 of 39 games and intercepting 17 passes. At 5-foot-10 and 205 pounds is more than sturdy enough to support the run or even make the move to safety if it turns out he doesn't possess the necessary speed and quickness for cornerback. But one scouting service ranked him as the second-best Cover-2 corner in the draft. Whichever position teams project him to, Byrd isn't expected to last much past the end of the second round.
Of course, Jairus was asked at the Scouting Combine who was the better player, his father or him.
“Me,” he said, grinning, but then quickly backtracked. “I take that back. He's already proven himself, but I hope some day to surpass him.”
While many children would enjoy watching their father play in person in the NFL, Byrd wasn't one of them.
“I hated going to his games,” he said, laughing. “Me and my brother just wanted to play, but we had to get dressed up and go sit and watch the game.”
Bob,
Do you believe that Angelo is not going to try to sign any of the remaining higher tier free agents?
Do they seriously think that they will fill the holes from last year via the draft and development from within or is that just Angelo trying not to give up too much info on his specific free agent targets?
There's no excuse for this team not to be pursuing the best available players every year. They have great financial support from the fans and should have a top 5 payroll.
I really hope Jerry is just lying in the weeds with his comments on free agency.
The Bears have a ton of money (approximately $30 million) under the salary cap, which was recently increased from $123 million to $127 million. They also have many more needs than they'll be able to address in the draft.
There might not be a lot of top-tier free agents, but there are several (Laveranues Coles, Derrick Dockery) who could help the Bears and probably wouldn't cost a ridiculous amount of money.
My brother went to San Jose State when Gill was locking up John Elway's receivers at Stanford. His daughter, my niece, is a recent OU alum, so he has followed Byrd at OU too and says the kid can play. Their center, Max Unger, us another nice player. I say pluck the duck AND pick the Buck. The Buckeye receiver, Brian Robiskie from OSU that is.
You simply cannot go wrong with coaches' sons, which these two are. Quality kids, great players. They won't let you down.
If the Bears could get Jairus Byrd and Brian Robiskie, along with a starting right tackle, that would be a great start toward getting back to the playoffs in '09.
I think Byrd and Robiskie will contribute from Day One, even if they aren't every-down players. Byrd could play nickel or safety if he isn't a strating corner right away. Robiskie might only be a possession receiver in the NFL, but that's the kind of complement they need to Hester, and he's got better size than anyone else on the roster.
top cb? never heard of this guy