Chicago Bears Draft Grade for S Jaquan Brisker

Jaquan Brisker, or @quannyb_ as Dan Wiederer asserts he should be called (at all times, and to the exclusion of all other names), was the Chicago Bears second A+ Draft Pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.

I didn’t draft Brisker often because I did not realize how real Ryan Poles would prove to be re: Best Player Available. I’ve heard people say they thought there were better options on the board. Some even speculated that Poles might not have been “true to his board”, but outside of BPA, why would Poles make this luxury pick? 

When I took Brisker, My “justification” for what I still say is a luxury pick was the obvious steal value. You may have had a favorite WR or OL guy who was still on the board. A guy who you liked better. Poles obviously felt Jaquan Brisker was closer to being the poster model for HITS than any of your Offensive guys. Don’t feel too bad! Some of my favorites went undrafted entirely!

Brisker looks to me like a serious Bear type guy, at least in an old fashioned Bears sense…so much better than the rather uptight “Lord, save us b’cauz we got no Offense” Defense the Bears trotted out last year. He looks like the kind of guy who wants to be remembered in opposing team facilities for a couple of days, counting success by the number of curse words exacted by memories of him.

It’s hard to say how much of that attitude already existed on the Bears Defense, considering that the Offense was predicated on fooling defenses with play calls so bad they surprised everybody. But adding a weapon like Brisker to a defensive backfield who got sick of getting torched last year looks like genius to me.

Not only genius because of sticking true to his board, but also genius because of the trust in the process Poles showed. Genius in that he admitted the rebuild George McCaskey surely wishes he’d have kept secret. George may have had a little stroke, but the press breathed a sigh of relief.

Much of the press still seem pretty firm on “expect this to look bad”, and I think they are missing the bus. It seems to me that the new way of thinking is centered on simplicity, as that is the only way to make the focus on HITS even possible. The S, for Situational Smarts needs to be simple to leave enough headroom for the other three letters.

The book Zen Golf, at one point in it, addresses the age old question of, “What should my ‘Swing Thought’ be?” A phrase to keep time with? A single word? A series of concepts to focus on for each ‘phase’ of the swing? Zen golf says the perfect swing thought is silence!

They talk about it all the time in the NFL: “Slowing down the game.” There are two ways to help. The tiny one is exposure, just get used to it. The big one, and the one an NFL player has to just keep growing, is to understand the big picture. The simpler the big picture is, the more you can focus on the little details. The simpler the adjustment is when you see a cue, the easier it is to be on the right page, and know your job.

I think Jaquan Brisker is the kind of guy who can exploit this style of play in big ways. I think he can help the defense provide more opportunities for the offense, and a simpler offense will likely look a lot more grateful for those opportunities than the sad cartoon offenses we have seen in recent years.

I’ve given more words to the opportunity than to Mr Brisker, but Kyler Gordon got less total words, and he is part of the good situation, too. I expect the two to blend well with the rest of the Defense, and for the DB room to be a major team strength in 2022. I can’t wait to see them hit the field!

Bear Down and Pass the Halas Hall Kool Aid!