Chicago Bears: 5 Players who will have big seasons in 2020

4. Eddie Jackson, Safety

In his first two seasons, Eddie Jackson was a beast playing free safety. He recorded 96 tackles and had 21 passes defended. Also, he was an incredible ball hawk. He had eight interceptions and returned three of them for touchdowns. In addition, he had three forced fumbles and had four fumble recoveries, taking two of them in for touchdowns.

In just his second season, Jackson not only made the Pro Bowl but also was on the NFL’s All-Pro First Team. The Chicago Bears rewarded him with a four-year, $58.4 million deal.

In 2019, the Bears decided to move Jackson over to strong safety so they could bring in his friend and former college teammate Ha Ha Clinton-Dix. Despite his success at free safety, Jackson moved over and welcomed his friend.

Jackson had a pretty good season. He had 51 tackles, five passes defended, two interceptions, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. He also made it back to the Pro Bowl.

That’s a good season but he wasn’t as dominant at strong safety as he was at free safety.

This offseason, the Bears let Clinton-Dix walk away via free agency. The team decided to move Jackson back to free safety and signed strong safety Tashaun Gipson. Now Jackson is back to the position he dominated.

While Jackson made the Pro Bowl in 2019, his drop in production made some experts cool on him. For example, CBS Sports revealed their list for the 10 best safeties in the NFL. Was Jackson at the top? No, he wasn’t. Was Jackson in the middle? No, he wasn’t. Was he on the list at all? No, he wasn’t.

Arguing who the best safety is a matter of opinion. There are several players who could credibly be thought of as the best, but to not have Jackson on the list? That is a slap on the face.

Jackson is ready to show how great he is. He’s had to prove the doubters wrong before when they doubted his ability to come back from a gruesome leg injury. Now he’s ready to do it again.