Chicago Bears position battles to look for during training camp

Chicago Bears camp battle to watch: Linebackers

One thing that hasn’t been talked about much is the stunning lack of depth in the linebackers unit. The only ones who are practically guaranteed to make it are Roquan Smith and Nicholas Morrow.

Morrow likely mans the middle linebacker spot while Smith goes to the weakside. There he’ll have more opportunities to use his speed and athleticism to make big plays.

Other than that, there are many questions. Matt Adams could be the starting strongside linebacker but he has to perform well.

He was recently arrested on weapons charges and cited for having metal-piercing bullets. We’ll have to see if he indeed makes the team and what punishment he may face.

Even if the three players mentioned are starters there isn’t much behind them. Jack Sanborn, Noah Dawkins, Caleb Johnson, Joe Thomas, C.J. Avery, and Christian Albright have a total of 107 career games played on defense. Take away Thomas’ 89 games and that total is just 18.

We’ll see how those players perform and which ones make the team. However, this unit’s key players might not be on the roster yet.