| 07 April 2010
In yet another stupid move by front office personnel the Chicago Bears decided to release Alex Brown as part of a cost cutting move. Brown was due to make $5.5-million-dollars in pay for his 2010 contract meaning with Julius Peppers the Bears would have had nearly $26-million-dollars in salary locked up on two DEs during an uncapped free agency pool year. Money the McCaskey family apparently wasn't willing to spend on a player who was one of the best run defenders in the NFL and also one of the most consistent players for the Bears.
To give you an idea of just how consistent of a player Alex Brown was you need only look at the stat sheet and the number of games missed. One game, out of his entire career with the Bears is how many games Brown missed while playing for the Bears. Brown was on the field consistently and played at a level that was better than average.
Some obviously point to the six sacks as the reason Brown was let go, he didn't get the job done in rushing the passer. However the main point of emphasis should be how Brown holds up in both rushing the passer and tackles for a loss. With that Brown is one of the most consistent defensive linemen in the league....PERIOD.
The stats bare it out with Brown adding seven tackles for a loss in 2009 to his six sacks. The seven tackles for a loss were tops amongst defensive linemen in the NFL. That is to say that Brown was one of the best and most consistent run defenders in the NFL. In 2008 the Bears led the NFL in tackles for a loss with Brown a big part of that combined team effort.
Brown's career was nothing but solid in Chicago, and the thought was the Bears were going to get better as a team with Brown and Peppers together. Brown being the player to help slow down the run and Peppers being unleashed on third and long to get to the quarterback. The Bears' defense was strong against the run, but very weak against the pass, the Bears were one of the worst teams in the NFL on third down in 2009. So this is where Peppers was going to help strengthen the defense in those obvious passing situations. One could argue that Brown's production was going to go up with the addition of Peppers because teams would be more apt to run at Alex Brown than they would be to run at the 6-foot-7 296-pound Peppers.
While Brown wasn't the most gifted DE from an athletic stand point he was one of the most technically proficient DEs in the league. Brown was able to win his battles by relying on his technique, he understood the leverage battle, and hand placement and this is how he most often won his battles in the trenches. The term stack and shed has been thrown around a lot lately with the NFL draft evaluation in full effect, and that's precisely a move that Brown was a master of. He would get under his blocker and stand him straight up, and was literally able to steer the blocker towards the play or to extend contain to the outside. Rarely was Brown sealed off on the edge, unless it was on a double team move by a TE on a crack down block.
The question now becomes who on the defense will take over that role to help take the pressure off of Peppers? Evaluating the depth chart only shows a lot of weaknesses amongst the other DEs. The current favorite to start in Mark Anderson who won the starting job over Brown in '07 and then proceeded to fail miserably in the starting role. Anderson was benched and has only shows marginal improvement as a situational player over the last two seasons.
Rod Marinelli has sung the praises of Anderson's improvement but the production nor the consistency do not bare that out. I am the first to accept that Anderson has shown improvement and that '09 was his best season since his rookie year of '06, but his improvement wasn't to the level that would justify making him a full time starter, not in a make or break seasons.
Anderson is a marginal pass rusher, he has better speed off the edge but he doesn't have any real counter moves. Every now and again he's able to employ a spin move to get by his blocker. Overall though Anderson is not a good hand fighter, doesn't get good leverage and has no rip or swim moves. He's essentially a one-dimensional rusher with decent speed, but not elite speed. The lack of elite speed means just about any good LT in the league can handle him without much problem.
Israel Idonijae has taken more snaps as a DT than he has at DE and has always shown to be a better pass rusher from the three technique spot. Which begs the question why not just let him put on about 25-pounds to the 285-pound range and keep him inside where his athleticism is a better advantage against interior linemen.
Then you get into the great unknown, last year's third round pick Jarron Gilbert and where he fits in as a possible starter. Gilbert essentially received a first year red shirt year to learn and develop. He must now put his lessons to good use and put extreme heat on Mark Anderson. Gilbert has all the athletic tools, it's now just a matter of polishing up the chrome and making a player out of him. In my humble opinion this should be a break out year for Gilbert in the same way Bennett broke into being a starter in 2009. Gilbert doesn't need to be a double digit sack performer, he just needs to step up and win the starting position.
I feel much more comfortable with Mark Anderson staying as a situational rusher that is what you expect from fifth round draft picks. If Anderson just sticks around on the roster as a rotational player solid back up then he can call his career an NFL success. Sure there is that 12 sack year that leaves you wanting more, but Anderson's draft status means he shouldn't have made the roster. If he manages to keep making the team and is a solid career back up who can start if called upon that's a major success.
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