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"I'm an elite competitor" | 1-on-1 with Bears safety Coby Bryant
Cassie goes 1-on-1 with new Bears safety Coby Bryant at Halas Hall. Bryant talks about his elite competitiveness and the leadership he wants to bring to the Bears.
When the Chicago Bears signed Coby Bryant, there was a good chance the Bears would go into next season without their two starting safeties from 2025.
Now, they'll officially be without those two safeties.
Safety Jaquan Brisker, one of general manager Ryan Poles' first draft picks out of Penn State in 2022, has reportedly signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
What we know:
The Bears will now go into the 2026 season without their two starting safeties from the 2025 season.
All-Pro Kevin Byard signed with the Patriots. Now, Brisker returns home and will be a Steeler.
Bears general manager Ryan Poles was open about the fact he wanted to bring back Byard.
"That's what makes this part of your difficult," Poles said. "You have certain plans. There's guys that you would like to have back and kind of seeing how the landscape set up and you do your research."
He wasn't as open about Brisker, but Brisker was a fan favorite for his persona on social media boasted his love for Chicago.
Brisker had concussion issues in his Bears' career. He's also a Pittsburgh native who will return home on a friendly deal. The Steelers are paying him $5.5 million for his one-year deal.
Brisker started in all 52 games he played in Chicago. After the loss to the Rams in the NFC Divisional Round, Brisker sat at his locker. He said he was soaking in every moment because he didn't know if he'd wear a Bears' jersey again.
He was right. That was his last moment as a Chicago Bear.
What's next:
It's surprising to see Brisker take a smaller contract. Some projections had him making $10 million per year on a multi-year deal.
It's fair to wonder if the Bears considered this offer. It would have meant the Bears would be replacing just one of their safeties instead of both.
Now, the Bears will be in the market for a strong safety next to Bryant with Bryant as the team's main playmaker.
"When we watched Coby’s tape he was a guy that got us excited," Poles said. "He played our style of ball, he played fast, he played physically. Those are the things that (Defensive Coordinator Dennis Allen) is looking for, that we're looking for. We thought there was leadership there. He's young and we had to adapt to that and we had the opportunity to bring a really good player in and that's the decision that we made."