Getty Roquan Smith of the Chicago Bears celebrates a sack.
The Chicago Bears have begun organized team activities, and while it’s early, a noteworthy change on defense is worth monitoring moving forward.
Bears defensive leader Roquan Smith, who is entering Year 5, is widely expected to ink an extension with the team. Smith has also been the play-caller for the defense in recent seasons, and while many expected that to continue, it was newcomer Nicholas Morrow calling the defensive plays at OTAs.
Now that the Bears are shifting from a 3-4 scheme to a 4-3 under new head coach Matt Eberflus, both linebackers are expected to play a huge role. It remains to be seen whether it will be Morrow who continues calling plays.
“It would be an interesting development if Morrow continues to handle the calls in training camp,” Bears insider Adam Jahns of The Athletic wrote on May 26. “He’s on a one-year deal, while Smith is considered a potential mainstay in need of a long-term deal for the Bears, regardless of the regime changes.”
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Morrow Is More Familiar With 4-3 Defense Than Smith
Morrow spent his first five years with the Raiders, although he missed the entire 2020 season after suffering a foot injury in training camp. The veteran LB, who turns 27 in July, is excited to get back to action, and he says he and Smith are hitting it off.
“It’s been cool,” Morrow said on May 24 about playing alongside Smith. “One, he’s fast. Then, two, his pre-snap reads are really good, so being able to anticipate pre-snap is helpful. Then, he always communicates to me to kinda get me going, so it’s been helpful.”
When asked what he likes about Eberflus’ defense, Morrow was quick to respond.
“Some of the spot drop stuff is fun, like getting to your landmark and having eyes on the quarterback,” he added. “But a lot of what we’ve done so far I’ve done before. So, the familiarity, I think that’s another thing that I like. Then, playing next to Ro, he has a really good understanding of what the offense is doing, so just feeding off him too.”
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Bears Likely Looking to Have Multiple Versatile LBs
The defensive play-caller serves as a sort of quarterback for the defense, eyeing offensive formations and attempting to diagnose the coming play. While it was widely expected for Smith to call plays for the defense, having Morrow do it only adds versatility to his game, as well as to the linebacking corps. Still, considering Smith may be playing for significant future money this coming season, while Morrow is on a one-year, $5 million prove-it deal, this could be something to watch in the coming months, as Jahns suggested.
“It’s cool, but I think it’s on everybody,” Morrow said about calling plays on defense. “Once the call gets in, everybody’s got to echo it. The biggest thing is understanding your wind, because you’ve got to be in shape to do it. You’ve got to run downfield, then you’ve got to run back and give the calls. So, it’s been cool, but I don’t think it’s been anything new. It’s nothing I haven’t done before. But just getting the calls in to everybody, and getting everybody set, then after that it’s on everybody to be responsible for it.”
Over his career, Morrow has played in 62 games, starting 29. He had 254 total tackles (20 for loss), 20 passes defensed, two interceptions, two forced fumbles, 15 QB hits and 4.0 sacks, per Pro Football Reference.
The Bears head coach is also high on Morrow.
“His résumé is the tape,” Eberflus said about Morrow in March, via the team’s website. “Worker. Prepares. Very smart. You can see the athleticism on tape, his ability to cover in space. He can cover a lot of ground, cover tight ends, cover backs. So he’s an exciting piece.”
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Bears’ New Defensive Play-Caller Raises Some Eyebrows