Adams, Hooker really are difference- makers
What LSU’s Jamal Adams does well, Ohio State’s Malik Hooker doesn’t — and vice versa.
“You wish you could take a little bit from one and put it in the other,” ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. said Wednesday. “Then you’d have the perfect safety.”
As it is, the Bears might have to decide which style they prefer: the rangy Hooker or the pounding Adams.
Hooker is raw, having started one season at Ohio State.
“[ Hooker has] a little Ed Reed in him, but Reed did it over a long period of time,” Kiper said, referencing the former Ravens great.
Adams, who ran an unofficial 4.33- second 40- yard dash at his pro day Wednesday, is a better tackler.
“He doesn’t have the ball skills and explosiveness and range in coverage that Hooker does,” Kiper said.
The Bears seem likely to pick a defender if they hang on to the third overall pick later this month. Alabama lineman Jonathan Allen would fill a defensive- end void; Kiper said he hadn’t heard any team say it will push him down in the draft because of an arthritic condition in his left shoulder.
“That’s something you worry about 15, 20 years down the road,” Kiper said. “With an NFL team, you want to try to say, ‘ OK, how is he going to be moving forward five to seven, eight years?’ And Jonathan Allen will be fine. He’s a tremendously mature kid. He’s obviously got great talent and had a great year. . . .
“I don’t see him dropping past the Bears at 3 or Jacksonville at 4.”
CB Webb signs 1- year deal
Further adding to a suddenly crowded cornerback position, the Bears signed B. W. Webb to a oneyear deal late Wednesday.
Webb, 27, has played for four teams in as many years, starting seven times for the Saints last season. He had one interception and broke up 11 passes in 2016.
The Cowboys drafted the William & Mary alum in the fourth round in 2013. As a member of the Cowboys, he was involved in an altercation with a Raiders fan during a 2014 joint training- camp practice. He later played for the Steelers in 2014 and Titans in 2015.
He joins fellow cornerbacks Marcus Cooper, Prince Amukamara and Johnthan Banks.
Fales gone
David Fales agreed to sign with the Dolphins, a source confirmed, meaning that all four players to throw a regular- season pass for the Bears last year are off the team.
Fales will reunite with Adam Gase, the Bears’ offensive coordinator in 2015 who runs a scheme similar to that of the Bears.
Fales appeared in his first NFL game in the last game of the season, completing two of five passes for 22 yards. The Bears claimed Fales, who was on the Ravens’ practice squad, in November after Jay Cutler was lost for the season with a shoulder injury.
Drafted in the sixth round by the Bears in 2014, Fales was cut after training camp in August.
As for the Bears’ other three passers: Cutler is still available in free agency, and Brian Hoyer and Matt Barkley were signed by the 49ers.
No Ego in Green Bay
The Packers claimed defensive lineman Ego Ferguson after the Bears waived him Friday, but he won’t land in Green Bay, after all.
Ferguson failed his physical, scuttling the move.
The 2014 second- round pick was waived with an injury designation at the end of training camp last year because of a shoulder problem. He cleared waivers, was put on injured reserve and stayed with the Bears until last week.
Ferguson served a four- game suspension in 2015 for violating the NFL’s performance- enhancing- drug policy.
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