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There will be massive coaching changes in Chicago this offseason, but there is one dude I really, really hope the Bears keep around: DL coach Jay Rodgers.
Rodgers has been with the Bears since 2015, when he followed Fox over from Denver.
Rodgers has been with the Bears since 2015, when he followed Fox over from Denver.
In that time, he developed draft pick/UDFAs Eddie Goldman, Bilal Nichols, and RRH and turned Akiem Hicks from a rotational DL into a stud. He also gets solid rotational production out of veteran journeymen every single year.
A coach like that has immense value to an organization because he can help them get more production out of the DL than their cap spending suggests they should. That will be very important in the next few years as they stop spending so much on the defense.
We've seen firsthand the last 2 years how losing a really good position coach can hurt your production. After Ed Donatell followed Fangio to Denver, the DB production plummeted. Prince Amukamara fell off a cliff, Fuller had a down year in 2019, and EJax is having a down 2020.
The Bears can't afford to let that happen on their DL, especially since the unit might be somewhat patchwork in 2021, with Goldman and Nichols surrounded by cheap veterans should they trade Akiem Hicks to free up cap room for the offense.
With Jay Rodgers on the staff, you can make that a manageable situation. With a mediocre DL coach, that could turn into a catastrophe pretty quickly.
