Chicago Bears rookie has tools to compete at CB

The length presents a lot when you talk about offensive and defensive line players. The NFL teams want long -standing arms. The same goes for Edge Rushers, who must fight with these long -term offensive plated.

The director general of the Bears, Ryan Pole, has shown an affinity for the writing of long -arms players in another group of positions: the defensive back. He found another when he selected Zah Frazier from Texas-San Antonio in April in the fifth round (n ° 169). The 32 -inch arms of Frazier were the second longer of all the cornerbacks measured at the NFL screening combination in February.

The length alone will not take a place in the team, but the Bears are optimistic, it has physical tools to become a quality NFL cornerback.

Here is what Bears fans should know about Frazier before the recruits report for the training camp on July 19.

How did it get here?

Al Harris had an eye on Frazier. The first year’s defensive rear coach joined Ben Johnson’s staff after five years with the Dallas Cowboys. While Harris was in Dallas, an UTSA cornerback caught his attention. When he took the post in Chicago, Harris has not waste time informing the posts in the Rangy Roadrunners corner.

“I actually received a text in February from Al Harris saying:” Hey, there is this guy Zah Frazier. It is long. I think we can develop it as a press corner. I think we can bring it into the fourth or fifth round, “said Polas after writing Frazier.

This is exactly how it happened.

Frazier brings his 6 -inch 6 -inch setting to a crowded corner room. But the Bears believe that he has the tools to compete, even with Jaylon Johnson, Kyler Gordon, Tyrique Stevenson, Terell Smith and Josh Blackwell already well established on the list. Like Frazier, Smith and Stevenson have more than 32 inch arms.

Where does he come from?

Frazier grew up in Cedartown, Georgia, near the Alabama border. It was not evaluated by online recruitment services from the school and initially went to the south of Illinois, playing in four games for the Salukis in 2019.

He was then transferred to Coffeyville Community College in Kansas and became one of the best recruits JOCO in 2022. He initially engaged in Kentucky before turning to UTSA.

With the roadrunners, it was a long path to an important playing time. He played in 12 games in 2022 but was not a starter. UTSA’s coach coach Nick Graham had great expectations for the future of Frazier, but he had to prove himself.

“It was simply not ready,” said Graham, “and I don’t like putting children before they were ready, especially a child who came out of Juco.”

The following season, an academic eligibility problem prevented Frazier until November. When he finally fell for the starting alignment in 2024, he had a break -up season, entering six interceptions and defending 15 assists in 12 games.

Frazier already had a size framework of the NFL, but the addition of this type of ball production probably cemented it as a choice of potential project.

Why did the Bears write it?

The corner half was not a huge area of need, but the NFL teams always need depth in the defensive rear field. The Bears return all their starting secondary, so it will be a difficult battle for Frazier to find playing time as a recruit.

But the Bears repeated it because they see a development corner with which they can work. The 6-3 frame of Frazier and an 80-inch wingspan are enormous advantages. If he can learn the game book and understand the concepts of the NFL, it could be the type of cornerback which excels two or three years later.

Harris was a similar player who came out of Texas A & M-Tingsville in 1997. A sixth round draft choice, Harris finally transformed into a corner of Cornerback Pro Bowl and a second team with the Green Bay Packers.

“It definitely stimulates my confidence because I have a coach who did it,” said Frazier. “He’s going to give me the game. I just have to add it to my toolbox and be ready to work every day.”

What his coaches said

Graham said the scouts told him that Frazier would have a blow in the NFL based solely on his measurable – like these long arms. But what the NFL teams really wanted to see in its last year of college is an ability to create reversals.