Year 2 gains aren't just for rookies: Why the Bears' front seven has reason for optimism in 2017

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The expectation for players entering their second year in the NFL — like Leonard Floyd, Jonathan Bullard and Nick Kwiatkoski — is that, with a season of experience, they can play faster and smarter. Case in point: In the last 15 years, only 13 rookies have had 10 or more sacks, while there have been 30 second-year players to have 10 or more sacks. 

But the Bears’ front seven isn’t just feeling confident because of expected gains from Floyd, Bullard and Kwiatkoski (all of whom have had, to varying degrees, good preseasons so far). The front seven also has four veterans entering Year 2 in Vic Fangio’s defense: Defensive end Akiem Hicks, and inside linebackers Jerrell Freeman and Danny Trevathan. 

"It's my third year here, a lot of the coaches' third year here," Fangio said, "but it's not a lot of the players' third year here."

So what does that mean for those players who got here a year ago?

“I was still trying to figure some stuff out (last year), it was a new defense for me and it’s our second year just with the install and how things are going,” Freeman, who previously started 57 games for the Indianapolis Colts, said. “You can kind of tell Vic is moving along pretty fast. Things we’re paying attention to are a little different, little minute details instead of big picture things — just trying to have Vic’s trust to run some stuff.” 

“It’s good because the defense is able to play fast and show things (down), give a little here and bring a little there. There’s a lot of things that go on with it. That progression, just like anybody else, from Year 1 to Year 2 is pretty good.”

Getting and staying healthy remains the biggest hurdle for the Bears’ defense to clear this season after 2016’s injury-ravaged unit ranked 24th in scoring defense (24.9 points per game) and 23rd in Football Outsiders’ DVOA. 

Trevathan is slowly working his way back into more strenuous parts of practice, but may not play in a preseason game or be ready for Week 1. Pernell McPhee’s status remains unclear, putting pressure on fellow outside linebackers Floyd, Willie Young and LaMarr Houston (who’s still working his way back from his second torn ACL) to be healthy. 

But if the Bears can couple better health with gains from both their promising youngsters (like Floyd) and productive veterans (like Freeman and Hicks), there could be a lot to be optimistic about with this front seven, which in turn could help out a secondary that could feature four new starters (Prince Amukamara, Marcus Cooper, Quintin Demps and possibly Eddie Jackson). 

“Through the things that we installed last year and being able to see those things again, you get just a little bit faster at them,” Hicks said. “You don’t have to look for as many keys. You say to yourself — OK, I got this, now I see that, let’s go rather than scanning the whole field. I think that happens when you’re in a scheme for more than a year, going into our second year.”

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