Getty Bears rookie cornerback Tyrique Stevenson is already turning heads with the coaching staff.
The Chicago Bears are going to be counting on major contributors from several members of their 2023 rookie draft class heading into the second year of their complete roster rebuild, but cornerback Tyrique Stevenson already seems to be reinforcing the team’s decision to trade up and get him for their defense.
Stevenson — the No. 56 overall pick in the second round — has been one of the most impressive rookies of the bunch throughout the Bears’ offseason workout program, including during OTAs, where he has secured a handful of interceptions and begun to turn the heads of his coaches with his overall approach to the training aspect.
“He’s really showed what he showed in college — really good ball skills, length, instincts, competitive. He’s shown all of those things,” Bears head coach Matt Eberflus said after June 13’s practice. “He’s had a couple [of] nice interceptions during the course of this offseason, and now it’s just — I know he’s going back home to train in the summer — about him getting in elite shape to make sure he can compete how he wants to.”
More impressive has been the way Stevenson has carried himself. The six-foot, 204-pound perimeter cornerback was known for his aggressiveness and instincts during his college seasons at Miami, but the confidence and comfortability he has exuded with the first-team defense throughout offseason workouts has given the coaches the impression that the 23-year-old corner is a talent beyond his years.
“It’s a little bit ahead I would say,” Eberflus said of Stevenson’s confidence. “It seems more like a veteran to me than a rookie, which is kind of cool to be able to watch that. And he’s very confident. I think the guys gravitate toward him. He’s a likable guy because he does love football and he is competitive, so I think he fits well with [Kyler] Gordon and [Jaquan] Brisker and Eddie [Jackson] and all of those guys that are really competitive that like to grind it and like to practice.”
Tyrique Stevenson Projects as No. 2 Outside Corner
If the summer work pays off, Stevenson could have a clear path to a Day 1 starting job with the Bears defense in 2023. He is the first player that Ryan Poles has traded up to get in his first two years as general manager, and Poles indicated after he drafted him that they intend for him to play on the outside opposite Jaylon Johnson with Gordon — a 2022 second-rounder — moving into the slot to round out their starting corner group.
Earning it will still be an important part of the equation, but the odds are stacked in Stevenson’s favor. His biggest competitors for the No. 2 outside corner role are Kindle Vildor — who held the job in 2022 with mixed results — and fellow rookie fifth-rounder Terell Smith, but Stevenson’s strong early showings and high talent ceiling could be too much for the Bears to ignore even if both challengers end up impressing, too.
“He’s big. He can run. He’s intelligent. He has instincts,” Bears defensive coordinator Alan Williams said after the draft, via ChicagoBears.com. “In a nutshell, we go, ‘Did this guy love football?’ And then, ‘Does he have instincts, does he have quickness, and does he have strike?’ He has all of those. We love the things that he can do in that package in terms of body size, hands, arm length.”
Eddie Jackson Compares Rookie to Jaquan Brisker
Stevenson has done more than win over his coaches in the early days of his NFL career. The veterans have also taken note of the confidence that has allowed him to seamlessly slip into the starting secondary unit. From Eddie Jackson’s vantage, it reminds him of how strong safety Jaquan Brisker — a 17-game rookie starter in 2022 — carried himself when he was heading into his rookie year last season, particularly in the mindset.
“You see from Day 1, the type of guy he is,” Jackson said following June 13’s minicamp session. “He just kind of reminds me of Brisker [in] the mindset. [Stevenson] is coming out there, young guy, don’t care. Years in the league, that don’t matter. He just wants to go out there and ball and play. Right now, he’s stepping up to the plate. He’s accepting the challenge. In meetings, he’s taking notes. We sit right next to each other, and I feel like [cornerbacks] coach [Jon] Hoke challenges him a lot. I know sometimes he gets a little frustrated, but like I told him, it’s all going to pay off in the end.
“He’s locked in. He’s listening, keeping his head down, asking the right questions. He’s doing his job and making plays. That’s what you want to see from a young guy like that.”
