NEWSLETTER
Adrian Amos has been showered with love and affection throughout the offseason, so what’s one more honor for the mantel?
Indeed, since the end of the regular season, Amos has been placed on Pro Football Focus’ All-Pro Team, its list of 101 best players, and earned the honor of Bleacher Report’s distinction for best free safety in the NFL. Landing on Pete Prisco’s list of 100 best players over at CBS Sports is just the most recent gold star sticker to be placed next to Amos’ name.
Amos checked in at No. 93 on Prisco’s list, and it should come as no surprise after the type of season he had in 2017. The Penn State product finally put it all together last year, and the timing couldn’t have been better (as he enters his walk year). After slipping on the depth chart behind rookie Eddie Jackson and veteran Quintin Demps, Amos re-entered the starting lineup in Week 4 and never let go. Amos has been a solid run-support safety since his arrival in 2015, but he showed an improved ability to defend the pass that he didn’t appear to possess in either of his two previous seasons. Adding pass defense excellence to his already stellar skills in stopping the run helped transform the Bears’ defense into a top-10 group on the strength of its secondary play.
Amos finds himself in good company on Prisco’s list, as he is one of five safeties to make the cut. Buffalo’s Micah Hyde and Kansas City’s Eric Berry are the only other strong safeties to make it into Prisco’s top-100. Free safeties Earl Thomas (Seattle) and Harrison Smith (Minnesota) are also included.
There seems to be a minor disconnect when it comes to how good Amos actually is/could be moving forward. Amos doesn’t get a ton of love publicly and it probably didn’t help the perception of him as a player when the team drafted and signed a free agent to replace him in the lineup. But all Amos did in response to that was put his head down and work his way back into the starting role he earned starting in 2015.
The Bears weren’t going to be shut out from offseason lists of top players forever. Not with a re-worked roster that has its collective arrow pointing in the right direction for the first time in a long time. Amos’ inclusion on the list should be viewed as a sign that good things are on the horizon, especially for the Bears’ defense.
Now if we could just get defensive end Akiem Hicks from being on the outside looking in and onto the list, that would be swell.
