John Fox and the rest of the Chicago Bears coaching staff will get as good of a look at the top college prospects as one could get during the offseason.
Coaches from the Bears and Cleveland Browns will coach the Senior Bowl teams later in January in Mobile, Ala. Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune reports that Fox and the Bears staff will coach the North team, while Hue Jackson wraps up his first season with the Browns by coaching the South.
Fox said, “We’re excited for this opportunity to get a hands-on look at some of the top draft-eligible players in the nation.”
And that is precisely what this opportunity provides Fox, Jackson and the coaching staffs of the Bears and Browns, respectively. Coaching the Senior Bowl allows the Bears a unique opportunity to evaluate some of the draft’s best college talent. This will also allow Fox and his staff to have some one-on-one time that otherwise might not be available to them.
Add the chance to actually coach some of these players before other teams can get their hands on them makes this a win-win chance for a coaching staff looking to add impact talent all over the field.
Fox becomes the fourth Bears coach to participate in Senior Bowl coaching, joining Jack Pardee (1978), Mike Ditka (1992) and Dave Wannstedt (1996).
The 2016 Senior Bowl was coached by Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett and Gus Bradley, who was recently fired by the Jacksonville Jaguars. Last year’s Senior Bowl featured 1,000-yard receiver Braxton Miller of the Cleveland Browns, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback (and No. 2 overall pick) Carson Wentz and MVP candidate quarterback Dak Prescott of the Cowboys.