NEWSLETTER
Paul Duncan of Pro Football Focus recently pieced together a list of players who performed well enough in spurts last season to receive more playing time in the year(s) to come. Chicago Bears cornerback Sherrick McManis is one of those players.
And it’s some well-deserved recognition, too: McManis earned an 85.7 overall grade from PFF last year, which is impressive, even if he earned it in just 282 total snaps. So let’s see if Duncan is onto something here.
In addition to picking up his first career sack and first interception since 2010, McManis set career bests in passes defended (4), tackles (26), tackles-for-loss (2), and quarterback hits (1). These career highs came after McManis shifted focus from being the main man on the Bears’ special teams unit to manning the slot cornerback position after Bryce Callahan’s season-ending injury. Surprisingly, McManis excelled as the team’s top nickel corner after the injury to Callahan, which is obviously great to see. Indeed, McManis limited opposing quarterbacks to just a 60.4 passer rating in the final three weeks of the season in which he played on approximately 75 percent of the defense’s snaps.
To be sure, a portion of McManis’ success should be credited to former DC Vic Fangio, who put McManis on the field in advantageous situations, as he played him on a fewer percentage of snaps than Callahan. Which means if the offseason plays out and McManis is starting as the top nickel corner next year, the onus would fall on new DC Chuck Pagano to strike the right balance on when to use McManis and the nickel package. Because while that three-game sample is an eye-opener, remember that Callahan played at least 80 percent of the team’s snaps in 9 of the 12 games he appeared in from start to finish last season and might not fit into the Bears salary cap picture, depending on how things workout throughout the rest of the roster/defense.
Playing well in three games at the end of the season is a bit different than doing so in full 16-game slate. But if the Bears could find that happy medium for McManis’ playing time, then it would make him a prime candidate to get more snaps on defense in 2019. And at just the right time.
