The Bears trading for Chris Harris yesterday solidified the strong safety position for the 2010 season and and even has Steve “Optimism Ain’t Nothin’ But a Thang” Rosenbloom admitting the “defense is starting to look like a defense”. The move was both a mea culpa for a deal made in error and an acknowledgement that entering 2010 with the same back line would be tantamount to seasonal suicide.
I ask this. Why enter the 2010 season with a question mark at free safety when Darren Sharper – still one of the league’s five best at that position – is readily available and making the free agency rounds? Why not reach back into the clearly-open pockets of the McCaskey Gang and shell out the six million a year it’ll cost to field our best pair of safeties since Mike Brown and Tony Parrish roamed together.
Sharper’s skill set, primarily his ballhawking ability, is perfectly matched to Harris’ step-in-the-gap-and-make-a-big-hit mentality. And if Julius Peppers generates the type of pass rush he’s being paid to generate, Sharper should have more than a few opportunities to grab hurried throws downfield.
To me, it’s a no-brainer. Especially for a leadership group living on borrowed time. The Bears have one glaring hole on defense and the player to fill it is available. Sign Darren Sharper.
