By Brad BiggsThe Bears player with the most time logged on special teams last season wound up leading the points system utilized by special-teams coordinator Dave Toub.
Corey Graham far and away had the most snaps on special teams in 2009. He was on the field for 373 of 450 special-teams snaps (82.9 percent) and edged leading tackler Tim Shaw in the points system. Shaw, who had 295 snaps, set a franchise record with 30 tackles after exploding for eight in the season finale at Detroit.
What the study of playing-time statistics for special teams from 2009 shows is that the Bears got better after plugging some new players in. Gone were Trumaine McBride and Joey LaRocque, second and third respectively in playing time from 2008, but the unit improved. Also missing in large part was running back Garrett Wolfe. He ranked sixth in special-teams snaps in '08, but fell to 17th last season (88 plays) due in large part to injury.
Photo: Tim Shaw (58) and Corey Graham (21) were special-teams stalwarts in 2009. (Spencer Green/AP)
Linebacker Jamar Williams, who led the team in special-teams reps a
year ago, remained active and was second behind Graham with 319 plays.
He has been tendered as a restricted free agent. Of the top 10
participants, linebacker Darrell McClover (sixth, 261 snaps) and
running back Adian Peterson (eighth, 255 snaps) will need to be
replaced. They are departing as unrestricted free agents.
By dropping weight for this past season, defensive tackle Israel Idonije became more involved for Toub. Idonije was involved in 63 percent of the special-teams plays in 2007. When he bulked up for a move inside in 2008, that figure fell to 50 percent. He was at 60.6 percent last season while also getting 30.9 percent of the action on defense. Idonije is considered a key contributor on special teams. Another big body that stepped up was tight end Kellen Davis, who went from 223 snaps the previous year to 280 to rank fourth. Davis has carved out a niche for himself there and it will be interesting to see what kind of role the team has for new tight end Brandon Manumaleuna on special teams.
The Bears ranked sixth in the league in the composite ranking system used by Rick Gosselin of the Dallas Morning News. The Bears were eighth in 2008 and No. 1 in 2007 and 2006. It marks the fifth top-10 finish under Toub.
The belief is that Shaw will continue to improve as a leading special-teams player and the Bears have an embarrassment of riches in the return game with Devin Hester, Johnny Knox and Danieal Manning. The team always attempts to stock the roster with linebackers and defensive backs that can be contributors on special teams and figures to do so again in the April draft.
Here is how the playing time broke down (out of a total of 450 special-teams snaps):
Corey Graham 373
Jamar Williams 319
Tim Shaw 295
Kellen Davis 280
Israel Idonije 273
Darrell McClover 261
Rashied Davis 257
Adrian Peterson 255
Nick Roach 228
Josh Bullocks 177
Craig Steltz 159
Danieal Manning 146
Pat Mannelly 142
Brad Maynard 142
Robbie Gould 136
Zack Bowman 114
Garrett Wolfe 88
Nathan Vasher 85
Hunter Hillenmeyer 80
Kevin Payne 76
Marcus Harrison 75
Alex Brown 71
Charles Tillman 71
Roberto Garza 63
Devin Hester 63
Kevin Shaffer 63
Chris Williams 63
Al Afalava 62
Frank Omiyale 62
Johnny Knox 61
Gaines Adams 45
Kahlil Bell 45
Devin Aromashodu 42
Orlando Pace 42
Desmond Clark 41
Greg Olsen 35
Anthony Adams 34
Earl Bennett 30
D.J. Moore 25
Josh Beekman 22
Woodney Turenne 13
Jarron Gilbert 12
Cato June 11
Trumaine McBride 9
Pisa Tinoisamoa 8
Mark Anderson 7
Juaquin Iglesias 6
Brian Urlacher 3
Lance Briggs 1
Tommie Harris 1
Adewale Ogunleye 1
By dropping weight for this past season, defensive tackle Israel Idonije became more involved for Toub. Idonije was involved in 63 percent of the special-teams plays in 2007. When he bulked up for a move inside in 2008, that figure fell to 50 percent. He was at 60.6 percent last season while also getting 30.9 percent of the action on defense. Idonije is considered a key contributor on special teams. Another big body that stepped up was tight end Kellen Davis, who went from 223 snaps the previous year to 280 to rank fourth. Davis has carved out a niche for himself there and it will be interesting to see what kind of role the team has for new tight end Brandon Manumaleuna on special teams.
The Bears ranked sixth in the league in the composite ranking system used by Rick Gosselin of the Dallas Morning News. The Bears were eighth in 2008 and No. 1 in 2007 and 2006. It marks the fifth top-10 finish under Toub.
The belief is that Shaw will continue to improve as a leading special-teams player and the Bears have an embarrassment of riches in the return game with Devin Hester, Johnny Knox and Danieal Manning. The team always attempts to stock the roster with linebackers and defensive backs that can be contributors on special teams and figures to do so again in the April draft.
Here is how the playing time broke down (out of a total of 450 special-teams snaps):
Corey Graham 373
Jamar Williams 319
Tim Shaw 295
Kellen Davis 280
Israel Idonije 273
Darrell McClover 261
Rashied Davis 257
Adrian Peterson 255
Nick Roach 228
Josh Bullocks 177
Craig Steltz 159
Danieal Manning 146
Pat Mannelly 142
Brad Maynard 142
Robbie Gould 136
Zack Bowman 114
Garrett Wolfe 88
Nathan Vasher 85
Hunter Hillenmeyer 80
Kevin Payne 76
Marcus Harrison 75
Alex Brown 71
Charles Tillman 71
Roberto Garza 63
Devin Hester 63
Kevin Shaffer 63
Chris Williams 63
Al Afalava 62
Frank Omiyale 62
Johnny Knox 61
Gaines Adams 45
Kahlil Bell 45
Devin Aromashodu 42
Orlando Pace 42
Desmond Clark 41
Greg Olsen 35
Anthony Adams 34
Earl Bennett 30
D.J. Moore 25
Josh Beekman 22
Woodney Turenne 13
Jarron Gilbert 12
Cato June 11
Trumaine McBride 9
Pisa Tinoisamoa 8
Mark Anderson 7
Juaquin Iglesias 6
Brian Urlacher 3
Lance Briggs 1
Tommie Harris 1
Adewale Ogunleye 1
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Simple solutions: Replace McClover with Malast, and use Hillenmeyer, Roach, and Williams to replace Peterson and Wolfe.
I agree with Creighton in that Manumaleuna won't see much time on special teams outside of field goals.
Shaw is going to be a beast, and should be given a chance to be the backup on the strong side. I can't remember if he was a middle at Penn State, but if he was, then I would also let him get time there in the offseason and preseason. If we do not bring back Tinoisamoa, Hillenmeyer will likely be in the mix on the strong side, considering Roach and Williams are both prone to injury, so we will need another backup to Urlacher, and the kid is a fireball.
I like the idea of letting Pisa walk, and going into next season with Urlacher, Briggs, Hillenmeyer, Roach, Williams, Shaw, and Malast as our group of 7. Shaw and Malast will anchor the special teams, and serve as depth if needed
Bell, McKie (or Ta'ufo'ou), and Kellen Davis will all take a part in replacing Peterson. An outside possibility in this regard is Iglesias, who has the size and speed to contribute on coverage teams.
Shocking, they got better without the 25 lb Garrett Wolfe in the line up
Coach Toub is the ONLY Bears coach with true job security. He is the only proven winner on this coaching staff during the whole Smith era, Year in and Year out he is in the top 10 usually top 5 more times then not. If lovie sucks Toub will stay under new head coach.
Brad not sure if Brandon Manumaleuna will see much time on special teams sense he will be the starting TE.