Return of the Coverage Ace

Originally posted on FanNation Bear Digest
By Gene Chamberlain | Last updated 3/19/22

There are two aspects to free agency and until Saturday Bears GM Ryan Poles had addressed only one of those.

They had been signing free agents from other teams.

On Saturday he got busy with the process of retaining the players from the Bears they want back, and not surprisingly it started with someone everyone from opponents to teammates and former coaches lauded last year.

DeAndre Houston-Carson will be a Bear again.

According to a report by the Tribune's Brad Biggs, Houston-Carson will return on a one-year, $1.77 million deal, guaranteed in full, for his seventh Bearsseason.

Houston-Carson until last year had been largely a special teams performer, a player who learned well from former teammate Sherrick McManis.

Then he got more opportunitiesto play defense last year and made the most of them. He finished the year on injured reserve with a broken arm but playedin 13 games, with three starts and had an interception, two fumble recoveries, four pass breakups and 51 tackles.

Houston-Carson won high praise from coaches and teammates for his hustle to catch Deebo Samuel from behind on an 83-yard screen pass in the 33-22 loss to San Francisco. The 49ers scored on the drive, anyway, but Houston-Carson made them work for it after Samuel took a wide-receiver screen almost untouched to the Bears 1.

Houston-Carson had begun to give notice he might be more than a special teams guy in 2020 when he made an interception and had a pass defense on the incompletion when Tom Brady forgot what down it was against the Bears in a 20-19 loss to the Monsters of the Midway at Soldier Field.

Houston-Carson had a special teams touchdown return last year after he recovered a fumbled punt against the Steelers. He has made 36 special teams tackles with two fumble recoveries and two forced fumbles.

The Bears had already seen a few of their reserves sign on with other teams, although it's likely none of them were players they wanted to bring back to Chicago.

Former GM Ryan Pace is in Atlanta now and the Falcons signed former Bears backup tackle/guard Elijah Wilkinson, safety Teez Tabor and running back Damien Williams.

The Bears did not extend a qualifying tender to restricted free agent guard/tackle Alex Bars and he signed with the Las Vegas Raiders.

This article first appeared on Bear Digest and was syndicated with permission.

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