New starting LB in Chicago?

by #23 on May 16, 2008 4:38 PM CDT

The question has been posed here why hasn't Jamar Williams taken over for Hunter Hillenmeyer if Jamar is so good. Well this you may get a chance to see that. I'm speculating on some clever wording by Head Coach Lovie Smith in his recent interview on chicagobears.com.

Do you see promising young linebackers Jamar Williams and Michael Okwo challenging Hunter Hillenmeyer for the starting strongside position in training camp?

Joe
Chicago

We’re very pleased with Hunter. He’s a veteran who’s been around here, going through all the offseason workouts and looking good doing it. But in the same sense, Jamar Williams and Michael Okwo are good players. They have a lot of talent. They’ve made a lot of progress. I don’t think Michael has missed a day the entire offseason and Jamar has been here just about the entire time too. I like all three of the players, but we’re not disappointed in Hunter at all. I’m still going to say that we’re starting over. We haven’t handed out any positions. Everyone who plans on starting is going to have to earn it, and if you have competition you’re going to have to beat out the competition

I think we will all be excited as well this year to see Okwo play, and we all appreciate Hunter, but I think we will fall in love with the play making abilities of Jamar. The guy has great instincts and has a knack of being around the ball all the time.Could there be a new LB starting in Chicago?

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To beat out Hillenmeyer

these guys will have to be able to effectively defend against mostly pass-catchers, as this seems to be the way they use the strong-side LB. Briggs is a sure tackler and defends the run well, I thought this is where they liked Williams as well, which is why he didnt beat out Hillenmeyer last year. From Okwo’s draft profile he seemed like a Mike Singletary clone best suited for MLB, but he’s probably versatile enough to challenge Hillenmeyer. With HH’s vast experience advantage of reading NFL defenses, I think he will remain a starter.

by gillrowdy on May 16, 2008 9:12 PM CDT reply actions

i agree

But im not A double H fan….we need a faster outside LB who can run down people like AP and Grant.

by SuperBowlXX on May 17, 2008 7:23 AM CDT up reply actions

Interesting...

... the different wording for this and the Benson question. They’re different situations, so that’s the probably the explanation…. still similar, though, so it was interesting. In my opinion.

by tyger1147 on May 18, 2008 4:36 PM CDT reply actions