Yahoo! Sports' Nate Tice recently published his list of breakout candidates for the 2024 NFL season, and Chicago Bears cornerback Kyler Gordon made the cut.
Gordon, 24, showed promising improvement in his second season last year, finishing with a better PFF grade and overall production than he had as a rookie despite playing more than 200 fewer snaps due to injury. Now entering his third season, he has a chance to explode onto the national scene as one of the most exciting players at his position.
"Gordon was key for a Bears defense that played like a top-10 unit in the back half of the season," Tice wrote. "You can actually track the Bears' statistical improvement to when Gordon was reinserted into the Bears' lineup in Week 6 after an injury. Gordon is another terror in the slot who can impact the game in multiple ways and is a key cog in the Bears' zone-heavy scheme that requires smarts and feel for space. Gordon helps round out what I think is the best cornerback trio in the NFL right now alongside Jaylon Johnson and Tyrique Stevenson."
Kyler Gordon (Spiderman) celebration pic.twitter.com/Up6rj0Fvj6
— ✶ Ⓜ️𝕒𝕣𝕔𝕦𝕤 ▶️ ✶ (@_MarcusD3_) December 31, 2023
Did you catch that last part? The best cornerback trio in the NFL? Yeah, the Chicago Bears defense has a chance to be really good, and the secondary might be the position group that propels the unit into the league's top tier.
"I want to be on point," safety Jaquan Brisker said from training camp this week. "I want to be the No. 1 defense, the No. 1 secondary."
Besides his immense talent, Kyler Gordon also has one of the coolest nicknames in the league: Spider-Man.
Brisker wants to double down on that tag. How about calling the Bears secondary The Avengers?
"It might stick with us. I don't know," he said.
What we do know will be sticky in 2024 is Gordon's coverage. He has a chance to end the 2024 season as the Chicago Bears' top cover guy, which is saying something, considering how widely respected Jaylon Johnson is.
