The Chicago Bears continue to remodel their defense, and they moved in the right direction with the signing of Danny Trevathan from the Denver Broncos.
Chicago had solid production out of its outside linebackers last season with both Pernell McPhee and Willie Young earning strong grades and combining for 114 total pressures. The Bears also saw a lot of promise out of rookie Eddie Goldman on the D-line, but the problem spots were at inside linebacker, where Christian Jones and Shea McClellin were both poor, especially against the run.
For McClellin, this may be the end of his road, but Trevathan should step right into a starting spot and immediately upgrade the position.
In Denver, Trevathan was one of the league's better coverage linebackers but graded well in every facet PFF measures in 2015. He allowed 70.2 percent of passes into his coverage to be complete, which was 12th-best among all standup linebackers, one spot ahead of Luke Kuechly.
In the two seasons in which he played significant snaps, he earned a strong grade from PFF across all areas of the game, but that doesn't mean that he is yet an elite player.
Though his completion percentage was comparable to Kuechly, his grade in coverage was not, nor was the passer rating each player gave up. Kuechly allowed a passer rating of 57.8 into his coverage while Trevathan yielded a rating of 86.0 when targeted. Obviously, Kuechly is the best coverage linebacker in football, but Trevathan was exposed a little during the playoff run against some of the league's tougher covers such as Rob Gronkowski.
Every number PFF has on Trevathan says he is a high-level linebacker, but not quite among the very best in the league. He does unquestionably upgrade a Chicago defense that is looking to remove the weak links from the chain and get better across the board.
There is no doubt Trevathan does that immediately, and may still have room to develop and become that All-Pro-caliber player.