One of the most impactful draft picks Ryan Poles made in his first year as Chicago Bears general manager was choosing safety Jaquan Brisker in the second round of the 2022 draft.
Poles waited until the seventh round to select a safety this year, drafting Stanford’s Kendall Williamson with the 258th pick, citing his speed and range.
While the Bears plugged in Brisker immediately, they shouldn’t need to force Williamson onto the field with veteran Eddie Jackson still in place. But the Bears need to plan for the future and create a depth chart, and Williamson’s traits make him a potential core special teams performer for coordinator Richard Hightower.
Over the last two seasons, Williamson totaled 117 tackles, six tackles for a loss, one sack, one interception, nine passes defended and two forced fumbles.
Lars Anderson, Stanford’s defensive coordinator during Williamson’s five years at the school, spoke to the Tribune about the safety’s development and prospects for a professional career. Here’s that interview, edited for clarity.
Note: This is part of a series of conversations with the college position coaches of this year’s Bears draft picks.
From your perspective as the coordinator, how did you see Kendall develop in his five seasons?
Durable and very versatile player. He played almost every position in the secondary. Came in as a corner and we started him there. Then he moved over to nickel and played a lot there. We moved him to safety. Really versatile guy. He’s got a great skill set too. He’s very athletic. He runs well. Good coverage ability. He’s a willing tackler. He doesn’t shy away from contact.
I know at times he could have been a better tackler. I read some of the evaluations where maybe that was a little knock on him, but he’s a very willing tackler and that is something he will get better at as he gets work in practice and more work on some of the fundamentals. He turned into a really good football player for us.
With a good deal of time at cornerback, will that make him a safety who is good in coverage?
He definitely can match up in the secondary. His work at corner, his work at nickel, he’s shown that he has a lot of coverage ability. He runs well. He’s got good speed. We would put one of our safeties in the middle of the field and we would rotate a guy down to cover as well, play a lot of man coverage, and Kendall did a good job with that. If safety ends up being where he plays, he’s definitely a guy who has some coverage ability also.
Did you talk to any scouts in the pre-draft process and what did they want to know?
I talked to some scouts. I don’t believe I talked to anyone from the Bears. It seems like that is how it works out. A lot of people asked about what I thought his best position in the secondary would be, and people did ask about his tackling — that is why I referenced that earlier. I was surprised the tackling came up as much as it did because just thinking back, I don’t really think of Kendall as a liability in terms of tackling. Willing tackler, like I said, and I like his versatility. Personally, I think safety might be his best spot, but he’s got some flexibility there.
Because he started so much, did he play much on special teams?
We did use him on special teams because he has a real desire to do that. Now, our special teams coordinator didn’t go overboard there because he knew he was playing a lot of snaps on defense, but Kendall was very willing to play special teams, played well and with his skill set, that is another thing he should be able to bring to the table, the ability to play on almost every special team.
A later-round draft pick, that’s what he has got to be able to do. Whether it’s front line on kickoff return, kickoff cover, punt return, he played some gunner for us. He can probably play some wing. I think he can be a real help on special teams.
He won the Tommy Vardell Award at Stanford. Was his leadership part of that selection?
He has really developed into a leader. Not a real loud, vocal guy. That’s not his personality. But someone who really works hard and puts in the time. It’s amazing how many times you could find Kendall at night in the meeting rooms or come in during the summer and he’s in there watching film or he’s got young guys in there and he’s got them up on the board going through and teaching them the defense. It was impressive.
If you were asked to pick out his best game, does one immediately come to mind?
He played really well as he started out the season last fall. I know it was against Colgate, but he played really well in that game. He had an interception. There were several games early in the season that he played well. Notre Dame game, he had a forced fumble that led to the winning score. Another good game. After that, he got dinged up and had limited practice time, but you could pick any early game and he played well for us. Real solid.
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