Per Pro Football Focus, Chicago Bears safety Eddie Jackson was the highest graded defensive player for the team this past season. He had an overall grade of 93.2. He was the hidden key to their defense last season.

The Bears this past season came into the year with a fairly solid defense. At the time, nobody saw the Bears being a playoff team. They'd still need to make it through the Minnesota Vikings and the Green Bay Packers in their own division to get into the playoffs.

However, that all changed when they were able to acquire Khalik Mack from the Oakland Raiders for pennies on the dollar. This gave them the dynamic defensive playmaker they didn't have in the front seven. His presence combined with the improvement of Leonard Floyd and the run-stopping ability of Akiem Hicks gave the Bears a formidable group of players at the point of attack.

The secondary was good, but not great. Kyle Fuller is great in zone coverage but doesn't perform exceptionally well in man to man. This puts pressure on the safeties. Little did anyone know that Eddie Jackson was evolving into the best free safety since Ed Reed.

The Bears trusted him so much in the backfield that they began running cover one and dropping a safety into the box. Jackson's ability to read the quarterback's eyes and his speed to make plays made him so dangerous.

For the Bears last season, Jackson had six interceptions, 15 pass deflections, and 51 total tackles. The Bears ended up going 12-4 and losing in the wild-card round to the Philadelphia Eagles.