Bears roster preview: After up-and-down rookie season, will Tyrique Stevenson find more consistency in 2024?

As we head toward a new season, Bears Digest is looking at each member of the 53-man roster to recap their 2023-24 season and look ahead to the upcoming campaign. Today, we focus on cornerback Tyrique Stevenson. Check out our past stories on each member of the offense , punter Tory Taylor , kicker Cairo Santos , the defensive linemen , linebackers , safeties and cornerbacks Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon .

The Chicago Bears have invested heavily in their secondary over the past few years. While they’ve already received good play at times, they may be on the verge of really reaping the rewards of those investments.

Jaylon Johnson had a breakout year in 2023 and is now locked in for several years. Kyler Gordon made a nice leap from his rookie to sophomore season and seems poised to take another step this season. Last year’s second-round pick, Tyrique Stevenson, showed great potential in an up-and-down rookie season that could have him on a similar trajectory as Gordon. In fact, he’s already ahead of Gordon in some regards.

Related: Bears roster preview: Breakout season behind him, can Jaylon Johnson establish himself among NFL’s elite?

Related: Bears roster preview: Will Kyler Gordon take his play to the next level in 2024?

Stevenson, 24, received a 60.2 overall grade from Pro Football Focus last season, the 80th-best grade among 127 qualifying cornerbacks. PFF also gave him a 59.1 coverage grade (84th), a 60.6 run defense grade (68th) and a 66.4 tackling grade (35th). While not amazing numbers, there are really good things to take away from Stevenson’s 2023 season.

Among rookie corners, he not only played the most coverage snaps but also racked up the most tackles (67), pass breakups (13) and interceptions (4). On the other hand, he also allowed the most catches (72), yards (836) and touchdowns (9).

Yet, while the negatives don’t reflect kindly on his play, part of that is due to the high volume of targets he saw (110). It's also the most among rookie corners and second-most among all corners. Beyond the surface, his production wasn't nearly as bad.

His 65.5% reception rate allowed was just the 57th-highest among corners who played at least 300 snaps; the 11.6 yards per catch he allowed was 69th-highest; his 10.1% missed tackle rate was 36th-lowest; and his 100.4 passer rating allowed when targeted, while not good, still was only 52nd-highest.

Breaking it down further, Stevenson struggled mightily in man coverage, and even though that only accounted for 17.5% of his snaps, per PFF, it dragged his numbers down. However, in zone coverage, he truly excelled, earning the 26th-best zone grade among corners with 300+ snaps. That’s 11 spots higher than Gordon. In fact, all four of Stevenson’s interceptions came in zone while only two of his touchdowns allowed did, and his reception rate there drops to 62.3%. That’s a great start as a rookie.

Plus, in addition to his great pass breakup and interception totals, he also contributed 20 stops — tackles constituting a “failure” by the offense — tied for the 20th-most by a corner last season, and a forced fumble.

What also offers encouragement is that Stevenson appeared to start figuring things out toward the end of last season. Four of his five highest defensive grades came in his final six games of the season, and over that span, he posted the 16th-highest defensive grade and and 13th-best coverage grade among corners who played at least 200 snaps.

Will that carry into a big season in 2024? We’re about to find out.