Pressed to name a few pieces he inherited that might be a natural fit in his 3-4 defense Saturday, Vic Fangio rattled off cornerback Kyle Fuller, linebacker Christian Jones, nose tackle Jeremiah Ratliff — and, yes, Shea McClellin.
The team is moving him to inside linebacker, his third different position in three years.
“He’s got good size,” defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said. “He’s got good athletic ability, I think. He has been hindered, I think, by being moved around. To no fault of anybody, just the way it goes. I think he’s got a chance to be a good inside linebacker.
“We’re going to give him a full opportunity and full chance to learn the position so we can evaluate him and see if that’s a good spot for him.”
The Bears want to teach McClellin the inside spot first, because they think it’s more difficult to learn than outside linebacker. McClellin played outside in a 4-3 last season.
“You know, when he came out of college he was a versatile guy, he played a lot of different positions and maybe now it’s time to lock him down into hopefully an inside linebacker spot,” Fangio said. “But if it doesn’t work out, maybe we move him back out, but I want to see him at inside linebacker for awhile.”
