Zachary Bowman: The Most Important Bear in Training Camp?

Zachary Bowman; unless you are a Chicago Bears or a Nebraska Cornhusker fan, you probably have never heard of him.

Drafted last year by the Bears in the fifth round, Bowman came in with a lot of upside but a history of being injury prone coming out of college. In fact, he only started a total of nine games for Nebraska.

Both his skill set and tendency to get hurt showed in his one and only game last season. Against the Minnesota Vikings, he picked off a Gus Frerotte pass inside of two minutes left to seal the game, but he also tore his bicep and missed the remainder of the season.

Now fully healed, Bowman has been practicing in camp and getting quality time with the first team.

This is for a number of reasons:

-Peanut Tillman is missing all of training camp and preseason with back surgery.

-Daniel Manning getting the start at free safety as opposed to getting practice time in at nickle corner.

-Corey Graham, who was far and away the best cornerback on the field last year, is trying to make the transition to free safety and is sitting behind Manning.

That removes three players who should be ahead of Bowman on the depth chart. By all account, Bowman has made the most of his opportunity. He has impressed coaches, fellow players, and fans during the first two days.

He broke up a couple passes, picked off Cutler on a deep pass intended for Devin Hester, and also caused Hester to fumble on another play.

If Bowman can stay healthy and continue to develop, it will give the Bears a lot of flexibility at one of their weaker positions. If Tillman can return to form, the Bears would have three quality corners—including Nathan Vasher.

It also means the Bears coaching staff can allow Graham to develop at the free safety spot and eventually move Danieal Manning back to nickle, where he is much better suited. It also gives Al Afalava, a rookie safety out of Oregon St, and D.J. Moore, a cornerback from Vanderbilt, some time to develop and learn the system.

Bowman has shown he has the talent; now we will find out if he is durable enough to showcase those skills for 16 games.