NFL Chicago Bears

Chicago Bears Hire Stan Drayton In Underrated Move

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Most likely, you’ve never heard of Stan Drayton. On Thursday, the Chicago Bears announced that he is joining John Fox’s coaching staff as the new running backs coach. It’s an announcement that will largely fly under the radar, but it shouldn’t. Drayton is an excellent coach who will help fortify an already excellent coaching staff.

Drayton has the reputation as a nomadic coach who doesn’t stay at one place very long. There is a strong possibility he will only be with the Bears for a couple seasons, but as a younger coach who is looking for his big break, you can’t blame him.

Drayton’s first major impact came as running backs coach for Villanova’s football team in the late 90s. When he was there he helped develop a little-known running back named Brian Westbrook. That’s the same former All-Pro of the Philadelphia Eagles who gained more than 10,000 yards over the course of his career.

From there, Drayton went to the Green Bay Packers as an assistant coach on the offense. He helped resurrect Brett Favre and the offense after two down seasons and helped develop Ahman Green into one of the best running backs in the league. Shortly thereafter, Urban Meyer scooped him up and brought him in as the running backs coach at Florida. All Drayton did there was help lead the Gators to the national championship.

After a couple more stops, Drayton found himself as the running backs coach and assistant head coach on offense at Ohio State (again under Meyer). During his stop there, Drayton helped develop Carlos Hyde into one of the best backs in Buckeyes’ history, and we all saw what type of impact he’s had developing Ezekiel Elliott after his dominating performance in the national championship.

Now Drayton brings his success to the Bears. He’ll play an integral part working the running game with Matt Forte and developing Ka’Deem Carey. You can also count on offensive coordinator Adam Gase utilizing Drayton in other aspects of the offense.

After years of the Bears’ front office making unimaginative, uninspiring moves, this new regime continues to do nothing but build confidence in the fanbase with fantastic hire after fantastic hire. The Drayton hire won’t come with a lot of media attention, but make no mistake; the Bears just hit another home run.

Bill Zimmerman is a Chicago Bears writer for www.RantSports.Com. Follow him on Twitter, like him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google.

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