The Chicago Bears are no strangers when it comes to taking chances on injury-riddled late-round draft selections. Last year the team took a shot on Alabama's Eddie Jackson in the fourth round of the draft after he missed a big chunk of his final season with a broken leg. The young safety turned in a fine rookie season for the Bears last year, giving the fan base hope Chicago can get production out of sixth-round pick Kylie Fitts in 2018.
Coming out of high school as part of the Class of 2013 at Redlands East Valley High School in Redlands, California, Fitts was viewed as a four-star recruit by 247Sports with a 0.9587 composite score. He fielded a total of 21 offers from the likes of USC, Arizona, Arizona State, Arkansas, Boise State, Georgia, Oregon, Ole Miss, Oklahoma and Oregon State before he made visits to Utah, Notre Dame and UCLA. After deliberating he opted to commit to UCLA and enrolled that July.
As a freshman at UCLA he appeared in six games, primarily on special teams. After that year he transferred to Utah and was forced to sit out the 2014 season due to NCAA transfer rules. In 2015 he appeared in all 13 games for the Utes and made a total of 11 starts. He led the entire Pac-12 with four forced fumbles and finished the year 40 tackles, seven tackles for loss and seven sacks.
Expectations were high for him in 2016 before injuries limited his season. He appeared in the first two games with one start before he suffered a season-ending foot injury. He ended that season with just four tackles, three tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. This past season he saw action in eight games and made 23 tackles with three sacks while struggling with a variety of injuries.
Despite those injuries, Fitts feels they were more bad timing than the indication of long-term struggles with them, telling teams he does not see it as a long-term issue.
"I just kind of explained to them that there are no serious or lingering injuries that prevented me from playing and playing to my potential," he said in a conference call after he was selected, via the Bears media relations department. " I just kind of explained to them that I think it was a run of bad luck and I think I got it all out of the way and 100 percent healthy now and I’m ready to go."
Fitts is rawer at the position than Jackson was at safety coming out of Alabama, but the young pass-rusher knows he has the right tools in his arsenal.
"I feel like my speed," he said when asked about his greatest strengths. "At the combine, at 265 (pounds), I was right at 4.69 (in the 40-yard dash) and I had one of the fastest shuttles and three-cones. I feel like my speed is an advantage for me and I feel like I can bend the corner really well. I feel like I have a lot of power, I put up 225 (pounds on the bench press) 31 times. I feel like I have a lot of strength and power that I can use speed to power."
His 40-yard dash time was ninth among all edge rushers, while his bench press was the most by four reps, his 20-yard shuttle (4.19 seconds) was tied for the fastest with Boston College's Harold Landry (who went in the second round to the Titans) and his 60-yard shuttle (11.82 seconds) was fourth among all edge rushers. There is some concern about his ability to set the edge, meaning he could begin his career as a situational pass-rusher, but he feels he can surprise some people against the run.
"I feel like I can rush the passer but I can also play against the run very well," he said. "At my weight right now, I’m about 260. I feel like against the run, if I had a tight end lined up over me – which they did a lot in the PAC-12 – double-teaming me … if you look at all the tape, I dominated the tight end and the tackle taking on double teams so I feel like the run is definitely a strength for me."
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It took Jackson just a handful of practices to assert himself as a starter last offseason. It is unlikely that will be the case for Fitts early on his career, but it would not come as a surprise to see him take on a much bigger role by seasons end after getting time to work with defensive coordinator Vic Fangio and outside linebackers coach Brandon Staley.