Safety Eddie Jackson couldn't go all out on the field during the Chicago Bears' offseason program. But the former Alabama standout showed the NFL team's coaches enough in other ways to make them feel good about their fourth-round choice in the 2017 draft.

"He's one of those guys you can just talk ball with and he gets it," Bears safeties coach Roy Anderson said. "Or you can show film, and he's actually able to hold a good conversation."

"He's wired right," Chicago coach John Fox said of Jackson. "He understands the game, in the classroom setting, questions and answers, he gets it. He'll get plenty of time in Bourbonnais."

The Bears report for training camp on July 26 at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Illinois, and that's when Jackson will be allowed to turn it loose.

Jackson missed the final seven games of the 2016 season after suffering a broken leg in Alabama's SEC victory over Texas A&M on Oct. 22.

Jackon said his leg feels full healthy again, although the Bears limited what he did during the offseason program, which ended last week.

"Coach says it's like NASCAR: Once you go fast, it's possible I crash into the wall," Jackson told the Chicago Tribune. "So we're just taking it slow, and then training camp is full go."

The Bears swapped fourth-round draft selections with the Los Angeles Rams by sending their sixth-round pick to the Rams to move up five places and choose Jackson at No. 112 on April 29.

The Bears started two second-year players at safety last season -- Harold Jones-Quartey and Adrian Amos. Amos was a fifth-round pick out of Penn State in 2015 while Jones-Quartey went undrafted out of NCAA Division II Findlay.

In March, the Bears signed nine-year veteran Quintin Demps away from the Houston Texans in free agency, and he'll likely be Chicago's free safety in 2017.

Last season, the Bears' pass defense ranked seventh-best in the league based on yards allowed, but Chicago intercepted only eight passes, which was next-to-last in the NFL. The Bears ranked 24th among the NFL's 32 teams in scoring defense in 2016, but Jackson was the only defensive player chosen by Chicago in the 2017 draft.

Jackson intercepted six passes for Alabama's CFP national-championship team in 2015. He picked off one pass last year before being injured and returned it 55 yards for a touchdown. Jackson's 303 interception-return yards are Alabama's career record.

Even if Jackson doesn't crack the starting secondary to open his rookie season, he's expected to handle the punt-return duties for the Bears. In addition to his three interception-return touchdowns of at least 50 yards, Jackson had punt-return TDs of 79 and 85 yards for the Crimson Tide. He was averaging 23 yards per punt return when he suffered his injury last season.

"I have good vision," Jackson said of his punt-return ability. "I'm able to see things and my team, as well. They played a big part in that when I was at Alabama. Setting up blocks, seeing what alley you can take and what not to take, which way to go, when to burst full speed and when to slow it down -- just things like that."

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