Cal Football: Top 10 most valuable Bears in 2009 - No. 6

June 15, 12:48 AMCal Bears ExaminerRob Calonge

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Thompson is an MVP, but depth knocks him down the MVB list.

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It's Monday again, and that means it's time to get back to the grind.  I hope everyone had a great weekend.  It's time for me to put down my XBOX 360 controller and get back to the task at hand - No. 6 on my list of MVB's, (Most Valuable Bears), for 2009.

Let's begin with a recap of the last four in.  At No. 10, Bryan Anger started the list off.  Our next candidate, coming in at No. 9, is Marvin Jones (or whoever lines up as the speed receiver).  After a special teams player and an offensive player, Tyson Alualu became the first defensive player named at No. 8.  On Friday, we went back to special teams and named the kicker, Giorgio Tavecchio or David Seawright, at No. 7.

While every player that has been listed is a good player, this list doesn't necessarily rate how good players are.  These players are either irreplaceable or need to have good seasons in order for the Bears to be amongst the best at the end of the year.  I think that it should be obvious that every player on the team is important when they are on the field, whether it be in practice or on game day.  So with that said, let's move on to No. 6 - Syd'Quan Thompson.

I didn't select Thompson based on his punt-return abilities, but you could easily place him on this list by that alone.  Thompson is so good, that you could make a case for him being higher on this list.

Of all the cornerbacks to come through the program in the last twenty years, he might be the best cover corner that Bear Backers have seen.  For those of you that are not sure of what I speak, a cover corner has to have the speed, agility, and awareness to go toe-to-toe with the best receivers without allowing receptions - especially the catches that turn into big plays.

Even though Cal doesn't play a pure man-to-man defense, Thompson allows Coach Gregory the flexibility to leave him on an island in blitz situations.  Thompson's ability to cover his man helped the Bears to a sixth-ranked pass efficiency defense in 2008.

Normally, a player with the talent to cover in man situations isn't as astute when playing in a zone.  Thompson isn't one of those guys.  Some of his better plays on the season came while he was sitting in the zone and watching the quarterback's eyes.  Thompson was so good last year that teams avoided throwing to his side when they could.  Thompson wasn't perfect all season long, but there were times last season that he performed to perfection.

With such a glowing review, you'd think that I would rank him higher.  I would have, but the Bears have so many secondary players who performed at a high level last season, I had to knock him down a few spots.  Let me reiterate that there is nobody in the Pac-10 as good as Thompson, but there are some players on Cal's football team that could get the job done if he were unavailable.

On this list, Thompson has the misfortune of having players like Bryant Nnabuife, Chris Conte, and Darian Hagan as teammates.  There's also talk that Conte could steal the starting job from Hagan.  That kind of talk, about a solid player losing his starting role, is an indicator of the talent level at the position.

Had I factored in his punt-return abilities, he may have gone up on this list.  Why didn't I do that?  Jeff Tedford has been so good at finding guys that can return punts and kicks, it's more than probable that Cal has a good player lined up for that role also.  There's only so much speculation that you can do, and speculating a special teams backup was not something I was willing, (or probably able), to do.

With five players in the books, I've listed two special teams and two defensive players, while only ranking one player from the offensive side of the ball.  Check back tomorrow for No. 5.