Thread: Safety first

Safety first

Mixed reviews on Conte, but Bears see strong upside


By Brad Biggs, Tribune reporter 6:02 p.m. CDT, May 7, 2011




Clancy Pendergast, in his third day on the job as the California defensive coordinator last offseason, was walking through the weight room when he saw a player he didn't recognize.

It was Chris Conte, the Bears' third-round pick, who was a role player entering his senior year.

"I said, 'Who is that guy?'" Pendergast recalled. "They told me he had played corner most of his career but hadn't played too much.

"He looked like a prototypical NFL safety to me."


Pendergast moved to the college ranks after 15 seasons in the NFL where he was a defensive coordinator and worked with Pro Bowl safeties Adrian Wilson, Antrel Rolle, Darren Woodson and Roy Williams. Conte made the position change and took to his coaching quickly. The transition went smoothly as he was named to the All-Pac 10 first team.

"There's not a guy in the room I coached harder than Chris," Pendergast said. "And that's because of the potential I saw in him."

There was a wide range of opinions about 6-foot-2, 197-pound Conte on draft weekend. One scouting director in another city said he was the top safety on his team's board. A veteran scout for another club mocked the selection, the seventh safety the Bears have drafted in seven years. The disparity is likely due to the fact Conte was one-year starter at safety and a relative unknown. A mixup that prevented him from playing in a college All-Star game kept him under the radar for West Coast scout Marty Barrett.

The Bears view Conte as a future starter and perhaps more importantly they consider him a free safety. It's the position where they have been trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. While Conte's arrival probably doesn't impact veteran Chris Harris immediately — he's signed through 2011 — it might affect his bid for a contract extension and it could spell the end of the line for Danieal Manning, who will be a free agent of some type when the lockout is resolved.

There is upside to Conte because he's still developing at the position. He's a strong open-field tackler and has fluid hips, good range and ball skills.

"I can come in and compete right away and I am only going to get better," he said. "At worst, I am going to play every special teams (phase). I am going to come in the first day and be able to contribute in some way and that's all I want to do."

Conte comes from a family accustomed to playing roles. His grandfather Richard Conte had a career spanning four decades in show business. He starred in "Godfather" as Don Barzini after being considered for the title role that went to Marlon Brando. He had a prominent role in "Call Northside 777," the 1948 film starring James Stewart that was the first Hollywood picture shot on location in Chicago. He was in the original "Ocean's Eleven" and was a close friend of Frank Sinatra.

"I guess I'm not cute enough for the business," Conte joked. "It never interested me. My dad (Mark) is a film editor and I'd go into his work to see him in a dark room on the computer all day. I was like, 'Why would you want to do this?' I want to be outside, being physical, competing."

His older brother Kevin briefly considered a writing career, and Mark never pushed his sons to follow his path.

"He has been on this single track since he was 5 years old," Mark Conte said. "I have to hand it to him."

Now, Conte needs to succeed where picks before him like Al Afalava, Craig Steltz, Kevin Payne and others have come up short. Ultimately, the Bears could look to pair him with Major Wright, who played both safety positions as a rookie third-round pick last season.

"Hopefully I will be here for a long time and we won't be drafting any more safeties," Conte said.

bmbiggs@tribune.com