Elijah
Hicks.
Elijah
Hicks.
California
"A four-year Cal cornerback who moved to safety as a senior, made first-team All-Pac-12, and turned the 254th pick into four straight seasons and 61 games with the Bears as a special teams fixture."Pre-draft read
A 5-10 7/8, 198-pound defensive back who played four seasons at corner before moving to safety as a senior, and the corner background is the whole story of how he plays. He is comfortable in coverage, tracks the ball naturally and has the footwork of a player who spent years mirroring receivers rather than reading run keys.
What he became at safety is a downhill force defender. He attacks the line of scrimmage, finishes tackles and hunts the football, forcing four fumbles in his final college season. His limits are length and top-end speed: 30 1/2-inch arms are short for the position and he lacks the range to cover the deep half by himself. He projects as a box and nickel defender whose real professional value starts on special teams.
A two-high defense that uses a physical strong safety near the line of scrimmage and rotates coverage responsibility rather than asking him to cover grass alone.
Year 1: core special teamer and fifth defensive back. Ceiling: a starting strong safety in a split-safety structure.
A single-high scheme that parks him as the deep middle defender, where his lack of range turns every crossing route into a footrace he loses.
Every good NFL rep of his has come within 12 yards of the line of scrimmage.
Elijah Hicks highlights 2021
His first-team All-Pac-12 senior season after moving to safety.
Elijah Hicks, Cal freshman highlights
The cornerback tape from his first season in Berkeley.
Elijah Hicks highlights, Chicago Bears
What the 254th pick has actually looked like in the NFL.
Hicks was born in Long Beach, California and starred at La Mirada High School, leading the Matadores to back-to-back Suburban League titles. As a junior he went 13-3 with a CIF Southern Section Southeast Division championship and a CIF State Division III-AA crown; as a senior he went 11-3 with a runner-up finish in Division 3 and a team-high five interceptions, earning All-CIF honors in each of his last two years.
A three-star recruit, he started early at California. As a true freshman corner in 2017 he had 38 tackles and three pass breakups in 12 games, then added 31 tackles with an interception returned 34 yards for a touchdown in 2018 and 44 tackles with five breakups and two sacks in 2019. A shortened 2020 limited him to four games and 28 tackles.
Cal moved him to safety for 2021 and he was outstanding: 72 tackles, three interceptions, four forced fumbles and a sack across 12 games, earning first-team All-Pac-12. He left Berkeley with 213 career tackles, 15 tackles for loss, five interceptions and six forced fumbles in 54 games. The scouting file was a five-year Power Five starter with real ball production, short arms, ordinary range and a body type that fit the box rather than the deep middle.
- 01
Ball production
five career interceptions, 14 pass breakups and six forced fumbles, including four forced fumbles as a senior.
- 02
Coverage background
four seasons at cornerback before moving to safety, so he can carry a slot receiver rather than passing him off.
- 03
Open-field tackling
213 career tackles and a senior season of 72 stops, with reliable form against runners in space.
- 04
Experience and durability
54 college games and five seasons of starting in the Pac-12 against pro-caliber receivers.
- 05
Special teams projection
a physical, willing cover player whose frame and speed fit the fourth-down units immediately.
- 01
Arm length
30 1/2-inch arms are short for a safety, costing him contested-catch reps he otherwise gets into position for.
- 02
Deep range
he is not fast enough to play the single-high middle, which sharply caps how a defense can deploy him.
- 03
Position tweener
too short for outside corner, too limited in range for free safety, so he needs a nickel or box role.
- 04
Late move to safety
only one full season of playing the position, leaving his run fits and angles still developing.
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | California | 12 | 38 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| 2018 | California | 13 | 31 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 2019 | California | 13 | 44 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 2020 | California | 4 | 28 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 2021 | California | 12 | 72 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 |
| Career | — | 54 | 213 | 3 | 5 | 14 | 6 |
Season totals sum exactly to the published career line of 213 tackles, 15 tackles for loss, five interceptions and six forced fumbles. cfbstats lists 5.5 tackles for loss in 2021 against Sports-Reference's 6.0; the Sports-Reference figures are used throughout so the seasons reconcile with the career total. Starts are not published by season.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
A Bears defensive back whose value was special teams first, spot starting second.
A big-nickel defender who turned special teams reps into a real starting role.
A converted corner whose NFL career never moved beyond fourth-down units.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Hicks has quietly become one of the more durable seventh-round picks in this class. Chicago took him 254th overall and he played 15 games with two starts as a rookie, almost entirely on special teams, adding 28 tackles and a forced fumble. He appeared in all 17 games in 2023 with six starts and 35 tackles. His best year came in 2024: 40 tackles in 12 games with seven starts, plus two pass breakups and two fumble recoveries for 28 return yards. In 2025 he played all 17 games with no starts and 19 tackles, then appeared in both of Chicago's playoff games. Through four seasons he has 61 games, 15 starts, 122 tackles, three pass breakups, three fumble recoveries and a forced fumble.
The career has the shape scouts predicted. He is not a starting safety and the Bears have never treated him as one, but he is a reliable special teams contributor with enough coverage background to survive when the defense needs a fifth or sixth defensive back. Chicago valued that enough to re-sign him on March 12, 2026 to a one-year, $2.6 million contract. Four seasons with the team that drafted him at 254 is a win for both sides.