The much-maligned fourth-round selection by the Bears has already found a way to shoot up the Bears' depth chart during the OTA period. With Edwards out with an undisclosed soft-tissue injury, Hyppolite had the opportunity to play with the other starters on defense, and his speed is something that has stuck out to everyone on the Bears coaching staff, particularly defensive coordinator Dennis Allen:
''The No. 1 thing is, he can run,'' Allen said. ''The things that we're going to have to ask our 'backers to have to do, they've got to be able to match up with tight ends, with running backs at times. They've got to be able to match up with wide receivers. Sometimes that's carrying things vertical down the field."
''We're looking for guys that can run, then we're looking for guys that have a physical mentality, physical demeanor. I felt like he exhibited those things on tape.''
That certainly showed up in the box scores as well, with Hyppolite breaking out in his final year with the Maryland Terrapins, going for 66 tackles, seven tackles for loss, two passes defended, and an interception. Just watching some of his best moments in college, you can see he is decisive, and once he makes that decision, he can turn on the gas and make plays in a hurry.
It's not only his play on the field that has been better than what others around the league thought it could be, as he seemingly has his off-the-field affairs in order and has had the right mindset from the word go.
"He's got his life together off the field, which is going to allow him to be able to focus on the field with the football," said Allen. ''There's not going to be a lot of outside distractions with this guy, and I think that's a positive. I think he's going to be a guy that's going to learn how to be a pro really quickly because of that maturity level.''
''His mindset coming to the building, especially being a rookie, is where it needs to be,'' Tremaine Edmunds said.
We'll see how long Edwards remains out with the soft tissue issue, but I expect to see a fair clip of Hyppolite snaps in rotation with the top two backers this season.