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Positional Analysis: WR
Sure Things
None
Question Marks
Cam Meredith [RFA]
The only guy that I consider to be talented in the WR core we just have to hope that he is healthy and ready to pick up where he left off in 2016. My hope is that he would handle about 70 targets in 2018.
Kevin White
He will be on IR at some point and the Bears save no money by cutting him. Nothing really to talk about here, he clearly physically cannot hold up at the NFL level.
Free Agents
Kendall Wright
Has a connection with Trubisky so I would explore bringing him back on a reasonable deal to be the 3 or 4. If he wants more targets he may choose to chase those to another team, but worth the conversation.
Dontrelle Inman
Not sure he fits the offense and he disappeared and had a bunch of drops after an encouraging start to his Bears tenure. I am not sure I would re-sign him unless it was on a very favorable terms.
Josh Bellamy
I know he is fast, but he sucks, is a loud mouth, and isn't even that impactful on special times. It is time for Foxy's BFF to take a walk.
Cuts
Markus Wheaton
Hot garbage and should be cut as soon as humanly possible.
Personnel Preferences [Nagy/Reid or Fangio]
These are my observations based on watching the Chiefs and looking at the history of personnel decisions since Nagy and Reid have worked together. There are some strong preferences in this position.
-Speed: not only to stretch the field, but also to take short passes and make big plays. The Chiefs led the league in short passes, but their WRs averaged 15 YPC, 15 YPC and 13 YPC. The short passes are not staying short.
-They spread the targets around: Hill 105, Wilson 62, Conley/Robinson 59. No one gets more than 45% of the targets in the offense.
-Vertical at all 3 spots: all 3 Chiefs WRs go vertical throughout the game, which keeps the defense guessing and forces a safety or sometimes 2 deep to account for all of the vertical routes from different spots on the field.
-Run blocking is less of a priority: they are running so much run pass option that on many run plays the WR are not even blocking they are running routes on the backside of the formation.
-Philadelphia-Heavy Investment, Kansas City-Value Picks: I am not sure there is much to read into this. In Philly they spent a 1st [Maclin] and a 2nd [Jackson] at the WR position. In Kansas City they spent big [Maclin] and then hit on 5th round [Hill], Conley [3rd] and Wilson [UDFA].
Personnel Thoughts
-I would be shocked if the Bears went WR at the 8th pick despite the need. Lots of risk and no WR jumps off at you like a top 10 pick. My personnel favorite is Ridley, but 8 seems rich.
-This position has been Pace's white whale. He ditched Marshall and Jeffery told him to pound sand and he has not been able to replace them. Royal and White have been huge investments and total trainwrecks. Wright and Inman are solid pros, but neither is more than a 3 or 4.
-I expect them to rely on Meredith to fill one spot. I know that it is a risk with the ACL, but they love Meredith, he produced in 2016, and the ACL happened so early that he should be running during the offseason program.
-I expect them to add at least one starting calibre veteran WR and at least 1 draft pick.
2018 WR Core
540 passes thrown by the Chiefs so using that as a ROUGH NUMBER.
WR-233 targets
TE-157 targets
RB-105 Tragets
1. FA- 70 Targets
2. Meredith-70 Targets
3. Draft Pick-60 targets
4-6. Misc-33
Sure Things
None
Question Marks
Cam Meredith [RFA]
The only guy that I consider to be talented in the WR core we just have to hope that he is healthy and ready to pick up where he left off in 2016. My hope is that he would handle about 70 targets in 2018.
Kevin White
He will be on IR at some point and the Bears save no money by cutting him. Nothing really to talk about here, he clearly physically cannot hold up at the NFL level.
Free Agents
Kendall Wright
Has a connection with Trubisky so I would explore bringing him back on a reasonable deal to be the 3 or 4. If he wants more targets he may choose to chase those to another team, but worth the conversation.
Dontrelle Inman
Not sure he fits the offense and he disappeared and had a bunch of drops after an encouraging start to his Bears tenure. I am not sure I would re-sign him unless it was on a very favorable terms.
Josh Bellamy
I know he is fast, but he sucks, is a loud mouth, and isn't even that impactful on special times. It is time for Foxy's BFF to take a walk.
Cuts
Markus Wheaton
Hot garbage and should be cut as soon as humanly possible.
Personnel Preferences [Nagy/Reid or Fangio]
These are my observations based on watching the Chiefs and looking at the history of personnel decisions since Nagy and Reid have worked together. There are some strong preferences in this position.
-Speed: not only to stretch the field, but also to take short passes and make big plays. The Chiefs led the league in short passes, but their WRs averaged 15 YPC, 15 YPC and 13 YPC. The short passes are not staying short.
-They spread the targets around: Hill 105, Wilson 62, Conley/Robinson 59. No one gets more than 45% of the targets in the offense.
-Vertical at all 3 spots: all 3 Chiefs WRs go vertical throughout the game, which keeps the defense guessing and forces a safety or sometimes 2 deep to account for all of the vertical routes from different spots on the field.
-Run blocking is less of a priority: they are running so much run pass option that on many run plays the WR are not even blocking they are running routes on the backside of the formation.
-Philadelphia-Heavy Investment, Kansas City-Value Picks: I am not sure there is much to read into this. In Philly they spent a 1st [Maclin] and a 2nd [Jackson] at the WR position. In Kansas City they spent big [Maclin] and then hit on 5th round [Hill], Conley [3rd] and Wilson [UDFA].
Personnel Thoughts
-I would be shocked if the Bears went WR at the 8th pick despite the need. Lots of risk and no WR jumps off at you like a top 10 pick. My personnel favorite is Ridley, but 8 seems rich.
-This position has been Pace's white whale. He ditched Marshall and Jeffery told him to pound sand and he has not been able to replace them. Royal and White have been huge investments and total trainwrecks. Wright and Inman are solid pros, but neither is more than a 3 or 4.
-I expect them to rely on Meredith to fill one spot. I know that it is a risk with the ACL, but they love Meredith, he produced in 2016, and the ACL happened so early that he should be running during the offseason program.
-I expect them to add at least one starting calibre veteran WR and at least 1 draft pick.
2018 WR Core
540 passes thrown by the Chiefs so using that as a ROUGH NUMBER.
WR-233 targets
TE-157 targets
RB-105 Tragets
1. FA- 70 Targets
2. Meredith-70 Targets
3. Draft Pick-60 targets
4-6. Misc-33
