There is no way to sugarcoat the following statement: The Chicago Bears tight ends were historically bad in 2019.
All three players who started the season with the team, finished on injured reserve (Trey Burton, Adam Shaheen, and Ben Braunecker), with two relatively unknown commodities left to pick up the pieces (J.P. Holtz and Jesper Horsted).
When a group of five tight ends combine for just 395 yards and two touchdowns for the season, you can expect some harsh grades. Here are the grades for the 2019 tight ends.
Trey Burton: F
After a strong start to the 2018 season, Burton trailed off and ultimately missed the Bears wildcard playoff game against the Eagles due to a sports hernia. The expectation heading into 2019 was that Burton would be 100 percent entering training camp, but ended up missing even more time due to other injuries and failed to string together any sort of momentum in the preseason.
Even when he was on the field when he was deemed “healthy,” Burton was invisible in nearly every game he played. When he was targeted, he struggled with drops and wasn’t willing to take the big hit in order to secure the catch on multiple occasions. Burton wound up catching 14 passes for 84 yards in eight games with no scores.
His health will be a major question mark heading into next season, but with two more years left on his deal and a significant amount of dead-cap attributed to his contract, Burton will likely begin the 2020 season on the Bears. It can’t get worse than 2019, right?
Adam Shaheen: D-
If there’s one thing we’ve seen Adam Shaheen do well on the football field, it’s run an effective fade route in the redzone. But that’s about it. Shaheen has been one of the biggest second-round busts in recent Bears history, joining players such as defensive end Dan Bazuin, receiver Mark Bradley and defensive tackle Ego Ferguson in infamy.
After leading the team in touchdown catches his rookie season, Shaheen has struggled to stay healthy and looks less athletic than a 37-year old Jason Witten. Like Burton, he only played in eight games and posted a very similar stat line: Nine catches for 74 yards and a two-point conversion.
Shaheen will enter training camp battling for a spot on the team and depending on how the Bears address the tight end position, he’ll likely be on the outside looking in when the regular season begins. If this really is the beginning of the end for the Adam Shaheen experience, we’ll always remember the fade routes.
Ben Braunecker: D
One of my personal sleepers going into the season, Braunecker showed flashes of his potential in spots last year and with injuries to Burton and Shaheen, the door was wide open for him to produce on an every-play basis.
For a game or two, it seemed like he would do just that, catching a beautiful touchdown from quarterback Mitchell Trubisky on a post-corner route against the Detroit Lions in his first game as a starter. But that would be the extent of his highlights. Braunecker would see limited targets over the next game or so and had one of the worst drops of the year against the New York Giants, before exiting with a concussion that ultimately ended his season.
Braunecker is still an effective player on special teams, but any hope he could become a weapon on offense seems to have vanished.
J.P. Holtz: C-
J.P. Holtz did what no Bears tight end could do during the 2019 season: Put together a productive game. Holtz came into the season as a pseudo fullback and insurance for Burton, Shaheen, and Braunecker, but ended up as the starting tight end late in the season.
He did have a career day against the Dallas Cowboys when he caught three passes for 56 yards, but that was the extent of his highlights through the air. He led all Bears tight ends with 91 yards for the season, but he was particularly effective in the run game when he was blocking for RB David Montgomery as a fullback. Holtz didn’t usually factor into the gameplan, but he at least contributed when he was called upon.
Jesper Horsted: C
Whenever a preseason darling has an impact on the regular season, Bears fans find a way to celebrate. Horsted tore it up in the preseason as an undrafted rookie free agent, but was relegated to the practice squad until injuries forced the Bears to elevate him to the active roster.
When they did, however, he provided a needed spark at the position, catching eight passes on 10 targets for 87 yards and one touchdown in six games. The numbers aren’t eye-popping, but Horsted did show his athleticism, particularly in his lone touchdown grab against the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving. His only blunder was his failure to lateral the ball to wide receiver Allen Robinson in the final seconds against the Green Bay Packers.
Horsted will have a good shot to make the 53-man roster this fall and with a little more development, could become a dependable weapon for coach Matt Nagy’s offense.
Eric Saubert: Incomplete
We can confirm that Eric Saubert did play for the Bears in Week 16 and 17 and caught one pass in both games.
