Muhsin Muhammad once said that Chicago is “where receivers go to die.” But looking at the Bears’ loaded receivers room, it’s hard to imagine a time when that assessment was accurate.
The Bears have a slew of offensive weapons and a solid group of receivers, all of which likely won’t make the team. It’s a far cry from just two years ago when names like Kendall Wright, Dontrelle Inman and Joshua Bellamy highlighted an underwhelming receiving corp.
In Chicago’s playoff game against the Eagles, Matt Nagy opted to dress just four receivers. It’s hard to imagine dressing only four receivers with the current group the Bears have.
There are already locks for the roster, like Allen Robinson, Taylor Gabriel, Anthony Miller and Cordarelle Patterson spring to mind. Then you have the younger guys with something to prove in Riley Ridley, Javon Wims and Emanuel Hall.
“This is the NFL. This is the Chicago Bears,” Mike Furrey told reporters last week. “We need to have 10 guys in our room every year that are competing for those spots. That’ll make us better and that will make our football team better.”
Here’s Furrey’s assessment of seven Bears receivers that are all in the mix to land a roster spot.
Allen Robinson
Allen Robinson is the Bears’ clear No. 1 receiver as evidenced by what he was able to accomplish in 14 games, including the playoffs, with Chicago last season. He has an amazing ability to make those all-important contested catches — and in clutch situations.
The most dangerous thing about Robinson this season is that he’ll be healthy entering his second season with the Bears. With Robinson’s attention to detail and understanding of this offense, Furrey is excited to see what Robinson can do in 2019.
“Somebody was asking me the other day, ‘Is there anybody that’s shocked you so far coming into OTAs and the camp and stuff?’” Furrey said. “I said there’s one guy who’s always the same. He’s the same guy every day. He comes into work, he loves being coached. He loves to be reassured that what he’s doing is right. He’s a professional, and that’s Allen.
“To see him now know our playbook, know where he’s supposed to line up. He’s already done these things before in games. And now he’s healthy? We were never at that point at all last year. Now you’re seeing him have that pep in his step, the demeanor hasn’t changed, that’s just who he is. But you can just tell that he’s excited. He’s excited to be healthy and he’s excited for what we’re doing and he’s excited about where he can go in this offense. It’s pretty neat.”
Anthony Miller
Anthony Miller’s rookie season was impressive. And what made it even more impressive was knowing that he was playing with essentially one arm after battling a dislocated shoulder all season long. Which makes his return this season — fully healthy — an exciting thing to watch.
But talent aside, Furrey has been impressed with Miller’s attentiveness to this offense as a rookie.
“He’s out there, he stands by me or he stands near coach,” Furrey said. “He’s listening to the play call. He knows what the calls are. He knows what the formations are. He’s very involved obviously in our meetings.
“In the league, you’re gifted, but your gifts only take you so far. You need to really understand what’s going on to get open and it’s going to be fun to watch. I’m excited.”
Taylor Gabriel
Taylor Gabriel had a bit of an adjustment period acclimating to his role in this Bears offense. Furrey said that he’s noticed an attitude change in Gabriel where “he’s a completely different person.”
Gabriel is entering his sixth season in the league, at 28, and given the year of experience he has in this offense, Gabriel should be able to shine.
“People are now like, ‘Watch that route.’ See what happened? That’s what I was trying to tell you last year,” Furrey said. “But as we talked about, it takes time to grow. Even when you’re a four-year veteran. If you don’t know that yet, it still takes time to grow. The leadership in him has been pretty neat, and now I’ve got two of those obviously with him and A-Rob.”
Cordarrelle Patterson
Cordarrelle Patterson has already proven that he can be electrifying at multiple positions. His speed and vision are something that immediately stood out to Furrey.
“He’s so smooth,” Furrey said. “You don’t realize how fast he’s going because he’s so smooth and it’s real methodical. But he’s rolling and another gift that he has is his vision. He has great vision, especially with the ball in his hands. And he can run.”
Patterson joins a loaded receivers room, most of whom are entering their second season in this offense. But Patterson has done a good job acclimating to this new scheme.
“He’s done a great job understanding our stuff, our verbiage, going out and running our stuff as a wideout,” Furrey said. “It’s going to be pretty neat to see him develop and fit into that room.”
Riley Ridley
There’s a lot of excitement surrounding the potential of rookie receiver Riley Ridley, who looks to battle for a roster spot in a loaded receivers room.
Ridley, the Bears’ fourth-round selection, has impressed early in OTAs with everything from route running to on-field speed. Not to mention he has big-game experience that gives him an edge.
“… He’s played in huge games. That’s been a huge advantage for him already,” Furrey said. “Coming in, understanding what the words are going to be like. Understanding the competition and his route running now, that’s what his strength is, to understand all those things and it’s not becoming so heavy-loaded, it’s allowed him to understand how he wants to run his routes and use that to his advantage. It’s been fun to watch.”
Javon Wims
Javon Wims is the one receiver that no one is talking about. Well, the Bears certainly are, because they’re aware of the talent he possesses and has yet to be able to fully put on display.
A seventh-round selection from a year ago, Wims was the preseason darling from a season ago. He didn’t get much of a shot in the regular season, but in the time he did, he impressed with his talent and understanding of this offense.
“He’s realized that he’s 6-3, 200-some pounds and he can run and he can catch the football,” Furrey said. “Those are pretty cool gifts to have. And he can understand the playbook. So all those things collectively, it’s a huge weight off him to just have that piece that he can play here and be competitive and he can be a great player in this league for a long time. Now you’re talking about a guy that has grown just mentally with that confidence and he’s done a great job.”
Emanuel Hall
Emanuel Hall had his choice of teams after falling to the undrafted free agent market, and he chose the Bears. Even with a talented receivers room where securing a roster spot might be difficult. He’s just that confident.
But in just that short time during rookie minicamp, Hall flashed his rocket-like speed that made him dangerous in college and could translate to the NFL level.
“I think the first play we were doing just a little walkthrough,” Furrey said. “It was a walkthrough and he took off like a rocket. Everybody was just kind of like, he showed it. There were games in the SEC where he single-handedly dominated. I mean dominated. It was so impressive. We saw that right away. It’s gonna be fun to work with him.”
Hall, who impressed during rookie minicamp, will have to wait until training camp to battle for that roster spot after recently undergoing sports hernia surgery.
