Chicago Bears: Full Position Breakdown and Depth-Chart Analysis at Wide Receiver
Published by Matt Eurich on June 17, 2015
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
During the 2013 regular season, few wide receiver duos in the NFL were better than the Chicago Bears‘ Alshon Jeffery and Brandon Marshall.
Jeffery burst onto the scene with 89 catches for 1,421 yards and seven touchdowns and was named to his first Pro Bowl, while Marshall hauled in 100 catches for 1,295 yards and a career-high 12 touchdowns.
Jeffery put up another solid season in 2014—85 catches, 1,113 yards and 10 touchdowns—but Marshall struggled with injuries and finished the year with just 61 catches, 721 receiving yards and eight touchdowns in 13 games.
Despite Marshall being one of the most productive wide receivers in the NFL over the course of the previous seven seasons, the Bears opted to trade him and a seventh-round pick to the New York Jets in exchange for a fifth-round pick this offseason.
“He’s a good football player,” general manager Ryan Pace said about Marshall, according to ESPN.com’s Michael C. Wright. “Going forward, we felt this was the best for us. Quite frankly, it’s the best situation for him, too. So that’s where we’re at.”
Trading Marshall temporarily weakened the position for the Bears, but Pace quickly added veteran slot receiver Eddie Royal in free agency and drafted West Virginia’s Kevin White with the seventh overall pick to help solidify the position.
The Bears have 11 wide receivers on the roster, but they will carry only five or six during the regular season. So what does the depth chart look like at the position?
The Starters
In 2015, Jeffery will have a chance to prove his production over the last two years wasn’t just because he played alongside Marshall. Quarterback Jay Cutler thinks Jeffery can take the next step.
“I don’t see why not,” Cutler said about Jeffery, according to Larry Mayer of ChicagoBears.com. “He makes big plays for us, he knows the offense, he’s a big target, and I think more importantly that’s the guy he wants to become. He wants to become the No. 1 every day out here and he’s taking the proper steps.”
Jeffery benefited from playing opposite of Marshall, but he has shown improvement every year since entering the league in 2012. He should thrive in offensive coordinator Adam Gase’s scheme.
“I love the way the offense is,” Jeffery said last week, according to the Chicago Sun-Times’ Patrick Finley. “I think the sky’s the limit for it.”
Gase likes to create mismatches for his receivers, and Jeffery could play a role similar to the one Demaryius Thomas played in Denver in Gase’s scheme. The offensive coordinator liked to use Thomas in the screen game, and Jeffery could be an option on the outside because of his ability to pick up yards after the catch.
According to ESPN, 473 of Jeffery’s 1,133 receiving yards came after the catch last season, and he finished with the 13th-most yards after the catch in the NFL in 2014. In addition to participating in the screen game, he could also get some work out of the slot at times this season. Because of his big frame (6’3″, 216 lbs), Jeffery can overpower most defensive backs, but he also has underrated speed.
He will be the team’s primary target on offense in 2015, but White has a chance to make a big impact this season as well.
White hauled in just 35 catches for 507 yards and five touchdowns in 2013, but he skyrocketed up draft boards this offseason after finishing 2014 with 109 catches for 1,447 yards and 10 touchdowns.
He has the speed to make plays down the field, but he can also pick up big yards after the catch on short passes. He has the strength to fight off defensive backs at the line of scrimmage, and he is willing to go up and catch the football at its highest point.
The Bears opened up their mandatory minicamp on Tuesday afternoon, but White did not participate. Head coach John Fox did not provide many details, according to Rich Campbell of the Chicago Tribune:
Even though he missed some of mandatory minicamp, he did participate in rookie minicamp and OTAs, and Jeffery likes what he has seen from the young receiver.
“He’s a pretty good player,” Jeffery said, according to Finley. “It’s a process he’s learning right now. We’re just staying on top of him, coaching him up.”
Assuming White does not have any long-term issues, he will enter the season as the No. 2 wide receiver behind Jeffery.
Slot Receiver
Just as there is little doubt as to who will be the starting wide receivers this season, there is also little doubt surrounding the slot receiver position.
Royal signed a three-year, $15 million deal this offseason and will be the primary slot receiver. A second-round pick of the Denver Broncos in 2008, he had his best professional season that year playing alongside Cutler.
Denver traded Cutler to Chicago the following offseason, and Royal struggled to put up comparable numbers in his next three seasons with the Broncos. San Diego signed him in 2012, and he registered 132 catches for 1,643 yards with 16 touchdowns in three seasons with the Chargers.
After he was signed this offseason, Royal said his familiarity with Cutler, Fox and Gase helped with his decision to sign with the team.
“I played with Jay before, so that was very important just having that comfort level with him,” Royal said, according to Mayer. “I played for Coach Fox and played for Coach Gase. I felt comfortable once I got here, just being around everybody. Playing for those guys before, I know that they know how to win.”
Royal has only had two seasons of 55-plus catches since his rookie year, but he is a steady contributor out of the slot. At the very least, the veteran receiver will give Cutler a reliable target in the middle of the field in 2015.
While the first three spots on the depth chart appear to be set in stone, the final two or three spots are up in the air.
Backups
The only wide receiver behind Jeffery, White and Royal with any significant NFL experience is 2013 seventh-round pick Marquess Wilson.
In 17 career games, Wilson has hauled in 19 passes for 153 yards with one touchdown. He was a front-runner for the No. 3 spot last offseason before he broke his clavicle and missed the first nine games of the season. He is healthy this offseason, and Cutler likes what he has seen from the young receiver in minicamp and OTAs.
“I think he’s back on track to where he was last training camp, progressing and making big plays for us,” Cutler said, according to BearReport.com’s Jeremy Stoltz.
He will enter the season as the No. 4 wide receiver, but the final one or two spots are wide open behind him.
The only other receiver on the roster who has recorded a catch in the NFL is journeyman Marc Mariani. Used primarily as a kick and punt returner when he was with the Tennessee Titans, he did register five catches for 24 yards during the 2011 season.
Mariani joined the Bears in mid-November last year and finished the season as the primary return man. He is the front-runner for the return job against this season, but undrafted free agent Levi Norwood could push him for the role.
A standout at Baylor, Norwood averaged 20.2 yards per kick return and scored two touchdowns as a punt returner in four seasons. According to NFL.com, he ran a 4.57 and 4.64 40-yard dash at his pro day, but he has the ability to make tacklers miss in the open field.
Mariani and Norwood will battle it out to be the return man, while guys like Joshua Bellamy, John Chiles, Rashad Lawrence, Cameron Meredith and Ify Umodu will compete for one of the final spots on the roster.
Bellamy has the best chance of making the roster because he spent time with the team last season and appeared in four games. According to Pro Football Focus, he played 11 snaps on offense last season and was a contributor on special teams.
Chiles and Lawrence have bounced around the NFL the last few seasons, while Meredith and Umodu entered the league this offseason as undrafted free agents. All four will need big performances in training camp and preseason to make the roster.
The depth chart for the Bears at the wide receiver position is top-heavy, but the battle for the final few spots on the roster will be something to watch later this summer in training camp.
Statistical information courtesy of NFL.com and Sports-Reference.com unless otherwise noted. All contract information courtesy of Spotrac.
Matt Eurich is a Chicago Bears Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and a member of the Pro Football Writers of America.
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