Are We Underrating the Importance of WR

Bust

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I am quoting myself from a prior post. This has been something that keeps circulating in my head.

OL is always brought up as a priority, which I 100% agree with but I feel like WR talent is often overlooked. How much of the development of the above guys is due to the talent available to them?

Most of those guys (Watson and Burrow) had terrible OLs to begin their careers. Calling them bottom 10 would be generous.

For Fields to take the next step, OL would be a tremendous boon, but we HAVE to get skill players on the edges for him. FO will need to go all in here.

I could add more QBs to this list who had success early like Dak, but he did have a fantastic OL and WR talent. He was able to start off with a boom.

Watson was sacked 62 times his second season but the mofo still passed for over 4k yards and maintained a great TD/INT ratio at 26 and 9.

If you got it you got it. If you don't excuses are made ...
 
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ThatGuyRyan

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An interesting trio was put forward in a recent discussion.

Do we go into next season with Godwin, Bell (Draft), and Mooney.
Godwin isn't even a #2, no way. I would much rather (slightly) overpay a Mike Williams who at least is consistent in FA.
 

RumourBoy

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I agree with posters saying getting the O-line right first is the bigger deal. We really need a legit TE to take the pressure off Fields as well at some point. Having a nice receiving corp would be an added bonus. I would focus on O-line then take some shots in the draft at TE and WR, maybe we can get the next Ja'Marr Chase or Justin Jefferson.
 

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Godwin isn't even a #2, no way. I would much rather (slightly) overpay a Mike Williams who at least is consistent in FA.
Is he though? I feel like he is a weekly boom or bust.
 

RumourBoy

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On 2nd thought, yes we are.

1642178941364.png

Dead last in the league at getting open, how sad is that.
 

onebud34

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What about Sterling Shepard from the NY Giants...Appears he maybe out of there.
He seems to like the injuries, didn't he tear his achilles?
 

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On 2nd thought, yes we are.

View attachment 16844

Dead last in the league at getting open, how sad is that.
Proper scheme will help that.

You aren't going to be open when running a lot of curls. But, the Bears only have 2 receivers under contract. So they'll need to sign someone.
 

Dejo

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What about Sterling Shepard from the NY Giants...Appears he maybe out of there.
Similar to Gallup, tons of talent but injury prone. I think you fill the room with talent and go from there. Sterling could be an under the radar guy for sure.
 
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doctorbear

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The root problem wasn't the lack of talent at WR tho.

The root problem in Chicago was Nagy's bush league playbook and complete inability to win the coaching chess match to setup big plays by manipulating defenses.

When you're running outdated route concepts that the defense can see coming a mile away because the coach is a one-dimensional hack that sucks at calling plays and hasn't made an adjustment in 4 years of being a head coach your passing game is going to look like hot garbage.

Hard to create separation when the coach doesn't want to run the ball or attack down the field and instead has the WRs running 3 yard curls all game into coverage that's just sitting at the sticks waiting to break on every ball thrown.



I'll agree with you on this. As a priority fixing the OL and protecting Fields needs to be the #1 priority for the next GM.

The game is won and lost in the trenches and it won't matter who's at WR is they can't protect the QB.

That said, there a many ways to skin a cat. I could live with an early round WR provided they address OL, CB heavily in FA and with the other draft picks. It all depends on who's the best player available when their on the clock and who else they've brought in in FA already.
Right, the answer is that it depends. If you can somehow get a Jamar chase then fuck O-line. He breaks the game and transforms an offense on his own. I thought Cincy was dumb for not getting a lineman to protect Burrows especially after a major surgery but it was absolutely the right move.

a good GM will take care of both anyway
 

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Mooney
George Pickens (R2) or Alec Pierce (R3)
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Grant
Sanu if he’s still breathing
Is Cohen coming back?
 

I Just Want To Read

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OL and WR/TE are the only things we should care about this offseason.

Literally use every draft pick on those spots except for some late round fliers on D.
 

Pegger

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The same debate is happening with Jalen Hurts.

Some are asking for them to commit more resources towards WR (despite spending the last 2 first round picks on WRs) while some are saying Hurts has to play better.

IMHO it's not that simple. Some QBs can throw WRs open with anticipation, so they just need someone there to run the right route (think Drew Brees). Some QBs are just fine with throwing to covered WRs because they can put the ball in a spot that gives their WRs the best chance to come down with the ball. Some QBs can't do either. They don't throw with anticipation and they don't have that pin point accuracy to help with covered catches.

The real questions are what does the offense want the QB to do and what is Fields capable of accomplishing?

Getting a big, jump ball guy makes no sense if the offense isn't asking for it and that's not what Fields does well.
 

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Right, the answer is that it depends. If you can somehow get a Jamar chase then fuck O-line. He breaks the game and transforms an offense on his own. I thought Cincy was dumb for not getting a lineman to protect Burrows especially after a major surgery but it was absolutely the right move.

a good GM will take care of both anyway

Right, but unfortunately Jamar Chase isn't in the draft this year and the Bears don't have a top 5 pick in the first round anyways so I'm not sure why anyone's getting their panties twisted over this hypothetical situation we don't find ourselves in lol...

Let's see who gets hired as GM first and foremost. Once that's done and we see how they attack FA we can start worrying about how the draft should look. ?‍♂️
 

Gustavus Adolphus

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Are there posters here who are underrating the WR position?
 

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