Matt Nagy: Darnell Mooney has the ability to be Tyreek Hill or DeSean Jackson

[Luke]

was a great pick, lets hope...


Bears coach Matt Nagy thinks his team got one of the most talented receivers in football in the fifth round of last year’s draft.

Darnell Mooney, who caught 61 passes for 631 yards as a rookie last season, could develop into one of the best big-play threats in the NFL, in Nagy’s view.

“I’ve been around Tyreek Hill,” Nagy said in an interview with the Chicago Tribune. “I’ve been around a young DeSean Jackson. I’m telling you right now, this guy has the complete package and has the ability to be compared to them.”

Nagy said he could tell from Week One of last season that Mooney was going to be special.

“This kid is the real deal. I’m serious,” Nagy said of Mooney. “You want to talk about an exciting player? I’m just so blown away at the things this kid does. Coming in here with no offseason, coming into training camp, playing that first game against Detroit and showing us that the lights weren’t too bright for him. Amazed at his mental ability to handle this offense from the get-go. To put it into action, to make big plays. . . . It’s exciting as a coach because he has a rare element of speed, combined with route-running, hands and passion. And commitment. You take all that and you say, ‘My gosh, we got this guy in the fifth round? Are you kidding me?’”

The speedy, 5-foot-10, 176-pound Mooney has a similar athletic makeup to Hill and Jackson. But as a playmaker he still has a long way to go to justify Nagy’s comments.

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[jtreal3]

Get us a real QB and he'll be even better

 

[Bears4Ever_34]

Tyreke Hill is one of a kind. He's not going to be like him, because nobody has ever been like Tyreke Hill.

Jackson on the other hand? I can see that. He's proven to be a lethal route runner and escape artist, but still needs to show up more as a downfield target. In fairness to him, a lot of that can be directly tied to poor quarterback play.

I like Mooney a lot. He's got a ton of potential, and I'm excited to see how he progresses in his 2nd year.

 

[Warden of the Northeast]

Wouldn't mind hearing "Wilson goes deep to Mooney...TOUCHDOWN!" for years to come.

 

[Anytime23]

TY Hilton IMO

 

[Starion]

How's his attitude? I've not seen anything that makes me think he'll be another Wimms or Miller. Honestly, I've not seen much of him at the podium / interviews. Humble like Mack?

 

[TL1961]

How's his attitude? I've not seen anything that makes me think he'll be another Wimms or Miller. Honestly, I've not seen much of him at the podium / interviews. Humble like Mack?

He bought a jugs machine with his first NFL paycheck so he could work on his own before camp, and practices catching passes in the hotel on road trips. Very positive.

 

[Enasic]

Love Mooney. I’m curious about how he’d do without Robinson on the other side but I’m convinced the kid can play. Sky is the limit for him

 

[hyatt151]

Tyreke Hill is one of a kind. He's not going to be like him, because nobody has ever been like Tyreke Hill.

Jackson on the other hand? I can see that. He's proven to be a lethal route runner and escape artist, but still needs to show up more as a downfield target. In fairness to him, a lot of that can be directly tied to poor quarterback play.

I like Mooney a lot. He's got a ton of potential, and I'm excited to see how he progresses in his 2nd year.

Agree totally

 

[HeHateMe]

Wouldn't mind hearing "Wilson goes deep to Mooney...TOUCHDOWN!" for years to come.

You don't even watch the games tho

 

[ThatGuyRyan]

He also thought coward was a good lineman

 

[rawdawg]

Tyreke Hill is one of a kind. He's not going to be like him, because nobody has ever been like Tyreke Hill.

Jackson on the other hand? I can see that. He's proven to be a lethal route runner and escape artist, but still needs to show up more as a downfield target. In fairness to him, a lot of that can be directly tied to poor quarterback play.

I like Mooney a lot. He's got a ton of potential, and I'm excited to see how he progresses in his 2nd year.

Yeah, Jackson is a much more realistic career model for Mooney, but the Bears used him completely different from how the Eagles used Jackson. Mooney had 61 catches as a rookie, Jackson had 62 in each of his 1st 2 seasons and that was his 2nd highest catch total of his career. Mooney also averaged only 10.4 per catch, while Jackson is at 17.4 for his career, with 5 1000 yard seasons despite low catch totals.

 

[Chicago Staleys]

He’s not another T. Hill! Hill is a freak. He’s built like a machine and has a stitch in his step that Mooney doesn’t have.

I could see him being closer to a D.Jackson. We haven’t seen Mooney’s true deep talent due to Chicago’s QB and Oline providing the time to go long. However, if that can be fixed, I could see this being his big threat.

 

[dennehy]

I'd comp him to Brandin Cooks.

 

[BearFanJohn]

I hope Mooney turns out to be great. Though I don’t have a lot of faith in Matt Nagy.

 

[Bears4Ever_34]

Yeah, Jackson is a much more realistic career model for Mooney, but the Bears used him completely different from how the Eagles used Jackson. Mooney had 61 catches as a rookie, Jackson had 62 in each of his 1st 2 seasons and that was his 2nd highest catch total of his career. Mooney also averaged only 10.4 per catch, while Jackson is at 17.4 for his career, with 5 1000 yard seasons despite low catch totals.

Yeah, Jackson is much more of a one trick pony, albeit an elite one for a time. Mooney's YPC should be much higher than it is if a couple of those throws from Foles during the middle part of the year aren't wildly inaccurate. As a consequence of some of those inaccuracies, you're inevitably going to have to call more short and intermediate routes to compensate.

 

[Wild_x_Card]

Yeah, Jackson is a much more realistic career model for Mooney, but the Bears used him completely different from how the Eagles used Jackson. Mooney had 61 catches as a rookie, Jackson had 62 in each of his 1st 2 seasons and that was his 2nd highest catch total of his career. Mooney also averaged only 10.4 per catch, while Jackson is at 17.4 for his career, with 5 1000 yard seasons despite low catch totals.

alot of that had to do with the QB situation. Mooney was missed ALOT on his deep ball opportunities and the plays he did make down field were him bailing out the QB on bad balls. Nagy would love to stretch the field more. That's not a secret. That said it was really nice to see Mooney excel in the short and intermediate game. That was a question I had of him coming into the season. Would he be just a deep ball specialist.

 

[Anytime23]

Darnell Mooney has the ability to get traded for Rustle Willsum

 

[rawdawg]

alot of that had to do with the QB situation. Mooney was missed ALOT on his deep ball opportunities and the plays he did make down field were him bailing out the QB on bad balls. Nagy would love to stretch the field more. That's not a secret. That said it was really nice to see Mooney excel in the short and intermediate game. That was a question I had of him coming into the season. Would he be just a deep ball specialist.

Yeah, definitely felt more like they used Mooney short and intermediate because of circumstances (no time on the OL, no QB to get him the ball). But I do think he can get in that 15-17 ypc range as the QB play improves. I don't necessarily see him with much more than the 60 catches he had this year, but if he can get in that upper range of ypc, that's a 1000 yard WR. If a guy like Robinson is on the other side, that catch number definitely isn't going to be super high. If he has become more of a 1B instead of a clear cut #2 WR, then I could see him as an 80-catch guy, but then you probably limit his ypc because teams simply don't allow that many big plays on defense.

 

[hebs]

I would love to see a breakdown of his route running against the other top route runners in the league... The kid is electric smooth...