Most of the talk regarding the Chicago Bears 2019 draft class has centered around David Montgomery. That isn’t a surprise. He was the top pick. One the team traded up to get. Expectations are for him to start right away and be productive. Yet there is a significant presence of people out there, credible people who think it’s unwise to overlook 4th rounder Riley Ridley.
When assessing him, most tend to settle on two things. His college production and how well he performed at the scouting combine. Neither could be guy home run situations for Ridley. He was a reserve for his first two years at Georgia and didn’t get a lot of targets last season (559 yards). Regardless, he still scored nine touchdowns.
At the combine, he put in a decent but unremarkable workout. He put up 13 reps on the bench press, jumped 30.5 inches in the vertical, and ran a 4.58 in the 40-yard dash. That’s as fast as Jordan Howard ran back in 2016. Suffice to say casual fans weren’t given many reasons to be enthralled.
So here’s why none of that means anything.
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Riley Ridley has tape and history on his side for the Bears
In regards to the production issue, a few things must be taken into account. Ridley has no control over when the quarterback throws him the ball. Georgia had a lot of talented players on offense and they’ve traditionally been a run-first program. Last season was no different as they ran the ball 40.4 times per game. That may be because they didn’t trust their QB.
Jake Fromm had a great year. He completed 67% of his passes with 30 touchdowns and six interceptions. However, he only had 307 pass attempts for 2,761 yards. It was clear the team was trying to limit his times where he had to throw. Also don’t forget Ridley had nine TD catches, which means he accounted for nearly a third of Fromm’s scoring plays.
That tells you he was favorite target of the quarterback.
Then there’s the speed question. A 4.58 is not fast for a wide receiver. It’s also not a clear indicator of whether one will be good in the NFL. Here are some other receivers who had some questionable 40 times at the combine in recent years.
- Antonio Browns – 4.56
- DeAndre Hopkins – 4.57
- Michael Thomas – 4.57
- Keenan Allen – 4.58
- Danny Amendola – 4.58
- Mohamed Sanu – 4.62
- Jarvis Landry – 4.65
That list includes some of the best wide receivers in professional football today. The biggest reason? All are standouts when it comes to running routes. Speed is nice but defensive backs in the NFL are also fast. The key to beating them is being able to run with sharp cuts and subtle nuances on routes, gaining that valuable extra step to create space for the catch.
Ridley was widely considered the best route runner in the 2019 draft class. The tape reflects that. Combined with his bigger body and strong hands, there’s every reason to think he’ll be a factor in this offense right away.
