The Chicago Bears are committed to Justin Fields. At least everything points to that being the case. This means the 2023 off-season will be dedicated to helping him in every way possible. GM Ryan Poles will likely start on improving his protection, which was below average at best. However, plenty of people keep calling on the team to seek more help at wide receiver. Darnell Mooney is fine, but everybody else disappointed this past season. Chase Claypool hasn’t shown anything yet. Velus Jones is more of a kick return specialist. They sorely need a genuine weapon in the passing game.
That is why the team is out in force at the Senior Bowl this week. Poles and his staff want to see if they can find potential weapons for their quarterback. The one who has stood out the most all week is Jayden Reed of Michigan State. His mixture of speed and route-running prowess has given defensive backs headaches in every single practice. Now a buzz is building around him. They see legitimate NFL potential. Is he a fit in Chicago? Reed hopes so because he is a big fan of Fields.
Reed knows what Justin Fields is capable of.
When Michigan State and Ohio State met, he had a front-row seat to watch the quarterback in 2020. Fields put on a show in that game, throwing for 199 yards, rushing for 104, and scoring a combined four touchdowns. The Buckeyes scored 52 points in a rout. Reed likely had visions of what it would be like to play with a quarterback of such capability. Now he may get that opportunity. Initial draft projections had him going somewhere in the 4th or 5th round range. After this week at the Senior Bowl, he might be pushing himself into Day 2.
Chicago has picks late in the 2nd round and early in the 3rd. They may add more if rumors of trading down from #1 overall prove true. That would give Poles more than enough ammunition to be aggressive in adding a receiver. Reed is somewhat undersized at 5’11, 182 lbs. Then again, that didn’t stop Mooney from becoming a solid player. Reed can be an immediate slot option for Justin Fields, allowing Mooney and Claypool to do damage on the outside. Much of this depends on the team’s evaluation of the young receiver.
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This isn’t what we’re looking for here. There are really some early studs, and late round sleepers which could be pro-bowl to all-pro worthiness. There’s just nothing in the mid rounds for stud WR prospects. This is why Poles traded for Claypool last year.
Bears Down. Every “weak” receiver class ends up with several great receivers. It’s all relative. There will be a receiver or 2 that gets drafted beyond the 3rd round that ends up being a WR1 or a really high WR2 in this class guaranteed. It happens every year. What makes it hard is that you must find them. Some guys just fit a pro style NFL roster better than their skills fit the college roster that they were on. Maybe their college roster didn’t have a QB capable in getting them the ball all the time. Maybe the offensive philosophy… Read more »
If I’m not mistaken JF1 really like VJ12 in last years draft…
Bears_Down….bears still need to draft a WR or two. They are talking about early rounds as those rounds are slated for D-line and O-line. But somewhere in the middle rounds, the bears will select WRs….and sooner if one pops up that would be hard to resist.
Yawn. This is a weak wr draft so concentrate on fixing the oline and maybe we can grab a big te instead of a smallish wr 3 type