The Chicago Bears are now likely not to have Caleb Williams for the next three weeks as he deals with a grade 2 hamstring strain. That means Tyson Bagent and Case Keenum will have to carry the load moving forward. It remains uncertain which of them will start. For most of the week, it looked like Keenum was the guy. However, Bagent practiced in full on Saturday. That gives him a reasonable chance to get his first start since 2023. There isn’t a consensus on who it should be. However, if Kalif Raymond had his say, he would push for Keenum.
Lucky for him, it’s looking that way.
It’s easy to forget that Chicago’s third-string backup actually started 38 games between 2017 and 2019. He went 18-20. Though his stats weren’t anything special, he did enough to keep his teams afloat. One way this was accomplished was by doing the smart thing. Get the ball to your best players. Seven years ago, that was Terry McLaurin. In Denver the year prior, it was Emmanuel Sanders. During his magical run in Minnesota in 2017? It was Adam Thielein. What do all of those names have in common? They were their respective team’s primary slot receiver.
Kalif Raymond is filling that role now in Chicago.
It was a big reason why head coach Ben Johnson pushed to sign him. The Bears didn’t have a definitive presence in the slot last year. Instead, they used more of a committee approach with D.J. Moore, Olamide Zaccheaus, and Luther Burden. It didn’t always work well. To make this offense go, you need a dependable presence on the inside. It is why he leads the team in targets. That is likely to hit overdrive with Keenum. He is much more of a system guy, meaning he will run the plays as designed more often than not.
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Coach Johnson has repeatedly said this offense tends to find the slot receiver a lot. There is no reason to believe that will change. Keenum will act as an extension of his will. While the quarterback will try to distribute the ball to multiple targets going forward, he has a practical mindset. Get the ball to the playmakers and let them do their thing. It worked pretty well at previous stops when he had actual help. There is no reason it shouldn’t this time around. Kalif Raymond is plenty capable of handling the workload.
The bigger question is whether this is the right decision.
While Raymond is a solid player, he is not the best weapon on this offense. That title belongs to Colston Loveland, with Luther Burden probably next on the list. Yet the Bears haven’t really done a great job getting either of them the football. One would think they hope to rectify that against the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night. Unfortunately, the opportunities aren’t likely to be plentiful. This defense is one of the best in the league against the pass. One has to figure the Bears will focus on running the ball.
That is also why Raymond is the name to watch. He was the primary target against Carolina when Chicago ran the ball really well in week 1. His ability to move the chains and keep the offense ahead of the sticks is key to making such a game plan work. We already know Keenum won’t have any qualms looking that way. If you have him in your fantasy leagues, you’d best start him Monday night.
