Chicago Bears (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images)
The Chicago Bears are in need of pass-catchers, and a recent transaction might prove Chicago has a bigger issue at wide receiver than you think.
On February 21st, the Chicago Bears decided to release wide receiver, Taylor Gabriel. The 29-year old spent the last two seasons with the Bears organization, playing in 25 games with 18 total starts and accumulating 96 receptions for 1,041 yards and six total touchdowns.
By cutting the veteran, the Bears will be saving roughly $4.5 million in cap space. Gabriel was originally signed to bring a speed element to Matt Nagy’s offense. This was clearly something that Chicago was sorely lacking once Gabriel went down in the back half of the past season with concussion issues.
With that being said, the Windy City hopeful currently has the following receivers under contract entering the 2020 NFL season…
- Allen Robinson (40-Yard Dash Time: 4.56)
- Anthony Miller (40-Yard Dash Time: 4.55)
- Javon Wims (40-Yard Dash Time: 4.53)
- Riley Ridley (40-Yard Dash Time: 4.58)
- Cordarrelle Patterson (40-Yard Dash Time: 4.42)
Excluding Return-Specialist, Cordarrelle Patterson, the Bears current receiving corps is full of route running specialists and “jump ball” receivers. The loss of Gabriel points to the Bears needing to add a receiver who can take the top off the defense.
Now, many may point to free agency as a valid pool to sign a deep-threat from, but this year’s NFL Draft Class is very deep at the receiving position, and it would be smart of the Bears to save cap space and draft a rookie to replace Taylor Gabriel. Here are five potential options that I think would be great fits for the Bears…