Dante Rosario Days Until Chicago Bears Season Opener
Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports
With the Chicago Bears 2015 season opener less than 3 months away, Bear Goggles On will be counting down the days with a new player profile every day. As of today there are 88 days until the first Sunday of football season, so we are profiling #88 Dante Rosario.
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Rosario came into the league in 2007 as a 5th round pick of the Carolina Panthers after a solid college career at Oregon (13 TDs). He started his career with a touchdown on his first NFL catch and ended up with 5 total TDs in his 4 years with the Panthers. Rosario was primarily a blocking TE but did start 22 games in Carolina in 4 seasons under HC John Fox.
When Fox left Carolina for Denver, he brought Rosario with him. Rosario started 3 games for the Broncos, but struggled and was released before the end of the season. He bounced around the next season between Miami, San Diego, and Dallas before the Bears traded a conditional 7th round pick for him before the 2013 season.
With the Bears Rosario has been a reliable blocking tight end and special teams contributor, despite being released and re-signed multiple times by the previous Bears regime. Phil Emery kept trying to replace Rosario with younger or flashier players, but his consistency and reliability kept Rosario on the roster. Over the last two seasons Rosario appeared in all but 1 game for the Bears. He only caught 17 passes for 129 yards and 0 TDs, but had a solid 6.3 run blocking grade over the last two seasons according to Pro Football Focus.
What to Expect from Dante Rosario in 2015
Rosario has played over half his career under Bears new HC John Fox which probably helps his chances of making the roster. It won’t be easy though as the Bears have 8 tight ends on the roster right now and three of them (Pascoe, Volger, Pantale) were brought in by the new regime. As I mentioned above, Rosario has been a solid blocker during his time with the Bears, but his blocking was barely adequate at times last season and he offers no value in the passing game. Ideally the Bears 2nd and 3rd TEs would be balanced enough to block and be able to at least keep defenses honest in the passing game. At 30 years old, I don’t see Rosario suddenly getting better as a receiver.
His main competition at the blocking tight end position will come from Bear Pascoe and Chris Pantale. Both players are younger and more athletic and Pascoe has a better track record as a receiver. On paper I think Rosario’s time with the Bears is at an end, but I’ve counted him out before and he keeps finding a way to wear the orange and blue on Sundays so I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up on the final 53-man roster in 2015. If Rosario ends up wining the job, we can expect solid run blocking and maybe 10-15 catches tops during the season.
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