What is the best possible outcome for Sam Acho in 2017 and what his worst possible outcome?
As we get ready for the 2017 Bears season, it is a good time to look at the ceiling and floor of every player currently on the Bears roster. Of course, career ending injury is the absolute floor, but we will try to keep it to an on the field scenario. Also, this is the most reasonable ceiling to be set, Mitchell Trubisky is not going to be Super Bowl MVP, MVP and Rookie of the Year this season. With that all said, this edition will look at outside linebacker Sam Acho.
Best Case:
Acho gets a lot of time as a special teamer in training camp. This essentially assures him a roster spot early into the preseason. However, his play in the preseason on the defensive side of the ball has them curious to give Acho a few snaps on defense. Acho slowly but surely finds himself as one of the top four edge rushers in a rotation, taking over for an underwhelming Lamarr Houston. Acho puts up 4.5 sacks in a rotational role and is a key special teamer throughout the season. In the offseason, the Bears extend Acho on a two-year, $3 million deal to be a rotational role player moving forward.
Worst Case:
Acho gets out of the gates slow in training camp and finds himself taking fourth-team reps with the outside linebackers. Linebackers such as Jonathan Anderson, John Timu, Christian Jones and Dan Skuta all see more special teams reps than him, and all four get more preseason playing time. Acho is cut before the season and finds himself bouncing around to three different teams over the next 16 weeks. Acho heads into the offseason a free agent and has to sit around until deep into summer before he gets a call to be a training camp body.