Which Bears players may have a worse 2017 than 2016?
The best part of football is the ebbs and flows of the season. Each player’s stock rises and falls amongst the fanbase by every game or three-game run. However, as some players rise in affection, others have to come back down to earth. This is not to suggest that the player is bound to fall off, but what they did in 2016 was more productive than what they give in 2017.
5. Adrian Amos
Aside from Quintin Demps, Amos has the most experience on an NFL field. Considering that Demps is a free agent and Amos is the most experienced safety on the team in this defense. However, there is not even a guarantee that Amos will make the team in 2017.
Amos is a clear liability in coverage. At the same time, Harold Jones-Quartey had 12 more tackles in 200 fewer snaps. Jones-Quartey graded out similarly to Amos against the run, but for as rough as Amos was, Jones-Quartey was worse. Still, the team also brought in Eddie Jackson and Quintin Demps and experimenting with shifting Deiondre Hall to safety. Deon Bush is also in the mix, and all of the sudden both Jones-Quartey and Amos could be on the chopping block if they do not play their cards right.
While the odds are on Amos to make the team, the Bears are hoping that one of their younger safeties with higher investment in does take over eventually. Hall, Bush, and Jackson were all drafted earlier and more recently than Amos. Demps is taking one starting spot, making this a major make or break season for Amos, as he goes from a full-time starter to a player fighting for a future.
4. Mitch Unrein
Unrein started in nine games last season. Things went bad for the Bears last season, but if Unrein is starting anywhere close to nine games next season, 2017 will be going much worse than the 2016 season. Unrein is a player who can be defined as just a guy. He provides depth, hits assignments and understands his role. However, he does not change games, and he does not win power, speed or leverage.
The Bears added a lot of depth to the defensive front this off-season. Jaye Howard, John Jenkins, Kapron Lewis-Moore, and Rashaad Coward are all fresh faces that will be in camp. With Eddie Goldman, and Akiem Hicks winning spots easily, and Jonathan Bullard bringing the potential of a breakout year, the defensive line group is starting to get a bit crowded at the start of training camp.
Even more than Amos, Unrein is a Bear who is going to have to fight for his roster spot on the team, let alone a starting job. Unrein was second on the Bears defensive line in snaps played last season, and while nothing is a guarantee, you could feel pretty comfortable betting against that happening again in 2017.
3. Zach Miller
Zach Miller has defied a lot of odds to get to this point in his career. However, he now enters 2017 rehabbing from another injury at age 33. On top of that, the team signed a free agent tight end and drafted a tight end in the second round. Miller is a free agent next season and given the longer term investments to other players at his position, the writing seems to be on the wall that this is it.
Late into the season if the Bears are not making the playoffs there is no need
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to throw out Miller instead of a learning Adam Shaheen. Even Daniel Brown would fit a similar role to Miller and is going to be under team control longer, as he is an exclusive-rights free agent. This means that one hiccup in his recovery, or even one preseason game in which he does not look like he has the same hop in his step and he could be on the roster bubble.
Miller has eclipsed 400 yards and four touchdowns in each of the past two seasons. Last year he did so in just eight starts. However, next year he may only make eight starts if he stays healthy, and as the season goes on his production and standing on the team could be on the decline.
2. Danny Trevathan
This one has an even bigger injury caveat than Miller. Trevathan looked like a great signing at the time, but a torn patellar tendon does not usually bode well for NFL players moving forward. The injury has not been the same death sentence that it used to be, but it is going to take about a year of recovery time.
He is almost certainly going to be out for the first six weeks of the season, and it is going to open the door for Nick Kwiatkowski, who wound up starting his fair share of games for the Bears in his rookie season. He looked comfortable in the role and is going into the season knowing he has a starting job to lose. If he can take that step forward it will become very hard for Trevathan to unseat him at all. The two may head into the 2018 offseason with a very awkward situation if Kwiatkowski plays his cards right.
1. Cameron Meredith
There has been a decent amount hype surrounding Meredith and what kind of upside he may have after breaking out in 2016. However, there are some reasons to pause and look back at his 2016 and wonder what his ceiling can be.
When looking at the breakdown of how Meredith accumulated his yards, the vast majority came over four games. Over those games, he had 38 catches, 482 yards, and two touchdowns. In the other 12 games, he had 28 catches, 406 yards, and two touchdowns. What stands about those four games are the quarterbacks passing attempts. In the games where Meredith put up over half of his seasons worth of stats, his team averaged 43 attempts per game. In the 12 games in which he was pedestrian, the team averaged 32 attempts per game. Given that the team is going to be a run-first team behind Jordan Howard, and hopes to have a better defense the team should be looking to keep that number in the low 30s moving forward.
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Add in Victor Cruz, Markus Wheaton, Kendall Wright and the potential of Kevin White, and he should not see the same amount of targets. Meredith is likely good as a big slot receiver, or a third option in the passing game. He likely should not be the team’s top wide receiver, and may not be that if one of the other four talented names can step up.