What can Fantasy Football owners expect from Dion Sims in 2018?
Ryan Pace brought Dion Sims in last season to help solidify the team’s tight end position and give the offensive line a boost in the blocking department. The Chicago Bears had Zach Miller set to start, but Miller isn’t the strongest blocker and with his history of injuries, he couldn’t be relied upon for 16 games. The Bears eventually would draft Adam Shaheen, but he was a project out of Ashland.
The results the Bears got from Sims were not good. Sims didn’t fit well in the offense and between the struggles of Mike Glennon and the rookie growing pains of Mitch Trubisky, Sims had zero impact on the stat page and seemed largely a bust overall.
The Bears had an out on Sims’ contract and would only have to eat $1 million against the cap but the deadline to cut Sims came and went and the Bears chose to keep him on the roster. Some people said the Bears kept Sims because they wanted a strong blocking tight end, but you don’t keep someone you only think will be a sixth offensive lineman at $6 million for the season.
Clearly, Matt Nagy sees Sims as a useful player. Yes, he’ll be used as the team’s primary blocking tight end, but the way this offensive is structured, he won’t be TE3 because Trey Burton plays a different position.
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Burton is not going to be used as an “in-line tight end” he’s going to be used as a “move tight end” and be spread further off the line and used primarily as a receiver. That means that Adam Shaheen will be slated to be the starting TE and Sims will be his back up. Burton is a receiver and while he will be seeing targets, he won’t be getting any as a traditional tight end.
That means the Bears kept Sims for one of two reasons: either they are concerned that Shaheen won’t be ready to start in his second year or they feel Sims can play a role in the offense all season long.
Sims is going to get opportunities this summer to show that he should be a part of the offense, but a tie is definitely going to Shaheen because he will be a part of this team long-term, while Sims probably won’t remain on the team beyond this season.
Next: 2018 Adam Shaheen Fantasy Projections
What does this mean for Fantasy? It means if Shaheen gets hurt or struggles, you should keep your eye on Sims as a low-end TE2. He does not have TE1 value and even if Shaheen gets hurt, based on Burton and the other receiving options, he won’t even push high-end TE2. Sims definitely needs to start on the waiver wire and might (might) be worth a waiver wire pick up if the Bears have injury issues.
Dion Sims’ stat projections: 21 catches, 195 yards, 9.3 Avg, 1 TD