The Chicago Bears are set to sign their third-string tight end for another season
Remember when Ben Braunecker was a thing for Chicago Bears fans? The player they wanted to turn into their own version of Baby Gronk never quite lived up to expectations.
While it has not gone the way that Braunecker or even Bears fans would have liked, Ben Braunecker has held down an NFL career for three seasons now, and the Chicago Bears are looking to extend that to five years.
Reports have come out that the team is set to agree to a two-year extension with the former Harvard tight end.
The Bears are expected to re-sign tight end Ben Braunecker for two years, according to @moonmullinNBCS
— Bears Talk (@NBCSBears) March 11, 2019
More: https://t.co/faw4LAwrN7
Braunecker has nine receptions in three years, five coming last season. He played just 141 offensive snaps last year and 83 were as a blocker. He was not considered a big part of the offense.
However, the Bears are lacking depth at tight end in a big way. The summer after Matt Nagy proclaimed that he wanted to run multiple tight end sets and needed at least three different tight ends to work with the team was set to enter the offseason with two tight ends on their roster.
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Trey Burton is the obvious chess piece Nagy has been adamant about. However, that is because Nagy wants to compliment him with a seams splitter in Adam Shaheen but also a stud blocker. Shaheen has dealt with injury questions but when healthy will be that number two.
Last year Dion Sims was signed on for that role before ending his season early with injury. Sims is gone and Braunecker was reatained to compete for that third tight end job. It is a lot of blocking but a firm repsonsibility and one that Braunecker has not lived up to yet.
The fact of the matter is that Braunecker signed because he has little to no suitors and the Bears signed Braunekcer because they have no depth. It will be interesting to see if an outside name is signed or even drafted to compete with Braunecker for that third tight end spot. Expect at least one more name to be added to the mix.