In my last article, I spoke about the Chicago Bears’ need to draft or sign a free agent offensive guard in this year’s NFL offseason to replace Kyle Long. This time around we will look at the tight end position and profile three potential replacements that the Bears could target in the NFL Draft.
If you look at the current list of players in the tight ends’ room at Halas Hall, it’s hard pointing out any player that you could really have the confidence in being a big-time contributor for this Chicago Bear offense. A lot of that can be due to quarterback production, scheme or other factors, but simply put the Bears have struggled to get any quality production out of their tight ends for quite some time now.
If you go back and look at recent history, the only player to really put together a string of quality production at the position was Martellus Bennett during his stint with Chicago. Between the 2013 to 2015 seasons, Bennett was able to catch 208 passes for 2,114 yards and 16 touchdowns and you could count on him to free up some room in the running game.
Is that type of production realistic for a young player coming into the league? Quite possibly. You’ve seen teams like the Baltimore Ravens, who took risks early on in the 2018 NFL Draft with Hayden Hurst and Mark Andrews and saw immediate dividends. You have to ask yourself first, do you have that type of faith in Ryan Pace to find talent like that and draft it? It would be tough to suggest he would consider one of his tight end draftees (Adam Shaheen) is already looking like a bust and his expensive free-agent signee (Trey Burton) can’t stay healthy.
Realistically speaking, finding a player like a George Kittle, Zach Ertz or Travis Kelce is very tough so us Bears fans may have to temper our expectations when it comes to looking at potential draftees. With that being said, over the next three slides, I will profile three tight ends that I would love for the Bears to target in the NFL Draft in April.
Hunter Bryant
If you were able to keep yourself awake late each Saturday night to catch the Washington Huskies take on their Pac-12 counterparts this season, I’m sure you weren’t able to miss Hunter Bryant. The dynamic tight end put on a show this season catching 52 balls for 825 yards and three touchdowns while earning himself All Pac-12 and All-American honors. He was also a finalist for the 2019 John Mackey Award, which is given annually to the nation’s top tight end.
First and foremost, going into the draft, many are going to question Bryant’s toughness. The 2019 season was his first full season as he played nine games his freshman year but was limited to just five games his sophomore year as he elected to have knee surgery prior to the 2018 season.
One knack that I have seen Bryant getting criticized for is his inconsistency in his blocking. He has shown that he has the raw ability to be a good blocker but in order to maximize his full potential, he needs to give that effort each snap. As far as intangibles, he has the physique and body size that he will be able to leverage to get under defenders and provide holes in the run game or when pass blocking.
Luckily for a player of this caliber, there are far more pros than cons. The 6’2, 240 pound tight end has great quickness and ability to create separation in his route running. Couple that with his excellent hands, leaping ability and dynamic catch radius, you have a tight end that can prove to be a reliable asset in the passing game. That is something that the Bears desperately need should Trey Burton get hurt or fail to produce in 2020.
One thing to also look for in this pre-draft process is how he performs during his pro-day and during the NFL Combine. Bryant elected to forego the Las Vegas Bowl this past weekend so that he could focus on getting himself primed for the draft in April. Hopefully, this will allow him get himself completely healthy and work on other nuances in his game that many may have doubts about.
Albert Okwuegbunam
For one of the most well-known and intriguing prospects in the upcoming NFL Draft look no further in Missouri Tigers tight end, Albert Okwuegbunam. Most around the Southeastern Conference and college football landscape simply know him as “Albert O”.
Sitting at 6’5, 255 pounds, Okwuegbunam already possesses the frame that you currently see in some elite-level NFL tight ends. Like our previously mentioned Hunter Bryant, Okwuegnubam also has strong hands, good pass catching ability and a large pass catching radius. Over his three-year collegiate career, Okwuegbunam was able to haul in 98 receptions for 1,187 yards and 23 touchdowns. This was good enough for a 4.3:1 receptions to touchdown ratio which could be considered elite-level production.
Okwuegbunam had a slight regression in his statistical output in 2019. Prior to the 2019 season, his name was being brought up in several publications’ All-SEC or All-American team talks and on the shortlist for the John Mackey Award (he was a finalist in 2018), but he was simply unable to outproduce his counterparts at the position. Many are currently wondering if the loss of Drew Lock was a contributing factor in his regression this season.
If you were able to follow any Missouri football game this year, you would see that the Tigers loved to use a lot of play-action and RPO-type plays. Running these schemes really helped “Albert O” excel his game since he seemed to work better with short to intermediate routes. However, once the Tigers tried to run plays requiring him to run intermediate to long routes, he had inconsistency issues with getting separation from defenders. At the next level, he is going to have to refine his route running and ability to separate, as a whole.
Regardless of what happens between now and the NFL Draft, many key draft insiders still expect him to be one of the top tight ends selected this year. Like those insiders, I am expecting him to be selected in the second or third round. With the Bears current needs in the draft, I can’t see them risking drafting him with one of their two second round picks. If he were to fall to the 5th Round, where the Bears have multiple picks, there’s a chance he can be selected.
Adam Trautman
With this last profile, I decided to dig deep into this year’s draft class for a potential sleeper that may work his way up team’s draft-boards once postseason all-star games, pro-days and combines begin. That player is none other than Adam Trautman from the Dayton Flyers. The 6’6, 253 pound redshirt senior saw his draft stock rise this season after producing astronomical numbers at Dayton.
Trautman earned several publications’ FCS All-American honors and the Pioneer Football League Offensive Player of the Year after catching 70 receptions for 916 yards and 14 touchdowns during the 2019 campaign. Over the course of his career at Dayton, he caught 178 balls for 2,295 yards and 31 TDs. Trautman’s production did not go unnoticed as he was quickly invited to the Reese’s Senior Bowl that takes place at the end of January. On top of that, he was honored as a nominee for the STATS FCS Walter Payton Award, which is awarded annually to the nation’s top offensive player at the FCS level.
Trautman will leave Dayton holding several receiving records; including being the all-time leading receiver in the school’s history. Now, what can you expect at the next level?
He is definitely going to have to prove himself in the Reese’s Senior Bowl. Trautman never had the luxury of playing against top-level FBS talent week in and week out so many scouts are going to want to see what he can do when pitted against some of the game’s best linebackers and secondaries.
Some things you can look for in Trautman’s game is his ability to line up in multiple formations. At Dayton, the Flyers were able to move Trautman in the slot, outside or on the line. This type of versatility would be a perfect piece to the Nagy offense and could add a dimension the organization has not seen since he took the helm.
The productive tight end also has great and reliable hands. If you look back at his statistics, Trautman was able to secure a touchdown every 5.7 reception and give his quarterback a consistent red-zone target. This is the type of consistency you would see end top-end NFL tight end talent; something that the Bears desperately need to match with their current pass catchers.
With his value starting to soar, it’s hard to determine what might happen with Trautman in the draft. If I am looking at this draft as Ryan Pace, I would hope that I can draft an offensive lineman and linebacker with the two second-round picks and when the fifth comes back around, I can use one of my three fifth-round picks to select Trautman or Hunter Bryant.
The draft is always a stressful event for most Bears fans as we have not seen the organization make the moves to give us that feeling that we are heading back to glory. Let’s hope that this year might be that year where we can find additional pieces to set the foundation of a team that can return the Bears to the top of the NFL.