Release of Taylor Gabriel Should Help Mitchell Trubisky and WRs

After only two days from agreeing to terms with tight end Demetrius Harris, the Chicago Bears continued to make roster moves with the 2020 free-agency period slowly peaking along the horizon. Earlier today, the Bears released wide receiver Taylor Gabriel and cornerback Prince Amukamara. Both Gabriel and Amukamara were new additions to Chicago’s roster in 2018.

The departure of Amukamara may have a bit of an impact on the Bears’ defense, but not as big as Gabriel leaving the offense potentially will.

With Gabriel given his walking papers, there is now more of an opportunity for Chicago’s younger, bigger receivers to be more active in the passing game. In 2019, quarterback Mitchell Trubisky threw the majority of his passes to the 6-foot-2, 220-pound Allen Robinson II, resulting with Robinson accumulating 98 catches for 1,147 yards, and seven touchdowns (all team-highs).

Unfortunately, Gabriel’s stature (5-foot-7, 168 pounds) didn’t help Trubisky, making it harder for the inaccurate passer to hit the smaller target. Now, the Bears have an opening on the depth chart that will give the likes of Cordarrelle Patterson, Javon Wims, and Riley Ridley chances to be another big target for Trubisky in the passing game.

It’s no secret that Trubisky has a tendency to miss open receivers. So, what’s the next best thing to do for a quarterback such as this? You give him a receiver who has a large catch radius so that those off-target balls still have a chance of being caught. As mentioned earlier, Chicago already has one with Robinson. Just imagine how much better things could be for Trubisky with another big receiver on the field to complement Robinson.