The Chicago Bears are going to give Anthony Miller another chance to prove his worth. That has a lot of fans uneasy, and rightfully so after Miller has now put in three seasons, and yet to find his stride. While it has to be fair to admit that the odds of a breakout after the start to his career have to be low, there are still examples of players who found their stride after a few disappointing seasons.
If Anthony Miller is looking to point to a few players who have had his issues and found a way, who would be the first names he listed?
3. Robert Woods
Robert Woods was the 41st overall pick by the Buffalo Bills. Anthony Miller was drafted five years later, and went ten picks later at pick 51. Both struggled to start their careers, and you can see below that they had almost identical starts.
| Rece | Rece | Rece | Rece | Rece | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Player | From | To | AV | G | Rec | Yds | TD | Y/R | Lng |
| 1 | Anthony Miller | 2018 | 2020 | 13 | 47 | 134 | 1564 | 11 | 11.7 | 55 |
| 2 | Robert Woods | 2013 | 2015 | 15 | 44 | 152 | 1838 | 11 | 12.1 | 57 |
Woods had 18 catches for 274 yards more than Miller, with the same number of touchdowns. That gives Woods just a 0.4 yards per catch advantage. Beyond that, Woods had 6.8 yards per target, while Miller has 7.2. He is slightly more efficient on a per-target basis.
The big issue with saying that Miller will break out like Woods did is that Woods did not breakout on the team that drafted him. If Miller leaves and goes onto have five good years with the Chiefs, Chicago Bears fans will not care.
Still, Woods is a testament to a player being a wrong fit with the wrong QB, and eventually being put in better situations before seeing himself thrive.