Chicago Bears Depth Chart: The most underrated battle heading into camp

Chicago Bears kick return options: Damien Williams, Running Back

The Bears stacked their running back room this offseason by adding Damien Williams to be their insurance policy for David Montgomery and give him a rest every so often. Williams last played in the Super Bowl prior to the 2020 season impressing with two touchdowns. He then opted out of the 2020 NFL season due to COVID.

Now, Williams has to prove he can still play. He likely won’t do much work as a running back barring an injury to Montgomery, but he could prove his worth as a kick returner. In his second season in the NFL, Williams returned 21 kicks averaging 21.8 yards per return back in 2015. Again, since this competition is wide open, any experience goes a long way.

Chicago Bears kick return options: Anthony Miller, Wide Receiver

Anthony Miller saw himself lose the number two wide receiver role to Darnell Mooney last season, so he may want to find a way to get onto the field more. The explosive wide receiver out of Memphis hasn’t quite lived up to his hype as a slot wide receiver, but he still has one more year on his contract to win Matt Nagy over.

Miller returned six kicks as a rookie in 2018 averaging 23.2 yards per return. The following two seasons, he only returned one kick in each season. Now with Patterson out of the picture, maybe he can earn that role as the returner and establish himself a productive role on the Bears.