The Chicago Bears have been rumored to have Anthony Miller on the trade block for quite some time. The former second-round pick never lived up to the expectations Ryan Pace and fans had for the former Memphis Tiger. He had a promising rookie season plagued with injuries in 2018. That season, Miller finished the year with seven touchdowns on 33 catches for 423 yards. He has also shown flashes of brilliance at times too — he has just lacked consistency.
Anthony Miller was never able to expand on that season though and seemed to have got on Matt Nagy’s bad side. We have talked about how the Chicago Bears seemed to move on from Miller to some degree last season with the emergence of Darnell Mooney. Mooney took over the second wide receiver spot and Miller found himself riding the bench often.
Well, now the Chicago Bears and Ryan Pace made good on that rumor as they have traded Anthony Miller to the Houston Texans. As of now, the report is that the teams have made late-round pick swaps in the deal. Not sure what that means yet, but I would hope at best they are giving Houston a seventh-round pick with Anthony Miller in exchange for at least a fifth-rounder.
The #Texans made a late-round pick swap with the #Bears and Anthony Miller has an new home. https://t.co/Q0HlC4TeTF
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) July 25, 2021
With Miller going to the Texans, he will instantly push for the second wide receiver spot behind Brandin Cooks. This will be a tough test for Miller though as he will be competing against the likes of Keke Coutee, Randall Cobbs and rookie Nico Collins.
The question for Anthony Miller is who will be throwing him the football. Will it be Deshaun Watson or will it be Tyrod Taylor? Watson would be the best quarterback Miller has played with in his career. Will Watson be able to unleash the receiver who wrote about how he was the best prospect in the 2018 NFL Draft? Not so sure, but at least Miller is getting another chance. To be honest, I was looking forward to seeing Miller have one last shot with Justin Fields now at QB.
This opens the door wide open for one of Riley Ridley or Javon Wims to remain on the team. In fact, both could if the Bears put Dazz Newsome on the practice squad. With only five picks in the 2022 NFL Draft, it would have been nice to acquire another draft pick.
As of now, this trade looks bad in my opinion. We will wait for the details, but if they aren’t moving up two rounds with the pick swap and not acquiring an extra pick, give me Miller over Wims easily — especially with a new quarterback situation. We will wait to officially judge the trade once we know the rest of the details though.