3 Chicago Bears whose slot snaps will increase in 2021 without Anthony Miller

The timing may have been a bit surprising, but the writing was on the wall that the Chicago Bears would be trading Anthony Miller at some point. The move was finally pulled off when he went to the Houston Texans for a late-round pick swap.

Because the Bears went through the draft and free agency and did not make a move an argument started to build that Miller may stay. The main reason was that the Bears did not quite have a slot wide receiver to replace Miller. Even now, Dazz Newsome may be one of the first true slot receivers in mind to step in for Miller and that is a day three rookie with an injury.

Last season Miller took 427 snaps from the slot, and with an extra game, the Bears will be looking to replace about 450 from last season. That would be a lot for Dazz Newsome. Here are three players who also will see more slot snaps.

3. Allen Robinson

One of the best attributes of Allen Robinson is his ability to move around. He is excellent on the outside, but at times can shift into the slot and dominate smaller wide receivers with his precise route running.

What is interesting to note is that he has been used in the slot often by Chicago, but they got away from it in 2020. In Jacksonville, he spent 13, 15, and 21% of his snaps in the slot, per PFF. Then, in 2018 the Chicago Bears put him in the slot on 39% of his snaps and 41% the following year. In 2020 that number dropped down to 29%.

Without Anthony Miller, you can expect 10-12% more snaps from Robinson in the slot. They could even get to 15% knowing that they added Damiere Byrd and Marquise Goodwin who roam the outside.

They could have speed on the outside, and let Allen Robinson eat up the soft underneath. This would amount to 80-100 more snaps for Robinson and eat into the loss of Anthony Miller in the slot.