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

Chicago Bears (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
Chicago Bears (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
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Chicago Bears, Jimmy Graham
Chicago Bears (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)

1. Jimmy Graham

We know that Matt Nagy wants to get multiple tight ends on the field. With Cole Kmet, Jimmy Graham, and Jesse James he might finally have personnel where he feels comfortable with getting them on the field together.

They can both lineup in-line, but that would take the slot off the field anyways. Beyond that, Kmet can lineup in-line while Graham can be a big slot, which is a better option for Graham than a blocker.

Last season the Chicago Bears had two tight ends on the field 19% of their offensive snaps, which was close to league average. As we know with Matt Nagy, in an ideal world he is above league average and having one of the better rates in the league.

Jumping to 24% would get the Bears into the top 10, and he could get into the top five with a 29% two tight end set rate. Essentially that would be another 100-120 snaps.

So, overall, the Chicago Bears are losing about 450 slot snaps. They are getting somewhere between 300 and 360 slot snaps in an ideal world by moving Allen Robinson inside more, getting Tarik Cohen healthy, and playing Jimmy Graham with Cole Kmet more often. From there, they can give or take, or even get Dazz Newsome 90 slot snaps to get his feet wet. The Bears can easily replace Miller with the players that they have.

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