Chicago Bears: The good and bad of Darnell Mooney at WR1
By Evan Bruner
With the 2022 season on the horizon, fans around the league have begun to question whether or not Darnell Mooney has what it takes to be the Chicago Bears top receiver.
As the offseason comes to a close, the Chicago Bears roster for the 2022 season has started to take shape. Though free agency is still open, and the Bears will need to make cuts to make the 53-man limit, we have a general idea of what the team will look like.
One of the biggest storylines of the offseason has been the Ryan Poles’ hesitance to pull the trigger on any big free agents. This approach makes sense since the Bears are unlikely to be in contention in 2022, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t negatives to it. Statistically speaking, the Bears had one of the worst offenses in football in 2021, and little has been made to improve the situation. Even with the number of picks, the Bears were able to accumulate in this year’s draft, the team put an emphasis on defense in the earlier rounds. We can hope that one or two of the offensive linemen taken on day three end up developing into quality players, but as of now, it’s all guesswork.
This means that Darnell Mooney is almost certain to be the team’s WR1 on opening day. The addition of Velus Jones Jr. adds speed to the unit, and Byron Pringle and Equanimeous St. Brown add depth. Still, this group of pass catchers is far from optimal for a young quarterback looking to breakthrough. This has led many analysts to question the group’s talent, specifically Mooney’s qualifications to be a team’s No.1 option.
Here are the positives and negatives of having Darnell Mooney as WR1