This narrative is starting to get old. The thing is, it’s obvious to everyone that the Chicago Bears wide receiver corps is not great on paper. The question is, how well can they perform as a group in this new system under these new coaches? Talent is obviously important. However, at times, scheme fits and player combinations can also make a difference.
When it comes to the Chicago Bears, one national media and analysis site has typically chosen to berate this team over and over again — Pro Football Focus (PFF). As most Bears fans know, PFF has not been the most friendly to this team — especially when it comes to their grading system.
Kyle Fuller received a horrific grade during his rookie season. PFF gave him a grade of 38.0 in his rookie season (it’s now showing 47.7 on their site) despite starting 14 games, finishing with four interceptions, three forced fumbles and 64 combined tackles. After multiple complaints by fans on social media calling PFF out for their poor grade, Fuller received a 70.8 overall grade in 2015. His stats in 2015 after starting 16 games — two interceptions, no forced fumbles and 55 combined tackles.
I’ll admit stats don’t always tell the whole story, but there is no way that Fuller deserved a grade 32 points lower than he received in 2015 despite having better stats in 2014. Even if we look at the current grade they are showing of 47.7 (PFF changed their grading scale at some point), that’s still an undeserved difference of 23.1 points.
Then we have the grades that PFF has given to Roquan Smith. PFF gave Smith a grade of 47.1 last season — ridiculous! His best grade came in 2017 when he received a 67.2. Still ridiculous in my opinion.
Pro Football Focus ranks the Chicago Bears WR group as the worst in the NFL
Well, now Pro Football Focus (PFF) has ranked every wide receiver group in the NFL and awarded the Chicago Bears with the worst in the league.
Personally, having them dead last makes no sense to me. It’s the same narrative as sites ranking the Chicago Bears as the worst team in the league this year too. Darnell Mooney is not getting enough credit. Even if he’s not a true WR1, he’s definitely good enough to be one of the best WR2 in the league. Then you add in Byron Pringle and rookie wide receiver, Velus Jones and you have the potential for a better group than they are getting credit.
PFF has the Packers group as the second-worst and I don’t understand how they think the likes of Allen Lazard, Sammy Watkins, Randall Cobb and two rookie receivers in Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs are better.
Darnell Mooney is better than Lazard – no question. Pringle already proved last year that he’s better than Sammy Watkins at this point since he outperformed him in the same offensive system (Chiefs) that Watkins played in during the 2018, 2019 and 2020 seasons. Velus Jones might not be as good of a prospect as Christian Watson, but Watson is raw and Jones is likely to make a bigger impact this year.
The other teams near the bottom but ranked (reverse) higher than the Chicago Bears include:
- Houston Texans
- Baltimore Ravens
- Jacksonville Jaguars
- Atlanta Falcons
Giving new grades to the Chicago Bears 2015 NFL Draft class
We take a look at what the Chicago Bears did in the 2015 NFL Draft and assign new draft grades now that we know what each player can do.
I’d put this group ahead of Jacksonville and Atlanta for sure. In the end, none of these pre-season rankings matter though. It’s all about what happens on the field. If Justin Fields takes the leaps I expect him to take this season, this group will be much better than they look on paper. Plus, who know, maybe the Bears trade for DK Metcalf before the start of the season. Not happening, but the point is, that things like this could drastically change before the season starts.