The Chicago Bears claimed Trevon Wesco from the New York Jets. Wesco has been with the New York Jets since 2019, but that means being there through the Adam Gase days. While many Chicago Bears from the Matt Nagy were wiped away, Wesco stuck around his old team for a bit, but they officially turned the page.
What will be interesting to see with Wesco is how the team uses him. One of his strengths in college was his versatility. He was a hybrid between fullback and tight end. So far with the New York Jets, he has been in the fullback role for 27.5% of his snaps. Then, he spent 65.6% of his snaps as a tight end, and 6.9% as a wideout.
Still, that is about what describes the role of Jake Tones, a rookie UDFA from Cal. Tonges was a tight end at Cal but has been taking fullback snaps. It would be one thing if the two of them split duties at fullback, but the team also has Khari Blasingame, a full-time fullback.
So, while Tonges and Wesco can move into the fullback role, they really are not needed in that role. Both of them are much more valuable than the actual tight ends, considering the team has only Cole Kmet and Ryan Griffin as their top options.
The assumption when James O’Shaughnessy was cut was that he may circle back to the team when the team added N’Keal Harry to the IR. In actuality, it was Tajae Sharpe to the IR, and Wesco sliding into the role that they apparently had in mind for O’Shaughnessy. That would likely mean more tight end snaps, and only being an emergency fullback.
At the same time, being able to motion Blasingame to tight end and Wesco to fullback may be worth a formation look that could get teams to burn a timeout. Either way, it adds depth to the tight end room, with a touch of versatility.