The Chicago Bears saw a lot of turnover in the first few months of Ryan Poles. With a lot of the Ryan Pace players heading out of the door, Poles is giving young, and fresh faces plenty of chances to prove their worth.
With that in mind, some players are going to take advantage and make it the most productive year of their career.
3. Equanimeous St. Brown
It is not going to be too hard to Equanimeous St. Brown to beat his career-best marks. 37 catches for 543 yards and a touchdown would be a nice year for him where he stands right now, and those are his career numbers through three NFL seasons.
His career-best numbers are 21 catches for 328 yards. Seems doable. That is mainly because he is going to get a chance he has never gotten before. With Byron Pringle banged up, and Velus Jones dealing with some injury questions as well, it has ESB firmly as the wide receiver two entering the season.
The Chicago Bears really like him because he adds a blocking component., but the reality is that he is going to see the field a ton early into the season. With his size, speed, familiarity with the Luke Getsy offense, and the playing time that he is going to be getting it is easy to see why he is not only likely to have the best season of his career, but also may be in a spot where he can top his career-long numbers in just one season with Chicago. It would only take one or two good games.
2. Nicholas Morrow
Considering Nicholas Morrow did not play last season with an injury, it is easy to say that his 2022 is already better than his 2021. Still, Morrow has been in the NFL since 2017, and this is clearly his best shot at having a career year.
Morrow came up as depth but wound up starting five games in his first NFL season. He started five games in 2018 as a reserve as well, before getting considered a potential starter. Still, he started 19 games over the following two seasons.
He was started to earn a role, but it was a slow path to becoming a starter. The last we saw Morrow he played 11 games and posted a career-high 78 tackles with three sacks.
The fact of the matter is that if Morrow stays healthy this season then the Chicago Bears are going to see a career year out of him. He has never started a full slate of games, and he is certainly in line to do so this year.
Even more, whether he hits the statistical production, he is expected to call plays this year on defense. This is expected to make Roquan Smith more of a playmaker, but the reality is that it also is putting more on the plate of Morrow. With this much responsibility, it is clear that if he stays healthy and does his job his reputation will be much stronger in a few months than it is now.
1. Angelo Blackson
You may not have realized this, but Angelo Blackson had a career year last season for Chicago. Blackson has been in the NFL since 2015 but has always been nothing more than a rotational player who does his job in a limited capacity.
That was his role last year until Eddie Goldman and Akiem Hicks got hurt. That is when he wound up playing a career-high in snaps. The 584 snaps he played last season was more than the 550 he played for Arizona the year prior, which was his career high.
Blackson posted a career-high in tackles and tied his career mark in sacks. So, the question now is what would stop him from doing it again?
Hicks at least played at times last season, he is completely gone. Bilal Nichols is gone as well. This leaves him with Justin Jones, and Armon Watts, who was picked up just last week. Mike Pennel is in the mix, but he is just a nose tackle.
So, Blackson has every chance to play as many snaps as he possibly can. He has every chance to hit three sacks, which is more than the 2.5 he currently holds as a career-high. It is all up to whether he can handle the increased work because he has always been a rotational player.