So far this season Equanimeous St. Brown has been the clear number two wide receiver, behind Darnell Mooney. With the return of Velus Jones and N’Keal Harry, there is a question of whether or not Equanimeous St. Brown would lose his role in the offense moving forward. However, the Chicago Bears seem to like his role on the offense, and it is hard to see them moving away from him so easily.
Why the Chicago Bears like Equanimeous St. Brown
The biggest reason the Chicago Bears liked ESB when they signed him was his run-blocking. It was clear the team would be run-heavy when they went after him because he had been known as one of the best blocking wide receivers.
This has not changed so far. He ranks number one in the NFL in run-block grade amongst wide receivers, per PFF.
The other thing that the team likes about him is that he holds down the X role on offense. He runs the dirty routes, and while he does not win them as often as fans would like, he is on the outside, often lined up against the top cornerback on the opposing team, and always on the line of scrimmage.
What this does is allows the team to move Darnell Mooney around. They motioned him to presnap more often because ESB is the defacto number one who is on the line of scrimmage. Essentially fans were worried about Mooney being thrust into a number one role, but the Bears made ESB their decoy number to keep Mooney in a similar spot.
They also move Mooney into the slot much more than he had been. He is in the slot on 63.8% of his routes this season, which is up from 43.6% last season, and 36.1% during his NFL career.
Some of that is added because Allen Robinson was better off in the slot, and it made the Bears keep Mooney outside. With ESB on the outside as a strong blocker, they can get more creative with Mooney.
You saw Mooney make his big catch against the Vikings while aligned in the slot.