Stop me if you've heard this before, but the Bears have spent a bunch of time and resources this offseason dedicated to remedying mistakes they made with high draft picks in years prior.
Here's a fun twist, though. It has nothing to do with quarterback! This specific fun twist is about tight end, a position that the Bears are currently fine at, especially with Tuesday's news that they signed former Chargers tight end Gerald Everett to a two-year, $12 million deal. If you're not a Chargers fan and Everett's name sounds vaguely familiar, here's why:
New #Bears TE Gerald Everett was selected No. 44 overall in the 2017 NFL Draft, one spot ahead of…
— Adam Hoge (@AdamHoge) March 13, 2024
Adam Shaheen.
Adam Shaheen! There's a name. You may remember Shaheen – one of, if not the, original Baby Gronks – as the Bears tight end from Ashland College who had 249 career receiving yards on 26 receptions over three years (27 games) in Chicago. But he also had four touchdowns! He then went on to have more receiving yards for the Miami Dolphins, somehow (260).
Everett has had, uh, a better career since. In the seven years since he was drafted by the Rams, he's 2833 receiving yards on 284 catches with 19 touchdowns. He's averaged more than ten yards per reception in four of those seasons, something Shaheen only did twice. It's not like you really needed this blog to be convinced that Everett was the better pick than Shaheen, but now you know for sure. And also a fun lesson in: sometimes, when you get the draft pick wrong, you can just wait four years and sign the next guy for $12 million. The book closes on another Ryan Pace masterclass.