Ah, the sweet taste of victory.
Another domino falls as the Bears make yet another key offensive upgrade. This time it’s someone who not only helps Mitch Trubisky in the pass-catching department, but helps him in pass protection. Trey Burton, former Philadelphia Eagles tight end, will be going the Bears just a little over a month after earning a Super Bowl ring.
For the average fan that watches football on Sunday, it’s hard to see the value in a good tight end like Burton. A casual look at his stats and it’s easier to understand why one would be confused.
He doesn’t have Rob Gronkowski or Travis Kelce numbers, but Burton can and will do things that don’t get statistics attached to them. In this offense, he offers versatility. He draws attention from linebackers. He’ll line up in the slot. He’ll play some H-back and fullback and block well in the running game.
Burton will help set up the play disguises that Head Coach Matt Nagy loves to employ so frequently and I do expect his stats to increase significantly as the featured tight end here.
He won’t necessarily take snaps away from sophomore tight end Adam Shaheen. Instead, Burton may actually help Shaheen become more dangerous as a target. Though Burton is significantly the faster of the two, Nagy used multiple tight end offensive sets with the Chiefs and I expect that to continue in Chicago.
The move puts the writing on the wall for current tight end Dion Sims, whose first part of his contract becomes guaranteed this upcoming Friday. Barring something unexpected, Sims will likely be cut as the Bears look to save approximately $6 million of cap room.
Trubisky has to be smiling from ear-to-ear.
With just Allen Robinson and Burton alone, his pass-catching options have gone from the bottom of the entire league all the way up to pretty-freaking-good.
As of now, we’re looking at Robinson, Burton, Shaheen, Meredith and Cohen as options to catch passes.
With a list like that, this Bears team can win more games with those upgrades alone. What’s amazing, is they still aren’t done making sure Trubisky’s Year 1 to Year 2 jump is one the entire sports world can feel.
General Manager Ryan Pace isn’t messing around this off-season. His calculated moves are netting him a great return.
Leave a Reply