USA Today
Tight End Position a Key Source of Bears Irritation
Quarterback might seem to be the one position Ryan Pace hasn't adequately addressed on this Bears roster.
Compared to the nightmare at the tight end position, Mitchell Trubisky has had the prolonged consistent excellence of Joe Montana.
It's been a veritable parade of bodies through Chicago at tight end since Pace arrived as general manager in 2015 and took one season to decide they didn't need Martellus Bennett.
This season, the Bears have one touchdown reception from the tight end position, the 18-yarder Ben Braunecker hauled against Detroit last Sunday.
2019 Bears Tight Ends
Salary Cap Hit
| Player | Cap Hit |
|---|---|
Trey Burton | $8.55 million |
Adam Shaheen | $1.61 million |
Ben Braunecker | $1.04 million |
J.P. Holtz | $466,000 |
Bradley Sowell | $1.38 million |
Jesper Horsted* | $255,000 |
Dax Raymond* | $88,000 |
Ian Bunting-z | $11,666 |
Ellis Richardson-z | $1,500 |
Dion Sims | $333,3334 |
*Practice squad z-failed to make team ^dead cap hit
The Bears brought in nine kickers at once last offseason for tryouts and drew national ridicule, but only three of those players actually signed and Eddy Pineiro emerged the winner.
By contrast, they've paid five tight ends on the roster this year and used only four of them. Bradley Sowell has been inactive or waived before every single game after switching his position from tackle. They paid cap money for two more tight ends on the practice squad, and ultimately have had to pay money against their salary cap to 10 total tight ends this year including Dion Sims, four undrafted free agents and the five tight ends on the roster.
In fairness to Pace, if Zach Miller remained healthy the entire debacle might be history by now. And this year if Trey Burton returned to the lineup entirely healthy, much of the criticism likely would have been muted.
Burton's 2018 season was the best overall by a Bears tight end since Bennett in 2013. Burton is the league's eighth-highest-paid tight end this season.
Burton's groin injury and now a calf injury have held him to 14 catches for 84 yards and no TDs. He's basically trying to play hurt.
"I feel like for him, he's not at that 100 percent level, so it's trying to say, 'OK, what are the right routes for him to do to where you feel that burst or you feel like he can beat man coverage,' " coach Matt Nagy said. "He's giving it everything he can and that's just kind of where we're at.”
Pace's biggest project at the position has been Adam Shaheen, his second-round pick in 2017. A risky pick out of Division II Ashland, Shaheen already could be headed the same place as Pace's first pick, Kevin White or his third-rounder from 2015, center Hroniss Grasu.
The Bears saw Shaheen as poised to assume a larger role when the regular season was about to start. He plays the Y tight end position in the offense and had been plagued by injuries each of his first two years.
"I think Shaheen's in a really good place right now," Pace said a few days before the season started. "We're excited where he's at."
It's less exciting now after he was left inactive last Sunday and facing the possibility of more games watching while Ben Braunecker plays the spot. Shaheen has nine catches for 74 yards a year after making 12 for 127 yards. For his 2 1/2 seasons he has 26 catches.
Instead, they're left trying to decide whether Shaheen gets back to being active on Sundays.
"We want all of our players to be able to be completely detailed and play hard and do everything they can to be the best player they can be," was Nagy's response when asked how Shaheen can get back on the field.
Asked if Shaheen would be active going forward, Nagy only said: "Again, we're kind of working through all that."
It seems an appropriate way to explain the way they're going through the tight end position as a whole considering how players have been used this year as well as every year Pace has been GM.
Ryan Pace era tight ends
2015
Martellus Bennett 11 games, 53 receptions, 439 yards, 4 TDs
Zach Miller 15 games, 34 receptions, 439 yards, 5 TDs
Rob Housler 4 games, 3 receptions, 27 yards
Khari Lee 16 games, 1 reception, 7 yards
2016
Zach Miller 10 games, 47 receptions, 486 yards, 4 TDs
Daniel Brown 6 game, 16 receptions, 124 yards, 1 TD
Ben Braunecker 13 games, 4 receptions, 41 yards
Logan Paulsen, 16 games, 3 receptions, 15 yards
MyCole Pruitt 2 games, 1 reception, 6 yards
2017
Zach Miller 8 games, 20 receptions, 236 yards, 2 TDs
Dion Sims 14 games, 15 receptions, 180 yards, 1 TD
Daniel Brown 14 games, 13 receptions, 129 yards
Adam Shaheen 13 games, 12 receptions, 127 yards, 3 TDs
2018
Trey Burton 16 games, 54 receptions, 569 yards, 6 TDs
Adam Shaheen 6 games, 5 reception, 48 yards, 1 TD
Dion Sims 8 games, 2 receptions, 9 yards
Daniel Brown DNP
Ben Braunecker 15 games, 3 receptions, 42 yards
2019
Trey Burton 8 games, 14 receptions, 84 yards.
Adam Shaheen 8 games 9 receptions, 74 yards.
Ben Braunecker 9 games, 3 receptions, 42 yards
J.P. Holtz 7 games, 2 receptions, 23 yards,
Bradley Sowell DNP
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