Morphing Bears Offensive Players
Last week the Bears signed offensive lineman Willie Wright, the first player brought in by new GM Ryan Poles and assistant GM Ian Cunningham.
No big deal here, just another a street free agent for the camp roster until you look at his weight. This center is 300 pounds.
Someone get that guy a sandwich. He's 16 pounds lighter than any offensive lineman on the roster.
The move signified what's going to change on offense going forward for the team under new offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, at least it should compared to teams who ran similar blocking schemes and offenses to what the Bears will now be running.
The change in types of personnel required to run the Bears defense in a 4-3 as opposed to the 3-4 they used over the last seven years is well documented.
Leaner, speedier defensive linemen are required to get upfield in gaps. Coach Matt Eberflus said as much when he warned players to bring their "track shoes" to Halas Hall.
The differences in the types of offensive players they need haven't been explored much but there is a difference. It's a big difference for some players. For some of them, it's going to mean being out on the street because they can't do anything about it the physical requirements.
Getsy has been vague about his offense aside from talking about molding around his quarterback, Justin Fields.
Considering he is coming from the Green Bay system and the Packers used a Shanahan-style wide zone blocking scheme with attack, it's likely to mean a real difference for the Bears offensive linemen and wide receivers.
Bears offensive linemen are going to need to be lighter, quicker and more agile. Big and bulky is gone.
The wide receivers for the Bears have been small and fast, almost smurfs. Downfield speed was the goal, although it rarely seemed to result in anyone running wide open in the secondary. They're going to need to get taller and heavier now while trying to retain as much speed as possible.
Whatever way you look at it, the offense needs new personnel but also different shapes and sizes. The strength and conditioning people will be earning their money.
Fat Is Not Where It's At
On the offensive line, Green Bay had only two offensive linemen over 320 pounds at season's end. One was 6-foot-8 Ben Braden so give the guy a break. He had to be heavier. It's not a basketball team. Besides, he didn't start a game. The average Packers offensive lineman was 310.5 pounds.
In a 2020 article with longtime Cleveland writer Tony Grossi, former Browns All-Pro tackle Joe Thomas described the changes a wide zone scheme would mean to their team when it was being instituted under Kevin Stefanski. He also detailed the kinds of drills to watch at the combine to see if a lineman fit the scheme.
More agile, faster, lighter linemen are necessary. We're not talking twigs, but guys who can get to the linebackers are necessary.
The Bears, on the other hand, were using inside zone blocking under Matt Nagy. They tried changing it up at times during parts of the last two years because the run blocking wasn't getting the job done, but you can't block outside zone effectively with heavyweights unless they're also quick-footed.
Finding that type of player who is huge and fast requires a bunch of first-round draft picks, and as everyone knows Ryan Pace didn't devote first-round picks to linemen. He usually traded those first-round picks away.
Linemen aren't going to get to the next level to hit linebackers if they're bogged down in the trench by their own weight.
A Bears offensive lineman averaged 326.8 pounds, or 16.3 pounds more than the Packers offensive lineman who ran the scheme the Bears will now run. Cody Whitehair (316) and Lachavious "Pig" Simmons (319) were the only Bears lighter than 320.
Bears linemen weren't always lumps.
When Sam Mustipher came to the Bears out of Notre Dame he was 305 pounds. He is 332 now. Alex Bars was 312 pounds and is now 334. James Daniels came out of Iowa at 295 and is now 327.
It's like this throughout their offensive line room. They weren't always playing this heavy, but they didn't simply let themselves go. The Bears wanted them this way. It was supposed to help an inside zone scheme.
That's gone and the fat has to go, as well, or they won't be able to block the outside zone scheme.
No Smurfs Allowed
At receiver, the difference is pretty dramatic too.
The Packers had taller, bigger men at receiver and in some cases used them effectively as run blockers in conjunction with the outside zone blocking. Bears receivers talked a big game about blocking the run or after the catch, but what is a 175-pound guy going to do blocking on a wide receiver screen compared to what a 210-pound wide receiver can do?
You can pick up a lot of third-and-4 plays with a wide receiver screen for 5 yards because two 210-pound wide receivers plowed out the 190-pound DBs so a 215-pound receiver could run like Deebo Samuel and knock people over.
Packers wide receivers at season's end averaged 6-foot-1 1/2 and 208 pounds. Bears wide receivers averaged 5-10 1/2 and 185 pounds. Allen Robinson and Isaiah Coulter were the only Bears receivers heavier than 197 pounds and taller than 5-11 out of the eight on the roster. The Packers had 12 receivers and nine were 6 feet or taller. Nine were 200 pounds or more.
The Bears roster will need to be altered greatly on offense anyway, as there are only a couple wide receivers under contract. Expect bigger guys.
They may add linemen in the draft or free agency who can better fit the wide zone scheme.
But it's certain bigger receivers and linemen who are lighter on their feet will be the goal because it's the only way to effectively operate an offense like Getsy wants to run.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
