Bears Players Who Could Blossom

There are expectations and then there are great expectations.

Justin Fields is a player the entire league expects bigger things from in 2023 and no one would be surprised if he delivers.

There have been enough glimpses and even stints of brilliant play to make it too obvious he can be what the Bears expected when he was drafted.

The same is true for DJ Moore, after a career when he has made this a habit.

Less apparent but perhaps also possible are rises by other players who now have been in this offense and defense for a year or who have come into roles with greater responsibility than in the past.

These are the six Bears who could really surprise the league in 2022.

1. RB Justin Herbert

Late last year Herbert was coming off a hip injury that kept him away four games. When he was returning, Bears coach Matt Eberflus was excited for the offense.

"It will be good to have our 1-2 punch back along with Justin in the run game," he said.

Last year Herbert was the "2" in that 1-2 punch. Now that he has ascended to No. 1 it would seem, and in his case it's very easy, to see him doing something to completely surprise.

Some might say he shocked everyone already by averaging 5.7 yards a carry, a league best among backs with enough carries to qualify for the rushing title. But when a runner has only 129 carries he's often viewed as the third-down or relief back and not capable of supporting the offense an entire game.

No matter what, Herbert is going to have more responsibility whether he emerges the clear No. 1 or it's a shared responsibility with D'Onta Foreman.

Here's how he handles responsibilty.

In his first season, during the four games when he was given 18 carries or more, Herbert averaged 4.41 yards per attempt. In 13 other games when he totaled only 25 carries, he averaged 3.6 yards a carry.

Last year he averaged 5.85 yards a carry when he had 110 attempts over nine games with a minmum per game of seven rushes. In the other games when Herbert was limited to less than seven rushes, he still did well but at 4.6 yards a carry it's obvious that this is a back who gets far better with more carries.

In his case, it usually means more chances to break longer runs and up his average.

Expect Herbert to capitalize totally on this chance to replace David Montgomery, who was averaging 3.99 yards per carry for his Chicago career.

2. Chase Claypool

Everyone is quick to dismiss Claypool based on ... what exactly? Arriving in the middle of a season, not knowing the offense and missing out on a chance to do something in four games when either he or Fields was hurt? Or maybe it was the poor start he had in Pittsburgh last year when the offensive coordinator decided to change him into a slot receiver and he was getting hitches or 3-yard outs all game.

Even on Tuesday, The Athletic had a story quoting an unnamed "NFC executive" who blasted GM Ryan Poles for trading the 32nd pick to get Claypool ... again.

“If I’m a Bears fan, I’m still really pissed that we lost the 32nd pick in the draft for Chase Claypool,” the anonymous exec chortled. "How bad does that move look now that you had to include D.J. Moore in the No. 1 pick trade?"

The Bears wanted a player in the trade, they weren't going into it looking for another first-round pick. Moore was just one of three possible players, as the same website reported.

Of course, it won't look good for the Bears until or if Claypool produces more than last year in a partial season. It's easy to blast someone when they haven't had a chance to prove something.

Regardless, what's even worse is anonymous gutless criticism by executives who usually are the type to become ex-executives in the NFL. They need to put their names behind it or shut up and fade away. What's next, blasting him on a Twitter burner account?

People tend to forget Claypool as a rookie averaged 14.1 yards a catch and made 62 receptions with nine touchdowns. He did this in a year when Ben Roethlisberger was clearly near the end and throwing the ball out in 2.6 seconds on average to avoid getting sacked. Claypool accomplished it despite the presence in the receiver corps of Diontae Johnson (88 catches), JuJu Smith-Schuster (97 catches) and James Washington (30 catches) taking up targets. It was a crowded receiver room, like he'll see with the Bears.

Claypool came back the next year in a new offense, under a new coordinator and wasn't quite as good of a red zone threat with only two TDs, but still totaled only 13 yards and three catches less than as a rookie while averaging 14.6 yards a reception. He did this with one less game than his rookie year due to injury.

They had a switching of QBs last year and by the time Claypool left Pittsburgh he still had 32 catches, but in the new role of slot receiver he had only 9.7 yards a catch.

If ever a player appeared ready to step up and stun it's Claypool, who has a contract at stake now.

3. DE Trevis Gipson

Gipson came into the league trying to learn how to play standing up as an outside linebacker, and spent half a season as a scout team guy. By his second year, he learned well enough that he was making seven sacks as the replacement for injured Khalil Mack. He forced five fumbles in that season.

Last year again it was something entirely new. Learning to be an attacking lineman with a hand down in the one-gap system was something different and he still played better than his final stats said, with only three sacks.

Gipson closed with quarterback hits in three straight games, the first time he had done this all year. He had just three sacks last year, but it probably escaped most that he had 18 pressures. This was one more than in his good season in 2021. He just needs to close more in pass rush. Being more confident while knowing the scheme better could push him back over to the winning side.

Against the run, Gipson was nowhere near as poor as some other players up front. In fact, ESPN rated him sixth among all defensive ends in run-defense win rate at 29%.

Stunning everyone with a big effort in a contract season would be a repeat of sorts because he'd already done something like this in his second year after learning throughout his first season.

4. CB Kyler Gordon

Gordon experienced a tough rookie year with a passer rating against of 101.9, according to Sportradar. He gave up three TD passes and 76.8% completions.

Behind those numbers was the fact he played slot cornerback two-thirds of the time and had never done this before to this extent. He spent only 17.25 plays a game in the slot over the last four and played his best football, twice getting PFF pass coverage grades in the 70s for his second- and third-best efforts of the year. He made two of his three interceptions then, too.

The Bears have seen where Gordon is most effective and it would behoove them to get another slot cornerback and let Gordon play outside.

Either way, based on late-season momentum it's safe to assume a more confident second-year player will surprise people.

5. RB D'Donte Foreman

It's unclear how many carries Foreman can expect a game now but either way he has proven the last two years that much like with Herbert, the more he gets the better he'll perform.

None of this was clear in his first four years as one and part of another he missed rehabbing an Achilles and he had another season-ending injury besides. He played only sporadically then, so those four seasons must be discounted.

In the last two years Foreman has averaged 4.6 yards an attempt when he has at least eight carries in games for Tennessee and Carolina.

He also could be a Bears player waiting to stun.

6. DT Justin Jones

Jones made 12 tackles for loss last year. It's a number lost on many because of defensive problems the Bears had, but in Matt Eberflus' four seasons with the Colts only in one other year did the three technique make more than Jones last year, and that was in Year 1 when DeMeco Ryans made 13. Even DeForest Buckner, a player Eberflus constantly talks about, never made 12 TFLs for the Colts.

What's ironic is Ryans made 13 and the Colts moved him to end when they acquired Buckner. At season's end the Bears tested Jones at defensive end in a few games.

Whether they'd actually move Jones to end remains to be seen. It's more likely he'd be moving around on the line than staying put at end. Either way more can be expected from him based on a first season when he was learning a new defensive scheme and a position he hadn't really played the same way in the past.

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