Report: Bears Look at Big-Time Receiver

Treylon Burks of Arkansas reportedly visited the Bears and has been compared often to Deebo Samuel, although he'd be an even bigger version of the versatile 49ers pass catcher.

For the first time, one of this draft's best wide receivers paid a visit to Halas Hall and it's quite unlikely they'd be able to even select him without trading into the first round.

Arkansas wide receiver Treylon Burks was the player, according to a report by NFL Network's Ian Rapoport. Burks is viewed by many as a possible Deebo Samuel type. Among those who see it that way is Samuel himself.

"I can play outside receiver, inside receiver and running back," Samuel told reporters earlier this offseason at the NFL scouting combine. "It doesn't matter. That sets me apart from everybody else."

This is how Samuel does it with the 49ers. With all the talk about Samuel yanking his photos and mentions of the 49ers off his social media pages, it's possible the Bears or anyone else would want to offer something big for the real thing. It could take much less to land the player who claims to be like him.

"I've watched a lot of Deebo Samuel, just the way he plays running back, inside, outside," Burks said. "That's who I try to mimic game after."

Burks is closer to the classic X-receiver than Samuel, who is built more like a running back. Burks is 6-foot-3, 225 pounds while Samuel is 6-foot, 215.

"Really, the coach at Arkansas just wanted to get the ball in my hands any way they could," Burks said. "I told them from Day 1 I’m here to do what’s best for the team."

Samuel has 167 catches for 2,598 yards and 10 TDs and 81 rushes for 550 yards and 11 TDs in three years. The running back stuff didn't really start for Samuel until he got to the NFL, as he had only dabbled at rushing at South Carolina with 25 runs for 154 yards and seven TDs while making 148 catches for 2,076 yardsand 16 TDs

Burks actually has run it more in college, but hasn't carried it an unusually large number of times with 38 attempts for 222 yards and a TD. He had 146 receptions for 2,399 yards and 18 TDs at Arkansas.

One of the teams Samuel visited with was Atlanta and the Falcons have seen some Cordarrelle Patterson in him, the former Bears return man and receiver/running back.

"There is some comparison to that, just in body structure, how big we are, how fast we are. I've watched him a lot," Burks said.

Patterson is 6-2, 220, so he's actually a bit smaller than Burks.

At Arkansas, Burks did something else that would endear him to Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy should they be fortunate enough to land him—block.

"I would say at Arkansas coach (Sam) Pittman, he was an offensive line coach before being a head coach, so blocking was a big thing for us," Burks said. "We did that every week, work on blocking. Run-blocking was very important."

Burks is unique in a respect not related to the field. He is a hunter and fisherman, an Arkansas Razorback who hunted wild hogs with a knife.

"You have to go out there with dogs and the dogs find them and we come up behind them and tackle them and take them out," Burks said. "You have to game plan before you even go out there. Know exactly where they're going to be. You have to put vests on the dogs to make sure they don’t get hurt."

It's not likely the Bears could offer him much in the way of hog hunting but some have been known to bag a deer or two around Halas Hall grounds.

The Bears wouldn't be bagging Samuel unless he inexplicably fell out of Round 1 or even to very early Round 2, and with so many teams in need of receivers at the end of Round 1 it would seem very unlikely. The Packers and Chiefs are two of the teams needing a receiver badly.

If the Bears wanted to move up to bag Burks and make sure they got him, it would take trading their 39th pick and possibly their 48th in Round 2. On the Jimmy Johnson value chart, this gives them 930 points and they could get as high as 18th with this type of deal.

In his last mock draft, Mel Kiper Jr. of ESPN had Burks going 23rd to the Arizona Cardinals as a player who would replace lost free agent slot receiver Christian Kirk. Burks played almost three-quarters of his snaps in college in the slot, but is projected because of his size to be an X-receiver outside. 

The Packers pick 22nd and 28th, so the Bears likely would need to be ahead of them to draft Burks.

It wouldn't leave them much of a draft after that. They'd have the 71st pick, 148th, 150th and 186th to go with Burks if they found someone to take their two second-round picks and let them move into Round 1.

They could also donate a second-round pick from next year instead of both the 39th and 48th picks this year, but picks for the following year generally carry less value. Stil, it might be enough and it would allow them to keep the 48th pick in Round 2.

According to the updatedJohnson scale, a second-round pick from 2023 would be worth only the point value for the end of Round 2, which is 270 points. That would give the Bears just the 780 they would need to get as far as 21st, which is just above the Packers' top pick.

The team they could deal with in that case is New England, which owns the 21st pick and actually has a history of coveting second-round picks. However, the Patriots also need receiver help and might want Burks for themselves.

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