Equanimeous St. Brown Glad to Stay Put

Bears receiver corps for 2023 already begins to take shape with plenty of room to grow.

When the Bears started last offseason they had four receivers under contract: Darnell Mooney, Dazz Newsome, Isaiah Coulter, and Nsimba Webster.

When they go into this offseason they're well ahead of that pace in terms of talent after Equanimeous St. Brown signed Wednesday for one more year at $1.25 million. The same number of receiversare under contract now as they had when last offseason started but there is much more experience.

"I just talked to my agent probably like two weeks ago and we talked about things and we thought it would be the best decision for me to stay here," St. Brown said Thursday at Halas Hall.

St. Brown came to Chicago partly because of Luke Getsy being offensive coordinator, and he had worked under him in Green Bay.

It's not the only reason for returning.

"Just cause I think we're building on something here and I feel like the coaching staff and the organization likes me," St. Brown said. "I like it here, I'm happy here, so I want to stay here."

It's actually a relief for him remaining in Chicago.

"It's less stress, you don't have to worry about what move you're going to make as a free agent," St. Brown said. "I know where I'm going to be at come the spring and I've got to work in the offseason."

The other receivers under contract are Velus Jones Jr., Chase Claypool and Darnell Mooney. They definitely could add more in the draft or even free agency with a league-high $119 million projected under the salary cap for 2023 by Spotrac.com.

The next step says St. Brown, is to work with Justin Fields in the offseason some to get better timing.

"I think we have something to build off," St. Brown said. "Our run game has been good, our pass game has struggled a little bit, but I think as the season has gone on it's gotten better.

"We've got a lot of work to do, but I think we'll be ready for next year."

Unless the Bears plan to bring back return man Dante Pettis, look for them to get Jones and/or running back Trestan Ebner some punt returns in Sunday's game.

Jones did it earlier this year and muffed two key punts in losses. He has been building momentum and confidence as a kick returner, though.

Ebner just got a chance to field one punt in the game and made a fair catch. Special teams coordinator Richard Hightower said they would be watching for specifics if he does return again.

"Just his playmaking ability, what he's done in practice, the way he's fielding the ball," Hightower said. "The decisions that he's been making, his attention to detail.

"He deserved an opportunity to go back. I'm happy he got that opportunity."

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