Chicago Bears: How Best to Solve the Wide Receiver Issue

Don’t be fooled by the strong performance in Cincinnati. The Chicago Bears offense still has a wide receiver problem and it must be corrected.

The big question moving forward isn’t whether there will be changes. It’s how extensive they’ll be and where the likely upgrades will comes from. Looking ahead to 2018 the situation is fairly extensive. Their three top options currently on the roster will all be free agents. Kendall Wright and Dontrelle Inman both have one-year deals that will expire. Cameron Meredith will also be coming off his rookie deal as a restricted free agent.

In fact only Markus Wheaton and Kevin White will be under contract for them at the start of the new league year. There’s no guarantee either of those guys will be kept either given their rampant health problems of late. Thus the Bears could conceivably do a purge of the entire position and start over. Of course the odds are that won’t happen. So what will?

It will start with re-signings. At first glance there’s a chance that Meredith, Wright and Inman will all be retained. This won’t guarantee them permanent roster spots but each has enough credibility to warrant a trip to training camp. After that it gets interesting.

Chicago Bears wide receiver solutions center on the GM

Ultimately this is going to come down to one man. That’s Bears GM Ryan Pace. Like every year he will have two avenue open to him. Either he can find his help via the free agent market or he can take his chances in the NFL draft. Lately it appears his biggest successes have come from the latter with guys like Mitch Trubisky, Tarik Cohen, Adam Shaheen and Eddie Jackson all performing well. However, this coming year could be different.

Chicago will have upwards of $40 million in cap space when the league year begins. Depending on a few cut contracts, that could be drastically inflated as high as $70-80 million. In other words he’ll have plenty of money to spend if he wishes. Even better? Early indicators are the 2018 free agent crop of receivers will be one of the best in recent memory.

• Josh Gordon
• Allen Robinson
• Jarvis Landry
• Davante Adams
• Sammy Watkins
• Paul Richardson
• Terrelle Pryor

Of course there’s a chance some of those names will be retained by their current teams but the odds are that a good number of them won’t. More than normal due to salary cap and regime issues. In other words if Pace were aggressive enough he could conceivably land two top targets. Would he be willing to spend that kind of money? History says to be cautious against that.

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At the same time the draft isn’t shaping up to be loaded. While there is considerable talent expected to be available, there are few of what one would call “NFL ready” prospects. Calvin Ridley of Alabama fits that bill best. Would Pace go wide receiver in the first round for the second time in four years? It’s possible, but smart money says he might try to find a workaround. Free agency will present the biggest opportunity for him.

The lingering question is can he do better than his Wheaton misfire this past off-season?