Predicting the Chicago Bears stars of the preseason
3. Tanner Gentry, WR
Instead of drafting an early-round wide receiver to replace Alshon Jeffery, the Chicago Bears opted to attack the low-to-mid tier free agent market at the position this offseason, adding Kendall Wright, Markus Wheaton and Victor Cruz to the mix. The Bears will rely heavily on Cameron Meredith, Kevin White and their trio of veteran free agent additions in 2017, but there is still an extremely interesting rookie receiver to keep an eye on.
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Tanner Gentry went undrafted out of Wyoming but the Bears quickly scooped him up after the 2017 NFL Draft. Gentry is listed at 6-foot-2, 209 pounds and he uses his size extremely well on the field. The Wyoming product is far from a burner on the outside, but he shows impressive overall athleticism when going up for the ball and an incredible knack for coming down with the catch.
Gentry uses his size extremely well to box out opposing defensive backs and attacks the ball in the air well. His catch in traffic ability is incredibly impressive, making him an interesting jump ball red zone option down the line.
As a senior at Wyoming, Gentry caught 72 passes for 1,326 yards and 14 touchdowns. He was a legitimate threat down the field who seemed to always come away with the ball in jump ball situations. The jump in competition from the Mountain West to the NFL is significant, but Gentry certainly has the natural skill set to compete.
Gentry has been impressive in training camp and appears to already be getting a strong rapport with the quarterback of the future, Mitch Trubisky.
I expect the Bears to give Gentry ample opportunity to prove himself in preseason action. He is an extremely interesting player who could become a major asset for this team down the line. A team in an obvious rebuilding situation, the Bears need to work hard to create assets out of guys like Gentry. You only have so many early round picks. If you can find and develop late-round and undrafted gems, the chances of a successful rebuild increases dramatically.
I believe in Gentry’s talent and see him getting a heavy workload in the preseason. Even if he ends up being a practice squad guy, I expect that we will see Gentry grow into a preseason star over the next few weeks.