Chicago Bears: Pros and Cons of Potential Free Agent WRs
Paul Richardson, Seattle Seahawks
Positive: If you looking for a guy that is the prototype Pace free agent acquisition at least in wider receiver category, Richardson is that guy. He’s 25 years old (will be in 26 in April), in the prime of his career and coming off career highs in catches, yards and touchdowns.
Richardson arrow is trending up, and he, like Watkins, could benefit with a change of scenery. He lacks ideal size that you want in a go-to receiver, but he exceeds in making tough difficult catches, almost similar to Alshon Jeffery. His speed is his best quality as he can get past secondaries and make big plays.
If you looking for the perfect complement to Cameron Meredith, Richardson provides that and more.
Negative: With the Jarvis Landry tagged and Allen Robinson maybe soon to follow, Richardson is going to command a big pay-day, likely in the 9-to-12 million dollar range.
That is quite the gamble for a guy with only one year of solid production. You also have to figure in that Richardson has already suffered two serious knee injuries in his career, one in college and the other a couple years ago in a wild-card game.
We saw this past year how much injuries to your top two WR’s can derail what you want to accomplish in your offense. With Richardson, he’s a high-risk/high-reward player: you could be getting a Marvin Jones-type acquisition or Markus Wheaton all over again.
"(Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) Marqise Lee, Jacksonville Jaguars Positive: Lee’s first couple years in the league didn’t look promising, but everything started to come together for him in 2016. He went from catching just 15 passes in 2015 to 63 in 2016 to go along with 851 yards and three touchdowns. Then, he followed that up with 56 catches for 702 yards and three touchdowns this past season. Lee excels best moving the chains on short-to-intermediate routes. He has good hands and great route awareness that made him a trusted target for Blake Brotles. Negative: Lee ceiling might be just an average-to-above-average #2 wide receiver. If you are getting him to fill a role as a valuable slot receiver or dependable #2 target, then it will be money well spent. But if you think you getting a budding #1 guy, you’re going to be in for a huge disappointment. You can definitely win with Lee as a key contributor in your offense, but he’s not a guy that you build a solid passing attack around. So if you want that type of player, maybe you can add him as well as someone else or just pay him like a second or third option. Next: Albert Wilson (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) Albert Wilson, Kansas City Chiefs Positive: The Chicago Bears have lacked a dependable slot receiver since Earl Bennett. Kendall Wright filled in nicely, but one has to wonder if his stats were the result of being the only viable target at the WR position. The Bears can benefit from a slot receiver that can make big plays downfield while also being that dependable safety net over the middle of the field when they need to move the chains. Wilson was just that for the Chiefs last year. When Nagy took over play-calling duties from Andy Reid, Wilson started to show his potential. In the last game of the season, Wilson ran all over the Denver Broncos defense for 10 catches and 147 yards. Wilson knows the system that Nagy will run and that could be very beneficial to Trubisky in these off-season workouts. Sometimes, finding a receiver that can step right in and be on the same page as far as the playbook is a concern. Negative: While Wilson can be that dependable receiver out of the slot, the pink elephant in the room is that he’s undersized at the position at 5-9, 200 pounds. He’s certainly regulated to the slot because of his size. When a player is severely lacking in size, you always have to be concerned with durability. But to Wilson’s credit, he has mostly done a great job staying healthy throughout his career. Next: Did Allen Robinson hint at wanting to be a Bear? If the Bears sign Wilson, they have to accept the fact that he’s limited in where he can line up along the line of scrimmage. However, if used right he can be a nice complimentary weapon for the Chicago Bears."