Chicago Bears: Anthony Miller will dominate in 2019
Mind over matter
If anyone on the Chicago Bears can claim mind over matter for 2018, Anthony Miller has first dibs. The kid proved how tough he was as he still had one of the better rookie seasons for a wide receiver in Bears’ history. His biggest weakness, in my opinion, is by far the should injury. As long as we know for sure that Miller is going to play fully healthy, he will dominate for the Bears.
Miller, like many receivers, had some issues with holding onto the football. He had four drops last year with only 54 targets. That is a 7.5 percent drop rate compared to his targets. This is one area that Miller needs to resolve going into 2019, and I think he can do it if the shoulder holds up.
Coming out of college, many talked about how Miller was inconsistent catching the football. If he can maintain that drop rate or better and increase his targets from 54 to closer to 100, Anthony Miller will become the top receiver for the Bears that I envision.
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His catch rate needs to improve too if I am being honest. In 2018, Miller only caught 61 percent of his passes. This is another number that I believe directly correlates to the shoulder injury though. Maybe I am biased because I have been on the Anthony Miller bandwagon for such a long time, but I truly believe the kid will push that percentage up close to, if not better than, 70 percent.
Between 65 and 70 percent is the sweet spot that Miller needs to find himself to become one of the best wide receivers in the NFL. It might be ironic that he wears the same number as Alshon Jeffery because I think he can become even better than Jeffery. He is not as big and will not make the jumping, circuslike catches that Jeffery makes, but that does not mean he cannot make contested catches.
In fact, Miller is better at the more difficult catches than he is at some of the shorter passes. This is likely a focus issue that I believe the coaching staff can help resolve. With Mitchell Trubisky going into his second year of Nagy’s system, I am excited to see these two develop the type of chemistry I expect from the young borderline stars. Could Miller and Allen Robinson bring back memories of the Jeffery and Brandon Marshall tandem?