Chicago Bears: 3 players who would benefit most from Pat Shurmur

3. Tight End Trey Burton

Last year, the Bears were abysmal at the tight end position. Not one single player within the group topped 100 receiving yards — on the season.

You read that correctly.

In other words, you can’t get much worse than what the Bears did with their tight ends in 2019. With Shurmur, fans would have hope for veteran tight end Trey Burton.

While we don’t know whether or not Burton will be healthy, both mentally and physically, I think he can still be a valuable option within the offense if that ends up being the case. I’m sure the Bears are hopeful Burton can return to full health as well, because he was actually an integral part of what they did in 2018.

With Shurmur, I like to look at a couple of recent examples of his tight end usage. In 2017, with the Vikings, Kyle Rudolph and David Morgan combined for 67 receptions for 627 yards and nine touchdowns. Rudolph caught 57 of those passes and scored eight times.

In 2018, before Evan Engram had some significant injury trouble, Shurmur’s offense saw Engram and Rhett Ellison combine for 70 catches and 849 yards, while scoring four times total.

If these numbers are any indication for how Shurmur would use Burton, along with whoever ends up being the no. 2 guy at that spot, I’m sold. The Bears need help at tight end, and when they get it, Shurmur could be the guy to help that position get to an actual NFL level.