The Chicago Bears tight ends room looks virtually unrecognizable from this time last year. Of the current seven tight ends on the roster, only Jesper Horsted was on the roster at training camp last year. And for good reason.
Chicago’s tight ends group was one of the collective worst in the NFL last season. They combined for 36 receptions, 416 receiving yards and just 2 touchdowns, as well as three tight ends on injured reserve, which led to Trey Burton, Adam Shaheen and Ben Braunecker all released or traded from the team.
“It’s an important position,” coach Matt Nagy told reporters last week. “We know that, we understand that. So that’s our job, is at the end of the season you evaluate where you’re at. We did that, we made some moves, we like where we’re at right now.”
The Bears brought in three new tight ends to overhaul the position, including second-round rookie Cole Kmet and veterans Jimmy Graham and Demetrius Harris. They also return Horsted and J.P. Holtz from last season. And Nagy likes what he sees at the position.
“There’s going to be great competition for them to get in there and do what they can do,” Nagy said. “Having tight ends—whether it’s in the run game or the pass game—in all of our opinions is very, very important and so we wanted to try to get better and improve in that area as well as a bunch of other areas.
“That was a start and we’re excited. I know I’m excited. The rest of our coaches on staff are excited to see how it goes when the pads come on. We’ve got a great group of guys, I mean Jimmy coming in here with the experience that he has; I told you he’s got a little chip on his shoulder right now, which I like. Demetrius Harris and I have a history from Kansas City, so we have a plan with him. We drafted Cole Kmet, and then we have a nice group of other guys that we’re excited to see really come in and compete.”
Hopefully the result is far better production at the position in 2020, especially given the importance of the tight end in Nagy’s offense.
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