With free agency looming, The Chicago (Arlington Heights?) Bears are at the center of the football world's attention, they currently have $124 Million dollars of cap space burning a hole in their pocket. As of the afternoon I am writing, Adam Thielen is arguably the best option for the Bears to sign at wide receiver. Other options include Nelson Agholor, D.J. Chark, and Chosen ‘Robbie’ Anderson. While I do believe in advanced analytics, and changing one's name does directly correlate to on field performance. Sometimes the numbers can lie because Chosen failed to produce much after being traded to the Cardinals at the deadline last year.
There is a recurring theme in the NFL, pair a young quarterback with great pass catchers and those quarterbacks take a leap. Jaxon Smith-Njigba should be that great pass catcher. As former torcher of the beloved, Greg Jenning, states in his film breakdown of JSN, “he just gets it.” And the Bears need to invest heavily.
But, before I get ahead of myself I want to show examples of my theory working in the NFL. Geno (known young thrower of the football) tore the league up in 2022 with Tyler Lockett and D.K. Metcalf that led to him recently signing a mega 3-year, $105M contract. Another example is Tua Tagovailoa (Please think about future before playing again, man), gets Tyreek Hill and a sophomore season from Jaylen Waddle and all the sudden he is lighting the world on fire. Ryan Poles, don’t let Fields down, get this man some help.
The help can and should come through the draft in 2023. With the 2023 Free Agent wide receiver group looking lackluster, Ryan Poles has to make moves through the draft or trade. The Bears aren’t in a place to be throwing assets at teams, there are too many holes to fill. Part of me is kind of glad Poles didn’t listen to the huge outcry of Chicago fans asking him to trade for D.J. Moore at the deadline.
Now, I understand that the strength of the 2023 draft is Tight End and Running Back, names like Bijan Robinson, Jahmyr Gibbs, Michael Mayer, and Darnell Washington. But, Jaxon Smith-Njigba has the tools to become one of the best pass catchers in the league.
Smith- Njigba’s major knock is he played 88.6 % of his snaps in the slot in his fantastic 2021 season with the Buckeyes. First things first, we all know Touchdowns and yards don’t count when they come out of the slot. (just ask Cooper Kupp and Kennan Allen) So, I am going to make the argument that he isn’t a slot receiver and can win outside. Sharing a receiver room with Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson, JSN put up 1606 yards on 95 receptions. He caught 92% of his targets deemed catchable. At the combine JSN lit up the agility drills, posting the all time 14th-best 3 Cone (98th percentile) and 10th-best Short Shuttle (98th percentile), all numbers taken from Playerprofiler.com. Even if his 38.5 yard dash stinks at his pro day, he is such a technician with his routes and foot work he will have no issue getting behind defenders in the short to intermediate. Route technicians don’t need to have blazing speed to get open, look at Devante Adams and Antonio Brown sitting at a 4.56 40 times. Both constantly won/win on the outside and in the slot. Ryan Poles, please don’t miss out on the next Antonio Brown or Davante Adams, because Jaxon Smith- Njigba is that fucking good. Trade back to 9-ish, and get the job done.
But hey, maybe I’m wrong.