Thread: Wide receiver is position of want not need

Bears have enough pass-catching ability even if they could use some help

Dan Pompei
On the NFL
2:07 PM CST, February 19, 2011

Without understanding the difference between needs and wants, contentment is unattainable.

You need socks, health insurance and a toothbrush.

You want designer gym shoes, a smart phone and a leather couch.

I'm not sure a lot of Bears fans are getting this, because I keep hearing all this talk about needing a No. 1 wide receiver.

Look, offensive and defensive linemen are needs. A big-time wide receiver is a want.

If A.J. Green, Vincent Jackson or Sidney Rice were to drop down from heaven, of course they would make the Bears offense better. But the Bears don't need that kind of lead dog as much as they do a complementary receiver.

It would be nice to add a big, physical pass catcher to the mix, one who can make plays outside the numbers. It's one thing the Bears don't have.

But there is nothing wrong with the group on this team, and I would expect Johnny Knox, Earl Bennett and Devin Hester will remain its core.

I have heard so much bashing about the Bears receivers that I started to question my own judgment. So I went to a pro scout I respect from another team who has studied them extensively.

Here's his assessment:

"They are all different, and it's an above-average group. They are difficult to defend and probably second in the NFC North after the Packers.

"The Bears do a great job of using their strengths. Knox isn't the biggest or strongest, but he's tough and he has very good ball skills. He can go get it and run away from people. Bennett is a possession guy, move the chains. He finds windows and is tough. Hester isn't the most instinctive route runner, but he is a good package receiver who gets yards after the catch on things like screens and comebacks."

And I was starting to think only their mothers loved them.

Knox recently took a few shots from NFL Network analyst and new Hall of Fame inductee Marshall Faulk, who criticized him for not "crossing the face" of defenders on slants. Faulk said every time he saw Knox run a slant, he saw an interception. He implicitly questioned Knox's courage.

His evaluation is ungrounded. Sure, there were a few instances of that, but it hardly was a trend. Knox ran hundreds of slants in 2010, and he ran most of them very well. The majority of his yards came on plays over the middle.

If Knox was a wimp, how did he end up with the fifth best average per catch in the NFL at 18.8? He had more receptions of 25 yards or more than all but six players according to STATS. He was six yards short of the top 12 in the league in receiving yards per game.

And he did this in his first full season as a starter after not playing big-time college football. This is a really good young player who is going to improve.

Knox does need to catch a higher percentage of passes thrown to him than his 51 percent last season. But his performance is also a reflection of the routes he's asked to run, what defenses are doing and where and when the passes are being delivered.

Bennett doesn't have Knox' star quality, but he's a clutch player. Bennett is capable of increasing his snaps and taking a bigger role.

It may be time to cut back on Hester's offensive role, however. If he's to be the team's primary return man, it doesn't make a lot of sense for him to be running 50 routes and getting fewer than three offensive touches per game. I suspect he may have gotten a little leg-weary during the season as he seemed to have more juice early.

Hester does some things as a receiver exceptionally well. If he could be limited to maybe 25 to 30 snaps, the whole team might get more out of him.

Nevertheless, there should be opportunity for a newcomer. Canadian-league signee Andy Fantuz has set some hearts aflutter, but I'm taking a wait and see approach. He should be viewed as the equivalent of about a fifth-round pick.

Other wide receivers have made the CFL-to-NFL transition, most notably Joe Horn, Mervyn Fernandez and Stefan Logan. But Fantuz recently ran a 4.8 40-yard dash, and it's difficult to know if Fantuz will be able to separate from NFL corners. In the CFL, he was given the advantage of a running head start behind the line of scrimmage and a wider playing field.

If Fantuz can't do it, the Bears need someone else like him.

Anything more is a want.

dpompei@tribune.com

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports...4048044.column