"Bears' Davis a potential breakout player in '12"

At training camp, Davis, has looked like a machine catching passes. But then the Bears decided not to use TE's much as receivers under Mike Martz' offense. Crazy.

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LINK to the article

Bears' Davis a potential breakout player in '12

MARK STROTMAN
http://www.csnchicago.com/common/med...158/565268.png

With a little more than three weeks remaining until Bears' players arrive for training camp on July 25 (first day of camp is July 26), NFL.com is looking at potential breakout players in 2012.


And on the list for the Bears was tight end Kellen Davis, who should benefit this year from a coaching change and, subsequently, more opportunities in the passing game.

The four-year veteran has played in all 64 games of his NFL career, but was buried beneath the depth chart for his first three seasons. Lucky for him, his impressive special teams play kept him both on the roster and on the field.


And when Greg Olsen was traded to Carolina, Davis entered a starting role in 2011, where he caught 18 passes for 206 yards and a team-best five touchdowns. Davis' numbers were made all the more impressive when considering offensive coordinator Mike Martz's lack of a tight end in his offensive game plan.


While Davis played in "more than 70 percent of the Bears' offensive snaps" last year, he was primarily used as a blocker on running downs and a pass protector on passing plays.


Still, the Bears saw Davis' improvement and potential to the team when they signed him to a two-year, $6 million contract in march.


And the introduction of Mike Tice, a former NFL tight end with the Seahawks, Redskins and Vikings, as the new offensive coordinator could mean big things for Davis.


Brandon Marshall is the primary target for quarterback Jay Cutler, but the Bears' signal caller loves using his tight ends. And with Martz out of the picture, Davis could be in line for a very successful season under Tice.

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I'm optimistic about Kellen's potential, but I'm not going to get carried away with it....not immediately anyway. One must crawl before he can walk. Basically, I'm not expecting Gronk, or even Hernandez type numbers from Kellen, only solid contribution and the impression that he's growing as a player. Sometimes that's all it takes, and luckily for us, Kellen seems to have the ability to give us just that. So far I haven't really seen anything from the guy that leads me to believe he can be a household name, but his stature alone is going to make him useful in a few ways.

I want/expect 40-ish grabs for 450-ish yds and 5-ish TDs. We get that from Kellen in 2012 and I'm happy to have him. Nothing there screams "UNREASONABLE" either, right? I realize the receptions and yardage are leaps & bounds beyond what he's given us so far, but I truly believe Martz held back the TE position as a whole THAT much. The production I want is serviceable, or average, and the flip side to saying "I have seen nothing that leads me to believe Kellen can or will be a star" is "I have seen nothing that leads me to believe he can't be AT LEAST average"...

I've just never bought into this dude, but he's one I'd expect to prove me wrong, at the same time..

I'm still leery of anyone catching passes with the name Davis.

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Originally Posted by Henry Burris

I've just never bought into this dude, but he's one I'd expect to prove me wrong, at the same time..

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I'm hoping that he and Evan Rodriguez both have a great season receiving.

I think Kellen Davis can be as good as Greg Olsen from a receiver's perspective, but I think he's actually better than Olsen as far as blocking is concerned. Olsen got better slowly as his career in Chicago progressed, but now we have Davis, who once upon a time was arguably a worse blocker than even Olsen. Last year, I think he really turned the corner into being a pretty good "little" pass protector as he chip-blocked a large portion of the time as well as Matt Spaeth on Webb's side of the offensive line. I suspect that Davis will be even better this year, and misfit, I have to agree that if he doesn't have a breakthrough season in 2012 and at least become an above average and solid TE, there is no reason to keep him and we should consider cutting our losses with him by either cutting him or, if his contract is up for negotiation (he might have been re-signed this year - it's been a while since I kept up with the contracts since I've taken a break from using this site), simply choosing not to re-sign him.

That being said, however, I think that Davis is going to make a fine TE along with Rodriguez as receivers/blockers. I wish we'd do something to get rid of Spaeth because he is essentially not a fit for Tice's offense from the perspective of what Tice expects out of his TEs.

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Originally Posted by Dagan81

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That being said, however, I think that Davis is going to make a fine TE along with Rodriguez as receivers/blockers. I wish we'd do something to get rid of Spaeth because he is essentially not a fit for Tice's offense from the perspective of what Tice expects out of his TEs.

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I don't agree w/keeping Spaeth either Dags. We need to keep a Sanz or Clutts worse than we need him imo. Keeping Spaeth could be a sign Tice isn't 100% sold on the O-lines development.

With 5 TDs in 18 receptions I don't think it's unreasonable to expect him to get close to double digit scores. Not gonna say he'll get 10, but I could see 8 or 9.

I know there isn't a lot of love for Spaeth, but he was brought in to block. Not be a pass catching weapon. He is a very good blocker in the running and passing game. And given we don't know how well this O-line is going to play collectively, it would be an awful move to get rid of Spaeth this season. We need every guy we can get that can block.

As for Davis...well I'm more excited about Rodrigues than I am Davis. But who knows, he could come in and play like a crackhead and shock us all.

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Originally Posted by BigBadPapaBear

I know there isn't a lot of love for Spaeth, but he was brought in to block. Not be a pass catching weapon. He is a very good blocker in the running and passing game. And given we don't know how well this O-line is going to play collectively, it would be an awful move to get rid of Spaeth this season. We need every guy we can get that can block.

As for Davis...well I'm more excited about Rodrigues than I am Davis. But who knows, he could come in and play like a crackhead and shock us all.

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Good points. The scouting report on Spaeth says he's got good hands, and average quickness/speed. He's not Vernon Davis but he's a huge target at 6'7" and his only problem was landing on a Bears team that didn't use TE's as receivers much. Maybe this season we'll see Spaeth get an opportunity to be more than a blocker.

For those folks down on Spaeth, I'd point out that while we all want to see our TE's used as receivers again, now that Mad Mike Martz is gone - we still need blocking from our TE's. We need guys who can do both well & Spaeth may be one of those guys.