The Chicago Bears made wholesale changes to the offense this offseason. One NFL expert made his choice for the best move made. While many expect it to be Caleb Williams that is not what he chose.
As the Chicago Bears inch closer to training camp, we finally saw the results of General Manager Ryan Poles’ busy offseason. He made many moves to try to turn the team into a playoff contender. Most of those moves came on the offensive side of the ball.
Poles made a plethora of moves to improve the Chicago Bears offense. He decided early on in the offseason to replace quarterback Justin Fields with Caleb Williams. Fields was an immensely popular player with both fans and teammates. Poles wanted to ensure that Williams was in the best situation to thrive.
Poles then set out to turn the offense around. The Chicago Bears struggled in most offensive categories. If Poles wanted to make a change, he had to fix the offense. He did exactly that, albeit on paper. Chicago’s offense looks much stronger with D’Andre Swift, Gerald Everett, Keenan Allen, and Rome Odunze.
With all the moves Poles made, which one could be considered his best? For most of Chicago Bears Nation, the selection of Williams would be considered the best one. Having him on the roster was the basis of all these moves.
Having weapons for Williams is a bigger move than actually having Williams
The Athletic’s Mike Sando had a different opinion, however. He evaluated the Chicago Bears’ moves. The selection of Williams was not the best move, though. The pickups of Allen and Odunze were the best moves he felt Poles made.
Sure, having Williams on the team changes the team’s complexion. He is supremely
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confident and he expects everyone to play at their best. However, Poles had to ensure that Williams had the weapons to succeed. He knows that if Williams becomes another Chicago Bears quarterback that flames out it will cost many people their jobs.
That is especially true for Poles. He is risking his entire rebuild and his job on Williams. To make sure that happens, he had not just to improve the offense, he had to revamp it.
Williams needs to have weapons to succeed. He already has D.J. Moore. Despite a struggling offense, Moore had a career year with Fields. The problem was that the other receivers behind him did not have good seasons. While Moore’s catch percentage was 70.6 percent, the rest of the wide receivers combined for 50.4 percent.
Picking up Allen gives Williams a six-time Pro Bowl receiver to lean on. Allen and Moore will be great mentors for the rookie. They run crisp routes and can make big plays. They are also incredible professionals. They will be able to help in WIlliams’ development.
Sure, Allen is 32 years old. He is also in the final year of his contract. The odds are long that he will return to Chicago after 2024. That’s where the selection of Odunze in the draft helps.
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Odunze can be a WR1 on any other team. He also could have been the number one receiver taken in the draft. However, he had the misfortune of being in a class with Marvin Harrison Jr and Malik Nabers. Now he is on a team that has Moore and Allen.
That might not be a misfortune for Odunze after all. He dropped to the Bears, a team that is loaded at the position. While Harrison and Nabers come in as receivers who have to carry their units, Odunze comes in as possibly the best WR3 in the NFL. He won’t have the pressure the other two will have.
Odunze will benefit from defenses paying attention to Moore and Allen (as well as tight ends Cole Kmet and Everett). If they are worried about those players, Odunze will have a lot of one-on-one matchups. He could feast on that and make big plays.
Even if Allen doesn’t come back after this season, having Odunze mitigates the problem. He could be a WR1 and he and Moore make a great duo.
Acquiring Allen and Odunze is perfect for the team. If Allen continues his
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career with the Chicago Bears they will still have a great three-headed monster. If he leaves, Odunze is more than capable of stepping up. Who knows, maybe Tyler Scott, a promising rookie in 2023, could step up himself and give the team another Big 3.
While bringing Williams was a huge move, giving him weapons to succeed both in the present and the future was even bigger. The Chicago Bears are close to having a strong roster that can be a playoff contender for years to come. That is much better than just seeing them win every few years then struggle in-between.
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