The Chicago Bears continue to add to the offense by signing tight end Gerald Everett.
While many fans continue to be upset by the lack of signings by Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles, he continues to move at his pace. After signing running back D’Andre Swift on the first day of free agency negotiations, he added to the offense again, signing tight end Gerald Everett.
Everett signed a two-year deal worth $12 million as a base, with bonuses taking it up to $14 million. The deal has $6.1 million in guaranteed money.
Everett was the Los Angeles Rams’ second-round pick in 2017. He played for the Seattle Seahawks in 2021 before spending the last two seasons with the Los Angeles Chargers. He has familiarity with new Chicago Bears offensive coordinator Shane Waldron.
Everett seems to follow Waldron. Both were with the Rams, where Waldron was the tight ends coach, then passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach. They were also together for a season in Seattle, where Waldron was the offensive coordinator. Now they are together with the Chicago Bears. Everett also has ties with wide receivers coach Chris Beatty, when both were with the Chargers
Adding Everett to play along with Cole Kmet gives the Bears a strong duo. In 2023, Everett averaged 5.3 yards after the catch, leading the Chargers. That is something Chicago needs. They did not have many yards after catch apart from wide receiver D.J. Moore. Everett can run over defenders and break tackles to gain more yards.
Having Everett in Waldron’s system could be a great thing for him. Waldron helped develop him. Additionally, Waldron likes to use the two-tight end set a lot so it could mean big seasons for both Everett and Cole Kmet. Kmet has already been an ascending player so having Waldron and Everett could help him even more.
Additionally, Everett could help Kmet and the other receivers to get a better understanding of Waldron’s system. Everett understands what Waldron wants to do and where players are supposed to be and what they are supposed to do.
The Chicago Bears needed to improve the tight ends unit as a whole. Yes, Kmet had a good season again. However, there was almost no production after him. He had 73 catches for 719 yards and 6 touchdowns. Backups Robert Tonyan and Marcedes Lewis had 15 catches for 141 yards and 1 touchdown combined. In his two seasons with the Chargers, Everett averaged 54.5 catches, 486 yards, and 3.5 touchdowns.
Additionally, Everett has at least 33 catches in six of his seven seasons. The Chicago Bears have not had good production from their reserve tight ends. They have not had a second tight end make more than 14 catches since 2020, when Kmet was the second tight end as a rookie with 28 catches. Jimmy Graham was the main tight end target with 50 catches that season. Now they have two good pass-catchers in the position.
The Bears keep improving the offense. There is still the big question of who will play quarterback for them in 2024. Poles could trade the number one pick for a historic haul or trade Justin Fields and draft Caleb Williams. Whoever it ends up being, the quarterback will have two good pass-catching tight ends.
Kmet and Everett are great security blankets. Kmet is 6-foot-6, 260 pounds while Everett is 6-foot-3, 250 pounds. This will be a big thing in the red zone. With them, and with Moore and another big-play wide receiver to be added through free agency or the draft, defenses will have a lot to contend with. They cannot just key in on one player.
The Chicago Bears made two good moves to improve the offense. The fans still want to see a solution to the quarterback situation and want to see who else Poles goes after in free agency. We shall see what happens in the upcoming days.
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