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Bears release WR Taylor Gabriel and CB Prince Amukamara


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22 minutes ago, patriotsheatyan said:

Is this a sign towards them rebuilding, towards these two just not being seen as worth their non guaranteed money, or hard to say?

They both had middling years. Gabriel is fairly easily replaced. Prince simply couldn't be retained with his $9 million cap hit. Hopefully Prince, after testing the market, comes back. 

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5 hours ago, patriotsheatyan said:

Is this a sign towards them rebuilding, towards these two just not being seen as worth their non guaranteed money, or hard to say?

Prince has been a fairly solid vet signing for us the past couple of years... He's on the slowdown age wise, and we picked up the CFL's top corner recently, so this move has been expected.  He does still have some mileage left on his tires, and will probably be capable of holding down the back end for a team for another year or two.

Gabriel was Trubisky's #2 WR in 2018.... and had some concussion problems in 2019 (2 of them).  His fit with Chicago has always been sketchy... he's more of a #3 talent wise, than the #2 we where trying to make him/paying him to be, and he has speed to take the top off, but we rarely used him in that capacity because Trubisky has sucked hard at downfield passing, and even more when trying to target an undersized guy.  It's harder to say whether he just wasn't that good, or whether we just couldn't take advantage of his skillset, but either way, he was a pretty expected cut for us this year as well.

Wouldn't say either case is any indication of the Bears "rebuilding" so much as trying to manage cap space with some upcoming contracts (Eddie Jackson is going to end up getting PAID) and some more pressing needs elsewhere in FA (like our TE room being a raging tire fire, and our OL playing extremely poorly). Both guys are likely still in the league next year and starting, just maybe not at the values they where getting paid with us.

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5 hours ago, Heinz D. said:

They both had middling years. Gabriel is fairly easily replaced. Prince simply couldn't be retained with his $9 million cap hit. Hopefully Prince, after testing the market, comes back. 

Gabriel is a deep threat. He's not worth much more than being a deep threat, but that in of itself has value. When he was on the Falcons in 2016, he wasn't the guy who could do the whole route tree. But his ability to take the top off of defenses was very useful in that Kyle Shanahan offense. He was fast enough that trying to press Gabriel was something that could blow up in your face if he just ran right by you because he was so quick. There's a reason no one presses Tyreek HIll.

If you're asking Gabriel to be the feature WR of your offense, you're doing it wrong. But if you're asking him to be your #3 or #4 WR purely as a deep threat, he's fantastic.

6 minutes ago, Epyon said:

Gabriel was Trubisky's #2 WR in 2018.... and had some concussion problems in 2019 (2 of them).  His fit with Chicago has always been sketchy... he's more of a #3 talent wise, than the #2 we where trying to make him/paying him to be, and he has speed to take the top off, but we rarely used him in that capacity because Trubisky has sucked hard at downfield passing, and even more when trying to target an undersized guy.  It's harder to say whether he just wasn't that good, or whether we just couldn't take advantage of his skillset, but either way, he was a pretty expected cut for us this year as well.

I'm not a Bears fan (Falcons fan actually) so I don't know really that much about how the Bears operate schematically on offense. But if you're unable to use Gabriel as a #3 deep threat, then you're basically throwing away a roster spot. I will go to bat for Gabriel because guys like him are always criminally under used and utilized in the NFL. Deep threat guys with elite speed that can blow by press coverage are way more useful than a lot of folks think, but they've got to be in the right position to succeed. Explosiveness (ability to generate chunk yardage) is to me the defining feature of great offenses in the modern NFL (see: Kansas City Chiefs) and you need guys like that on your roster to do that consistently.

Edited by Hukos
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2 hours ago, Hukos said:

I'm not a Bears fan (Falcons fan actually) so I don't know really that much about how the Bears operate schematically on offense

We're supposed to be identical to Kansas City offensively/Schematically...

The problem is we have exactly none of the personnel to actually do that:

-None of our WRs (save Gabriel) are know for their speed, where KC has multiple (draft rumors are that we are looking specifically for speed WRs in the draft... despite us getting 3 WRs we like in the past couple of years)

-We have absolutely no TEs right now, while KC has Kelce (expect a massive overhaul this offseason)

-We had a QB who just isn't statistically able to push the ball downfield with any accuracy (but shows just enough flashes of being good to where he's had no credible competition for his job (likely changing this year.... but what level of competition he gets remains to be seen... I'm not sure we're in the market for a guy who would be an expected starter over Trubisky immediately, as much as a servicable backup/stopgap in case Biscuit continues his downward trend)

-Our running game even when running against light boxes was unproductive this year. Our run blocking in particular was atrocious this year. Our backs (Montgomery and Cohen)at least have potential have be decent /have flashed, and are likely "safe"..... Our OTs are both atrocious and our starting RG was broken and essentially forced to retire mid season, with a journyman backup.  (expect RG in FA, and likely 2 draft picks for OL here)

2 hours ago, Hukos said:

Explosiveness (ability to generate chunk yardage) is to me the defining feature of great offenses in the modern NFL (see: Kansas City Chiefs) and you need guys like that on your roster to do that consistently.

And this is a big part of our team's problem, tbh....

Our most "explosive" players are:

Tarik Cohen: Who had a very down year this year... but is a gadget/hybrid wr/rb "weapon"

Cordarelle Patterson: who plays the exact same role as Cohen.

They're both minor role players in the offense, really.

 

Outside of that, I'm not sure I'd consider any of our offensive skill positions "explosive"... Robinson is a solid #1 WR, but he's not a super "explosive" guy as much as a really good well rounded guy... Miller, Ridley, Wims  are again more solid well rounded types  but not really "explosive" guys. And our primary RB's biggest criticism out of the draft was a lack of "explosive" type plays, having NEVER housed a run of over 20 yards.  Gabriel was hurt most of the year, and mostly misused underneath for his time with us, sadly. 

It's been a rather frustrating run for Chicago of late.

Edited by Epyon
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