Will Trevathan Bounce Back Soon or Ever.....

[soulman]

 

Brad Biggs: Danny Trevathan doesn't have an injury to explain poor showing. Bears have to hope veteran LB can recharge soon.

Brad Biggs, Chicago Tribune

Wed, September 23, 2020, 6:38 PM MDT

https://www.yahoo.com/news/brad-biggs-danny-trevathan-doesnt-003800056.html

CHICAGO — The Chicago Bears gave Danny Trevathan a day of rest Wednesday, three days after his playing time took a significant cut, but they didn’t list an injury for the inside linebacker that would explain something hampering his performance the last two weeks.

Trevathan was held out of the full-pads afternoon practice at Halas Hall. He walked onto the field as the stretching period began and fist-bumped coach Matt Nagy before the two had a brief conversation and things got rolling. Tight end Jimmy Graham and wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr. also were given veterans days off, as they received last week.

Nagy didn’t address anything regarding Trevathan during his Zoom call with media, which took place 90 minutes before practice, but the film from wins over the Detroit Lions and New York Giants says it all. Trevathan hasn’t been able to move, has been a liability in coverage and has struggled to disengage from blocks.

If Trevathan continues to struggle, it’s worth wondering if the Bears would turn to 2018 fourth-round pick Joel Iyiegbuniwe, who has yet to start an NFL game. Trevathan has missed 17 games over the previous four seasons with the Bears because of injuries, but he has not appeared on the injury report this season.

 

The Bears broke from tradition and removed Trevathan in sub packages during Sunday’s 17-13 win over the Giants at Soldier Field, replacing him with safety Deon Bush. He was on the field for 31 of the 65 defensive plays, a steep decline for a player who has been a three-down linebacker for most of his nine-year career. It’s likely the Bears will rely heavily on their sub packages Sunday against quarterback Matt Ryan and the pass-happy Atlanta Falcons.

Trevathan took ownership of his poor play in the opening win in Detroit, saying he was responsible for covering running back D’Andre Swift on the play when Swift got wide open on a corner route and dropped what would have been a game-winning touchdown pass in the end zone.

“Danny had him man to man,” inside linebackers coach Mark DeLeone said last week. “He’s got to do a better job of his leverage there and staying outside that route.”

Trevathan was trailing — by a good margin — when trying to cover the Giants’ Dion Lewis out of the backfield Sunday, and there have been too many plays in which it looked like something was wrong with him or he simply didn’t have the range, change of direction and athletic explosion that has defined his career.

It’s almost more alarming that he has not appeared on the injury report with a lower-body injury that might explain his struggle to move. The Bears have to be crossing their fingers that a day off will allow him to recharge and he isn’t broken down.

“I didn’t play the way I wanted to,” Trevathan said last Friday. “That’s why you have next-game mentality.”

It has to be troubling for the coaching staff and front office after the Bears paid the 30-year-old Trevathan before free agency opened in March, re-signing him to a three-year contract worth $21.75 million with $13.625 million guaranteed.

Teams usually proceed with caution when it comes to paying players past 30 on a third contract, and despite Trevathan’s injury history, the Bears elected to retain him while allowing Nick Kwiatkoski to sign a similar but slightly less expensive contract with the Las Vegas Raiders. Kevin Pierre-Louis also departed in free agency, signing with Washington.

“Trevathan didn’t look very good last year before he was injured,” said the personnel director for another NFC club. “I would have been more interested in either of the other guys (Kwiatkoski and Pierre-Louis) first.”

The Bears have valued Trevathan for the intangibles he brings to the locker room and huddle, one of the reasons they targeted him in 2016 after he won a Super Bowl with the Denver Broncos. That goes a long way and can’t be overlooked, but there comes a point when a player isn’t performing well that others aren’t going to follow him.

“I have all the confidence in the world in my guy Danny,” fellow inside linebacker Roquan Smith said after practice Wednesday. “Class act on and off the field. Still have a lot of respect for that guy, knowing that (he) shows up to work each and every day and busts his tail. So, excited for the guy and the year he’s going to have.”

“He’s such a great leader,” general manager Ryan Pace said in March at the scouting combine. “He’s such a good player. Obviously, when he was hurt last year, that hurt our defense for a multitude of reasons. He’s an important part of what we’re doing.”

The contract the Bears gave Trevathan stands out among inside linebackers in the 30-and-over club. The Seattle Seahawks’ Bobby Wagner ($18 million), the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Lavonte David ($10.05 million), the Lions’ Jamie Collins ($10 million), the New Orleans Saints’ Demario Davis ($9 million) and the New England Patriots’ Dont’a Hightower ($8.875 million) are the only linebackers who play exclusively or semi-regularly on the inside earning more annually than Trevathan.

The Bears would assume a cap hit of $13.45 million if they cut Trevathan after this season, and while it’s premature to dwell too long on that ominous thought, he has to look better soon.

Iyiegbuniwe has bided his time as a core special teams player, and from a developmental perspective, the third season is often when mid-round picks prove they are either worthy of a greater role or destined to a career as a reserve.

The Bears also have Josh Woods in reserve at the position, and he was at practice after missing the Lions game for personal reasons. Veteran Devante Boyd could be activated from the practice squad again this week.

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©2020 Chicago Tribune

[soulman]

2 minutes ago, soulman said:

It’s almost more alarming that he has not appeared on the injury report with a lower-body injury that might explain his struggle to move. The Bears have to be crossing their fingers that a day off will allow him to recharge and he isn’t broken down.

I expect they're doing more than just crossing their fingers.  With $13 mil plus guaranteed they have a lot of cash and cap riding on DT snapping out of it and playing like his old self.  He's always been a great cover and pursuit LB who depends on his speed and his range.  The real question is can he do it any longer.  Pace should be concerned.

It's a little too late to revisit this now but I have to question Pace's thinking on this.

I can understand that it came down to either keeping Kwit or DT for the same money and opting to stick with DT for his leadership and his experience what I don't get is why we let KP-L leave over a $3 mil one year deal with just half that guaranteed.  Not after he also stepped in and played as well as he did.

Nothing Iggy has done so far has convinced anyone he's starting caliber material and Josh Woods is a converted college Safety whose another unknown quantity.  It just seems that if we were gonna stick with a 30 year old ILB with an injury history and lots of miles on him keeping a vet backup with starting experience was smarter.

[dll2000]

I don't think this was Pace blowing it and I think they continue to roll with DT being a liability and play a lot more 3 safeties.  Because back ups aren't that good (you can blame Pace for that).  

To answer article's question he isn't likely going to get much faster this year.   But he may a little with in season training.  I don't think this is a soft tissue injury.  

He either just lost it or he didn't properly train this off season.  My bet is its mostly the latter and just a little of former.

I strongly suspect he simply thought season wasn't going to go because of Covid or maybe he wouldn't play even if it did.  He expressed a lot of concern over Covid when asked.  

He obviously changed his mind, but couldn't get back the months of not working out hard.   

Bummer for Bears and him as he is taking a lot of embarassing public criticism.  

 

 

 

[dll2000]

This is a big opportunity for Bush who didn't quite beat out Gipson, but was close.

Pagano rarely went with 3 safeties last year and left DT out there.

One person's misfortune is another's gain.  

[Sugashane]

I think he has had the decline and was out of shape. But I think the decline is the bigger reason. If he was thinking the season was going to be out and he knew he was really out of shape he could have opted out and had that to cover him. 

 

He has been a professional through his whole career so I am just assuming he remained in shape, I have nothing other than that to back me. 

[Heinz D.]

He's not "done" because he's thirty. I'd bet money on that. It's some sort of injury, and the Bears staff is sugar-coating it, just like they did with Kyle Long. 

Hopefully he overcomes it, and is at least a decent player out there. 

I thought re-signing him to a (fairly) big deal and letting Kwiatowski go was idiotic to begin with...

[BEAR FACE DOWN ARROW]

My own take is that it looked like a lot of effort to do his job, hopefully just bad conditioning because of the odd season.  My biggest concerns aren't rational, they're the similar feel this has to Long and keeping him around too late.

 

With where the team was positioned it made sense to go with DT who still played well and had a "freak" injury vs Kwit who was laughable in coverage except for his contract year.  I was OK with DT but guess we won't know this year as Kwit got the injury this time.

[soulman]

19 hours ago, dll2000 said:

I don't think this was Pace blowing it and I think they continue to roll with DT being a liability and play a lot more 3 safeties.  Because back ups aren't that good (you can blame Pace for that).  

And I am.

I get that we couldn't keep both Kwit and DT and which one had to be a tough decision.  On their best days DT was still the better of the two but also the riskier pick based on his age and injury history.  Kwit's Achilles Heel was his coverage (even though he did improve on it) which has always been one of DT strengths.  I would have opted to keep Kwit for his run play and blitzing and subbed for him with another DB on some passing downs just as we're doing now.

DT's leadership role as an "X Factor" can't be denied but at what point does it fail to outweigh other concerns?  This is a guy whose missed an entire season worth of games due to injuries both in Chicago and previously in Denver.  He's also bounced back but that gets harder to do at 30 than at 25.  And.....at what point should we realistically expect Roquan Smith to take over that leadership role?  Leadership was listed among his strong points prior to his being drafted.

So we rolled the dice and they came up DT which I can accept but losing KP-L over $3 mil for one year and looking to two extremely inexperienced bargain basement backups I do not.  Not when KP-L is also a very good ST coverage guy.  This is where I feel Pace phuc'd up.

 

Edited September 25, 2020 by soulman