Dennis Wierzbicki – USA TODAY Sports
The Chicago Bears need to worry about keeping Jay Cutler upright next season, not giving him more weapons.
A lot has been made recently about how the Bears only have two go-to guys for Cutler, that being Brandon Marshall and Matt Forte. Many people tend to forget that Cutler will have other options next season.
Alshon Jeffrey was injured for much of his rookie season. The standout from South Carolina has all the abilities to be a legit number two option on the opposite side of the field of Marshall. Jeffrey is tall, strong, fast, and can go up and get the ball.
Under Marshall’s wing, Jeffrey has an excellent opportunity to learn from one of the best in the game and will get every opportunity to become that threat that many believe he can be. When healthy, this duo can be just as explosive as Roddy White and Julio Jones in Atlanta.
Earl Bennett suffered from a concussion and couldn’t stay in the lineup consistently enough to get that rhythm back that he and Cutler had in the past. Bennett is much better suited in the slot as a third option as well. He is deceptively quick, knows how to run routes unlike other options on this team, and can go over the middle to make those tough catches.
We all got a chance to see what Bennett can do when he is healthy. In the last game of the season against the Detroit Lions, he caught five passes for 109 yards and a touchdown.
Next season the Bears will have a new tight end as well for Cutler. They didn’t have the safety valve that a tight end is supposed to be for a quarterback and that killed many promising drives for the offense this season.
With a new head coach in place, and Phil Emery into his second off-season as general manager, the focus on the draft and in free agency needs to be on the offensive line. Cutler can’t use his weapons if he’s on his backside.
