Thursday, January 31, 2013
TE options for Chicago
By Tim Kavanagh
While the Chicago Bears have some solid pieces on offense, one glaring need is to find a legitimate No. 1 TE, an idea raised by ESPNChicago.com scribe Jeff Dickerson recently. So who will that be?
Dickerson checked back in with a blog post breaking down a bunch of the impending TE FAs on Wednesday, including Martellus Bennett, Dustin Keller, Jared Cook, Tony Gonzalez, Ben Watson, Brandon Myers, Fred Davis and Delanie Walker. Not all of these players will hit free agency -- Cook has been cited as a possibility for the Titans' franchise tag, while it's believed that their respective incumbent teams will try to re-sign Bennett, Myers and Davis. In the end, the Bears may have to turn to the NFL Draft to find their solution to this problem, and ESPN NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. thinks there may be an option available to them at No. 20 overall:
Mel Kiper Jr.
Mock Draft 1.0"When the Bears traded Greg Olsen to the Panthers, they dealt away one of Jay Cutler's favorite targets. Brandon Marshall made a huge impact in 2012, but the Bears lack that second option Cutler can really depend on, particularly at tight end. Tyler Eifert is a new-breed tight end, a guy you can split out as an impossible physical matchup for most corners, and is a hands-catcher who doesn't have to create much separation to be open because he can win physical battles and use his strong hands to take the ball out of the air with players hanging on him. He's an ideal target for Cutler."
