Can Chicago Bears WR Marquess Wilson Find a Role on Offense in 2015?
Published by Matt Eurich on June 9, 2015
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
Heading into the 2014 offseason, the Chicago Bears had high expectations for wide receiver Marquess Wilson. After suffering a clavicle injury in training camp last summer, Wilson never got a full season to prove himself, and he is fighting this offseason to find a new role in Chicago’s offense.
The Bears sent wide receiver Brandon Marshall to the New York Jets in early March, and the team signed veteran Eddie Royal in free agency to play out of the slot in 2015. With Marshall gone, Wilson looked like the best option to replace the much-maligned receiver this season, but the Bears decided to take West Virginia wide receiver Kevin White in the first round of this year’s draft.
Even though he has been pushed down the depth chart, Wilson could still find a role in Chicago’s new offense this season.
Wilson initially joined the team as a seventh-round pick in 2013, but he was used sparingly in his rookie season.
After the Bears released veteran Earl Bennett in early March of last year, then-head coach Marc Trestman was excited about Wilson’s potential in the offense with Bennett gone.
“I think he showed that we can work with him and develop him,” Trestman said, according to Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune. “He’s got the football intelligence that we’re looking for and the ability to be flexible within the offense. He was consistent. So we’ll see how it goes.”
He missed the first nine games of the season because of his clavicle injury, but he played in the final seven games of the year and saw his role expand after Marshall was injured in early December.
Even though he is projected to be No. 4 on the team’s depth chart behind Alshon Jeffery, White and Royal, new Bears head coach John Fox likes what he has seen from the young receiver this offseason.
“It was probably a frustrating start to his career, but he caught our eye as a guy that we were impressed with on the tape, albeit limited tape and I’ve liked what I’ve seen during these first six practice opportunities,” Fox said last week, according to Jeff Dickerson of ESPN.com.
Wilson has had limited opportunities during his first two years in the league, but he did show flashes of his potential last season. When the young receiver returned to practice in the middle of the year after he was taken off injured reserve, quarterback Jay Cutler had nothing but praise for the former Washington State star.
“He’s a little bit smoother, a little bit fluid in and out of cuts,” Cutler said at the time, according to Rich Campbell of the Chicago Tribune. “He’s got great body control, but he can still go up and get the ball, so he’s a little bit of a different type of guy, which we kind of need.”
In Week 16 against the Detroit Lions, Wilson showed off his great body control and ability to go up and get the football.
Late in the second quarter, Wilson lined up opposite of veteran cornerback Rashean Mathis to the left of Bears quarterback Jimmy Clausen:
Wilson ran up the sideline and then worked his way back toward the football after Clausen was pushed out of the pocket. Clausen made a slightly high throw, but Wilson was able to use his strength to go up and come away with the football against the former All-Pro cornerback:
While he did a nice job of coming back to the football on that play, he struggled with that aspect of his game last season. He would often run crisp, clean routes, but when the pocket would collapse around the quarterback, he often failed to work his way back up the field.
One way the Bears can get the most out of Wilson this year is by using him to stretch the field. At the NFL Scouting Combine in 2013, he ran a 4.51-second 40-yard dash, and even though that is not an overly impressive time for a wide receiver, he plays fast on the field.
He does not possess blazing speed, but he is able to create separation with his long stride, and Bleacher Report’s BJ Kissel wrote about that in his assessment of Wilson after the 2013 draft:
Wilson has all the athletic ability needed to be a big-time, play-making wide receiver in the NFL. He’s a smooth runner with long strides and is very hard to catch in the open field.
He displays great hands in jump-ball situations and is able to get to the ball at its highest point and come down with it. He shows excellent leaping ability across the middle and up the sideline.
He needs to get stronger in order to create separation off the line of scrimmage against press coverage, but if a team decides to play off of him in man coverage, he has the ability to create separation down the field.
In Week 14 against the Dallas Cowboys last season, Wilson showed off his ability to create separation. In the middle of the third quarter, he lined up to the right of the formation:
The Cowboys opted to play off coverage and gave Wilson a free release off the line of scrimmage:
Wilson worked his way across the field and was able to create separation between himself and safety Barry Church, but Cutler was unable to connect with the young receiver:
Wilson is still just 22 years old and has not fully lived up to his potential. He entered his junior season at Washington State as one of college football’s best young receivers, but he left the program in November 2012 because of issues with the coaching staff. Before he left the team, he put up impressive numbers for the Cougars.
Wilson proved at Washington State he can make big plays down the field, and even though the Bears have three receivers ahead of him on the depth chart, he still has a chance to make plays in offensive coordinator Adam Gase‘s scheme.
Last season, Wilson lined up to both the right and left of the formation on the outside and in the slot, and his versatility should be a good fit in Gase‘s system. If opposing defenses want to bring their safeties down to match up with Jeffery and White on the outside in double coverage, both Wilson and Royal could be faced with one-on-one opportunities out of the slot.
Royal is a quick-twitch receiver who is at his best running a slant route, while Wilson could take advantage of the deep half of the field if he goes against one-on-one coverage.
Gase likes to spread out defenses and create mismatches with his receivers, and even though Wilson will not be one of the team’s top options in the passing game, he has a chance to become a key piece of Chicago’s offense in 2015 in various sub-packages. If Gase can create mismatches with Wilson out of the slot or on the outside, he has a chance to find a new role on offense in 2015.
Statistical information courtesy of NFL.com unless otherwise noted.
Matt Eurich is a Chicago Bears Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and a member of the Pro Football Writers of America.
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