Training Camp Battles - Wide Receivers

by Adam T on Jul 24, 2008 12:53 PM CDT

The Bears were planning to go into camp with Devin Hester and Brandon Lloyd as their starting wide receivers. With a hold out by Hester, Marty Booker stepped in and ran with the first team.

The Bears lack experience at the wide receiver spot. Only Marty Booker has more than 3 years experience with meaningful playing time. What the Bears do have is a lot of speed and a ton of potential. Hester, Bradley and Lloyd all have high end speed. They also are carring two promising rookies.

The Bears current roster of wide receivers looks like this:

Devin Hester
Marty Booker
Brandon Lloyd
Rashied Davis
Mark Bradley
Earl Bennett
Marcus Monk
Mike Hass
Brandon Rideau

Hester, Booker, Lloyd and Bennett are probably locks at this point. Based on OTAs the Bears have probably seen enough good out of Monk to keep him. Rashied Davis was the Bears top performer during OTAs, I'd like to see them keep him. At least he is familiar with the play book. I don't know how many recievers the Bears are going to run with, so Hass and Rideau are either cuts or practice squad players. Mark Bradley is the X Factor. The Bears seemed intent on marking him a starter going into this year, but with his latest surgery the Bears don't know when he will be ready.

Let's take a look at the numbers of those with NFL experience:

(numbers after the jump)

Devin Hester

Year	Tm	G	GS	Rec	Yds	Y/R	TD	Lng	Y/G
2006	CHI	16	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2007	CHI	16	0	20	299	15.0	2	81	18.7
Career		32	0	20	299	15.0	2	81	9.3

Marty Booker

Year	Tm	G	GS	Rec	Yds	Y/R	TD	Lng	Y/G
1999	CHI	9	4	19	219	11.5	3	57	24.3
2000	CHI	15	7	47	490	10.4	2	41	32.7
2001	CHI	16	16	100	1071	10.7	8	66	66.9
2002	CHI	16	16	97	1189	12.3	6	54	74.3
2003	CHI	13	13	52	715	13.8	4	61	55.0
2004	MIA	15	15	50	638	12.8	1	45	42.5
2005	MIA	15	11	39	686	17.6	3	60	45.7
2006	MIA	14	13	55	747	13.6	6	52	53.4
2007	MIA	15	15	50	556	11.1	1	26	37.1
Career		128	110	509	6311	12.4	34	66	49.3

Brandon Lloyd

Year	Tm	G	GS	Rec	Yds	Y/R	TD	Lng	Y/G
2003	SFO	16	1	14	212	15.1	2	44	13.3
2004	SFO	13	13	43	565	13.1	6	52	43.5
2005	SFO	16	15	48	733	15.3	5	89	45.8
2006	WAS	15	12	23	365	15.9	0	52	24.3
2007	WAS	8	1	2	14	7.0	0	9	1.8
Career		68	42	130	1889	14.5	13	89	27.8

Rashied Davis

Year	Tm	G	GS	Rec	Yds	Y/R	TD	Lng	Y/G
2005	CHI	12	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2006	CHI	16	2	22	303	13.8	2	31	18.9
2007	CHI	16	1	17	165	9.7	0	36	10.3
Career		44	3	39	468	12.0	2	36	10.6

Mark Bradley

Year	Tm	G	GS	Rec	Yds	Y/R	TD	Lng	Y/G
2005	CHI	7	4	18	230	12.8	0	54	32.9
2006	CHI	10	0	14	282	20.1	3	75	28.2
2007	CHI	15	0	6	71	11.8	1	19	4.7
Career		32	4	38	583	15.3	4	75	18.2

Given our situation at QB and the unknown of how well the line and running backs could be, I think having Marty Booker in there would be a help to Grossman or Orton. Hester is one of the top three most dangerous guys in this league if not #1, so we need to get the ball in his hands as often as possible, but has he learned the position enough to give him starter reps?

Poll

Who would you like to see as the starting receivers for the Bears?

Devin Hester\Marty Booker

48 votes

Devin Hester\Brandon Lloyd

30 votes

Marty Booker\Brandon Lloyd

53 votes

Devin Hester and anybody else

11 votes

Earl Bennett and Hester or Booker

55 votes

some other combo

52 votes

249 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

curious to see

what monk does, like his size and speed.

i will still be suprised if hester ends up being any sort of reliable receiver.

by mike b on Jul 24, 2008 12:57 PM CDT reply actions

what?

I don’t know how many recievers the Bears are going to run with, so Hass and Rideau are either cuts or practice squad players.

If you don’t know how many receivers the Bears are going to “run with,” how can you say that Hass and Rideau won’t make the team?

visit the mindful mission

by big_lowitzki on Jul 24, 2008 1:58 PM CDT reply actions

Dude ease up

I am just taking a shot at it. I am guessing we aren’t carrying 9 receivers into the season, so somebody has to go.

Being Who You Thought We Were Since 2005!

by Adam T on Jul 24, 2008 2:11 PM CDT up reply actions

"Dude" ...

... it is a fair question.

I am trying to understand how Hass and Rideau will not make the team because you don’t know how many receivers the Bears are going to keep.

Maybe you meant to write something else., maybe you left something out, but the sentence is not clear, and it is saying something that you don’t want it to say.

visit the mindful mission

by big_lowitzki on Jul 24, 2008 2:18 PM CDT up reply actions

C'mon now.

We all know WCG is a bad writer. None of us come here for his prose.

by tyger1147 on Jul 24, 2008 4:41 PM CDT up reply actions

Curious

as to why Rashied Davis doesn’t get more attention. He seems to come up big when he’s in there and is needed…yet I personally thought was under-utilized last year. I would think he’d be a lock. Maybe its that he runs weak routes or isn’t quite as fast as others. Either way, I don’t get it.

by Marsh#31 on Jul 25, 2008 10:35 AM CDT reply actions