Anthony Miller Predicted to Explode in 2019 For the Bears

The Chicago Bears 2018 draft class was a good one. At least it seemed that way in its first year. First round pick Roquan Smith came four tackles shy of the rookie record with 121 and had five sacks. Second rounder James Daniels started every game at left guard. Even Bilal Nichols stepped out of obscurity as a 5th round pick to nab three sacks and two forced fumbles. Yet the player that may have fans the most excited is Anthony Miller.

He certainly arrived on the team with the biggest thunderclap. It came when GM Ryan Pace shocked the NFL draft community by trading all the way up from the 4th round into the 2nd to get the Memphis wide receiver. The feeling was Miller had the sort of route running prowess mixed with speed and intensity that would make him a dynamic threat.

This played out his rookie season as he scored seven touchdowns. This despite nursing a persistent issue with a separated shoulder. He has since had the problem surgically repaired and expects to be full-go for training camp. Combined with a firmer grasp of the offense, expectations are high for him. He certainly doesn't lack the confidence.

Anthony Miller picked to take a big step forward in 2019

Matt Bowen of ESPN pointed out his list of second-year receivers who will have breakouts in 2019. Miller was among them. He seems to think the Bears standout is already a dangerous threat from the slot and can be even more so this coming season. There is only one notable issue he has to get fixed in order for that to happen.

"In 2018, only three players in the league (Tyreek Hill, Adam Thielen and Eric Ebron) had more touchdowns from a slot alignment than Miller's five scores. And the Memphis product can get down the field, where he led all Bears pass-catchers on deep-ball receptions, catching nine passes of 15-plus yards. In fact, Miller caught 45 percent of his deep targets in '18, while all other Bears targets caught just 30.2 percent.

In Chicago, that means vertical routes out of trips alignments. And it gives Trubisky an opportunity to pepper the inside seams versus zone coverages, with Miller working down the field.

What does Miller need to improve? It's the drops. Last season, Miller caught 33-of-54 targets, with five drops (9.3 percent drop rate). But if he makes the correction here? Now we are talking about a receiver who could see more than 70 targets, with the skill set to produce underneath in the quick game/RPO package and the deep-ball talent to pick up chunk gains."

One could argue that the drop issues were impacted by the constant pain Miller was in. Remember that there were times where all he had to do was run a bit too hard and the shoulder would pop out of the socket. Imagine how much it hurt when he put his hands up to grab the ball. That should no longer be an issue going into this year.