Some people are still wondering if Javon Wims will make the final 53-man roster for the Chicago Bears in 2019. They need to get that out of their heads right now. It's an outdated concept. Wims is a lock for the roster. He's earned that both with his outstanding 2018 preseason and standout practices in training camp over the past month. The question people need to ask now is this.
How much work will Wims get on offense this year?
He only caught four balls last season and that was in the finale against Minnesota when the Bears already had the division locked up. It's amazing how much can change in just a few months. By the sounds of things, Wims won't just be a complementary player this year. Wide receivers coach Mike Furrey hinted rather strongly that the team plans to use him extensively in their passing game.
Arthur Arkush of Pro Football Weekly reported on this.
“The biggest thing for me right now is when our three or four guys go in the huddle, there are three or four guys going in the huddle to play," Furrey said. "It’s not one or two. When those guys go in there, when Javon goes in there, we don’t want a drop-off. And I don’t think we’ve had that. … I’ve been really pleased with being able to say, ‘A-Rob take a break, Javon go in.’ That’s that trust factor, which Javon has earned and A-Mill is starting to earn and 13 [Marvin Hall] is earning. It’s been pretty neat in that regard.”
Adding Javon Wims will actually help Mitch Trubisky
What a lot of people don't realize is adding Wims to the mix at receiver will benefit quarterback Mitch Trubisky. One thing not enough people cared to address about Trubisky's accuracy issues last season was the size of the targets he was throwing too. Of his top three targets in Allen Robinson, Taylor Gabriel, and Anthony Miller in 2018, only Robinson stood taller than six feet. Miller is 5'11 and Gabriel is 5'8.
Like it or not, that narrows the margin for error for a quarterback. Wims being 6'3 will offer Trubisky another target with a wide catch radius. This sort of thing matters. Here is a list of 10 receivers. The first five are the top yardage leaders from last season who are 6'0 or taller. The next five are those who were under 6'0. Next to each will be the percentage of passes that were completed in their direction.
- Michael Thomas (75.2%)
- DeAndre Hopkins (57.14%)
- Julio Jones (56.84%)
- Adam Thielen (73.85%)
- Davante Adams (65.68%)
Average completion rate = 65.74%
- Antonio Brown (61.9%)
- Tyreek Hill (63.5%)
- Jarvis Landry (54.36%)
- Brandin Cooks (68.37%)
- T.Y. Hilton (63.33%)
Average completion rate = 62.29%
Even with the unusually low completion rates to Hopkins and Jones, the bigger receivers still came out with a completion rate three percent higher than the shorter ones. This helps to reinforce the fact that large targets can do a little more to catch the football and quarterbacks don't have to be quite as precise with every single throw. Trubisky targeted Wims five times in the win over Minnesota last year.
The receiver caught four of them.
That connection has produced quite a bit down in Bourbonnais as well as Family Fest at Soldier Field. Chicago is wise to take steps to take advantage of it.
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