Taylor Gabriel has always been a receiver who isn't afraid to tell it like it is. His upfront honest and bluntness fit in well with the coaches on this Chicago Bears staff. So it's little wonder he was targeted as a free agent in 2018. Well that at his blazing vertical speed of course. One other thing the man has seen? What peak quarterback play is supposed to look like.
As a member of the Cleveland Browns, he saw Ben Roethlisberger throw for a career-high 4,952 yards and 32 touchdowns in 2014 with the rival Pittsburgh Steelers. Then when he signed with the Atlanta Falcons, he was on hand for Matt Ryan's MVP campaign in 2016. So he has an idea of when a quarterback is starting to "get it."
That is what makes his recent words about Mitch Trubisky so encouraging. When speaking with Jon Greenberg of The Athletic, the subject of his quarterback came up. Gabriel wasn't shy about indicating his excitement at how fast Trubisky is ascending.
“He’s been throwing a lot of throws since we’ve been in OTAs that he wasn’t making last year,” Gabriel said.
So far, so good at Halas Hall, where everyone is praising Trubisky’s growth.
“We’re expecting a lot,” Gabriel said. “Just being crisp and just becoming that offense people fear, you know what I mean? Going downfield, going deep, picking the defense apart. I feel like Mitch has grown in the year we’ve been together. He’s throwing more confident routes, more routes where he’s not seeing it, he’s believing it.”
Taylor Gabriel is only the latest to hint at Trubisky's progress
This falls right in line with what other people have said including Nagy and fellow receiver Allen Robinson. The belief is Trubisky has gained much greater comfort level in the system than this time last year. Not a surprise given he's had 12 months to learn it. What is most crucial is the fact that he's throwing and executing plays he wasn't able to before.
That means certain aspects of the Bears offense we didn't see last season will likely start to show up in 2019. A scary thought given how effective it was for much of last year. Don't forget Trubisky went to a Pro Bowl in that scaled-back scheme. He threw six touchdown passes in a game in that scheme. So the idea of extra layers being unlocked for this year?
That should scare some people. Not Gabriel. He sounds excited about what's to come. It isn't hard to see why.
