Only the Bears, right? Finally draft a GREAT tight end and our offensive coordinator decided he didn't fit his offense and so they got rid of him. For a 3rd round draft pick. It's stuff like this that Bears fans have had to endure for decades. The franchise is just clueless as far as building and sustaining a great offense. Those 3 point games last season just about killed me watching the futility.
Oh well...
"Before former Bears GM Jerry Angelo was fired following the 2011 season, he traded tight end Greg Olsen to the Panthers for a third-round pick, to the confusion of the entire Bears fanbase. At the time, then-offensive coordinator Mike Martz felt he couldn’t make good use of Olsen’s talents in his system and Angelo decided the Bears would ultimately be better off without him. In a way, that trade was essentially the beginning of the end for both Angelo and Martz in Chicago."
People have a funny way of having hindsight 20/20. A lot of people didn't like Olsen in Chicago b/c they felt he was to soft and would get tackled by DB's on first contact; and wasn't a blocking TE either. He was nothing special in Chicago. Most of his fumbles, and lost fumbles happened in Chicago, and only his first year in Car, until he started to break down a few years ago, was similar to what he did in Chicago. He never showed that 800-1k a season stuff here. You knew he was good, but you had no reason to know he was going to be what he became in Car. There was a lot of we need more of a Ditka 2 way complete TE then we need a oversized WR that goes down to guys 1/2 his size.
Yeah, I remember him as being one dimensional (couldn't block). It sounds like it does take TEs time to learn the position at the NFL level, and that certainly was his case. Many of us were disappointed with the way he was being used in Chicago (more like not being used). Receiving TEs were just not used by Martz much back then.
People have a funny way of having hindsight 20/20. A lot of people didn't like Olsen in Chicago b/c they felt he was to soft and would get tackled by DB's on first contact; and wasn't a blocking TE either. He was nothing special in Chicago. Most of his fumbles, and lost fumbles happened in Chicago, and only his first year in Car, until he started to break down a few years ago, was similar to what he did in Chicago. He never showed that 800-1k a season stuff here. You knew he was good, but you had no reason to know he was going to be what he became in Car. There was a lot of we need more of a Ditka 2 way complete TE then we need a oversized WR that goes down to guys 1/2 his size.
Yeah, I remember him as being one dimensional (couldn't block). It sounds like it does take TEs time to learn the position at the NFL level, and that certainly was his case. Many of us were disappointed with the way he was being used in Chicago (more like not being used). Receiving TEs were just not used by Martz much back then.
Ya it was complicated, people didn't like Martz's outdated scheme that couldn't use pass catching TE's, but everyone knew that Olsen couldn't block, and couldn't break CB's and S's that solo tackled him. In Chicago he was an oversized WR, not a pass catching TE that was a matchup nightmare.
Yeah, I remember him as being one dimensional (couldn't block). It sounds like it does take TEs time to learn the position at the NFL level, and that certainly was his case. Many of us were disappointed with the way he was being used in Chicago (more like not being used). Receiving TEs were just not used by Martz much back then.
Ya it was complicated, people didn't like Martz's outdated scheme that couldn't use pass catching TE's, but everyone knew that Olsen couldn't block, and couldn't break CB's and S's that solo tackled him. In Chicago he was an oversized WR, not a pass catching TE that was a matchup nightmare.
+1
And I would add that this type of thing has frustrated me with the Bears for decades. They draft a guy in the 1st round who ends up not being a fit. So they trade him for a 3rd round pick and he goes on to have a rock solid career. Pro Bowls, All-Pro, over 8,000 yards receiving. Smart. Good. It frustrates me that the Bears struggle to build an offense by never quite getting it all together. It's so disjointed. Like they don't know what they're doing on offense. Olsen was already here when the brought in Martz, so I get it, that he didn't get to have input on the draft pick. But still. It's the same old story. Just a mess trying to build and sustain a decent offense. Another wasted 1st round draft pick... and to make it hurt even worse, the guy goes on to have a rock solid career at a position that is so important on offense (as we well know from this past clown show season).
Ya it was complicated, people didn't like Martz's outdated scheme that couldn't use pass catching TE's, but everyone knew that Olsen couldn't block, and couldn't break CB's and S's that solo tackled him. In Chicago he was an oversized WR, not a pass catching TE that was a matchup nightmare.
+1
And I would add that this type of thing has frustrated me with the Bears for decades. They draft a guy in the 1st round who ends up not being a fit. So they trade him for a 3rd round pick and he goes on to have a rock solid career. Pro Bowls, All-Pro, over 8,000 yards receiving. Smart. Good. It frustrates me that the Bears struggle to build an offense by never quite getting it all together. It's so disjointed. Like they don't know what they're doing on offense. Olsen was already here when the brought in Martz, so I get it, that he didn't get to have input on the draft pick. But still. It's the same old story. Just a mess trying to build and sustain a decent offense. Another wasted 1st round draft pick... and to make it hurt even worse, the guy goes on to have a rock solid career at a position that is so important on offense (as we well know from this past clown show season).
On the other side of the coin, had we kept Olsen, would he have been the Carolina Olsen, or the Chicago Olsen? Much like QBs, and the infamous WR, Chicago is where Offensive players go to perish in mediocrity, or much worse... We can always dream about what could have been, but that is never guaranteed.
People have a funny way of having hindsight 20/20. A lot of people didn't like Olsen in Chicago b/c they felt he was to soft and would get tackled by DB's on first contact; and wasn't a blocking TE either. He was nothing special in Chicago. Most of his fumbles, and lost fumbles happened in Chicago, and only his first year in Car, until he started to break down a few years ago, was similar to what he did in Chicago. He never showed that 800-1k a season stuff here. You knew he was good, but you had no reason to know he was going to be what he became in Car. There was a lot of we need more of a Ditka 2 way complete TE then we need a oversized WR that goes down to guys 1/2 his size.
Yeah, I remember him as being one dimensional (couldn't block). It sounds like it does take TEs time to learn the position at the NFL level, and that certainly was his case. Many of us were disappointed with the way he was being used in Chicago (more like not being used). Receiving TEs were just not used by Martz much back then.
They say tight end is one of the hardest positions to come in and learn and make an impact because you're essentially learning two positions...receiver and lineman. You have to know all the route concepts and you have to know all the blocking schemes. Thats a lot to ask of any player, let alone a rookie.
I'm aware Njoku isn't a rookie. I was making reference to your desire to draft one to solve our tight end problem. Was Njoku a disappointment in 2018 when he was 8th among tight ends in receiving yards?
I mean seriously, I'm just amazed at the guys some of you lump into the "bust" category.
Didn't call him a bust (Shaheen and Kevin White are BUSTS). Called him a disappointment and I think that's a fair description considering he was a 1st round pick. If he wasn't a disappointment, the Browns would be looking to extend him rather than trade him.
It's true as you point out that he had a solid season in 2018. So did Trey Burton and Eric Ebron.
You know who else had a solid 2018? Brad Sowell. Yeah, it was as a backup offensive lineman, but still.