No TE

beartn · Joined: 11 Mar 2005 Posts: 103

Why have we not made a play for a te, like bubba franks, freddie mitchell or marcus pollard, I know they think clark is the answer, he is decent but turner wants 17% of total offensive production to come from TE, to do this I believe we need more than a decent TE, make no sense to me at all as to why that has not been a priority as well as the wr and ol positions

DABEARS · Joined: 28 Dec 2004 Posts: 258 Location: Illinois

yeah i know i want a te too maybe they will give him one more year to prove himself or we may draft someone hopefully

GRRLacher · Joined: 07 Mar 2005 Posts: 20642 Location: Maryland

I don't know... six years in the league and he has yet to put together a good season. Here are his career averages per season:

Rec: 24
Yards: 277
TDs: 2

And what did he do for us last year???

Rec: 24
Yards: 282
TDs: 1

Sounds like he had his normal season... which doesn't cut it. We need someone that can be a threat and demands respect/attention from the LBs and SS... Clark just isn't the guy. Time to try something new... Jones, Pollard, Franks - I don't really care, just something new and improved.

Bear_Down_CA · Joined: 18 Mar 2005 Posts: 1023 Location: Stanton, CA

282 yards *was* 17% of our offense last year.

beartn · Joined: 11 Mar 2005 Posts: 103

Yeah I guess I can't argue with that but if we had a real offense last year we would have need a good TE to account for 17% Smile

Jack · Joined: 05 Mar 2005 Posts: 4173

Pollard went to the Lions.
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"You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime."--Babe Ruth

GRRLacher · Joined: 07 Mar 2005 Posts: 20642 Location: Maryland

bringbackditka · Joined: 27 Jan 2005 Posts: 401

I think Clark will be fine as long as he can get a few balls his way. He'll be a threat in the red-zone and a hot route on blitzes. He'll be the third or fourth look the rest of the time.
That said I'd be glad to see a legitimate threat at TE. It's been a while.

GRRLacher · Joined: 07 Mar 2005 Posts: 20642 Location: Maryland

I'm with ya bringbackditka... I believe that the TE can open up things for WRs as well as RBs - it's a very important position in the offense - assuming you have the right guy there. Unfortunately we haven't had that since Ditka was playing. We have a list of guys like Latta, Jennings, Moorehead, Gedney, Thornton, Mayes... I mean where does the list of non-productive TEs end???

delakev · Joined: 09 Jan 2005 Posts: 568

It was mentioned above that with the exception of a few teams in the league, (SD, KC, Baltimore, NYG, and possibly the Browns) that TE is a difficult position to come across a game-breaker. You have to remember that in all of those cases they have a strong running game: SD has LaDanian, KC has the Priest, Baltimore has Lewis, and the Giants have Barber. None of these teams have top Wide Recievers. Perhaps what you lack in a stunning WR you get in a stunning TE. I think before the Bears worry about getting that great TE we focus on building our WR core and Running game. For the time being I think Clark suffices, but an upgrade at any position is welcomed.
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Thanks so much Scar!!

GRRLacher · Joined: 07 Mar 2005 Posts: 20642 Location: Maryland

delakev - you make an excellent point. Those teams succeed with average recievers and a strong TE and RB. It doesn't matter if you have two strong WRs or a very good TE and a couple of avg recievers - either way you make the defense respect the passing game.