Bear Digest

How Bears See Gerald Everett Restoring Offensive Balance

The use of multiple tight end sets is something Shane Waldron has done in the past even with numerous wide receiver options available and Gerald Everett makes this possible.

Gene Chamberlain

Gerald Everett is expected to give the Bears more options at tight end and more dimensions within Shane Waldron's offense.
Gerald Everett is expected to give the Bears more options at tight end and more dimensions within Shane Waldron's offense. / Photo | Chicago Bears video
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The versatility by Bears offensive coaches regarding their top three wide receivers carries over to the tight end.

Perhaps it's not true with each player individually, but the Bears like the balance of their yin and yang with the position as downfield receiver Gerald Everett joins in-line tight end Cole Kmet this season when they go to 12-personnel package or even 13-personnel by adding blocking tight end Marcedes Lewis.

"Both vertically and laterally, Cole and I have two different skill sets," Everett said. "Obviously, him being much bigger than me, a traditional tight end, me being a move tight end.

"We like to be on the field as much as we can together, but being interchangeable we don't see a limit for our group, let alone Cole and I. Obviously, Caleb will use us to his best advantage."

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Everett is to Shane Waldron's offense what the Bears lost under head coach Matt Nagy when Trey Burton went from major asset in 2018 to total disappointment and injury riddled in 2019. They lacked the downfield tight end threat after 2018.

They had two tight ends again when Jimmy Graham joined the team but at that time Kmet was a rookie trying to learn.

Now, they have two proven tight ends backed by the 40-year-old national treasure.

Having three tight end is one thing but using them all is the other.

"I'm very optimistic in my capabilities in this offense as I've been in each other team I've played for," Everett said. "Obviously, following Shane here, I don't see it being any different."

When Everett played for Waldron in Seattle and also was in the same offense under Sean McVay with the Rams, he saw how the tight ends could still be important when there are numerous receiver threats.

"Well, just having different variables, I saw him with Sean McVay's staff, having Cooper Kupp, myself, Todd Gurley, etc, etc. to Seattle and D.K. Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, Russell Wilson, and then I left and then went to L.A. and now we're back (together).

"So he's got another set of variables. In that receiver room, they have a lot of weapons. In our tight end room a lot of weapons. In the backfield a lot of weapons. So, more variables for him to play around with, so it will be like a chess match."

Bears defenders have found Everett's downfield potential difficult to handle in practice.

"His athleticism for one," linebacker Tremaine Edmunds said. "Obviously he's a tight end, but 'G' is like a receiver out there, man. He's crafty, obviously has the speed, the size, got strong hands, know what I mean?

"He can pretty much do it all out there as far as at the tight end position. I mean, any time you have somebody like that, that dynamic, obviously it draws a lot of eyes on the defense so he been working hard out there. Man, 'G's' gonna do his thing for sure."

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The only question seems to be whether Waldron how much Waldron can use this balance how well Williams accesses it. In college, one of Williams' great strengths was throwing it to numerous receivers. He never had a tight end or wide receiver with more than 59 receptions as he dispersed the ball.

Waldron went to the two-tight end sets without hesitation even when he had Tyler Lockett, Metcalf and Jaxon Smith-Njigba at wide receiver in Seattle, but only because he had the options available. He usually did and did last year in Noah Fant, Colby Parkinson and Will Dissly.

"First of all, the personnel groupings really start with the players each individual year," Waldron said. "So I think different years, different places I've been, if that tight end group is the depth of the team right there or if it presents a matchup advantage that week. "

Even in preseason it's been apparent. With all their wide receivers, tight end Tommy Sweeney is leading the team in catches with six. Stephen Carlson has five and is tied for second while Brenden Bates has four. Three of their top five targets in preseason have been tight ends.

"But I think when you have tight ends that are able to be multiple, like the way, starting with Cole and Gerald have been, and (tight end coach) Jim Dray's done a great job of making sure those guys with Stephen (Carlson) and Marcedes, that whole group of tight ends all the way down to (Tommy) Sweeney and (Brenden) Bates, they’ve all done different things throughout the preseason and that's really just about figuring out what role they can handle, what different ways can we utilize them?" Waldron said. "Because once they can line up more than just in-line or more than it’s an F-tight end and all he does is line up outside and run routes, then I think it presents the same personnel group to the defense and then you're able to be multiple in the ways that you're able to get to different plays."

Using more than one tight end merely has been a case of doing what's necessary to take advantage of whatever problem a defense might have in matchups, and that's been the point of the overhaul the Bears made with their entire offense all along.

Twitter: BearsOnSI

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.