May Brandon Rideau Haunt You In Your Dreams
The world is coming to an end. No, not really, but the decision to once again cut Brandon Rideau goes to show what we already knew: the Bears don’t know anything about wide receivers.
The Bears had a golden opportunity to make a definitive statement about the direction of the receiving corps by just simply picking the better receiver. Clearly, Rideau is the better receiver. Too often, Jerry Angelo commits to what he calls “sobriety” when “sobriety” is just a semi-clever keyword for “safe”.
Rashied Davis, plainly the winner of the final roster spot, is the safer pick. Maybe it’s because he’s the crafty veteran–yeah, I know–or has made a critical catch once or twice in games that have counted, but his tenure won him the job. (And this is where you talk special teams contribution and I say, ‘Eh, not a big disparity’).
For all the great things Jerry Angelo has done for this franchise in just the last five months, he unfortunately still seems resigned to either wait too long on players he’s invested in or not be okay with risk. Jerry Angelo is Ben Stiller in “Along Came Poly”.
If Angelo wanted the six best receivers on the field, he should have made Rideau number six. Obvious affinity for Rideau aside, take a quick glance at the preseason stats: Rideau – 4 catches, 43 yards, 1 touchdown; Davis – 3 catches, 28 yards, 0 touchdowns. Oh, but come on! Preseason isn’t truly a good measure of talent, right? Okay: Davis has less than 1,000 total yards receiving in three seasons … HE’S NOT DOING ANYTHING. EVER.
Seriously, what type of preseason will Rideau need to put together to make this team? And how is it not beneficial to have two of your six wide receivers be over six-two? I … just … don’t … Oh, forget it.
Just keep in mind that Rideau was denied regular season entry onto the field last year to make room for Mark Bradley. And that worked out so well.
I like Brandon Rideau, but the truth is he’s not a very good route runner. I do believe the coach’s make the roster cuts not Jerry Angelo. Mark Bradley is an excellent reciever. He was just injured during his time with the bears. Look at what he’s done with the chiefs.
I blame the coaching staff too. They failed to do anything with Mark Bradley and Justin Gage. Lovie and his inept offensive coaching staff just threw up their hands and failed to develop them – especially with Gage. I think Brandon may follow this path. As Bobby said, he may not be a great route runner now, but a good coaching staff can work with him on this. Rideau will embarrass Lovie and Turner, I predict.
I agree with Bobby & Derek, However, I think Jay Cutler definitely has a VOICE in which WR’s stay or go? for the first time EVER Jerry Angelo SEEMS to LISTEN to a player, yet, he still does as he pleases and defends HIS draft choices(remember Cedric Bensen when we had Thomas Jones!!??)Remember Rex Grossman? shall I go on? I also think he is too involved as a GM; he should let the coaches do their job(if they are CAPABLE) I think Rideau can become a very good player under the right coaches.I thought Jay liked him.
Anne
I am so sick of the Bears hanging on to Rashied Davis. Rideau played well in the preseason and is 6′3 compared to Davis at 5′9. I don’t know why the Bears haven’t figured out what every other team in the NFL seem to understand. When you have big recievers they can go up and get the ball over 99% of NFL DB’s, which is what Jay was talking about after the Buffalo game. There is a reason they found Davis in the arena league, he’s too tiny to play in the NFL without having blazing speed or being particulary elusive.
Agreed. RASHIED DAVIS BLOWS. The bears need that big wide out to go with hester and they lost the best chance they had for it. Dumb move by all.
man, i thought rideau was a lock for the team! i went and watched them at training camp and he was catching everything thrown to him. he done pretty good in preseason, when he was getting the ball thrown his way. you know if he couldve gotten out there with cutler more, maybe he couldve shown what he had. as a receiver and receiver only, i would take rideau instead of hester every time! the only thing hester has going for him at WR is he can outrun people (sometimes). if you watch the games close then you know hester cant break tackles his routes are not the greatest…and everyone in the world knows now he cant jump!!! so, if hester doesnt have an open field in front of him, im gonna have to say he will get tackled as soon as he catches the ball. did you all see how many DB’s they kept? like 12! they shouldve dumped one of those guys and kept rideau…..just what i wouldve done. goodluck brandon, hope ya find a team that wants your skill and size!!!