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Chicago Bears: Grading the Jacquizz Rodgers signing

By Kyle Brutman

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The Newly-hired Chicago Bears General Manager Ryan Pace continued his slew of offseason moves on Tuesday with the signing of former Atlanta Falcons running back Jacquizz Rodgers to a one-year contract, adding some depth to a somewhat-thin position. Two-time Pro Bowler Matt Forte led the way at the position last season, with only rookie and 4th-rounder Ka’Deem Carey as a backup for the abysmal 27th-ranked rushing attack.

While Rodgers does not really do much in the rushing game, he makes up for it with his presence in the passing game. At an undersized height of 5″6′ and just under 200 pounds, the Oregon State product produced only had 29 catches and one touchdown (the latter happening in the last game of the season) last year, but amassed 50+ catches in each of the two previous seasons. Rodgers is effective after the catch, using a mixture of speed and evasiveness to help him average 6.5 yards after catch (YAC) during last season. He has also shown some signs of effectiveness as a returner, averaging 24 yards on 49 career kick returns.

The addition of Rodgers may be beneficial for starting quarterback Jay Cutler, who was benched at the end of the season because of poor play.  This will be a surprise to many, but last year may have statistically been Cutler’s best season as an NFL quarterback (Take that in for a second). Cutler averaged 254.1 yards per game, which is the most he’s had since coming over from the Denver Broncos. For the first time in his NFL career, he managed to throw at least 10 more touchdowns than interceptions (28 an 18, respectively) and also recorded his second-highest quarterback rating as an NFL quarterback (88.6).

And you maybe be wondering, how do all of those impressive (at least for Cutler) numbers relate to the Rodgers signing? Well, let’s go back to Forte. For the first time in his career, he caught 100+ passes, surpassing his previous best of 74 receptions in 2013. He received essentially the same amount of total touches in each year (363 in 2013, 368 in 2014), but the way that those touches were distributed differed greatly–Forte rushed 23 less times in 2014 than he did the year before.

The change in Forte’s rushing workload will work to Forte’s benefit, as he enters the last year of his contract at a position that averages about 2.57 years per career, according to statista.com. So from what has been discussed so far, signing a receiving back to tap in for Forte for some wheel out routes (or if he suffers an injury) seems like a pretty good idea.

Low and behold, here’s the kicker: despite the fact that Cutler and Forte have benefited from this change, the offensive unit as a whole has suffered. The Bears went from being the 8th-ranked team in total offense in 2013 (381.1 Yds/G) to ranking in the bottom third of the league and averaging 327.1 yards per game.

To compare the play distribution, let’s take Cutler’s 2012 season, where he played the same amount of games as he did last year (15). Cutler threw 434 passes that year and the play distribution was almost equal (50.8 percent pass plays), whereas last year, he attempted 561 throws and the offense threw the ball 63.2 percent of the time. The increase in Cutler’s usage also led to 30 turnovers in 2014 (compared to 22 in 2012).

Oct 20, 2013; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Falcons running back Jacquizz Rodgers (32) celebrates a touchdown with quarterback Matt Ryan (2) in the first half against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the Georgia Dome. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports

The move to sign Rodgers makes sense; the Bears add a player at a thin position to help in the passing game who can also return kicks if need be. But Rodgers won’t be able to help in the ground game in an effective way, and that’s probably the most important priority right now. If Ka’Deem Carey can improve on last season’s stats and become a more effective contributor to the ground game, then the Bears should be able to improve from that standpoint if he is utilized correctly.

JACQUIZZ RODGERS SIGNING GRADE: B-

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