A NEW ERA
Is this potential crisis really a crisis at all? Would losing Jeffery to free agency utterly derail the entire Bears passing attack? No. At least not based on recent NFL history. Several teams around the league have actually lost Pro Bowl-caliber receivers multiple times. Not only did they successfully find replacements, but they never saw much of a dip in their capacity to win football games. Here is a short list of examples.
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Drafted Plaxico Burress (2000)
- Drafted Antwaan Randle El (2002)
- Drafted Heath Miller (2005)
- Drafted Santonio Holmes (2006)
- Drafted Mike Wallace (2009)
- Drafted Antonio Brown (2010)
- Drafted Emmanuel Sanders (2010)
- Drafted Martavis Bryant (2014)
Won two Super Bowls across that stretch
New York Giants
- Signed Plaxico Burress (2005)
- Drafted Steve Smith (2007)
- Drafted Mario Manningham (2008)
- Drafted Hakeem Nicks (2009)
- Drafted Rueben Randle (2012)
- Drafted Odell Beckham (2014)
- Drafted Sterling Shepard (2016)
Won two Super Bowls across that stretch
New England Patriots
- Traded for Randy Moss (2007)
- Traded for Wes Welker (2007)
- Drafted Julian Edelman (2009)
- Drafted Rob Gronkowski (2010)
- Drafted Aaron Hernandez (2010)
- Signed Danny Amendola (2013)
- Traded for Martellus Bennett (2016)
- Drafted Malcolm Mitchell (2016)
Won two Super Bowls across that stretch
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New Orleans Saints
- Drafted Dont’e Stallworth (2002)
- Drafted Devery Henderson (2004)
- Drafted Marques Colston (2006)
- Drafted Robert Meachem (2007)
- Drafted Jimmy Graham (2010)
- Drafted Kenny Stills (2013)
- Drafted Brandin Cooks (2014)
- Drafted Michael Thomas (2016)
Won a Super Bowl across that stretch
Cincinnati Bengals
- Drafted Chad Johnson (2001)
- Drafted T.J. Houshmandzadeh (2001)
- Drafted Chris Henry (2005)
- Drafted Jerome Simpson (2008)
- Drafted Andre Caldwell (2008)
- Drafted A.J. Green (2011)
- Drafted Mohamed Sanu (2012)
- Drafted Marvin Jones (2012)
- Drafted Tyler Boyd (2016)
Seven playoff appearances across that span.
What is the point to this list? Well there are two as it turns out. First of all, thanks to the very nature of the game today, wide receivers are in more abundance for talent than any other position in football. They constantly say it’s a passing league. In order to make that true, the league requires many able athlete who can play that position.
