Bears are reportedly looking to trade Anthony Miller

The Chicago Bears are in a difficult situation with Allen Robinson, and now they’d reportedly like to trade Anthony Miller.

The Chicago Bears have continually botched their situation with Allen Robinson, right down to him possibly not signing the franchise tender for a long time. They’re eyeing another wide receiver move though.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter has reported the Bears are having trade discussions involving Anthony Miller.

Schefter added Miller is “likely to be dealt.” He’s entering the final year of his rookie contract as a former second-round pick. His best season thus far in terms of catches and yards came in 2019, with 52 receptions for 656 yards. As a rookie in 2018, he had seven touchdowns — with only four over the two seasons since. Chicago’s quarterback ineptitude aside, he’s never put it all together.

Anthony Miller may have untapped potential

According to Player Profiler, Miller came in 76th or worse (among wide receivers) in average depth of target (8.9; 76th), catchable target rate (73.7 percent; 77th) and target quality (4.9; 90th) last year. It’s important to note that the latter stat puts greater value on deep, catchable targets. But whereas Robinson has overcome the Bears’ bad quarterbacks, Miller has not been able to. Still, it’s worth wondering what Miller could do with a better quarterback.

Though it seemed less likely almost by the day, the Bears wound up making their move for a quarterback with Andy Dalton. So depleting their set of weapons is a poorly conceived idea. It’s bad enough for Robinson to be (rightfully) dissatisfied with how contract talks have gone and then being franchise tagged. Trading Miller would thin the wide receiver depth chart, but maybe that’s the idea with Matt Nagy’s recent praise of Darnell Mooney.

Miller may welcome a change of scenery, and part of Schefter’s tweet reporting he’s on the trade block (“a productive and talented slot receiver”) reeks of agent-speak. Ultimately the Bears are going to do what the Bears do, which means if Miller reaches his potential, it may be elsewhere.