Is This Mitch Trubisky's Breakout Year?

As the world's number one Mitch Trubisky supporter as evidenced here, here, here, here, and here, I felt it was about time to weigh in on what to expect from the future hall-of-famer as he embarks on his second professional season. It is a weird feeling for Bears fans, because for the first time since Sexy Rexy was throwing it deep every chance he got, there is actually a buzz about this team, and this may be the first time ever where that buzz is seriously centered around the offense.

With an unbiased opinion, it's hard to say that Trubisky was an overwhelming success in his rookie year. Still, there were some mitigating factors working against him as John Fox and Dowell Loggains coached what was likely the most boring offense in the NFL. It makes sense as the dowel is easily the most boring piece when building IKEA furniture. Trubisky was consistently throwing behind schedule which made his job as a rookie nearly impossible. It didn't help that the Bears best receiver last year was...um, Kendall Wright. And that's bad enough, but Kendall Wright was #1 by a WIDE margin. He had nearly twice as many yards as number two on the list, Josh Bellamy, and Wright still ended up with only 614 receiving yards. This was not a recipe for success.

Although as all of us true football guys know, stats are for losers, I did find an interesting article on Football Outsiders this week that went over quarterback success on a variety of routes. Here is where Mitch Trubisky ranks out of 35 qualifying quarterbacks on each route:

Curl - 35th
Out - 25th
Dig - 8th
Slant - 18th
Drag - 8th
Fly - 29th
Screen - 20th
Post - 9th
Comeback - 33rd
Broken Play - 22nd
Fade - 17th
Seam - 23rd

Now the first thing you will realize is that last year was not a rousing success. His highest finish is eighth best, and he was dead last at the curl route as well as very low in some other spots. The most interesting thing I noticed is that Trubisky had the most success on routes breaking into the middle of the field and struggled when throwing to the outside.

A huge positive to Trubisky having success in the middle of the field is that it confirms something that I suspected when watching him, and that he is able to see the field well. There are a whole lot more bodies around for those in-breaking routes, and Trubisky is able to diagnose and get yards over the middle of the field. He was the literal worst with curl routes, but I think it's fair to assume that part of the blame goes to his receiving targets.

Speaking of awful receivers, I can't totally ignore that he struggled to the routes that broke to the outside. I would say that this is a little concerning as these are generally tougher physical throws to make accurately, but this may be another case of his receivers not giving him a whole lot to work with. It may also be the lack of chemistry built with those receivers, especially since Mike Glennon was getting first team reps during the offseason and even for the first month of the season. It's something to keep an eye on, but it's a little early to be worried about it.

The biggest positive out of all of this is that there is hope on the horizon when it comes to the Bears coaching staff. With new head coach Matt Nagy and offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich, this offense will not only be interesting but is actually getting people excited. This is the reason for all of the buzz around the Bears this season, because if they still had the same coaching staff, Allen Robinson, Taylor Gabriel, Trey Burton, and the epic return of Kevin White wouldn't matter (and maybe that last one still won't matter). With the added weapons and offensive minds that will play to Trubisky's strengths, this offense has everything it needs to put up points.

Now it's time for Trubisky to deliver.

Chicago Bears 2015 Draft Breakdown: Kevin White

Kevin White is a big, physical, super athletic receiver. Those are all very good things. I lambasted the draft pick on Twitter when it was made, but I do believe that the best draft strategy is taking the best player available and only drafting for need when you see two prospects as very closely rated. Personally, I would have gone with Vic Beasley, but the Bears clearly thought very high of Kevin White, and if he was their top dude, then it was the right decision, even if there will be receiver options much later in this draft (Side note: All teams should try to get one spot ahead of the Bears. Last year, Aaron Donald, and this year, Leonard Williams. I really need to stop getting my hopes up and just take my dog for a long walk or something during the draft). Anyway, I admittedly didn't do a ton of research on the top receivers, so I wanted to take a deeper look at Kevin White and see exactly just what the Bears got with the seventh overall pick.

One thing that is undeniable about Kevin White is that he is an explosive athlete. He shows that on this play against Oklahoma where he does a stutter and go, and the Oklahoma cornerback is helpless.

It's a stutter step to the outside and OU's corner makes one false step before White breaks up the field and is gone at that point. He gets about five yards of separation and Trickett throws a nice ball out there, but he has the type of raw physical tools that are going to make him a tough cover at the next level. And just for fun, here's the end zone view of the play.

When you have speed like White, it can really open things up, and this player later in the Oklahoma game shows that.

He has the cornerback so scared of him going deep that he is still three yards away when he catches the ball on a quick curl. That gives him space to make things happen, and he is able to evade the corner and pick up a first down on what is a very simple route and throw. The impressive thing about his game against Oklahoma is how bad he made Zack Sanchez look in this game. Sanchez is a pretty decent NFL prospect for 2016 (if he declares), and he looked totally outmatched at times against White. Competition is something that gets overlooked too often, so this was an incredibly impressive display by White.

When he gets in the open field, he is a guy that creates yards with his strength more than with his quickness. He looks to bull guys over, as he isn't great at making guys miss with the ball in his hands. If he goes up against a corner who isn't very physical, White is likely going to eat his lunch.

Another thing I like about White is that he is always putting his hands away from his body to catch the ball. He is not a body catcher, which is a skill that will not translate to the NFL. Here, he does an excellent job of high-pointing the football and attacking it with his hands to make the touchdown catch.

You can't do it much better than that. And here's another angle for funsies.

If you think it's a fluke, this may help change your mind.

Dude really doesn't like Alabama.

I also looked at his athletic traits using Mock Draftable's excellent web graphs to show where guys rank at their position. Basically, he's big, strong, and fast, but he's not going to beat people with his quickness.

He also had a very interesting top comparison in Braylon Edwards. Edwards is seen as more of a bust now, but he was really good early on until his inability to catch the ball finally caught up with him. Still, a Braylon Edwards that can catch is a pretty valuable asset and somebody who can immediately pay dividends in the red zone. Although I would have liked to see the defense get a boost, Kevin White probably has the highest ceiling of any receiver in this draft. It's tough to be too mad about that.