Young player development is complicated, and it’s not often linear — between coaching changes, injuries, and even positional switches, most NFL players are bound to run into an obstacle or two on the road to their proverbial ceiling. In fact, it’s often how a player navigates these obstacles that determines the trajectory of the rest of their NFL career.
The Chicago Bears have plenty of youngsters that have suffered many of the obstacles described above — between Mitchell Trubisky surviving regime change, Roquan Smith and Anthony Miller struggling with injuries, and James Daniels playing multiple positions on the offensive line, it’s more than fair to say that many of the Bears’ talented young players have suffered setbacks early in their career and are likely looking at the upcoming 2020 season as an opportunity to prove themselves.