Speedy receiver Breshad Perriman joins Bears, his seventh club
The worst kept secret in the history of the NFL is official: Breshad Perriman is finally a Chicago Bear.
So do we celebrate or regurgitate?
How do you not get excited about a 26th pick in the first round of the 2015 Draft that plays wideout at 6-2, 212, and was clocked between an otherworldly 4.17 and 4.27 at his pro day prior to the 2015 Draft depending on which scouts you listen to?
That slowest mark of 4.27 would tie him with current Bear Marquise Goodwin for the fourth-fastest pre-Draft time ever, and the 4.17 would be the fastest ever surpassing John Ross' 4.22.
However your acid reflux could be triggered by the fact the Bears are now Perriman's seventh NFL club entering his seventh season in the league and while he isn't Kevin White, he has played 16 games just once and more than 12 twice, and he's amassed just 125 catches for 2,066 yards, for an average of 16.5 yards per catch, and 14 touchdowns in those first six years.
I mention White because as the seventh pick in that same '15 Draft he is back in the league too, in New Orleans.
When you're 6-2 plus and can run like the wind, NFL clubs will overlook a lot of warts.
Pace spelled it out, "First thing: speed, big time speed.
"We've talked about him, I feel like, every year. He's big, he's 6-2, he can still run and that's just continuing the speed and explosiveness in this offense."
I asked Matt Nagy Monday, where do you start with a kid with his track record?
"With Breshad, he has been with several different teams and being a first-round Draft pick we've been looking at him for a couple years now, so we're pretty familiar with his path.
"You've just got to stay positive with them and then you find out why didn't things go well here or there, and why did things go well as these other spots, because I know when he was at Tampa Bay that second part of the season he was really, really good."
Over the last nine weeks of the 2019 season in Tampa, Perriman amassed 33 catches for 629 yards, averaging 19.1 yards per catch, and 6 TDs.
The Bears to a man seem to agree they've never seen a group as fast as Perriman, Marquise Goodwin, Damiere Byrd and Darnell Mooney in one locker room.
Wide receivers coach Mike Furrey says, "I have not, I have not. I think it's probably pretty rare for anybody to have three guys listed at 4.2, a legit 4.2.
"Yeah, we've got a pretty good track team, a good 4-by-100 for sure, and a good coach in 12 (Allen Robinson), I'm sure he'll coach them up."
The issue though is how rarely all that speed converts to production.
Like Perriman, Goodwin and Byrd have each had one better than average season in seven and five years in the league respectively.
Furrey does have a theory about that.
"I think the main thing just from my experience of being around guys is just don't confuse them, let them play.
"Let them play, let them feel comfortable and let them play as fast as they possibly can.
"When they start thinking too much, where to line up, all those kind of things it slows you down, it slows everybody down and if you slow that trait down now you've just got an average guy out there that can run.
"So I think it's just putting them in situations where they feel free, and they feel comfortable and let them go play."
While the football world has been focused on the Justin Fields phenomena and the 24/7 debates over when he should become the starter, the Bears have made an even bigger bet on acquiring an Olympic track team to make both him and Andy Dalton better.
In some respects it's old school, possibly the biggest factor in getting Al Davis into the Hall Of Fame.
It's also a huge gamble if they leave more balls on the turf than they carry into the end zone.
While we can all agree that speed does kill, who will be the victims here seems to be an open question.
• Twitter: @Hub_Arkush