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Faceoff - WR Bernard Berrian, Chicago Bears
Posted 8/8, exclusive to Footballguys.com
Upside - by Cecil Lammey
Bernard Berrian is hitting his stride as an NFL receiver. The speedster from Fresno State can get the job done, and he is the second best playmaker on the offense next to Devin Hester. Berrian is a better receiver than Hester, and he is extremely fast.Hester will be a decoy primarily, and the down the field playmaking will go almost entirely to Berrian. He can catch underneath routes and take them to the house. Or he can go long and bring in the deep passes. The Bears offense has added more weapons in the aforementioned Hester and new TE Greg Olsen. Don't be fooled into thinking that this will reduce Berrian's role. Rex Grossman is getting more comfortable in the offense and Berrian is the guy that can make the biggest plays.
2007 should see another spectacular year from Bernard Berrian. He may be a smaller guy, but don't worry about the injury bug because we saw him play injured last year. He was supposed to miss four games and only missed one after he injured his ribs against the Dolphins. This makes coaches and teammates very happy, and it gives Berrian the confidence to know that he can still perform at a high level, even though he is not 100%. The Bears expect Rex Grossman to take the next step, and in order to do that Berrian must help that along by having a great season himself.
Downside - by Sigmund Bloom
It's hard to shake the visions of Bernard Berrian effortlessly running under Rex Grossman's deep ball for a long TD on multiple occasions last year. Grossman finally played a full season, and it seemed to unlock Berrian's potential. Five weeks into 2006, Bernard Berrian was among the top 10 wide receivers in fantasy football. Yet when the season ended, Berrian was only WR32. What happened last year and what could happen this year should keep you from expecting anything better than that from Berrian in 2007.Berrian's impressive straight line speed combined with Rex Grossman's willingness to just wing it out there as far as he could male for a lethal combination in 2006. The problem for Berrian's fantasy owners is that the deep ball was really the only weapon in his arsenal. Berrian is slight at 6'1 185 lbs, but he is tough. He's much better suited to go over the middle than say, Ashley Lelie, but he is not the most ideal target on short to intermediate routes. Berrian is just not as multi-faceted as most starting wide receivers. He has also missed games in each of the last two years due to injury (2006 - rib, 2005 - thumb). Berrian is not the kind of receiver you can count on to be a big part of the game plan every week, and it's because of that thin frame that is not necessarily built to last in the NFL.
Berrian's profile is not as exciting as his big plays, and his situation carries some risk going into 2007. Devin Hester is being added to the passing game and should steal away a few dozen targets, and Mark Bradley is healthy (for now). Many believe (including myself) believe that Bradley is just as talented, if not more talented than Berrian. The Bears spent their first round pick on Greg Olsen, a great weapon in the passing game from the tight end position. Berrian's role was already less than optimal from a fantasy perspective, and now he's got to fight more talented players to get targets. There's also the nagging feeling that Rex Grossman could play poorly enough to get pulled at some point during the season. Berrian's fantasy value is very dependent on Grossman staying in the lineup; he's just not the same player without Rex.
Berrian is a fine guy to pick as a WR3, as long you take a grizzled reliable vet or high upside youngster as your WR4 to hedge your bets, because an improvement from or a repeat of 2006 for Berrian is not a given.