Jesse James, the former tight end for the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Detroit Lions, will join the Chicago Bears on a one-year deal, confirmed by multiple sources.
James, 27, played tight end at Penn State, where he racked up over 1,000 receiving yards and 11 total touchdowns in three years of college football.
He was drafted in the fifth round of the 2015 NFL draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers, where he ended up playing for the first four years of his career. With the Steelers, he started in 36 of the 56 games he played, recording three seasons with 300+ receiving yards and nine total touchdowns.
After playing with the Steelers, James signed a four-year $25 million deal with the Detroit Lions. He struggled in Detroit, never eclipsing over 200 yards in the two seasons he played with them.
The #Bears are signing former #Steelers and #Lions TE Jesse James to a one-year deal, source says.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) July 25, 2021
Now, the veteran tight end will join a top-heavy crowd of tight end talent in Chicago. Led by Jimmy Graham and Cole Kmet, the Bears also have recently signed Jake Butt to add to the roster of Scooter Harrington, J.P Holtz, and Jesper Holsted.
James has similar characteristics to the two starters, Graham and Kmet, in terms of physicality. He is 6-foot-7 and weighs 250 pounds. James has great hands, can create space for himself, and can run deep routes downfield.
Signing a tight end to the roster at this point seems like a stereotypically arbitrary move for Ryan Pace & Co., considering they went into training camp with 10+ on the roster last season. However, James offers a certain depth at the position that the others behind Graham and Kmet can’t offer.
James’s size, athleticism, and starting job experience around the league make him an A+ signing for tight end depth.
It will be interesting for fans to see if Matt Nagy will use all three at the same time on the field. After seeing how often the Bears threw to Graham in the RedZone last season, it wouldn’t be surprising if Nagy tried to get fancy with tight ends built like NBA power forwards within reach of the endzone.
It appears Nagy is stirring the creative juices for the offense, especially following the reports that the Bears might implement Allen Robinson in the slot to allow deep threats Darnell Mooney, Marquise Goodwin, and Damiere Byrd to thrive on the outside.
Per a league source with reason to know, the Bears plan to deploy Allen Robinson more out of the slot in 2021 following the departure of Anthony Miller
Ran 25% of routes out of the slot in 2020
Would imagine he’s flanked by Darnell Mooney and Damiere Byrd on the outside
— Brad Spielberger (@PFF_Brad) July 25, 2021
Bringing on James gives the Bears a cheap depth option for size in the passing game and blocking the outside lanes. His presence on the Bears should give Nagy more options to get creative with the playbook, leading to a more successful offense than last year’s 22 .4 points per game.
Either way, this signing attributes to the Bears’ offseason focus of rebuilding the depth of the offensive skill players and giving Nagy more options to use in the passing game behind their newly acquired gem, Justin Fields.
Attaching this signing as the rebuttal for trading away Anthony Miller for minimal cap space and a swap of late-round draft picks certainly seems like a positive. Unlike Miller, James should see quality playing time for the Bears and the ability to make an impact on the offense.
Well done front office, another great signing to cap off a beautifully executed offseason thus far.
