Chicago Bears Athletic Freak On The Chopping Block

the Chicago Bears have just a freak athlete that unfortunately is going to be on the chopping block and we're getting close to cut day right and the Bears have already started trimming players and there's just this freak athlete and it's a difficult cut and the guy in The Chopping Block that I'm talking about is Dominique Robinson and if he's cut it's just really disappointing the guy still raw tons of potential but it's mostly situational as well and making the roster squeeze due to the signing of Daryl Taylor a great defensive end signing right just a really nice move by GM Ryan polls but also the performance of Daniel Hardy in the preseason is really putting the squeeze on Robinson here's a story on heavy.com read it in its entirety to get the real skinny on this I'm just going to kind of hit some highlights and I wanted to get this information out to you and frankly the Bears have been trying to develop Robinson for a couple years the team's greatly improved so it's harder to make that R make this roster that's a really good thing and the guy just hasn't flashed a ton I for one would love to keep them but I don't think it's possible and this isn't a lock to happen the position group is still thin but after playing in all 17 games as rookie in 2022 the team they decided to keep Robinson out for six straight games last year he was a healthy scratch and this is a guy with Incredible athletic measurables the guy's just a freak he moves fast he's 6 foot5 253 pounds and he played in 51% of Chicago's defensive snaps as a rookie and that number dwindled to only 35% and here's a little known some little known things about him that I wasn't fully aware of the guy played both quarterback and wide receiver early in his college career at Miami of Ohio and then he switched over to defensive line as a senior so this guy's still learning about being a pass rusher in the NFL uh obviously he's still developing and I'm sure being kept in the consideration is possible but we're talking about year three as a fifth round pick who's shown almost zero flash during the regular season and you're also looking at this competition of sorts with Harvey and I think this preseason has been in it's been an improvement for Robinson um both of these guys benefited from Jacob Martin getting injured early in Camp I mean Martin flashed to open camp but he hurt his ankle uh in the second day of pads I believe hasn't come back to the roster Hardy and Robinson they've really taken advantage of these opportunities they originally appeared to be in line to make the roster as just good rotational Edge rushers core special teams as of Thursday but then we see the signing of Taylor once again pretty circumstantial you see the Bears pushing Austin Booker of head of Robinson last week Daniel Hardy this guy is looking like a huge find he's outperformed Robinson he should be pushing him off the roster that is if even one of them makes it I really think it's going to be Hardy but Hardy played to back that up Hardy played the second most snaps 109 among the teams ad dressers in the pr season that's behind Kareem at 114 but he produced more sacks four pressures 14 he produced more than any other NFL Edge rusher that played in the preseason that's a big thing and he also passes the ey test we're looking at eight stops in the Run game he showed a nice bless blend of just pass rushing he was good at stopping the run and let's just hear PFF speak Hardy finished with the best tackling grade 7 8.1 tied for the fifth best run defense grade 80.5 and that's out of 222 players who logged at least one snap at outside linebacker or defensive end during this whole preseason so what does that tell us on paper Hardy's won the battle right but the Bears they might instead look to stick things out with Robinson kind of hold on for a little longer it was their fifth round pick in 2022 maybe they can still develop him I don't know man but it's worth noting that our GM he mentioned he was pleased with Robinson's development and that was in his midgame interview with the with the during the preseason game on August 17th that was against the Bengals then there's Jacob Martin the guys hurt but he was looking pretty great in Camp before that and it's possible it's possible that the Bears keep Martin as their fourth Edge rusher and that further crowds the defensive end room even more so what would prevent this what would happen What would have to happen to keep Robinson on this roster I think our defensive coordinator coach Washington I think it's dependent on him if he thinks that he can still develop this guy and there's not really a better defensive line coach in the whole NFL than Eric Washington he's on staff as defensive coordinator and he's going to really contribute there but coach Flo is calling the plays and I think make no bones about it Eric Washington is there to get this defensive line in order to squeeze the potential out of these players that are trying to develop and I think the proof has been in the pudding for lack of a better way of putting it this defensive line is developing before our eyes Austin Booker is balling out you got Hardy really showing some pop you've got just guys up and down the line performing at their optimal level and I think Eric Washington was one of the best additions of this whole off season and that's even including the rookies that were drafted I mean coaching matters in Washington he's one of the best we're so blessed to have him so I think moving forward I think also the Bears thinking Hardy won't perform as well against regular season competition that could be a thing could be also Martin's injury status clears up magically before Tuesday I mean and also that Martin's past career performance that makes him a musole um there's a lot of things that could happen but Robinson in essence he needs to be worried about Hardy facing better competition he wants the Bears to think that um he's got to worry about Martin's injury status he's pretty much done what he can in this pre season and en Camp to try to make this team and kind of with this let's pair it with a couple early cuts the Bears waved of that defensive end khed Kareem he was scratched from the roster on Friday and that's right after the the agreement to bring Daryl Taylor onto the team kind of a little bit about Kine he was a 2020 fifth round pick for Cincinnati he got plucked off the waivers during the 2023 roster cutdown period landed on IR last year ahead of their third regular season game against the Kansas City Chiefs and then he got demoted in the practice squad even after he returned from his injury so Kareem no longer being a bear not surprising he returned on the on a reserve future contract for 2024 and he kind of looked like he had an outside chance of winning a depth spot he even made his case he the guy had a solid preseason he had one sack six pressures five tackles and four games but effectively when the Bears traded for Taylor the writing was on the wall with him one more player that's no longer a bear 26-year-old wide receiver Freddy Swain this guy's bounced around he showed some flashes in the league here and there he was placed on Chicago's injured reserve list on August 21st that's after he signed with the team in May the guy played 30 stamps for Chicago in the preseason caught three passes for 30 yards but his tenure as a Chicago Bear is over and uh yeah polls has said leading into this season this is going to be a hard team to make players that might have scooched onto the roster and actually got a of playing time Robinson is a good example of that he played 17 games in his rookie season as this team has improved as this team has started to become Elite on defense that's just not going to cut it anymore you have to perform even to make this team and I'd rather have somebody like jamy chroma make this team or at least placed in higher priority over Robinson I just think the guy just isn't going to develop so unless coach Washington DEC decides otherwise if he stays on the team that means coach Washington believes in him and expect him to be developed so we'll see what's up you guys bear down it's been such a great offseason but I'm gonna be honest I'm ready for real games I'm ready to finish my fantasy football drafts I'm ready for the NFL to start and I'm sure you feel the same way I'll talk to you soon bear down and uh yeah