BOURBONNAIS — Zach Miller got put on notice this offseason.
That’s the perception, of course, with Ryan Pace’s front office bringing in two high-profile additions in Dion Sims and Adam Shaheen. The moves could very well be construed as a signal that Miller’s days are numbered in Chicago.
Miller has seen those signs, too. But that doesn’t mean he’s going to just give up.
“You’ve got to understand the business side of football,” Miller said earlier this week at training camp. “You guys throw dirt on my grave, that’s fine. I’m getting up to play the next day, so that’ll all sort itself out.”
Really, Zach? You think folks are throwing dirt on you grave?
“I was just messing around. Shoot, are you guys going to throw dirt on my grave or not? Are you burying me already?” he replied, to laughs. “No, no I don’t think that. It’s just that you’re getting at the point that you sign a new guy, draft a guy high, everybody’s like, ‘Oh are they going to phase him out, man?’
“It doesn’t matter to me, I’m going to show up for work and do my thing, and work my ass off to make this football team and make it better.”
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Miller seems to still be firmly in the mix for now, and he should be considering the numbers he put up in the past two seasons. Instead of a makeover at the position, perhaps the more apt description will end up being an evolution at tight end.
But there’s no getting around the acquisitions of Sims and Shaheen. Sims, known for his blocking, broke out last season, his fourth with the Miami Dolphins, catching a career-best four touchdown passes. Shaheen is more of a pass-catcher, with those abilities and his size earning him the nickname “Baby Gronk.” Despite coming out of a tiny D-II program, Shaheen got rave reviews leading up to the draft and has generated a ton of excitement since, with folks clamoring for the connection between him and first-round pick Mitch Trubisky to show up in games sooner rather than later.
That’s unrealistic, as the rookies need time to grow into their new pro roles, but with new starting quarterback Mike Glennon plus the additions in the tight end room, there’s no doubt that the quarterback-to-tight-end hook ups this season will look different than they did in recent years with Jay Cutler hooking up almost exclusively with Miller.
“I think we have a strong group,” Sims said Sunday. “A lot of guys coming in to work and compete. Even last year, Zach, the numbers he put up, things he did before he was hurt, it was tremendous. We’ve just got a lot of guys that can do a lot, are very versatile at the position, a lot of big guys with size and speed like I’ve never seen before.”
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Miller hauled in a combined nine touchdown passes in the past two seasons with the Bears, racking up more than 400 receiving yards in each campaign.
But health has always been Miller’s weak point. He played just four games during the 2011 season with the Jacksonville Jaguars and went four years before he appeared in another NFL game, in 2015 with the Bears. He started 14 games that season. Last year, he played in 10 games and missed the final six weeks with a foot injury he spent the offseason recovering from.
“Freak things happen, man,” Miller said. “I’ve done everything I could do injury-prevention wise. There’s nothing I could do to stop my foot from getting crushed. It’s a disappointing, but I also know that I can grind through that because I’ve done it before. I still feel I can play at a high level. Now it’s just time to go out and show it.”
And so Miller’s No. 1 goal this camp is pretty obvious.
“Be healthy. I don’t think ability wise that there’s any question I can play,” he said. “I’ve got to be healthy, I’ve got to stay healthy and let my game kind of take care of itself.”
It’s not just the veteran Sims coming for Miller’s targets, though. The Bears spent a second-round pick on Shaheen, who is a big fella at 6-foot-6 and 270-pounds, meaning they see him as a big part of their long-term plans.
Shaheen is getting positive reviews from his teammates, perhaps an indication that he could fit into some short-term plans, as well, a contrast from Trubisky, who is expected to sit most if not all of his first season in the NFL.
“He’s doing a great job so far,” Sims said of Shaheen. “He’s catching on well with the things that are asked of him. It’s a learning process always as a rookie coming in, but he’s handling it pretty well. He’s always paying attention, and everything the vets say to him, he’s eager to listen or to get the information. So I think he’s doing a great job of transitioning so far.
“He has all the tools, his size and his frame. It’s just a mentality thing. I think once he gets comfortable with his assignments and when bullets are flying around, he’ll get it together. But so far he’s doing a great job.”
So with Sims likely topping the depth chart and Shaheen in it for the long haul, the question marks go back to Miller. He could very well stay on, provide the ability he did the past two seasons for the new quarterback and make the Bears’ tight end group a deep one that could have multiple guys on the field at a time in some instances.
Or it could be all she wrote for Miller as a Monster of the Midway.
“There’s very few people have a four- or five-year deal, man. In the NFL everybody’s on a one-year deal, let’s be honest. That’s how the business is,” Miller said. “I have no anxiety. I’ve been working for nine years, day in, day out, same thing, throw my cleats on, lace ‘em up and go play football.”