A common theme of listicle by NFL writers everywhere is to bring up potential "breakout" players. What constitutes a breakout is often debated and should be.
The Athletic's Jourdan Rodrigue has applied this to the world of coaching and not head coaches. The thought behind the story is identifying young coaches who will step out of the limelight in a big way but the way the story turns out defeats its purpose. A majority of the coaches named in this are coordinators, and coordinators have already had "breakout" years or they would still be underlings and not one step from being a head coach.
The Bears' name on this list is not a coordinator, though. It is tight ends coach Jim Dray. It's a rather unusual choice because his group actually already "broke out" last year. Bears tight ends coach Jim Dray. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters ConnectWhen you can help get a rookie tight end to miss all the offseason and still lead the team in receptions and yardage while tying for the touchdown lead, and then set an NFL postseason record for tight end receiving yards, you've made quite a coaching statement. This coach already had successThe Pro Football Focus tight end rankings have come out and the Bears not only have Colston Loveland in the top 10 but also Cole Kmet in the top 32 ranked tight ends. Getting two tight ends in that list says your tight ends coach already did something really right last year.
