New Orleans Saints: Chicago Bears sign veteran WR Ted Ginn Jr.
Former New Orleans Saints’ wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr. has signed a new one-year contract with the Chicago Bears, a team that’ll be led by Nick Foles.
The New Orleans Saints knew at the beginning of the offseason that they were going to move on from Ted Ginn Jr.
They solidified that claim when they went out and signed 49ers’ veteran receiver Emmanuel Sanders. Sanders will look to have a big role in the offense as Drew Brees will finally have a capable second-string wide receiver.
As for Ginn Jr., according to ESPN, he will be headed up north, signing with the Bears. He’ll be going from Drew Brees to Nick Foles and will embrace a wide receiving corps that isn’t led by a superstar, potentially opening the door for him to have a larger role.
One of the issues that tag-teamed his lack of production was the drops. Ginn Jr. was tied for 11th in drops with seven. That wouldn’t be concerning if he was seeing the usage of a player like Michael Thomas.
But, he wasn’t.
Ginn Jr. had just 56 targets in 2019. Bengals’ John Ross and Bills’ Dawson Knox were the only players that were above Ginn Jr. in drops yet under him in targets. That was seemingly concerning for the Saints.
Combine that with his 421 yards in 16 games, and it’s clear that Ginn Jr.’s time in the Big Easy was all but over. He needed to have more of an impact, but the 35-year-old just didn’t have that type of production.
The speedster will watch Sanders take his spot while Tre’Quan Smith will remain as the team’s third-string receiver if he can stay healthy. That’ll be a big if as Smith has struggled with that to kick off his career.
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The Saints didn’t address receiver in the draft, a concern for fans. However, they did snag Sanders and appears to be just fine moving forward.