Umm not exactly, he's surely not a burner, but he can seperate just fine. As I've said before Rivers loves to spread the love. He will take what the D will give him. So far they are trying to blitz him in the red zone and he's killing them by hitting Royal on hot routes. There's a reason he's been so wide open. I expect it to continue since teams still can't afford to leave Gates in single coverage or he will carve them up. The offense is actually turning out to be pretty dynamic and Rivers has been dissecting D's at the line of scrimmage. If the protection keeps up, I don't expect it to change. He has weapons all over even with Floyd's injury. If they start bracketing Royal, you will just see Rivers kill them with swing passes to Woodhead out of the backfield or beating single coverage outside with Brown or Keenan Allen.bicycle_seat_sniffer said:vincent brown cant get separation, he has no quicks or speed, hes a possesion guy with nice hands.
I wouldnt expect him to overtake royal or gates in targets or production
neatWas looking to add Decker on a few teams, happened to have Royal on all those teams - turned down two separate 1:1 deals, Royal for Decker; partly because I wanna wait until after this week and partly because I'm trying to move MJD.
Sorry my post that is entirely about his current value bothered you enough to make a snarky post.kOOk said:neatWas looking to add Decker on a few teams, happened to have Royal on all those teams - turned down two separate 1:1 deals, Royal for Decker; partly because I wanna wait until after this week and partly because I'm trying to move MJD.
Eddie Royal - WR - Bears
ESPN Bears reporter Jeff Dickerson identified WR Eddie Royal as a player who stood out during the Bears' offseason program.
Signed to a three-year deal with $10 million guaranteed this offseason, Royal is expected to have a big role in a Bears offense which has lacked a true slot receiver the last several seasons. A repeat of the 90 targets Royal saw in San Diego last year is not out of the question.
Source: ESPN.com
Jun 20 - 9:26 AM
According to ESPN's Mike Sando, Eddie Royal's "early grasp of the Bears' new offense has him in great position to play a prominent role right away."
Rookie Kevin White ran mostly with the second-stringers at OTAs, not a surprise on a John Fox team. It's given eight-year veteran Royal a chance to shine. "The staff seemed excited about him when I visited Bears camp earlier in the offseason," Sando wrote. Royal projects for similar usage he saw in San Diego the last two seasons, when he averaged 3.5 catches on 5.0 targets per game.
Jun 15 - 8:21 AM
Source: ESPN.com
Wait, when was the last time he had a 70-950-6 season?Eddie Royal falls into a strange category in fantasy football where his fantasy value is so far away from the perceived value that you can hardly ever trade him or trade for him. Anyone trying to acquire him never pays his appropriate price which is around that of a solid wr3/4... he will produce somewhere around 70-950-6. This year and you cant even get a rookie 4th for him. In ppr he scored about 191 last year take a look at some of the names he out produced then look at their relative values.
I dunno. I love playing in deep leagues so I give you credit for looking at deep value but I just think he's going from a probowl qb to.... well, Cutler. Strike one. His competition for targets is stiffer than last year, strike two. He goes from a pass happy coach with no viable running game last year to a conservative coach that has no trust in his qb and a probowl rb to lean on. That is strike three for me. I could add that he's in a new offense and gets dinged up and misses practice all the time so I am not sure how that will work out but it feels like piling on.But look at the list of "names" he outscored in ppr last year..... he's a value anomaly
I forgot Cutler was his qb when he was a rookie. Good pointWasn't Royal's most dynamic season with Cutler in Denver
You mean back in 2008 when Cutler had his anomaly year where he finished as the #3 fantasy qb? Yes, but Royal was also playing with Cutler the very next season when he had ~350yd/0td in 14 games.Wasn't Royal's most dynamic season with Cutler in Denver
NFL.com's Albert Breer reports the Bears have "big plans" for new slot receiver Eddie Royal.
Now 29, Royal has always lacked for love in the fantasy community, but has generated hype all offseason. Coming off a 62/778/7 campaign for the Chargers, the only time Royal was better was his 2008 rookie season, where he caught passes from Jay Cutler in Denver. Royal has 15 scores over the past two years. With the Bears doing everything in their power to rein Cutler in, dump offs to Royal should come early and often. He could be a sneaky-valuable WR4.
Source: Albert Breer on Twitter
Jun 22 - 3:31 PM
ESPN Chicago projects Eddie Royal and Kevin White as starters entering training camp.
We'll be keeping tabs on which receiver aligns opposite Alshon Jeffery in two-wide sets. Although there have been exceptions, new Bears coach John Fox has something of an aversion to leaning too heavily on rookies, and Chicago invested a $15 million contract with $10 million guaranteed into Royal this offseason. Marquess Wilson is also in the mix for early-season snaps.
Source: ESPN Chicago
Jul 23 - 12:26 PM
Eddie Royal - WR - Bears
Bears OC Adam Gase believes Eddie Royal could make a Wes Welker-type impact out of the slot.
Gase coached Welker the past two years in Denver. "Eddie's got a special explosiveness that a lot of inside guys don't have," Gase said. "Eddie is a threat at all three levels." Gase also believes Royal learned to play with "confidence" his final two years in San Diego. Nearly all signs point toward Royal being an every-week WR3 this season.
Source: Chicago Tribune
Aug 8 - 11:23 AM
Never heard of them.I'd love to sneak him onto my roster but I can't cut Stefon Diggs or Javorius Allen for him.
Why don't you lean toward starters in this case? Is Eddie too old ie years avaialable? What's your thinking here?I'd love to sneak him onto my roster but I can't cut Stefon Diggs or Javorius Allen for him.
Diggs and Long are two WRs from Maryland that were highly talented somewhat underperforming WRs in college. Long is with TEN and buried. He's almost a lock to be signed elsewhere week 1. His college coach praised him and BB was very intrigued by the tape n went to see the proday. Diggs is fourth or so on the Vikes depth chart and making enough highlight reel catches to get some love on twitter. I'm not sure that he can really make any impact this year. Maybe. The midseason replacement talks sound realistic.Never heard of them.I'd love to sneak him onto my roster but I can't cut Stefon Diggs or Javorius Allen for him.
I agree with this. And White has some serious concerns of a longer term injury at this point. Don't know for sure but it's concerning that he may not even be a part of training camp.He's going to put up borderline wr2 numbers in ppr and again be untradeable. If I didnt own him id be trying to get him as a throw in on medium size deals.
Sorry. Don't play in deep roster dynasty leagues.Shocked.
Alshon Jeffery's grin widens, his head nodding with excitement. The Bears receiver sits outside the dining hall at Olivet Nazarene University, and as the conversation shifts to new teammate Eddie Royal, Jeffery lights up.
Forget about football for a second, Jeffery insists. Royal also showed some sizzle in the gym on the eve of training camp when he joined Jeffery and tight end Martellus Bennett for a casual shootaround.
"Eddie's a hooper, man," Jeffery says. "He showed me something. Eddie can get hot real fast."
Royal accepts that report and tacks on a few notes.
"Nowadays I don't play defense too much," he admits. "But I'm a slasher, a spot-up shooter. I can get to the hole when I need to. And Alshon's right. At times I can get hot."
The Bears, of course, didn't target Royal as a priority in free agency because of his jump shot. Yet there's a belief throughout the organization that the eighth-year veteran could ignite the offense, a potential blowtorch to the wick of a unit that knows it has more firepower than it showed a year ago, when it finished 21st in the NFL in total yards (327.1 per game) and 23rd in scoring (19.9 ppg).
That smile Jeffery got when asked about Royal?
"Eddie's one of the smartest guys around," Jeffery adds. "He has a knack for this game and a feel for the right places to be at the right times."
Quarterback Jay Cutler shows similar excitement when he describes Royal's versatility and savvy. Offensive coordinator Adam Gase expresses unabashed optimism when he thinks of all the ways Royal's presence should loosen defenses. General manager Ryan Pace exudes positivity when he considers Royal just might be the offseason acquisition that pays the biggest dividends in 2015.
Sure, outside linebacker Pernell McPhee was the Bears' free-agency headliner, inking a five-year, $40 million contract to add tenacity to the defense. And, yes, Pace used the No. 7 draft pick on receiver Kevin White.
But Royal, 29, seems best positioned for an immediate breakthrough, particularly now that White's lingering shin injury could keep him on the shelf into the regular season.
It certainly won't hurt that Royal has Cutler's full confidence. The two were teammates seven seasons ago when Royal was a Broncos rookie from Virginia Tech, quickly breaking through with 91 catches, 980 yards and five touchdowns.
"People didn't get to see what went on behind the scenes," Royal says. "All the conversations we had. All the film study that happened. We put in a lot of work. And the cool part was we enjoyed putting in the work together."
Triple threat
Wes Welker.
Gase offers up the comparison, certain there are parallels between the five-time Pro Bowl receiver and Royal.
Gase spent the last two seasons with Welker in Denver. And even in his 30s, with his over-the-top speed diminishing, Welker's awareness out of the slot and ability to create separation allowed Gase to be creative in his play-calling.
Royal, Gase believes, has similar potency, an increasingly shrewd slot receiver with sharp vision. And Royal, Gase points out, has far more speed to take the top off a defense than Welker had the past two seasons.
"Eddie's got a special explosiveness that a lot of inside guys don't have," Gase says. "Eddie is a threat at all three levels. He can come underneath. He can break out intermediate. And he can get down the field."
Gase was Royal's position coach during the receiver's final season with the Broncos in 2011. When the duo reunited this spring, Gase was blown away by how much more intelligent and polished Royal had become.
The work Chargers coach Mike McCoy, receivers coach Fred Graves and quarterback Philip Rivers did over three seasons in developing Royal as a slot weapon proved eye-opening. It also has given Gase some new ideas.
"I'm glad I have Eddie back now," Gase says. "Because he's a finished product now. They gave him confidence."
More than anything, Royal's ability to identify coverages and adapt his responsibilities has stood out.
"He doesn't have to think about it," Gase says. "He just reacts to it. It's natural. It's ingrained."
Still, Royal would rather sidestep the Welker comparisons. He understands how lofty they seem.
"It's different," Royal says. "Wes and I could run the exact same route, and it would look completely different. We have different styles. The similarity, I guess, is that we both find ways to get open.
"It's hard for me to put myself on that page because Wes is unlike anybody else. He was the guy. He was unorthodox with the way he runs routes. It's hard to mimic that. He could really give an offense some pop."
A new beginning
Cutler reflects to his beginnings with Royal in 2008, to a session of organized team activities in which he became intrigued with a rookie receiver determined to carve out his niche.
Cutler can recall barking out plays, then watching Royal split wide, staring down at his arm as he lined up.
"I was like, 'What is he doing, man?' " Cutler says. "So when he came back to the huddle, I grabbed his arm, and he had written down all the plays and what he had for each route.
"That just tells me it's important to him. He doesn't want to mess up."
Royal flourished as a rookie in a Broncos offense that helped Cutler deliver his only Pro Bowl season. When Cutler was traded to the Bears in April 2009, Royal was staggered.
"In my mind, I had visions of us playing together for 10, 12 years and just stringing together our success for a while," Royal says. "As a rookie, you don't even consider that your Pro Bowl quarterback is going to get traded. So I was in shock.
"And it took me a long time to process it, that he wasn't going to be there and that I might not ever get to play with him again."
Now Royal has his second chance with Cutler, saying it was the quarterback's presence that helped sweeten the three-year, $15 million deal he signed with the Bears in March.
Royal also has impressed Cutler with his diversified skill set, far more understanding of how crisp a slot receiver's communication has to be with his quarterback.
"You've got to be on the same page because there's not a lot of room for error," Royal says. "You're talking about a lot of tight windows, a lot of little option routes where you've got to see the coverage the right way against the cornerback.
"That's why it's nice being with Jay. We're familiar with each other and we can read each other's body language really well."
Adds Gase: "It probably took a week for those guys to get in sync. It looked as if they hadn't ever left each other. And it was a long time that they were apart."
Like Jeffery, Gase sizes up Royal's potential and lights up. There's something big here to tap into.
No, yes, no.georg013 said:Should be an affordable option once Alshon is gone. Low cost mid range production. Poor man's Brian Hartline.