The idea that Greg Olsen ever was or ever will be an elite TE in the NFL needs to get shot down permanently. Everyone seemed to have fallen in love with Olsen as soon as he slipped to the Bears in the 2007 draft. He showed great speed for a man his size at the combine running a 4.51 in the 40 in a controlled indoor environment.
But how many times in his 4 year career have you been astonished by Olsen’s speed on the field? I can remember one play against the Cowboys in 2010 where he showed enough burst to break a long TD. Any other plays come to mind? I got nothing. That’s because Olsen has gotten bigger and stronger since the combine, which also contributes to his decline in speed.
How many times have you been amazed by a difficult catch Olsen has made? I will admit that this has definitely happened more times than my being impressed with his speed. The ability to make difficult catches, though, doesn’t necessarily make up for the dropping of easy ones. Olsen reminds me a lot of Braylon Edwards and Roy E Williams in that regard. While each one of them has shown flashes of playmaking at times, more often than not you are disappointed at their lack of consistency and production. Olsen has shown he’s capable of making big plays and having great games, but he doesn’t do it on any kind of regular basis and he drops balls that are just inexcusable.
It’s true; Mike Martz didn’t do Olsen any favors by mostly ignoring him this season. And Olsen showed a lot of improvement when it comes to blocking. But Mike Martz will be the Bears offensive coordinator in 2011, and while I expect him to look Olsen’s way more than he did in 2010, I don’t see him having some profound change of philosophy where Olsen becomes Cutler’s number 1 option again. Olsen has the potential to be a good-to-very-good TE in the league, but I don’t see him ever being considered elite.
Olsen is still in my five favorite players on the Bears. He’s a good interview and he supports good causes around Chicago (plus he’s a supremely talented lyricist). I just can’t defend his “tremendous upside” anymore. Whenever you hear someone talking about the strengths of Olsen’s game, it’s always the same thing… He has blazing speed and great hands. In his 4 seasons in the NFL, he’s proved that he doesn’t possess either of these attributes. It doesn’t mean the Bears need to trade him, cut him, or give up on him in any way. It simply means that we need to stop referencing his draft hype when we talk about his skill set today.
Let’s stop that noise already.
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