Getty Justin Fields will have another one of his 2022 wide receivers back in the fold for next season.
The Chicago Bears are bringing back another one of their starting pass-catchers from last year to add more veteran depth to their 2023 receiving room.
On Monday, April 17, the Bears announced they were re-signing veteran wide receiver and return specialist Dante Pettis to a one-year contract for the 2023 season. The 27-year-old former second-round pick played in all 17 games for the Bears in 2022, making seven starts and hauling in a total of 19 receptions for 245 yards and three touchdowns.
Pettis is projected to fill out a depth role for the Bears on offense in 2023 but could also be a primary option for them on punt returns, having fielded 18 punts and averaged 9.1 return yards during his first season in Chicago. While the precise figures of Pettis’ new deal have not yet been disclosed, it seems likely that he signed for (or near) the veteran-minimum amount for a sixth-year player — which is $1.08 million, per Spotrac.
Pettis is now the second wide receiver the Bears have retained from their 2022 roster. They also re-signed Equanimeous St. Brown to a one-year, $1.25 million contract back in early January. The two of them — along with 2022 third-rounder Velus Jones Jr. — are expected to compete for reps behind Chicago’s expected starting trio of D.J. Moore, Darnell Mooney and Chase Claypool during the 2023 season.
Will Dante Pettis Make the Initial 2023 Active Roster?
Pettis has received a second chance from the Bears in the form of a new contract, but that alone does not guarantee him a spot on Chicago’s 2023 roster.
Pettis finished with the Bears’ second-most receiving touchdowns in 2022 as well as fifth in both receptions and receiving yards, but he caught less than half (19 of 41) of the passes thrown his way. Not all of the misses were his fault, as Fields threw a handful of inaccurate, under-pressure passes his way that were difficult to convert, but drops were still a prevailing issue of his on the season. He also muffed one of his punts in Week 7’s win over the New England Patriots, avoiding a turnover but echoing his security issue.
As things stand now, Pettis’ only challengers for his WR5/WR6 role on the Bears’ roster are practice-squad holdover Nsimba Webster and newcomers Daurice Fountain and Joe Reed, none of whom are overwhelming favorites to beat him out for a roster spot. If Chicago drafts a new rookie into the mix, however — especially one in the earlier rounds — Pettis could find himself firmly on the bubble as the seventh man of the group. The Bears also wouldn’t bat an eye at cutting his minimum-value contract, either.
Bears’ Remaining Free Agent WRs Unlikely to Return
The Bears didn’t really have many standouts in their group of free agents wide receivers for the 2023 season. Aside from Pettis, they also have Byron Pringle and N’Keal Harry — whom they acquired from the Patriots for a 2024 seventh-round pick last summer — still on the market, still looking for new deals, after the first month of free agency. And with Pettis now retained, the chances either of them returns to Chicago are slim to none.
The good news? The Bears have done most of the heavy lifting in terms of building up their receiving corps from its poor state in 2022. The big-time move was flipping their No. 1 overall pick to the Carolina Panthers in a deal that netted them a verified No. 1 receiver in Moore, but they also have Claypool — acquired at the trade deadline — expected to take a step forward with the offense in 2023 as well after getting a full offseason to build chemistry with Fields and absorb Luke Getsy’s offensive playbook.
St. Brown and Pettis were a bit dodgy as starters in 2022, but the Bears should feel comfortable about having the two of them in place as depth options. Ideally, they won’t need to turn to either of them often with Cole Kmet and newcomer Robert Tonyan Jr. providing quality pass-catchers at the tight end spot, but it helps to have a pair of veterans who have played in the system and can serve as veteran voices in the room.