Second- and third-year NFL players ready to break out in 2021: Offense edition

Wide receiver – Darnell Mooney

Last year Mooney was one of the names I had on my All-Sleeper team in the NFL draft. I didn’t have him even higher in my rankings because I got to him so late in the process.

There was a bit of a concern on my end because of his slender build at 5’10”, 176 pounds, but he was one of favorite watches because of how easy he was able to create separation and elude contact, which was my main point of why I didn’t bump him even further up my rankings.

With 631 receiving yards and four touchdowns on 61 catches (93 targets), it’s not like his production blew me away, but his dynamic skill-set translating so well to the pros and what I saw from him despite such a stagnant Bears offense, has me excited for year two.

Due to the loaded 2020 wide receiver class, guys like Mooney didn’t get talked about a whole lot, but he made a name for himself as a late fifth-round pick when he put a slick double-move on Jalen Ramsey in week seven at L.A., which is the clip that has received plenty of hype this offseason.

You can look at that as sort of a microcosm of his rookie season as he burnt the best corner in the game on a hitch-and-go and was open by like five yards, but Nick Foles faded away a little too much than he actually needed to, and badly missed him.

While I’d obviously pick Ramsey to win the battle, if they were matched up for 70 snaps – even though the rookie receiver would have had him beat again on a sweet goal-line slant in the fourth quarter – I believe Mooney put a lot of other impressive stuff on tape.

He didn’t catch more than five passes until all the way in week 17 against the Packers, but his impact went beyond stats and I’d blame the lack of creativity from play-calling as well as the porous quarterback play for him not making a bigger difference on that stat sheet.

While I still believe Matt Nagy and offensive coordinator Bill Lazor didn’t give their offensive personnel enough advantage through play-design and put the defense into conflict, they realized the rookie receiver's talent and tried to get him involved jet sweeps or motioning him across the formation and dumping the ball off to him in the flats.

Mooney is dynamic with the ball in his hands, where he has the speed to just run away from the pursuit, but it’s his start-stop quickness that makes it really tough for defenders to bottle him up. Off that, he was used for deception, faking those sweeps and end-arounds to bind defenders on the backside and not allow them to flow with the play, or force guys to open up with him as he took off the sideline.

He did, after all, gain 34 first downs on the 65 times he touched the ball, despite a lot of that coming behind or just in front of the line of scrimmage, but they did not allow him to nearly fulfill his potential and now need to take advantage of what he can do as a route-runner and with his vertical speed.

As soon as the ball is snapped, Mooney’s explosive ability is a problem to deal with, as he has that instant acceleration off the snap to put defenders on their heels. He is extremely sudden, to where he can stop on a dime on hitches and curls, but also bend off either foot on out routes without really having to slow down.

Because Allen Robinson is so great off the line and presents a larger target to convert on third downs, he got a lot of those looks, and Anthony Miller is a specialist on short out or slant routes from the slot, but when he is given a cushion, Mooney becomes a tough cover in those situations as well, and he only dropped one pass as a rookie.

His speed opened up the offense later in the year to some degree I thought, where he can draw safeties with his vertical prowess and you often time saw defenses try to bracket him.

Mooney can also roll through those deeper-developing breaks, where he can gain separation towards the post or have DBs at his mercy when he redirects towards the sideline. However, we saw so many underthrown deep passes, where the ball never got to him because it went off the back of a defender or maybe the receiver actually drew a flag, because that guy chasing had to tackle him.

The lack of size is still a bit of an issue for Mooney when being forced to work through contact, while he also needs to become more effective with getting into his routes, getting hung up at times with defenders, as he tries to get his opponents off balance and then get around them, rather than winning on a clean release to the right side.

At his height, he won’t offer a ton in contested situations, but he didn’t give me major concerns about hauling in passes with defenders slightly interfering with him, to go with some nice body-adjustments.

Going back to his rookie tape, I was also impressed with his effort as a blocker, where he has the speed to get in front of DBs and is looking to actually engage with them to give the ball-carrier space.

As you can tell, I believe in the talent. However, an even bigger factor for my belief in Mooney’s breakout is based on who Chicago will have under center.

Andy Dalton may in the bottom-third of starting QBs at this point in his career, but with the right weapons around him, we have seen him deliver down the field and be accurate on YAC opportunities. Even if Justin Fields sees the field sooner rather than later, get ready for some bombs.

The former Ohio State superstar was probably the most prolific deep ball thrower in college football these last two years and Mooney would see plenty of those come his way.

Chicago’s longest completion of the season!50-yard 🚀 to Darnell Mooney pic.twitter.com/EOpDYyxZiP

— PFF (@PFF) November 1, 2020