Nothing like some breaking Friday night Bears news!
We got a nice little nugget of information this evening from ESPN’s Adam Schefter that Lions wide receivers coach Antwaan Randle El is close to finalizing a deal with the Bears. Randle El would become the team’s new wide receivers coach and assistant head coach. The assistant head coach tag will be a promotion from his role in Detroit as wide receivers coach.
Antwaan Randle El Joining Ben Johnson’s Staff
While the Lions assistant many of us were talking about potentially joining Ben Johnson’s staff was offensive line coach Hank Fraley, Randle El feels like a very big get for Chicago’s coaching staff. He had been the Lions wide receivers coach since 2021 and has played a large part in the development of that position group which has become one of the best in the NFL.
Up until this point, Randle El had been Amon-Ra St. Brown’s wide receivers coach for his entire career. While St. Brown is a tremendous talent, Randle El most certainly played a part in his development from a 4th-round pick in 2021 to one of the game’s top wideouts today. If he can do even a fraction of the work he did with St. Brown on Rome Odunze or DJ Moore, he should be a massive addition to the coaching staff.
It’s also important to note that Antwaan Randle El does not have an offensive coordinator tag in this move, so that is still a vacant position as of now on Ben Johnson’s staff.
Prior to his coaching career, Randle El had a nine-year NFL career as a wide receiver that included a Super Bowl with the Steelers in 2005. He also grew up in Riverdale, Illinois, and played high school football at Thornton, so this is a bit of a homecoming for the Bears newest assistant coach as well.
Ben Johnson still has some work to do in filling out the rest of his staff, but Antwaan Randle El coming along with him feels like a pretty big win for the new Bears head coach.