The 2017 NFL season officially opened for business with the start of free agency. Players have found new homes, while some have stayed with their teams. In the Fantasy Spotlight 2017 Player Preview series the focus is on players that are primed to make a fantasy impact in 2017. This week we focus on one of the players that found a new home, Chicago Bears quarterback Mike Glennon.
Fantasy Spotlight 2017 Player Preview: Mike Glennon
Who is Mike Glennon?
The Chicago Bears knew that it was a time for a change. Jay Cutler was brought to Chicago to help the Bears overtake the Green Bay Packers. Needless to say that after eight long years, Cutler was a failed experiment.
With that said, Chicago went out and signed highly sought after free agent quarterback Mike Glennon. Despite holding the third overall pick in the upcoming NFL draft, the Bears gave the four year veteran a three year contract worth $14.5 million per year. The 27 year old out of Conroe, Texas will begin his fifth season in the league as the unquestioned starter for the Bears. Glennon, a third round draft pick (73rd overall) by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2013, was highly touted coming out of college. During his two full seasons as a starter (2011-2012) for North Carolina State, Glennon threw for 7,085 yards and 62 touchdowns.
Rookie Season
Glennon entered his rookie season in 2013 as the back-up to Josh Freeman. Freeman, however, faltered and Glennon was thrust into the starting role. Despite showing some ability, it took six starts before he would pick up his first win in the NFL. As a starter Glennon finished with a 4-9 record. Even though Tampa Bay would struggle overall, the rookie quarterback put together a decent season. In 13 starts he had a quarterback rating of 83.9 while throwing for 2,608 yards with 19 touchdowns and only nine interceptions. Glennon was named to the Pro Football Writers Association’s All-Rookie team.
2014
2014 was a completely different story for Glennon and the Tampa Bay organization. New head coach Lovie Smith quickly appointed newly signed veteran Josh McCown as the starting quarterback. While Smith announced that McCown would be the starter, he proclaimed that Glennon was the “quarterback of the future” for Tampa Bay. We would later find out that Tampa Bay turned down at least six trade offers for Glennon during the 2014 NFL Draft.
While McCown started ten games that season, he was injured during the season opening the door for Glennon to start six games. He again showed promise as a starter. That promise was on full display late September against the Pittsburgh Steelers. With his team down by four with 40 seconds left, Glennon lead the Buccaneers on a game-winning drive, connecting with Vincent Jackson for a touchdown with seven seconds left. Without question that was the most impressive performance of his career. Ultimately it wasn’t enough to secure the starting job for the entire season. Once McCown was healthy, Glennon was relegated to the back-up role.
2015 and 2016 were lost seasons for Glennon as he backed up Jameis Winston.
2017 Fantasy Impact
Mike Glennon will not be at the top of your fantasy draft list in 2017. He is, however, more than worth a late round flyer as a backup. Glennon enters a season for the first time knowing he is the starter. Jordan Howard is locked in as the number one running back. Chicago brought in free agents Markus Wheaton and Kendall Wright to fill the void left by Alshon Jeffery who signed with the Philadelphia Eagles. Wheaton fell out of favor with the coaching staff in Pittsburgh, but a change of scenery might revive his career. Wright is three years removed from a 1,000 receiving yard season. Cameron Meredith burst onto the scene in 2016 with 888 yards and five touchdowns. In 10 games veteran tight end Zach Miller caught 47 passes and four touchdowns.
The Fantasy Spotlight expects Glennon to be a 14-15th round draft pick with starter upside. Based on playing a full 16 game slate, Glennon projects a stat line of 3,645/26/13. The Bears made it a point to sign Glennon quickly and the fantasy spotlight expects him to reward them for their confidence.
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