There was a lot of excitement about Trey Burton last year. Coming off a Super Bowl win where he'd thrown one of the key touchdowns on a trick play, the tight end signed with the Bears and figured to be one of their leading receivers. It didn't work out that way.
Yes, his numbers were decent at a position filled with disappointments. But 54 catches for 569 yards and 6 TDs weren't special. Worse still, 5 of his 6 TDs and his two very best receiving games came the first half of the season. He was a dud in the second half.
Burton is coming off offseason sports hernia surgery. The team is hopeful he'll be ready for training camp, which doesn't sound especially promising. Not a great start to things for Burton.
Maybe he was hurt the second half of the season? The injury apparently occurred in January, but perhaps he wasn't healthy at all down the stretch. Certainly his production was a lot different the second half.
Table shows per-game numbers for tight ends last year, with standard fantasy scoring (FF). First-half Burton was a lot better than second-half Burton.
| TIGHT ENDS PER GAME, 2018 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | No | Yds | TD | FF |
| Travis Kelce | 6.4 | 83.5 | .63 | 12.1 |
| George Kittle | 5.5 | 86.7 | .33 | 10.7 |
| Zach Ertz | 7.3 | 72.7 | .50 | 10.3 |
| Eric Ebron | 4.1 | 46.4 | .88 | 9.9 |
| O.J. Howard | 3.4 | 56.5 | .50 | 8.7 |
| Trey Burton (1st half) | 3.6 | 46.4 | .63 | 8.4 |
| Jared Cook | 4.3 | 56.0 | .38 | 7.9 |
| Evan Engram | 4.1 | 55.7 | .30 | 7.4 |
| Will Dissly | 2.0 | 39.0 | .50 | 6.9 |
| Rob Gronkowski | 3.6 | 52.5 | .23 | 6.6 |
| Blake Jarwin | 3.6 | 40.1 | .43 | 6.6 |
| Jack Doyle | 4.3 | 40.8 | .33 | 6.1 |
| Tyler Eifert | 3.8 | 44.8 | .25 | 6.0 |
| Trey Burton | 3.4 | 35.7 | .40 | 5.9 |
| Greg Olsen | 3.0 | 32.3 | .44 | 5.9 |
| Austin Hooper | 4.4 | 41.3 | .27 | 5.7 |
| Vance McDonald | 3.3 | 40.7 | .27 | 5.7 |
| Ian Thomas | 4.1 | 38.3 | .29 | 5.5 |
| David Njoku | 3.5 | 39.9 | .25 | 5.5 |
| Kyle Rudolph | 4.0 | 39.6 | .25 | 5.5 |
| Jordan Reed | 4.2 | 42.9 | .15 | 5.2 |
| Delanie Walker | 4.0 | 52.0 | .00 | 5.2 |
| Cameron Brate | 2.2 | 21.7 | .50 | 5.2 |
| Rhett Ellison | 3.3 | 43.8 | .08 | 4.9 |
| Jimmy Graham | 3.4 | 39.8 | .13 | 4.7 |
| Chris Herndon | 2.4 | 31.4 | .25 | 4.6 |
| Mark Andrews | 2.1 | 34.5 | .19 | 4.6 |
| C.J. Uzomah | 2.7 | 27.4 | .19 | 3.9 |
| Jeff Heuerman | 2.8 | 25.5 | .18 | 3.6 |
| Vernon Davis | 1.8 | 26.2 | .17 | 3.6 |
| Dallas Goedert | 2.1 | 20.9 | .25 | 3.6 |
| Jonnu Smith | 1.6 | 20.5 | .25 | 3.6 |
| Michael Roberts | 1.1 | 12.5 | .38 | 3.5 |
| Jesse James | 1.9 | 26.4 | .13 | 3.4 |
| Geoff Swaim | 2.9 | 26.9 | .11 | 3.4 |
| Gerald Everett | 2.1 | 21.0 | .21 | 3.3 |
| Ed Dickson | 1.2 | 15.2 | .30 | 3.3 |
| Benjamin Watson | 2.2 | 25.0 | .13 | 3.3 |
| Trey Burton (2nd half) | 3.1 | 24.7 | .13 | 3.3 |
| Antonio Gates | 1.8 | 20.8 | .17 | 3.1 |
| Austin Seferian-Jenkins | 2.2 | 18.0 | .20 | 3.0 |
| Nick Vannett | 1.9 | 17.9 | .20 | 3.0 |
| Jordan Thomas | 1.3 | 13.4 | .25 | 2.8 |
| Jake Butt | 2.7 | 28.3 | .00 | 2.8 |
| Ricky Seals-Jones | 2.3 | 22.9 | .07 | 2.7 |
| Matt LaCosse | 2.0 | 20.8 | .08 | 2.6 |
| Tyler Higbee | 1.5 | 18.3 | .13 | 2.6 |
| Jason Croom | 1.5 | 17.3 | .13 | 2.5 |
| Ryan Griffin | 1.7 | 21.8 | .00 | 2.2 |
| Levine Toilolo | 1.3 | 16.4 | .06 | 2.0 |
Burton's a great athlete. When healthy, maybe he can be more like the player he was the first half of last season the second half. Something to keep an eye on in August.
--Andy Richardson