I can’t speak to the job security of Mike Martz and the rest of the Chicago Bears coaching staff after this season, but I can speak for the results of Mr. Martz’s offensive scheme and that is a lot of yardage for quarterbacks and wide receivers and sometimes a Super Bowl, horrible seasons and bacterial heart infections.
Even before Martz became the de facto offensive coordinator for the Bears after nobody else wanted the job, Devin Aromashodu was starting to make sportswriter’s jobs more difficult by needing to spell his name correctly. Aroma, as in the smell and shodu, as in “you shodu smell.” In the last 4 games of the season he had 39 targets, 22 receptions, 282 yards and 4 touchdowns. In the previous 12 games he had a whopping 2 receptions, which mainly came about due to a quad injury and the play of Johnny Knox.
The Bears’ wide receivers were actually better than expected, which means they didn’t curl up in the fetal position after each snap. Johnny Knox has the speed to be a huge deep threat, Earl Bennett had the tenacity to go over the middle and Hester had an all around good season, but was injured toward the end. In Martz’s system Hester would fit in the slot well, which would give him more time to work on returning punts, and he says that he wants to cut down on some receiving duties if it can help him return to his punt returner dominance. That’s weird, but good news for Aromashodu. If Hester isn’t the #1 receiver, who is?
Just about any sized receiver can be the man in a Martz based system, but who usually becomes the man? Roy Williams and Torry Holt? Yeah. These aren’t Hester sized men. When free slinging Jay Cutler got the 6′ 2″ Aromashodu in the offense, he went to him early and often. I see Knox and Aromashodu lining up wide with Hester and Bennett in the slot. Martz called Knox his “diamond” and this could even be a sleeper post for him, but Aromashodu has size and the confidence of his quarterback. If he learns Martz’s system well, there is no limit to what he can do next season.
He may not be a “sleeper” by ADP standards come August, but I see him holding his value even if he is riding a big hype machine. The Martz offense has room for multiple 1,000 yard receivers so you may even see a Johnny Knox sleeper post in the near future. He could be more of your proto-typical sleeper, but he will also be a bit hit and miss. I’m not ashamed to get on the Martz bandwagon. Mike Furrey had over 1,000 yards with Jon Kitna throwing to him. Kitna! Furrey!
