Josh Bellamy Gets Major Praise From Teammates and Coaches

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Why Bears players and coaches see Josh Bellamy as the ‘perfect fit’ for a championship culture
By JJ STANKEVITZ December 21, 2018 2:33 PM

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You’d be hard-pressed to find a player more universally popular within the Bears’ locker room than Josh Bellamy.

The boisterous backup receiver is well-liked within the offense. He’s a special teams ace appreciated by members of that unit. Defensive players take note of his energy — and non-stop talking — at practice. Coaches respect his work ethic, football I.Q. and willingness to do anything and everything for a division champion team.

“Nobody outworks Josh Bellamy,” quarterback Mitch Trubisky said.

“Josh Bellamy is probably one of the hardest-working guys I’ve seen in my career,” cornerback Prince Amukamara said.

“He’s a person you want to be around,” running back Benny Cunningham said.

“As he says, he’s got that drip. He just gets us hype,” running back Tarik Cohen said.

"He’s a teammate and has been an invaluable piece of this deal," offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich said.

Or, perhaps best put by linebacker Danny Trevathan: “He’s the perfect fit for this culture that we have here now.”


The Bears are a good fit for Bellamy, and Bellamy is a good fit for the Bears. That hasn’t always been the case: This is a guy who dropped nine passes in 2016 and 2017, when a depleted depth chart pushed him to receiving significant playing time on a pair of bad offenses. That he was a strong special teams contributor didn’t matter to fans, who saw a receiver make mistakes that seemed fitting for teams that lost a combined 26 games those two seasons.

But the Bears are a good team again, winners of the NFC North and going to the playoffs for the first time in eight years. Bellamy isn’t the most significant player on this team, nor is he a starter. But he’s a well-liked and well-respected player around Halas Hall, the kind of “glue guy,” as Helfrich said, who not only plays an important role, but embraces it.

“You don't have to tell him to go harder, you don't have to tell him to do his job, you don't have to tell him to study his plays,” Trubisky said. “He's always out there doing the right thing, the right time. And just like the plays in the game, when you least expect it he makes a big play for this offense.

“So he's just a guy you can continue to rely on, an incredible teammate. Very smart player and just an awesome guy to be around. He's absolutely hilarious. I'm sure you guys have talked to him. We're lucky to have Josh on this team. I think guys feed off his energy every single day just being out there and competing with him. You always want to get better and you want to up your game as well.”


Bellamy has been targeted just 20 times this year, catching 12 of those for 109 yards with a touchdown (he’s also been credited with only one drop, per Pro Football Focus). But he’s played 243 snaps while playing all three of the Bears’ receiver positions (X, Z, Zebra). No offensive player has played more snaps on special teams than him, too.

“The more you can do, the more you can play, the longer you can stay,” Bellamy said. “I’ve just thrived on that, just playing everything, trying to learn everything.

“… I know my role. On this team, I feel like everybody knows their role. And that’s what everybody grasps — it’s helping us. Like hey, everybody isn’t going to get 60 plays in a game. Some people aren’t going to get eight plays or more than that. Some people go down and some people step up. Right now, it’s just — hey, whatever role you get put into, you gotta be the best at it. I feel like that’s what we’re doing right now.”


That kind of energy is especially welcomed on kick/punt coverage units, where special teams coordinator Chris Tabor said he has the right amount of crazy (“in a good way,” he added). That kind of attitude is infectious on those units.

“He’s 100 miles an hour all the time,” tight end Daniel Brown, another special teams contributor, said. “It’s impressive. The guy never gets tired. You just know on every play he’s going to give his best effort and nothing less.

“… It kind of pushes all of us. You see a guy giving his best effort, the coaches are going to notice that and you don’t want to be the guy who’s not giving his best effort because it’s going to stand out.”


Bellamy has been the recipient of more playing time on offense than Kevin White — who’s only been active for one game in the second half of the season, playing five snaps on Thanksgiving against the Detroit Lions — in part because of his special teams ability, and in part because of the positional versatility in and knowledge he has of Nagy's offense.

“Josh really knows this offense,” Nagy said. “He understands it—all three positions. And then to come in and make that big catch, that was a contested catch. That thing was covered, and he made that catch. That was a huge play in the game.”

That catch was a tough 18-yarder last weekend against the Green Bay Packers that set up a touchdown just before halftime. The Bears don’t need Bellamy to make a bunch of plays, as they did the last two years. But one or two a game on offense, plus a few on special teams — he downed a pair of punts inside the five-yard line against Green Bay — is exactly the kind of production the Bears need out of Bellamy.

With that limited but meaningful production runs an undercurrent of energy and hard work. And that’s why Bellamy is such a popular, and important, figure around Halas Hall.

“We want a lot of Josh Bellamy’s, those kind of selfless guys who just sort of domino effect to our younger guys," quarterback Chase Daniel said. "And I think that’s a big reason why we’re sitting where were at today.”
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He's making me hate him less...
9 PLAYOFF APPEARANCES IN THE PAST 35 SEASONS

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Mikefive
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I wonder what all of these players would say about Kevin White.
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In his proper role, which is 4th or 5th receiver and special teams key player, he makes you hate him a bit less.
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BR0D1E86 wrote:In his proper role, which is 4th or 5th receiver and special teams key player, he makes you hate him a bit less.
I've been pretty high on Bellamy since last season. I can't recall a single drop since 2016 (I think he's recorded as having one). He's very good after the catch, seems to get open when called upon, is a very good blocker and special teams player. You can tell he's worked very hard to become a serviceable back-end option and SPT'er.

There is a place for Josh Bellamy on a good NFL football team. He's a legitimate NFL player at this point and the fan-base needs to let go of his few bad showings that came in the midst of what was already a meaningless/lost season.

Mark me down as a Bellamy fan. I like stories such as his.
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I love that story. He has been much maligned on this website. As much as, “Bellamy has no place on an NFL roster.”

I’ve never disliked him, I just didn’t know much about him. What I have seen this year has been impressive. He’s made some really nice contested catches. He does NOT go down easy. He fights for every yard. His ST play is fantastic.

I am officially a Bellamy fan. Every team needs a Jack of all trades glue guy in order win a championship. Glad to see Josh is that guy.


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I don't know where I stuck them, so I can't quote myself, but I remember posting twice in preseason that we would see a better Bellamy this year.

My worry, knowing he has a reputation for trash-talking and vain-glory, was that he could be a problem in the locker room. Apparently not.
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BR0D1E86 wrote:In his proper role, which is 4th or 5th receiver and special teams key player, he makes you hate him a bit less.
I've never hated Bellamy, although we'd agree that his proper role is a 4 or 5 and STs ace.

The thing about Bellamy on offense is that for a big guy, he can get open, which is hard to do in the NFL. (Which is why I brought up Kevin White.) And he certainly has improved on catching the ball. Still, you really don't want to be targetting him 4x a game tho.
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Good read, thanks for posting that.

The guy has noticeably improved as compared to previous years. His work ethic and talent is keeping White off the field though. This is my only complaint about him.
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ramentaschen wrote:Good read, thanks for posting that.

The guy has noticeably improved as compared to previous years. His work ethic and talent is keeping White off the field though. This is my only complaint about him.
I think KW’s problem is that he’s best suited for the X, but can run like, two of the nine routes on the tree. Probably the fly and the dig. Bellamy can play all three WR positions on the field, pleats excellent ST, and has a high football IQ. I’ll take Bellamy every day of the week.


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ramentaschen wrote:Good read, thanks for posting that.

The guy has noticeably improved as compared to previous years. His work ethic and talent is keeping White off the field though. This is my only complaint about him.
:thumbsup:

Due to the fact that many of us, me included, have been very critical of him as a WR I thought it might be good to update things based on more recent performance and opinions.

He's still no more than a valuable reserve at WR but I've noticed that he's getting far more snaps than before and when targeted he's making the most of it. The high pass he snagged last Sunday was key to keeping a TD drive alive and it sold me on him being a viable receiving option again.

He's always been an excellent ST guy so his offensive contributions have become a nice bonus.

He's only signed through 2019 so he's another guy Pace will have to make a decision on. His 2018 one year deal is for $1.9 mil and he'll be 30 years old next season. Is this a guy we can keep on a reasonable one or two year deal?
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At age 30, he's probably not the type of guy teams go after as a STs ace. So my guess is we end up doing as you suggest, 1-2 years at $2M per. Maybe less.
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Bellamy runs good routes, has a strong work ethic, and brings a lot of value on special teams.

He's had some really nice catches this year which has led to me cutting him some slack after (probably unfairly) being pretty hard on him.

We're seeing the other side of how things can be with a team, now in a winning season for the first time in what feels like forever. The players are able to play a bit looser, and a bit more confidently. I see bellamy benefiting from this along with a host of other players who all seemingly have their arrow pointed up.

It's a great time to be a bears fan :D
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I was real down on him when he played too much offense and the Tre McBride thing.

It’s pretty apparent that the McBride thing wasn’t on Bellamy though. The team clearly really likes the guy. And he’s been a competent reserve receiver. I’d bring him back for another season or two.
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Well, he's better than Sims.
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Something notable to add about him was that he was the first Bear player today off the sidelines to fight an opposing player after seeing Trubisky’s late hit.

He’s a fierce competitor and seems to have a high motor but his emotions and actions caused him to be ejected from the game. Luckily it was late in the 4th quarter already and his absence didn’t really effect the game at all but I hope stuff like this doesn’t happen again.
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I'm warming to Bellamy. He's grown this year.

I can't fault him to getting off the bench to fight over the Biscuit hit. We can't let people do shit like that in front of us on our sideline.
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Bellamy has worked hard and earned his place on the team. I think his work ethic on learning every position is the story behind the sunset of Kevin White. Shame on White for not using all that down time to up his knowledge base. I wish he had, he has such great athleticism, I wish we'd have gotten some value for that #7 pick.
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Someone will sign White... so at least we might get a compensatory 3rd for him since we will most likely be signing less FAs than we lose for once.
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I still do not like Bellamy.

I do not like him on a train, or on a plane.
Not in a box, not with a fox
Not in a house, or with a mouse.

I do not like Bellamy.

I get special teams 6th back up WR. However he plays to much for me. I get work ethic, but on the field he always draws attention.
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Z Bear wrote:Someone will sign White... so at least we might get a compensatory 3rd for him since we will most likely be signing less FAs than we lose for once.
You're dreaming when it comes to a 3rd. Comp picks are based on playing time and production, not draft status. We'd get the same for him that we'd get for cutting Bradley Sowell or someone like that, which is zero.
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Mikefive wrote:
Z Bear wrote:Someone will sign White... so at least we might get a compensatory 3rd for him since we will most likely be signing less FAs than we lose for once.
You're dreaming when it comes to a 3rd. Comp picks are based on playing time and production, not draft status. We'd get the same for him that we'd get for cutting Bradley Sowell or someone like that, which is zero.
Remember when he made those blocks early on though? Kevin White was integral this season.
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Mikefive wrote:
Z Bear wrote:Someone will sign White... so at least we might get a compensatory 3rd for him since we will most likely be signing less FAs than we lose for once.
You're dreaming when it comes to a 3rd. Comp picks are based on playing time and production, not draft status. We'd get the same for him that we'd get for cutting Bradley Sowell or someone like that, which is zero.
And the salary they receive but I'm not thinking KW will command much more than a vet minimum one year prove himself deal so I agree with you. He's not likely to bring us much if anything. It's more likely his NFL career is about over.
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Kevin White seemed to be having things going his way with the TD in the preseason, the end of the game catch v New England that was a foot away from the end zone and then his blocking.

Has there been any reports about something going on in practice, the locker room, etc. where he just isn't getting those opportunities?
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The Marshall Plan wrote:Kevin White seemed to be having things going his way with the TD in the preseason, the end of the game catch v New England that was a foot away from the end zone and then his blocking.

Has there been any reports about something going on in practice, the locker room, etc. where he just isn't getting those opportunities?
It's a valid question.

From how much he's dropped off the face of the planet - you'd think that he had done something glaringly awful which cost the team. However, in the microscopic sample size we have of him? He's seemingly done a small handful of good things in his very limited opportunity.

I mean, I haven't even seen this guy make his way onto the TV screen in what? Like a month?

I know his route tree was limited and since Trubisky's injury we have been mostly throwing the ball underneath 20 yards. Bellamy is seemingly better fit for that approach. So... maybe the game plan just completely leaves him out of the equation?
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I think it's all about trust on the field. They don't trust him to be where he is suppose to be.
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I think the issues with playing White are:

1. They have no investment in his future and know he's not coming back. It's telling he stopped playing as soon as the trade deadline passed.

2. White doesn't play special teams and only knows 1 WR position, which are bad qualities for a 4th or 5th receiver. If White is active that means Anthony Miller as the 3rd receiver has to splay special teams.

Playing Mizzell over White gives them an actual backup for all of Cohen's roles including slot receiver, and someone who does play special teams to keep Miller off of any coverage teams.
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sturf wrote:I think the issues with playing White are:

1. They have no investment in his future and know he's not coming back. It's telling he stopped playing as soon as the trade deadline passed.

2. White doesn't play special teams and only knows 1 WR position, which are bad qualities for a 4th or 5th receiver. If White is active that means Anthony Miller as the 3rd receiver has to splay special teams.

Playing Mizzell over White gives them an actual backup for all of Cohen's roles including slot receiver, and someone who does play special teams to keep Miller off of any coverage teams.
3. He never developed into a legit NFL route runner who can get himself open. This one should be #1, because had he achieved THAT, the other reasons wouldn't matter.
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The Marshall Plan wrote:Kevin White seemed to be having things going his way with the TD in the preseason, the end of the game catch v New England that was a foot away from the end zone and then his blocking.

Has there been any reports about something going on in practice, the locker room, etc. where he just isn't getting those opportunities?
I think when he finally stayed healthy and got some serious game reps. The tape told the story. He's just not very good. My guess is that he was running the wrong routes, running them poorly, and just not playing at the level one needs to be at for a Nagy offense. They just decided to cut bait and bench him.
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The Marshall Plan wrote:Kevin White seemed to be having things going his way with the TD in the preseason, the end of the game catch v New England that was a foot away from the end zone and then his blocking.

Has there been any reports about something going on in practice, the locker room, etc. where he just isn't getting those opportunities?
White only knows one position, so that limits what Nagy can do with formations and route combinations. With White on the field it shows Nagy's hand.
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