PHOENIX — Mike McCoy has coached alongside Bears offensive coordinator Adam Gase and, for the past two years, watched Eddie Royal shine as the Chargers’ slot receiver.
Now that Gase and Royal are reunited — the Bears signed Royal to a three-year, $15 million deal, with $10 million guaranteed, earlier this month — the two should work well together.
“They know each other extremely well,” the Chargers coach said at the NFL Annual Meeting on Tuesday. “I think Eddie’s success he had with us is going to carry over there.”
Gase, the Bears’ new offensive coordinator, replaced McCoy as the Broncos’ play caller after serving two years as the quarterbacks coach. Before that, he oversaw Royal’s development as the Broncos’ receiver coach from 2009-10.
“Adam runs a very similar system, obviously, to what we run in San Diego,” McCoy said. “Having worked together and what we built there for a couple years before we left and separated.
“Eddie’s gonna fit right in.”
Royal said last week that he wanted to join the Bears to reunite with quarterback Jay Cutler. As a rookie, and with Cutler throwing to him, Royal posted the best season of his career. In 2008, he caught 91 passes for 980 yards and five touchdowns.
Email: pfinley@suntimes.com
Twitter: @patrickfinley
