Mitch Trubisky ranked in bottom tier of NFL starting QBs by ESPN industry poll

Mitch Trubisky may end up proving to be a star in the NFL, but right now, there’s skepticism around the league over the his future. ESPN recently polled 50 executives, coaches and others in the industry to rank the 32 starting QBs entering the 2018 season, and the Bears’ signal-caller comes in near the bottom.

A big part of why Trubisky is ranked just 29th among the 32 quarterbacks is a lack of data on him. The No. 2 overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft played just one full season in college at North Carolina and spent a chunk of his rookie season on the bench. When he did play, it was in a conservative offensive system under John Fox.

Those factors make it difficult to evaluate just what kind of player Trubisky will be in the NFL, which led executives and coaches to rank him in the same tier as Josh McCown, Patrick Mahomes and A.J. McCarron. This is nothing new either: In March, NFL.com didn’t even include Trubisky in ranking of the game’s top 32 quarterbacks.

None of that is likely to get Bears fans excited, but it’s a perception that could change in a hurry.

Circumstances around Trubisky are worlds different than he was under a year ago. Fox is out and in his place is Matt Nagy, a offensive-minded head coach handpicked to help Trubisky reach his potential. The painfully thin wide receiver corps from a year ago has been addressed with Allen Robinson, Anthony Miller and Taylor Gabriel. Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen remain a fierce one-two punch in the backfield.

And Trubisky has 12 games of NFL experience under his belt now.

But NFL insiders know all that, and the ones ESPN spoke to are still taking a wait-and-see approach to whether Trubisky will take advantage of the opportunity afforded to him. There’s just not enough information and too many question marks to put him ahead of more proven players, even with the good word coming out of Bourbonnais.