General manager Ryan Pace has proven successful with a good portion of his draft classes during his Bears career. The main reason why he was hired was to convert on his draft picks. From 2008 to 2012, then Bears general managers Jerry Angelo and Phil Emery failed to find success with the first pick of each draft. Those selections would have a long-lasting impact on the Bears for nearly a decade.
It began in 2008 when Angelo’s main focus was improving the Bears offense starting with the offensive line. In a draft that was heavy with top offensive tackle prospects, Chicago drafted offensive tackle Chris Williams from Vanderbilt with 14th selection. Williams’ rookie season was hampered by a back injury as he failed to live up to his draft potential with the Bears. Chicago passed on other offensive tackles that were drafted later in the first round, including Pro-Bowlers Branden Albert and Duane Brown.
The 2009 NFL Draft would be worse for the team as they were without their first and second-round picks due to the Jay Cutler trade. Angelo would make arguable the worst selection of his Bears’ career drafting defensive end Jarron Gilbert from San Jose State in the third round. Gilbert’s claim to fame wasn’t his college highlights, but his athletic ability due to a video of him jumping out of a pool. Gilbert would appear in four games during his rookie season before being released in 2010.
Chicago would be without their first and second picks again for the 2010 Draft when they needed draft capital to improve an ineffective defense. The Bears would find a reliable starter in safety Major Wright with their first selection in the third round. Although he didn’t record an interception in his rookie season, Wright proved to be reliable during the rest of his Bears’ career.
Subscribe to the BFR Youtube channel and ride shotgun with Dave and Ficky as they break down Bears football like nobody else.
In 2011, It appeared that the Bears hit a home run with their first-round draft selection of Wisconsin tackle Gabe Carimi. Many draft analysts viewed Carimi as the best lineman in the draft, and an anchor for the Bears offensive line, which had struggled to protect Cutler. Carimi would play in just two games in his rookie season before suffering a season-ending knee injury. He would shift positions along the offensive line in 2012 before being traded to the Buccaneers for a sixth-round pick.
Angelo would be fired and replaced by Phil Emery following the 2011 season. Emery faired no better in 2012 drafting edge rusher Shea McClellin from Boise State. Emery envisioned McClellin as the team’s future pass rusher similar to that of Pro-Bowler Ryan Kerrigan. Many believed that the Bears general manager had severely overreached for the edge rusher as analysts believed he would have fallen to the second or third round. To make the situation even more costly, Emery passed other pass rushers, including Pro-Bowlers Chandler Jones and Dont’a Hightower. The draft miss would have long-standing implications on the Bears defense as the team was historically bad in 2013 and 2014.
The failures of the Bears’ draft selections, both on offense and defense, led to the team’s rebuild from 2015 to 2018. Angelo and Emery targeted the right positions but simply selected the wrong players at those positions. This period demonstrates how impactful poor drafting can be for a team, not just immediately, but for years to come.
