Recent updates about the Chicago Bears’ draft evaluations suggest they’re paying extra attention to the defensive line. Hardly a surprise when your head coach is a defensive guy and your new defensive coordinator is a line specialist. Shortly after a large contingent attended the pro day of defensive tackle Leonard Taylor of Miami, another name popped up on the radar. This time it is Illinois defensive tackle Keith Randolph, who stated in an interview that he has now met the Bears twice. The first came at the Senior Bowl, and another via a virtual meeting.
Randolph isn’t the same caliber of athlete as teammate Jer’Zhan Newton. That will likely impact how high he goes in the draft. However, that didn’t stop him from making a serious impact. In 2021 and 2022, he had a combined total of nine sacks and 18.5 tackles for a loss. He also had 95 tackles. Randolph is the living embodiment of a worker bee. What he lacks in pure athletic skill he makes up with motor, intelligence, and a not insignificant amount of power. It’s not hard to see why the Bears like him. Justin Melo of The Draft Network was the one who found out about the interest.
“I’ve been meeting with teams virtually through Zoom and whatnot. I recently met with the Cardinals, Seahawks, Bears, and Colts on Zoom. I have a bunch more scheduled as well. I also met with every team at the Senior Bowl.”
The Chicago Bears remain committed to building on strengths.
The defensive line is the key to this scheme functioning properly. Eberflus needs a deep group so he can throw waves of rushers at the quarterback all game long. Adding Montez Sweat and Gervon Dexter were big wins for the team last season. However, they need more. Joseph seems like a great option for a rotational backup at defensive tackle. He can give them the versatility to play nose tackle while also having more pass rush juice than he gets credit for. There is no question that his background as a team captain means he checks the character boxes.
It comes down to where they may want to take him. They only have one pick on Day 3 of the draft. That is in the 4th round. It is unlikely the Chicago Bears would take him before that. GM Ryan Poles is almost certain to try adding more picks via trade at some point during the draft. If he can get one or two in the 5th or 6th round range, that feels like the perfect range for Randolph. There is no doubt he’d be a welcome addition to an already solid locker room.
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I’m praying the Redskins want the #1 pick bad. Get a bunch of high picks and Daniels and go to the playoffs next year and for years to come.
Poles has shared the opinion that the more picks you have, the better the odds of hitting on a successful contributor is.
Finding Tyler Bagent & Sunburn (UDFA’s), Braxton Jones, and Terell Smith are examples of finding talent late, who can make an immediate contribution.
I expect Poles to parlay his four picks into 6-8 picks, as he has shown a skill for trading down his first two drafts. IMO
I’m not sure that Poles will only have 4 picks in the draft. Depends very much on how settled he is at 1.1. If the Fields trade told us nothing else, he can change directions very quickly if he gets new input. Supposedly he could have traded Fields earlier to a team that was going to start him for more draft return, but turned it down, then abruptly decided to trade him to Pittsburgh after getting the feel of the locker room. Even if he is settled at 1.1 there is still the possibility of trading down from 1.9. If… Read more »
@Bear_Down
I think Poles has given up on “building through the draft,” at least for this year.
With pressure to “win now,” and the temptation (and now NEED)to draft a quarterback, he needed to put NFL bodies on the field.
I disagree, but who cares.
I do hope that Ryan Poles can come up with more draft capital. For someone who said he’s going to build the team through the draft so far it’s gone the opposite direction with free agency signings and trades this offseason. It kinda feels like a prove-it year for both Ryan Poles and Matt Eberfuls with Kevin Warren taking notes. Not that I’m complaining about some of the moves but 4 picks doesn’t seem like enough?! It goes against everything we were told by RP when he was hired. I would not be surprised if 1-1 gets traded back to… Read more »