Malik Hooker is flying up draft boards which gives him incredible potential to be selected third overall by the Chicago Bears.
If you took a poll on the street most people would argue that fixing the quarterback should be the number one priority for the Bears, and I would agree. If the four teams left competing for a 2017 Super Bowl championship aren’t enough proof, the nine combined wins for Chicago in last two seasons should be.
The default answer to that problem, for the Bears, would be to draft a quarterback with their first round pick. There’s a problem with that theory though.
In order for the Bears to maximize the value of their pick at number three, they have to minimize risk. Currently, Mitch Trubisky is the highest ranked quarterback on Mel Kiper’s Big Board at #16. Kiper isn’t always 100% accurate but there aren’t many quarterbacks previously drafted at the top that weren’t also ranked highly on his Big Board – that’s essentially why people trust his opinion.
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Some of this could obviously change as prospects shift around during the NFL combine and in-depth scouting processes, but right now the quarterback position carries an exceptionally high-risk for the Bears making it less likely to be their selection in April. As much as Ryan Pace wants a franchise signal caller, he’s not dumb enough to waste the highest Bears pick since 1972 reaching for one. Especially not when trading for a veteran and re-signing Brian Hoyer remain viable options.
The Bears have so many holes to fill that missing on their first-round pick again, cough cough Kevin White, could present real problems for the city’s confidence in Pace moving forward. That is why I believe he will be likely to make one of the “safest” picks on the board and minimize his risk.
Ironically, do you know that the second biggest need for the Bears is arguably the absolute safest route to go at the top of the first round? Not one, not two, not three, but four defensive backs have the potential to go somewhere inside the top 10. How sad would it be to see multiple Pro Bowlers drafted in the defensive backfield while the Bears are reaching on the next Jared Goff? Don’t think Pace hasn’t also asked himself that question.
When you look at those defensive backs, Malik Hooker is drawing a ton of praise. Not only has he been identified by some as the best defensive back in this class, others have called him the best prospect they’ve ever seen.
