The Chicago Bears received almost universal praise for their work in the 2021 NFL draft. On a weekend where GM Ryan Pace needed to be on his game, he delivered. Scoring Justin Fields in the 1st round, a viable superstar-caliber talent at quarterback? Great start. Next getting Teven Jenkins, a legit beast of a tackle in the 2nd? Getting better. Finally a rush on Day 3 with a number of highly-touted favorites like Khalil Herbert and Thomas Graham. Pace managed to find a lot of value in that draft.
Yet it didn’t quite end there. Just minutes after the action ended last Saturday, teams were in a mad dash to land undrafted free agents. Chicago ended up with 15 in total. Do any of them stand out? According to Dane Brugler of The Athletic, that is a big yes. The widely-respected draft analyst put out his list of the best 61 undrafted players. His #1 overall was Virginia pass rusher Charles Snowden whom the Bears just so happened to sign shortly after the draft concluded.
“Snowden is a lanky, flexible athlete with the read/react skills and range to impact the game in different ways. He plays physical at the point of attack and works hard to stay detached, but he must continue to add mass and bolster his play strength. Overall, Snowden comes with position and scheme fit questions, but his fluid athleticism, long-limbed frame and reaction skills are an intriguing combination. He projects best as a hybrid edge player in a 3-4 scheme.”
Snowden was the 118th overall player on Brugler’s board.
That was seven spots ahead of linebacker Derrick Barnes who went in the 4th round to Detroit and 13 spots ahead of wide receiver Josh Palmer who went to the Chargers in the 3rd. That should give you an idea of how highly thought of Snowden was by Brugler. Several other draft experts gave him positive grades too. Lance Zierlein of NFL.com believed he’d be a 4th round pick.
For the Bears to get him as an undrafted free agent was a genuine surprise to many. How could that happen? The likeliest explanation is health. Snowden suffered a rather nasty ankle injury then ended his 2020 season. Given the restrictive nature of the pre-draft process, teams likely weren’t permitted enough access to him to get the sort of data they needed to feel comfortable drafting him. So he fell. Now he’s a Bear.
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Chicago Bears certainly know Snowden’s type
When looking at his body and his athletic talent? Pace likely saw visions of Leonard Floyd, the Bears’ former 1st round pick from 2016. Tall, long, and quick. At the same time holding some of the same concerns. Namely being underweight (243 lbs) which could make him a liability in the run game. This is something he acknowledged in interviews prior to the draft and plans to address moving forward. He’s hoping to play somewhere in the 250s range.
The likelihood is the Chicago Bears see Snowden as another version of Roy Robertson-Harris. A supremely talented athlete with incredible size but still in need of fine-tuning both his body and his fundamentals. Robertson-Harris became a quality rotational defensive end for the Bears after a year or two. The same can easily happen with Snowden if he applies himself mentally and physically.
Chicago knows they must start thinking young at outside linebacker.
Khalil Mack just turned 30 in February. Robert Quinn turns 31 on May 18th. There is no telling how much time either of them has left. So stockpiling young bodies makes sense. They already added Trevis Gipson in the 5th round last year. Now Snowden joins the mix. There is no telling if either will amount to much, but it’s apparent they have begun their search for the next generation of Bears pass rushers.