It’s April, which means that it’s officially NFL Draft month! In about three weeks, the Cleveland Browns will go on the clock and (likely) select their latest and greatest quarterback of the future.
The Chicago Bears are working on finalizing their draft board as we speak. They’ve already hosted many of their allotted 30 draft prospects at Halas Hall in an effort to gather as much information about them as they can. Others, such as Roquan Smith and Simmie Cobbs, will head to Halas Hall later this week.
This is always an exciting time, and it’ll be fascinating to see which stories about certain prospects are leaked to the media in order to boost or lower their respective stocks in an attempt for teams to get the players they want.
With that, we reach into this week’s Bears Mailbag. Thank you to everyone who submitted questions. I answer many of them on Twitter directly, but the ones that need a higher character limit to respond to are the ones I answer here. As always, I truly appreciate the participation!
I’m going to be a bit bold here and say that Ryan Pace will surprise us by drafting another quarterback …
… It just won’t be in the first round. Or the second. Or the third. And likely not the fourth.
Here’s the deal: It’s impossible to know what Pace is thinking when it comes to the draft. He stunned the NFL last year by trading up for Mitch Trubisky and selecting multiple players from Division II schools. His trade up for Leonard Floyd the year prior was unexpected, as well. The Bears have some depth needs to address, especially at EDGE, ILB, CB, OL and perhaps S. But we never know what Pace is thinking — not in a bad way — just in a ‘Pace holds all his cards close to his vest’ kind of way.
So, why a quarterback? Well, for one, Pace has said that he would like to add to the quarterback room every year. And to be fair, he’s already done that this year, adding Chase Daniel and Tyler Bray to the mix, who are replacing Mike Glennon and Mark Sanchez. Daniel is a lock to make the roster given his veteran presence and experience in Matt Nagy’s offense. But Bray isn’t necessarily a lock.
There are quite a few intriguing later-round QB prospects in this draft that could be worth taking a flier on and developing under Matt Nagy, Mark Helfrich, and Daniel’s presence. I’ve talked about a few of them in previous Mailbags, but here are some later round prospects that could be worth developing further:
- Kyle Lauletta (likely will go higher than where the Bears would want to take him)
- Luke Falk
- Riley Ferguson
- Kurt Benkert
- Mike White
- Chase Litton
- Alex McGough
- Logan Woodside
If I’m Pace, and I have a chance to add a developmental QB to the mix, why not? Trubisky is my starter and I’m confident that he can take the next step under Nagy with the new weapons that have been provided. If I can build up another young QB at the same time to the point where he can be used as trade bait? Absolutely.
I feel like it beats the heck out of keeping Tyler Bray, that’s for sure.
The reality is that EDGE is the biggest need for the Bears right now. However they do it, they need capable bodies that can rush the passer. So I’ll answer this two ways: One where the Bears take Harold Landry in the first round (which I’m on record saying they should strongly consider doing), and the other where they don’t.
If they take Harold Landry in the first round, then I would love to see Christian Kirk (WR from Texas A&M) fall to the Bears in the second round. He’s everything I want in a WR prospect for Matt Nagy’s offense. He’s very quick, he has strong hands, he knows how he wants to attack the field once he’s caught the ball, he has solid speed, etc. There’s been a lot of speculation saying Kirk could sneak into the first round, and frankly, I could see it. But if he doesn’t, and he’s available for the Bears in the second round, I’m sprinting to the podium.
If the Bears do not take Harold Landry in the first round, I want them to take an EDGE rusher in the second round. Lorenzo Carter would be a pretty great get in my opinion. The Georgia standout is actually quite similar to Leonard Floyd, and would help shore up the OLB corps while adding needed pass rushing ability to the group. Another second-round EDGE prospect to keep your eye on is Josh Sweat.
The best case scenario is that the Bills or Cardinals trade into the Top 7 going after a quarterback, and that five QBs (Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, Josh Rosen, Josh Allen, and Lamar Jackson) end up off the board by the time the Bears pick. Also factor in that some team might take Bradley Chubb and Saquon Barkley, and the Bears would have their pick of the elite litter at 8th overall: Quenton Nelson, Roquan Smith, Harold Landry, Denzel Ward, etc. Of course, with five QBs gone, that would mean the Bears wouldn’t be able to trade down, but that’s fine by me. Having the choice to grab one of these elite prospects would be fantastic. In this case, I think Pace would go with the hands-down best and safest prospect in this draft, and take Quenton Nelson.
The worst case scenario would be teams realizing that Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson are, in fact, awful QB prospects, and so only three QBs go in the Top 7, meaning more elite talent would go ahead of when the Bears pick. Also, it would suck if teams went on an EDGE rusher binge and dried out the talent available to the Bears in the later rounds. I’ve said repeatedly that EDGE is the Bears’ biggest need — even before free agency started and the WR position was a mess. Not having enough solid prospects to choose from would hurt their chances of adding a potential starter and much-needed depth at EDGE. I don’t really have a good answer as to what Pace would do if this were to occur. It’s a scary thought.
I’ll give you two, and they’re both on the offensive side of the ball: Fordham RB Chase Edmonds and BYU WR Jonah Trinnaman.
The Bears seem to be rather set at RB on the surface. They have Jordan Howard, Tarik Cohen, Benny Cunningham, and Taquan Mizzell all under contract and returning in 2018. However, the Bears are likely to carry 4 RBs given Cunningham’s special teams value, and Mizzell isn’t a lock to make the roster. Remember, he was a waiver claim last year after final roster cuts. The Bears could certainly look to add another RB, and Edmonds could be that guy. He’s explosive, fast, and can catch the ball well. He’s not an every-down back, but certainly someone who can contribute as a change-of-pace back and catch the ball. That’s big in Nagy’s offense.
Trinnaman, on the other hand, is an athletic freak. SM’s Erik Lambert did a profile on him recently, and while I knew a little bit about him beforehand, I watched more of his tape afterwards and was instantly sold. Erik deserves credit for his work on Trinnaman so I will let you read about him in the profile I linked you to, but there is great potential there. I’d be ecstatic if the Bears were to add him.
