This one?
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/colum...,6473923.column
chicagotribune.com
Williams' development example of Bears' draft problems
For a guard, Bears paying high price of a tackle
Mike Mulligan
October 26, 2011
Left guard Chris Williams is a mainstay on the Bears offensive line.
He is the only first-round draft pick of the Jerry Angelo era in the starting lineup. He has more starts at his position than any other offensive lineman. He has a bigger contract too.
None of that makes him a success story. Williams' status, like everything with a Bears top selection, remains complicated.
"I am a guard now,'' said Williams, taken No. 14 overall in 2008 NFL draft with the idea of making him a left tackle to protect the quarterback's blind side for a decade to come.
"I don't know what the future holds, but as of today I am a guard and I like it there," he said. "If I had to go back and play tackle, I would do what I could. I can play guard and tackle, so wherever they put me, that's where I will play.''
Nobody has talked about moving Williams out of his spot, be it to a different position or to the bench. But the off week promises to be a telling time for the offensive line. Rookie Gabe Carimi presumably will be returning from a knee injury soon.
Does Carimi step back in at right tackle where he started the season? Does Lance Louis move back to right guard? Isn't Chris Spencer playing well enough at right guard to keep his spot, maybe even move to left guard in place of Williams?
Would offensive line coach Mike Tice consider moving two guys to fill one position? Does draft status come into play?
If expectations are created through the resources a team uses to acquire a player, and the money it pays him, then William has not lived up to expectations.
NFL teams don't use high draft picks to draft guards. In fact, the player taken one spot after Williams in 2008, Branden Albert, was the first guard in the top 15 in 11 years since Chris Naeole went 10th overall to the Saints in the 1997. Albert was a guard in name only. He was converted to left tackle where he has been a fixture for the Chiefs.
Simply put, if the Bears knew Williams would wind up at left guard, they never would have taken him as high as they did. Nor would they have given him $9.2 million in guaranteed money on a five-year, $12.73 million deal.
Generally speaking, if you want a left tackle you have to grab one high in the first round. Williams was the third offensive tackle and one of eight taken in that first round. The guys taken above him, Jake Long (first overall) and Ryan Clady (12th) both have made the Pro Bowl. The guys after him all start at tackle, including left tackles Albert (15), Sam Baker (21) and Duane Brown (26), along with Gosder Cherilus (17) and Jeff Otah (19) at right tackle.
If you want a guard, you can go much deeper into a draft. Just look at the six players who made the Pro Bowl at the position a year ago.
The Patriots' Logan Mankins was the only one taken in the first round, he went No. 32 overall. The Giants' Chris Snee went in the second round at No. 34. The Saints' combination of Jahri Evans and Carl Nicks went in the fourth and fifth rounds, respectively. The Chargers' Kris Dielman and the Chiefs' Brian Waters were both undrafted free agents. Dielman is a converted defensive tackle.
It's not Williams' fault the Bears drafted him. All he can do is line up and try his best, which Williams has done.
"There is no unfinished business (at tackle),'' Williams said. "I am here to help us win games and that is it. I just want to play, I don't care where it is at.''
The issue speaks to the terrible strikeout rate in first-rounders during the Angelo era. Marc Colombo, Michael Haynes, Rex Grossman, Tommie Harris, Cedric Benson, Greg Olsen, Williams and Carimi have exactly three Pro Bowls among them, all belonging to Harris. Williams and Carimi are the only guys still on the roster, with the 2009 and 2010 selections traded along with Kyle Orton and a third-rounder for Jay Cutler and a fifth-round pick.
In the context of the first-round club, Williams would have to be considered a success.
