dawhizz

Darn auto-correct.

I see where the Bears are bringing in Lynch for a workout now. I think it's pretty clear we will be drafting a QB relatively high between the fact that Fales is our current #2, we didn't make any attempt to sign a veteran QB (as far as I can tell) and we've shown some level of interest in just about every QB projected to go in the first 5 rounds. I'm very interested to see who they get. I'm personally not a fan of drafting Wentz/Goff/Lynch in the first considering our other needs and I don't really like Conner Cook or Hackenberg, and while Prescott's my favorite, I could get behind Prescott, Hogan, Brissett, Sudfeld, or even Kessler or Allen.

I think the other related question is, if we do want a NT, what kind of NT do we want? Ian Williams is only 6'1" 305. So if we were looking at the body type at the nose, it would be really interesting if we envision, for instance, Goldman and Hicks at the DEs and take Sheldon Rankins and put him at the NT (I've even heard some draft profiles suggesting he could play the nose in a 3-4). To be honest, I just don't know enough about what Fangio wants in his DL to determine that, but it would be one way to go.

It's that time of year when some of us are spending way too much time looking at draft guides/highlights/etc. So inspired by the recent All Athlete Draft I saw posted, any other fun All "Something" drafts you can put together for the Bears. I can make a very credible "all Florida" draft with one little cheat that I actually wouldn't be upset with for the Bears: 1. Vernon Hargreaves, CB, Florida 2. Jonathan Bullard, DE, Florida 3. Keanu Neal, S, Florida 4. Demarcus Robinson, WR, Florida 4. Kelvin Taylor, RB, Florida 5. Antonio Morrison, ILB, Florida 6. Jeff Driskell, QB, Louisiana Tech (but formerly of Florida) 6. Alex McAllister, OLB, Florida 7. Jake McGee, TE, Florida Any other schools this would work for? How about an all injured draft? All same first name? All undersized? Just trying to kill time to get me through the next three weeks . . .

Enough that you would take him at #11? Because that's probably what it's going to take.

He wouldn't be my first choice, but I wouldn't hate it. He's thin, but has good height and athleticism for the OLB spot. The Bears could rotate him in while he adds weight. My main concern would be the effect the added weight has on his quickness, but that's a concern for a lot of rookies.

I think there's a lot of fluff in the PFF approach, but it does force me to look into prospects no one else is talking about. They certainly march to their own beat. https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2016/...und-mock-draft/

I might even take Dodd over Lawson in that situation, particularly if we want a pass-rusher we can plug and play at 3-4 DE. I think Lawson can play both 3-4 DE and OLB, but Dodd is bigger and taller and seems like a better fit to stick at DE right away. He might be viewed as a bit of a reach, but for what the Bears need, he fits the bill, I think.

Is Lawson still available? I would take him over Robinson and probably Rankins. I sure as hell don't want Treadwell at #11.

I might do it for #11. But I would jump on a pick swap of firsts and a conditional 2017 pick based on starts production that could be worth as much as a 3rd.

Did you do this from FanSpeak, or just looking at draft boards? I did a Fanspeak draft today with a similar approach to yours (except I'm not a fan of a TE early) and came out with this: 1) Vernon Hargreaves, CB, Florida 2) Vernon Butler, DE, Louisiana Tech 3) Sean Davis, S, Maryland 4) Jaylon Smith, LB, Notre Dame 4) Dak Prescott, QB, Miss St. 5) Joe Haeg, OT, North Dakota St. 6) Ben Braunecker, TE, Harvard 6) Josh Ferguson, RB, Illinois 7) Malcolm Mitchell, WR, Georgia

I thought the same thing at first, but the more I look at it, I don't think that's true. The 49ers drafted some big corners when Fangio was there, but the main corners when the 49ers defense was most effective were Carlos Rogers (6'0" 195), Tarell Brown (5'11" 190) and Perrish Cox (5'11" 195), so it wasn't exactly biggest group. Plus they drafted Jimmie Ward while he was there as a CB/S and he was 5'11" 193. Then you look at the Bears CBs who have played under Fangio. Fuller is 6'0" 190, but Porter is 5'11" 190 and they gave snaps to 5'10" 185 Bryce Callahan (who is the current de facto nickel) and cut bigger guys like Al Louis Jean. At 5'10" 204, Hargreaves is not much different than those other guys, he's thicker, so he should be more effective jamming receivers at his size, and he's the clear cut best or second best corner in the class (depending on your position preference for Ramsey). Plus, he's known as a physical guy who supports the run and can effectively press, which is what Fangio wants from his CBs, so I don't really see Hargreaves' size being a deterrent.

Seems to me it might make more sense for a swap of Baldwin for Houston or Young and maybe one of our 6ths. Baldwin goes to a 3-4, Houston/Young goes to a 4-3. Both better fits.

Related question: Let's say he seems to be recovering fully from his injury and the Bears are at #11. Wentz, Bosa, Buckner, Stanley, Tunsil, Ramsey, Jack, Elliott, Goff, and Lawson are off the board. No one wants to trade up for the Bears pick. Would you be mad if they took Jaylon Smith at #11?

Tongue a little in cheek. Seems like a lot of people are really high on this signing and I'm not sure why, but 1 year deal for him. Sounds like mainly a special teamer and decent kick return man, but you don't want him starting on defense under any circumstances. I guess he and Deonte can battle it out over return man duties.

Lots of Bears rumors swirling on Twitter based on a tweet by Adam Caplan that newly-signed Ted Larsen will start at G for Bears. Some speculating Slauson might be traded. None of it makes any sense to me, but stay tuned and #inPacewetrust.

They pretty much replace Ducasse and Omameh, which is fine with me because I wasn't too impressed with either one.

(Sadly not THAT Manny Ramirez) Better backup option than Ducasse, IMO, and can backup Grasu at C. Yet another former Bronco under Fox. One year deal.

I guess it depends on whether the Bears see Amos as a FS or SS. I thought he played mostly FS last year, but he didn't have many impact coverage plays. Then I saw something from Brad Biggs this morning saying they saw him as a SS, but on the Bears website he's listed as a FS. So I guess he's a FS?

It's funny on the safeties this year - I just can't seem to get a consensus of who is projected in which round, much moreso than any other position in the draft. For instance, I looked this evening on the way safeties were ranked by the sites that FanSpeak uses for its mocks, and even if I only look at the rankings that have been updated in the last two weeks, they are all over the map: - Three sites rank Neal as the #1 safety, but I've also seen him ranked #156, #164, #168, and #229 overall. - Karl Joseph and Jeremy Cash are the only safeties ranked in the double digits in every ranking (Joseph ranges from #49 to #91 overall and Cash ranges from #34 to #80). Therefore, it seems logical to conclude those guys will be 2nd to 3rd round picks. Thompson has a high rank of #23 and a low rank of #104, so he's probably a 2nd/3rd rounder too. - Bell is probably also a 2nd to 3rd rounder based on the rankings, though one site ranked him #17 overall (With the First Pick) and another ranked him #121 overall (Kyle Crabbs). - Killebrew, Green, and Davis are the only remaining safeties not to be ranked in the 200s by anybody. - KJ Dillon has the unique distinction of being ranked #15 by Kyle Crabbs and #325 by Draftec. To make a long story even longer, I don't think anyone really knows where most of these guys will go. I actually like quite a few of them, though, as I've mentioned, I think Sean Davis makes the most sense for what we know of Fangio. I'm not a big fan of Killebrew, Cash, or Green (I don't like drafting a safety that can't cover), but hopefully we picks someone sometime and they are good.

While I listed Aldon Smith and Cam Johnson as DEs, they lined up at LB for the 49ers, and Quinton Dial was a DE coming into the league at 6'5" 318. Also Hicks, who looks to be one of our starting DEs, is 6'5" 324, which doesn't really fit the draft model, though the rest of the guys you highlighted seem to align with Justin Smith's size, who excelled in that system.

I know he's small, but he's got maybe my favorite highlight package of the ones I've watched. He's just constantly in the backfield. I'd love to see what Fangio would do with him as a pass-rush LB/3rd safety/whatever else:

One year deal. Decent depth and special teamer and seemed like a good locker room guy, by all accounts.

I wanted to revisit this post now that we have a year of the Bears draft under Fangio under our belts: Now we have the 2015 draft as well (albeit only two picks of defense) 2 - Eddie Goldman, DT, Florida State - 6'4" 335, 5.27 5 - Adrian Amos, S, Penn State - 6'0" 218, 4.37 (at pro day) - Still true. Amos ran a 4.56 at the combine, but a 4.37 and 4.40 at his pro day. Also still true. Amos makes the cut at 6'0". Ended up not being the case, as they took Goldman. On second thought, not sure this reflects at all on Fangio and seems more like an organizational approach (see Marcus Lattimore, Brandon Thomas, etc.). Both draft picks were from major college programs though, for what it's worth. Some other thoughts looking at this with fresh eyes: - One other thing I noticed taking the 2015 draft into account is that a lot of the DBs drafted for a Fangio defense had CB and S experience. Amos played some slot corner, as did Jimmie Ward. Culliver and Dontae Johnson started out as a safeties in college. Trenton Robinson was seen as a possible NFL CB. The guy I keep thinking fits this to a T is Sean Davis from Maryland. 6'1" 201. Played S until his last year when he moved to CB. Ran a 4.46 at the combine. Something to think about. - The 49ers spent lots of picks on pass-rushers, and fairly early: Smith, Fleming, Carradine, Lemonier & Lynch were all seen as pass-rush specialists. The Bears haven't drafted one under Fangio, but also don't have a young pass rusher on the roster. I have to believe that's a high priotity and wonder if it might even put Lawson/Spence/Ogbah/Dodd in play in the 1st/2nd - someone the Bears could envision as a 10 sack a year guy, which they don't currently have.

Slim pickins in FA at this point, but if the Bears are interested in adding another under 30 body at TE with a reputation for being a good blocker, there are a couple former Chargers, John Phillips and David Johnson, who are worth a look. Here's a couple recent write ups on them: http://www.chargers.com/news/2015/05/30/da...ride-dirty-work http://www.chargers.com/news/2015/06/12/jo...ifies-toughness If we want a guy who is more of a pass catcher, maybe MarQuise Gray? http://bills.buffalonews.com/2015/07/05/ti...ing-with-bills/