dawhizz

A “worst mock draft” challenger emerges! Jeanty at #3! Golden at #8! I guess I shouldn’t complain at anything that has Mason Graham to the Bears, but this seems pretty bad https://www.nfl.com/news/2025-nfl-mock-draft-with-a-twist-what-every-team-should-do-in-round-1

I don’t see day one starter from Banks, the more I look at him. He has a ton of starts in college but doesn’t seem to have actually gotten better at anything as far as I can tell. I also am starting to have an issue with the narrative “if he’s not a LT, he can be a pro bowl caliber guard”. Remember Bears greats Alex Leatherwood and Jason Spriggs? Leatherwood was taken #17 overall and Spriggs went in the second. Both were drafted as future left tackles, but fizzed out, bounced around, and now can’t start anywhere. And, you guessed it, both were touted as having guard/tackle flexibility. https://www.nfl.com/prospects/alex-leatherwood/32004c45-4173-2379-61f9-b62d58f5c85e https://www.nfl.com/prospects/jason-spriggs/32005350-5215-0252-7d93-dd095a1e8449 Leatherwood was tried at guard before being cut by the Raiders. Evan Neal, drafted three years ago by the Giants, appears headed for a similar fate although there doesn’t appear to be much optimism there (https://giantswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/giants/2025/03/08/new-york-giants-finally-prepared-move-evan-neal-guard/82041590007/). Plus, keep in mind Membou, Campbell, Banks, Simmons, Conerly, and Ersery never played guard in college. I don’t think it’s as easy a potential transition as everyone is making it out to be if they fail at LT.

I just don’t think you can take a(nother) OT in the top ten unless you are sure he can be a stud LT and none of these guys are that. There isn’t a Joe Alt in this draft class. I’m ok taking a guy round two you can try at LT but might be something else, but with every other spot on the o-line spoken for for the next few years (depending on what happens with a potential Thuney extension), I can’t take a guy top ten who I’m not reasonable sure can challenge Braxton and Kiran at LT sooner rather than later.

I think Brashard Smith is the one guy might go a little later, so I’m trying to factor that in.

I think it could just as easily be a 3rd or 5th round pick. Deep RB draft.

Can someone explain the Tyler Warren thing to me? I get that he is very good and a "weapon" but we currently have what I would say is an above average and possibly great TE that we just need to use. I don't really see Warren doing things that I don't think Kmet can do. Plus, I get that Ben Johnson will use the personnel he had, but even if Warren is used in both 2 TE sets and split out wide, Ben Johnson has really never used a 2nd TE much in his offenses and hasn't even really schemed a lot to get WR3 and WR4 touches, so how much are you really going to get out of Tyler Warren in his offense? While he was there, the Lions never really went after a good TE2 or invested heavily on a WR3 or WR4, so I don't really see him doing it now.

Yep. Turns 21 in June.

To put this in further context: -Pearce ran a 4.47 but is 20 pound lighter. -Stewart ran a 4.59 and was about the same size at the combine -Pretty much the same 40 as Landon Jackson who is about the same size as Williams.

Agree. If you take a closer look to the production of the bigger DEs that might fit our scheme, 5 sacks is almost three times what a healthy Shemar Stewart got, the same as Nic Scourton, and not that much less than James Pearce (7.5) and Landon Jackson (6.5). If he was injured all year and couldn’t put big time weight on that leg, and you project him to be healthy, maybe you have something. Of course, he ran a pretty slow 40 at the end of the year, so is that just what he is or what he still feeling the effects of the injury (which would be concerning to me). Much to consider.

And WR Kyle Williams was there yesterday. Like him as a player but would like a bigger guy given that all our other WRs that figure to make the roster are under 6’0” besides Rome.

In no particular order: Ashton Jeanty - Literally the only potential top ten pick the Bears have reportedly brought in for a visit. Maybe he won’t be there but I have to believe he’s in the mix. Will Campbell - Not my #1 choice, but good character guy with high RAS score and at worst he’s a very good to great guard. Mykel Williams, DE, Georgia - Biggest need, size is right for the Dennis Allen scheme, seems likely to be available. Another high character guy by all accounts. Production not maybe what you want but wasn’t 100% healthy.

Pretty comparable to the Jalen Pitre deal from a few days ago. Even though he’s technically a safety he functions pretty similar to Gordon in their defense.

Nice job! Pretty realistic which can be hard, except that I don't think Mike Green would be there at 41 (plus I don't think he's a likely Bears target due to character concerns), but swap him out with one of the 2nd round DEs like Landon Jackson or JT Tuimolloau, and I think this makes a lot of sense. I would personally swap the TE and WR picks - I think WR3 is a bigger need than TE2, although with Arroyo being able to be moved around maybe he can play enough in the slot that he helps in that area. I wouldn't be mad at all with this, though.

I mean, he wouldn’t exactly be an NFL an outlier. Six of the top ten rushers last year were 5’10” or shorter (Jonathan Taylor, Jahmyr Gibbs, Josh Jacobs, Kyren Williams, Aaron Jones, and Bucky Irving) and Gibbs, Williams, Jones, and Irving all weigh right at or less than Jeanty, so I don’t know how you can say he can’t hold up at that size. Now, some of those guys are newer to huge league so time will tell how well they hold up, but they seem to be doing Ok so far.

I don’t love the options, but I think if we stick it will be DE.

More visits I’ve seen reported: -Shemar Stewart, DE, Texas A&M (projected first round pick, low production but great measurable and perfect 10.00 RAS score) -Jalin Conyers, TE, Texas Tech (likely late round pick who caught, rushed (via wildcat), and threw for TDs last year - I’ve beeen putting him in my Bears mocks recently) -Tre Harris, WR, Mississippi (seen him going anywhere from the 2nd to the 4th, could be a fit as a big slot) -Omarr Norman-Lott, DT, Tennessee (looks to be a mid-round DT, a little undersized so likely 3T type)

Don’t know if this is behind a paywall (I don’t think so) but interesting background and story on the Jonah Jackson move. https://open.substack.com/pub/golongtd/p/get-a-damn-ring-jonah-jackson-plans?r=1eva0&utm_medium=ios

The other issue is his size. He makes sense in a 3-4, but not sure he fits 4-3 DE, especially in Dennis Allen’s scheme.

Saw this mock draft today that has the Bears trading #10 plus their 2 2nd round picks for #3 and a late third (#99) to take Abdul Carter. In one hand, I’m not enamored with the likely choices at #10, and consider Carter a blue chip pick at probably the Bears’ biggest need. On the other, I love the choices the Bears are likely to have in the second round. What say you? https://athlonsports.com/nfl/2025-nfl-mock-draft-abdul-carter-chicago-bears-new-york-giants-jalen-milroe-jaxson-dart-cam-ward-shedeur-sanders

One guy I haven’t heard mentioned a lot who I’m warming up to as a first round target is Derrick Harmon, the DT from Oregon. I’ve seen him mostly projected mid to late first round, but his measurables and testing are eerily similar to Chris Jones and highlights I’ve seen show both penetrating and pretty stout against the run. I think I’d take him over Grant or Nolen. I’m not sure I’m convinced we need a DT in the first with Dexter, Billings, and Jarrett plus Zacch Pickens and Chris Williams as younger players but neither of them is really significantly moving the needle at this point and a Dexter/Harmon/Jarrett/Billings rotation with whoever sticks between Pickens and Williams is pretty interesting to me.

Sanborn’s contract with the Cowboys was only 1 year $1.5 million, so the Bears could have easily beat it if they wanted to. That suggests to me they don’t really see a third LB getting a lot of snaps or being an high priority and/or they think he is easily replacable with someone on the roster (Noah Sewell, Amen Ogbongbemiga, Swayze Boseman) or a late round pick.

I'm also very interested in the correlation between RAS score and Bears draft picks this year. Poles has shown a pretty significant trend toward high RAS players in the past. His first draft in 2022, the only player he drafted with an RAS below 8.44 were Velus Jones and Ja'Tyre Carter (two players who I think we can agree have not really worked out in the NFL). In his 2023 draft, he took ten total players and yet still the lowest RAS was Travis Bell's 8.25, which is still considered quite high (anything over 8.00 is considered "great" or something like that) and his first four picks/picks in the first three rounds were all at or nearly 9.00 (Darnell Wright = 9.68; Gervon Dexter = 9.52; Tyrique Stevenson = 8.93; Zacch Pickens = 9.22). Last year Caleb, Kiran, and Tory Taylor didn't qualify for RAS for various reasons (Caleb just didn't do all the tests, Kiran was coming off an injury, and no one cares about testing for punters), but Odunze scored 9.92 and Booker scored 7.02 but was also a 5th round pick. I say all of this because I was trying to talk myself into various players at #10 and got to Kenneth Grant, but I wonder how his RAS score (7.18 or so) would affect him in the Bears eyes. On one hand, he's a big run-stuffing DT, so maybe RAS doesn't mean that much, on the other Vita Vea scored around a 9.50 and Jordan Davis had a 10.00, so maybe it takes that stuff into account. Will Poles still appear to favor RAS scores or will he be more willing to go out of his comfort zone, now that he's seen some of these high RAS players (Velus Jones, above, and Dominique Robinson's 9.74 comes to mind) never quite measure up on the football field? We shall see. Providing the RAS link below for this year's draftees if anyone else is interested. https://ras.football/2025-nfl-draft-class/

A few more Bears meetings/visits I’ve seen referenced online: - Anthony Benton, OT, NC State - Jonah Savaiinaea, OT/OG, Arizona - Addison West, OG, Western Michigan - Dontae Fleming, WR, Tulane - Kelly Akharaiyi, WR, Mississippi So, seems like mostly mid round O-linemen (unless Conerly goes round 1) and late round/undrafted WRs (although I’m intrigued what saw from Akharaiyi in the highlight videos I was able to find).