dawhizz

I I would take #2 but swap in Alfred Collins for TJ Sanders at 41. I’m just not really into Skattebo and Simmons coming off a major injury can’t be my pick at #10.

Some Bears Pro Day notes: - Ben Johnson and Ryan Poles were at the Ohio State pro day. Have to think their two RBs were receiving some attention but there’s plenty of other intriguing guys there. - Bears had a group at the Texas pro day including Ben Johnson and RB coach Eric Bienemy and met with several of the players, including Andrew Mukuba who would make some sense as a consideration around the third round. They have Top 30 meeting later this month with WR Isaiah Bond. https://www.sportskeeda.com/nfl/insider-notes-texas-uconn-pro-day-quinn-ewers-draft-stock-matthew-golden-s-nfl-readiness-and-more - New Bears O-line coach Dan Roushar was at the LSU pro day where Will Campbell’s arms measured a little better than at the combine which some are saying may make him sticking at OT more viable. -Other top 30 visits upcoming that have been reported include RB Ashton Jeanty, OT Josh Conerly, and RB Brashard Smith.

Or are they roadkill?

Bears signed CB Nick McCloud. Basically a Jaylon Jones replacement except has a little more starting experience. That gives you six at least decent CB options with Johnson, Stevenson, Smith, Gordon, Blackwell, and McCloud. I don’t see us taking a CB in the draft unless there is a guy really high on our board late.

This is the tweet that I saw. Looks like Sweat is the one who had trained with him previously. Interesting that it shows four current Bears (Jarrett, Booker, Dexter, Sweat), one almost-Bear (Larry Ogunjobi) plus one Viking (Dallas Turner) and one draft eligible edge (Tyler Baron from Miami). Baron might be a name to keep on your radar if the Bears are still looking for edge help in the middle rounds and the brass gets good reports on him from the Bears players.

Seems like we just did the Campbell exercise with Peter Skoronski a few years ago. He was a well graded, fundamentally sound college LT that probably didn’t translate well to LT or maybe tackle at all. Campbell is taller, but has the same short arms problem. Cut to two years later and Skoronski is a very good guard but so obviously not a fit at LT that the Titans overpaid for Dan Moore. https://www.nfl.com/prospects/peter-skoronski/3200534b-4f46-7199-f435-c28e7b2fe41f https://www.nfl.com/prospects/will-campbell/32004341-4d67-0633-da01-28e834689a13

But I think we’ll have some indication leading up to. Like Darnell Wright pick was a surprise relative to where we were a month out from the draft, but that was kind of a tending pick in the days leading up to the draft.

Nolan’s a good pick. I guess if I have to go out of the box, I might say Luther Burden the WR from Missouri. He’s seen as more of a mid 1st/late 1st/early 2nd guy, but if you see DJ and Rome as the outside receivers, Burden might be the ideal slot guy in a Ben Johnson offense based on speed, hands, route running, toughness, and ability be be used in a number of different ways.

I think it’s very likely Banks will be available at 10. I know it only takes one but I feel like Campbell and Membou are both rated higher by most and the other teams taking an OT are probably not going to be quite as dispersing as the Bears regarding where an OT projects. Like, even if Campbell isn’t for sure an OT, he’s still going to be immediately startable somewhere on the line for a team like the Pats, Giants, Saints, and Jets.

I guess my feeling is that I don’t see one of these particular draft picks being better than Jones this year at LT. It would be different if there were a couple great players who definitely project well to LT, but I feel like we have a bunch of guys who don’t project so cleanly to LT and might be guards. I’m ok taking that risk with a second round pick on Ersery, Conerly, Zabel, etc. but if I’m taking another tackle at #10 I better be damn sure he’s a LT and I can’t say that about these guys except maybe Simmons who has the injury I’m wary of. Banks is the closest for me.

Not real thrilled with this completely unnecessary contract extension for a guy who was not very good last year and now has a $25 million cap hit in 2026. Let’s hope he lives up to it.

Another useful tweet with regard to the edge class, particularly for those considering Shemar Stewart or Mychal Williams.

I keep seeing Shemar Stewart, the edge from Texas A&M mocked to the Bears and while his size seems to fit the Dennis Allen mold, between his 4.5 TOTAL sacks over three years and this note on his run defense, I am fully out on him.

I don’t love taking a guy at OT who has already had a pretty major knee injury. Sprains and stuff are on thing, a torn patellar tendon is another.

I think there is an aspect of this where the mock draft pundits convinced themselves so fully that the Bears would be in desperate need of an O-line upgrade come draft time and just haven’t reconsidered based on their offseason additions. That’s not to say they don’t still have a moderate, more depth/future based need there, but I think if they actually thought about it more or reconsidered their initial thoughts, they would be less inclined to just pencil in O-line help.

Yeah. I don’t know how I feel about all that resource allocation to LB after signing Edwards and Edmunds last year and now committing a top ten pick to what is nominally an off ball LB, but it’s the easiest way for me to justify taking any of the edge players early if I think he can also offer early down value and move around and even be a nickel defender on TEs plus be a threat to rush. I don’t think you can take a small edge top ten and expect him to play every down in the Allen defense, and as I’ve said I’m underwhelmed by the production of the bigger edges being projected in the early first round. I’ll mention that I’ve heard Jihaad Campbell as a first round guy who offers a similar skill set to Walker so I’m interested to look more at him.

The more I think about it, the pick that would make the most sense to me conceptually is Jalen Walker from Georgia. With Sanborn gone, there isn’t a clear starter with Edmunds and Edwards, and Walker could be a LB in early downs and then rush from the edge on passing downs, plus could be a real asset as a pass rusher from the LB spot whenever Allen wants to deploy him.

Jordan Burch and Ashton Gillotte are also options in that range. I like what I’ve seen from Burch.

Useful note on the DEs that the Saints drafted/acquired when Dennis Allen was there. 6’4” 260 lbs. seems like the typical minimum size. On one hand, assuming Allen had some input on the choices, it seems to suggest against the drafting of the smaller/lighter edge players like Mike Green, Jalon Walker, and Donovan Ezeiruaku. On the other hand besides Young and (eventually) Hendrickson, most of these guys didn’t work out, so maybe a change in philosophy is in order.

Did the Seahawks trade down and a couple others and ended up with this, which I was pretty happy with. Scourton seems like Ty best fit of the first round DEs with what Allen seems to prefer. My Draft Picks 18. Nic ScourtonEDGE Texas A&M 39. Aireontae ErseryOT Minnesota 50. Isaiah BondWR Texas 56. TreVeyon HendersonRB Ohio State 72. Lathan RansomS Ohio State 85. Darius AlexanderDT Toledo 125. Danny StutsmanLB Oklahoma 148. Joshua GrayOG Oregon State 206. Luke LacheyTE Iowa 233. O’Donnell FortuneCB South Carolina

I don’t think you have nearly enough clarity on Kiran or the OT class to be comfortable trading Jones.

I went with Jeanty, reluctantly. - I can’t take Membou when if not sure he can play LT, since he didn’t even do it in college. - I have four CBs I feel OK about (Johnson, Stevenson, Gordon, Smith) and first round CBs rarely make early impacts. -I’m warming to the idea of a 1st round WR actually given our depth chart, but I’m not sure McMillan makes sense (I’m leaning more toward a trade down to Burden). - I like Tyler Warren fine but we have Kmet and I want to see what he can do if given opportunities.

I do kinda wonder what Ben Johnson thinks of Swift, since the Lions traded him away when Ben Johnson was there. I guess we’ll find out.

I was also thinking, with all the talk of upgrading the OL, are we overrating the need for a high pick on a RB? I can certainly see the Bears drafting one at some point, but with an upgraded O-line, and particularly the addition of really good run blockers, I’d like to see what Swift and Roschon can do before spending too high a pick on a RB.

Wondering if they had offers out to him and maybe Lockett, Allen, and/or Kupp and it looked like they were all looking elsewhere or wanting more money than they wanted to spend. He makes sense to me as a WR3/WR4 but still definitely need competition there.