adam

I was thinking maybe Dobbins or Chubb. With the run of RBs drafted, plus what teams already had on their rosters, those free agents don't have very many options. The Bears seem like one of the logical destinations.

I am glad to see a couple of Edge and Safeties. Very interesting to see zero RBs. They must believe in Wheeler or have something else cooking.

Burden was projected in the top 10 in some mocks and was WR1 in some as well, depending on your flavor of WR. He immediately becomes the best WR3 in the NFL, and will draw the opponent's CB3 on most plays. That in itself is a mismatch every snap.

One thing to consider, with the new staff that this is not a one-year rebuild. So some of these picks may not have been the most optimal for 2025, but for the totality of the their contracts. Loveland may share targets with Kmet in 2025, then be TE1 with 90% of the targets in 2026. Burden may be WR3 in 2025, but is WR1 or WR2 in 2026 or 27. Trapilo may not start in 2025, but could be their starting RT down the line. Turner the same way. If Hyppolite, can develop for a year under Edmunds and Edwards, he could replace Edmunds next season.

Here is the updated roster/depth chart. Projected starters in bold, rookies underlined. QB - Williams, Keenum, Bagent RB - Swift, Johnson, Homer, (Wheeler) or (Monangai-PS) TE - Kmet, Loveland (12p), Smythe, (Carlson) WR - Moore, Odunze, Burden (11p), Zaccheaus, Duvernay, (Scott) or (Boykin) OL - Jones, Thuney, Dalman, Jackson, Wright, Trapilo, Bates, Amegadjie, (Kramer) or (Newman- PS) DT - Billings, Jarrett, Dexter, Turner, Williams, Ford, (Pickens) Edge - Sweat, Odeyingbo, Booker, Robinson, (Hardy) LB - Edmunds, Edwards, Obongbemiga, Hyppolite, (Sewell) CB - Johnson, Stevenson, Gordon, Smith, Blackwell, (Frazier-PS) or (McCloud) S - Brisker, Byard, Hicks, Owens LS - Daly K - Santos P - Taylor I put the bubble players in parentheses. So the first decision will be to keep 2 or 3 QBs on the 53-man. Then the roster spot competitions come down to: 1. Jones vs Trapilo (to start) 2. Wheeler vs Monangai (53-man) 3. Scott vs Boykin (53-man) 4. Ford vs Pickens (53-man) 5. Robinson vs Hardy (53-man) 6. Hyppolite vs Sewell (53-man) 7. Frazier vs McCloud (53-man) So out of all the draft picks, it looks like just Trapilo will be competing for a starting spot.

If a 7th rounder makes the 53-roster, it's a win. I think his future will come down to the health and recovery of Wheeler.

I am definitely hoping for success, and I thought after the free agency they had, that this draft would "push them over the edge" in terms of the talent gap. However, it felt like TE and WR were closer to luxury picks than anything else, and a 5-win team can't afford luxury picks. So the gap didn't close as much as it could of with 4 picks in the top 62. Again, I hope I am wrong as hell. I might also feel this way because the Bears had some very high draft capital with their first 4 picks, but lost in trade backs with BUF (twice no less) where you usually gain capital. So combine the net loss with an expected gain, and the move backs felt bad. Every time they did that, it seemed like they missed out on the guys they would've targeted. Going from 41 to 56, Ezeiruaku, Tuimoloau, Ersery, Scourton, Oladejo, and Belton all came off the board.

Again, going off consensus, they had the 2nd biggest reach of the draft with Hyppolite. I guess it is not that big of a deal, but still notable.

I believe you listed 50 players out of 257 players drafted, and the Bears had 8 picks, and I believe, selected none of those 50, which is pretty wild.

I would've rather had Grant at 10, then Kaleb Johnson instead of Turner at 62. To me, Grant+Johnson has more value than Loveland+Turner, but I could be wrong.

It is always an initial reaction vs let's see how it plays out, but my initial reaction is mixed, which feels underwhelming when they had 4 picks in the first 62. Those 4 may all be starters Week 1, but for now just seems like all of them are rotational players at best.

More along the lines of going against the consensus. It is not a bad draft, but did the Bears get any Day 1 starters in this draft with 4 picks in the top 62? Unless something changes, the Bears walked away with TE2, WR3, OT3, and DT4 with those picks when they could've easily had RB1, Edge2, or S1, but I guess the positional value was not there for them. This entire draft has felt very underwhelming to be honest. That may be while it feels this way for me when looking at the Bears picks.

Michigan State OT/OG, a lot of experience, projects at OG or OC.

Day 3 is all darts and projections, I get it. This draft has felt underwhelming all around.

wtf, Luke Newman, OL, another UDFA player.

Bears up, all these guys are available: RB: Martinez (123), Smith (153) S: Mickens (108), Crawford (146) DT: Toia (168) IOL: McLaughlin (135), Huber (141), Majors (175) Edge: Ivey (150)

CIN goes RB, but it is Tahj Brooks. JAX up, then Bears.

SEA goes G at 192, 2 to go.

Myles Hinton to PHI at 191, 3 to go, Martinez, Smith, Mickens, and Crawford are still out there.

IND goes Tim Smith, DT at 190. 4 to go. Prospect Rankings: RB: Martinez (123), Smith (153) S: Mickens (108), Crawford (146) DT: Toia (168) IOL: McLaughlin (135), Huber (141), Majors (175) Edge: Ivey (150)

Riley Leonard to IND at 189, 5 to go.

IND coming up with back to back picks, already selected Giddens at RB. So I doubt they go there again.

6 to go, TEN goes Mullings at RB.

Reed off the board at 187, 7 left until Bears pick, they might be able to get a RB or S. RB: Martinez, Smith S: Mickens, Crawford DT: Toia IOL: McLaughlin, Huber, Majors Edge: Ivey

Look at PIT's picks, they took Harmon, Johnson, and Sawyer, with only 3 picks in the first 4 rounds. I guarantee you all 3 will be contributors on Day 1 for the Steelers. The Bears had 4 picks before PIT had 2.