WindyCity Posted March 23, 2018 Share Posted March 23, 2018 Free Agents DE Shamar Stephen S Eric Reid OT Austin Howard LB Gerald Hodges RB Thomas Rawls RB Benny Cunningham Round 1 1[1] Cleveland Browns: QB Sam Darnold [USC] 1[2] NY Giants: QB Josh Rosen [UCLA] 1[3] NY Jets [Ind]: QB Josh Allen [Wyoming] 1[4] Cleveland Browns [Hou]: CB Denzel Ward [Ohio St] 1[5] Denver Broncos: QB Baker Mayfield [OU] 1[6] Indianapolis Colts [NYJ]: DE Bradley Chubb [NC State] 1[7] Tampa Bay Buccaneers: RB Saquan Barkley [Penn St] 1[8] OG Quenton Nelson [Notre Dame] 6'5" 325lbs, 33 3/4" arms, 35 reps, 26.5" vert, 8'9" broad This is not a sexy pick. This is not a pick that is going to fill the need at OLB, but there are a lot of reasons that this probably is going to be the pick. The Bears are heavily connected to Quenton Nelson through Harry Hiestand, they have an unaddressed need at LG, they have a young franchise QB that needs to be protected, and Nelson is the best player in the entire draft. This is the one remaining "weakness" on the Bears offense and by addressing it with someone who could be an All Pro the offense, from a personnel stand point will be set up for a huge step. Nelson is a dominant player, he is a player that can line up 1 on 1 against the Mike Daniels and Sheldon Richardson's of the division without needing help. Nelson would give the Bears arguably the best interior OL in the league and Pace came from New Orleans where they have built inside out on the line. Interior pressure is the worst thing for a QB and between Long, Whitehair and Nelson the Bears should be firm of the middle, which will only help their average OTs. In a league where Aaron Donald and Geno Atkins are destroying interior OLs I am less inclined to worry about the positional value argument. 2[39] OLB Lorenzo Carter [Georgia] 6'6" 250lbs, 34" arms, 4.5 [40], 36" vert, 10'10" broad I think in a perfect world that Ryan Pace would have the best player available at 8 be a pass rusher, but in the 2nd round he can cycle back and get a player that has as much physical upside as any OLB in draft, but who needs work. Carter's athletic numbers are eerily similar to Leonard Floyd and he offers incredible athletic ability to Fangio to work with. With the 1st year flashes and 2nd year step that the Bears saw from Floyd they should be excited to give Fangio another project. Carter has everything you look for in a pass rusher, but was used like Floyd at Georgia where he did not really get to use those tools consistently. For the Bears he needs to be a situational and depth player in 2018 while he works on the rough edges. 4[105] CB Quenton Meeks [Stanford] 6'1" 209lbs, 11 reps, 39" vert, 10'8" broad, 6.72 3 cone The Bears need a developmental outside CB that can provide depth behind Fuller and Prince and long term possibly replace Prince. Meeks has the size and explosive athletic ability to match up with outside WRs and he comes from a similar system at Stanford. Meeks gives the Bears a player that can be developed into an outside backup and allows them to keep Callahan and Leblanc inside where they are more effective. 4[115] WR Tra'quan Smith [UCF] 6'2" 203lbs, 4.49 [40], 12 reps, 37.5" vert, 10'10" broad The Bears have made over their WR core, but with 2 players coming off of ACL injuries and the perpetually injured Kevin White they need to continue to add quality depth to the WR core in case of injury. Smith has the size and explosive athletic ability that Nagy seems to have ad in KC and he is coming off a season where he averaged over 17 yards per catch. Smith is also a strong blocker and in a system that will run the outside zone and a ton of screen passes his blocking may be something that gets him on the field more than we think early in his career. If their is an injury the Bears will no longer have to give those reps to a PR guy or a street free agent. Reps given to Smith will have more long term value if it comes to him playing. 5[145] NT Justin Jones [NC State] 6'2" 312lbs, 5.09 [40], 24 reps, 29"vert The Bears need a big physical interior player that can play in the rotation and give Goldman a breather so he can rush the passer more. Hicks and Goldman played too many snaps last season and lack of an actual backup NT on the roster was a contributing factor. Jones played on a very good DL at NC state and he has the powerful hand punch and squat build to be a contributor in the run game. Jones showed a little more pass rush than was expected at the Senior Bowl so there may be a little more to his game than we have seen. Jones gives the Bears someone they can use to eat double teams on early downs in short yardage. 6[181] OLB Jacob Pugh [Florida St] 6'4" 232lbs, 4.65, 38" vert, 10'2" broad The Bears are going through a transition at OLB and while they cannot add a dynamic starter across from Floyd they should add a bunch of high upside athletes and see what Fangio can turn them into. Pugh has the size, length and explosive athletic ability that the Bears desire at OLB, but he has never really put any consistent production together while at Florida St. Best case scenario, Fangio can develop his pass rush while he gets stronger and the Bears can turn him into a contributing OLB. Worst case scenario, Tabor gets a big athlete for special teams and the Bears get more athletic in that phase. 7[224] OT Greg Senat [Wagner] 6'6" 302lbs, 35" arms, 5.38 [40], 19 reps, 26" vert If you are going to invest in a top OL coach it is important to give him young talent to develop. Senat is probably destined for the PR in his first year, but he has great size and physical skills and could be developed by Hiestand into something. With a basketball background Senat has the length and feet of an NFL LT and while he may need multiple years of work before he is ready the Bears have a coach who can maximize whatever he might become. Depth Chart QB: Trubisky, Daniel, Bray RB: Howard, Rawls, Cohen, Cunningham WR: Robinson, Meredith, Gabriel, Smith, Bellamy, White TE: Shaheen, Burton, Sims LT: Leno LG: Nelson C: Whitehair, Kush RG: Long, Morgan RT: Massie, Howard Senat and Lee on PR RE: Bullard, RRH NT: Goldman, Jones LE: Hicks, Stephen OLB: Floyd, Pugh, Acho ILB: Trevathan, Timu ILB: Kwaitowski, Hodges OLB: Lynch, Carter CB: Fuller, Amukamara, Meeks, Callahan, Leblanc, McManis SS: Amos, Reid, Bush FS: Jackson, Hall LS: Who Cares K: Parkey P: O'Donnell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nads786 Posted March 23, 2018 Share Posted March 23, 2018 Great draft and probably the best scenario for us. I just can't see us move away from Nelson with how the board will likely shake out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dll2000 Posted March 23, 2018 Share Posted March 23, 2018 I watched a little of Lorenzo Carter other day. Not a ton, but enough to get a feel for him. Big physical player. Good against the run. Real good against the run. Best OLB against run I have seen in this draft. Good effort player and real good athlete. Sets edge really well. He's not as gifted a pass rusher as Landry or Chubb. Not nearly as quick. A lot of speed, but not as much short area burst and quickness. A good example is against ND, which was purportedly his best game. First play he gets successfully pass blocked by a RB, which should have been a speed bump for him. On next play he gets inside Nelson on a pull and makes a tackle for no gain before Nelson can drive him out. Awesome play (Nelson bent too much and couldn't get angle). Next he gets beat by ND's TE on a pass rush, that was a total mismatch in Carter's favor. He had a great game against ND, a fantastic game, but a lot of it was Georgia had so many athletes on defense ND didn't know what to do. Outside of LT and LG they were seriously outmanned. They outschemed them as well. Many plays TE was blocking Carter or he was simply unblocked and free to make plays. When he lined up on LT's side there was a 5 tech (that sometimes jumped inside to 3 or 4i) so McGlinchey wasn't ever blocking Carter (good design by GA, but bad for scouting). GA designed a bunch of mismatches. Against OK he lined up mostly on left side, offense's right and the OK RT could not handle him (again good design by GA). When he lined up on defensive right OK's Orlando Brown stoned him pretty easy. Orlando Brown may be better than people think. Combine really hurt him, but someone may get a bargain if he falls too far. He is so slow, but he makes every block. Now he blocks for about 3.5 to 4 secs and that is his limit. Play is over for him no matter what else is happening. He is lazy. Part of that is probably being 6'8 and 350 lbs. But he makes almost every block successfully. I think Carter is good player, a great LB, a great LB, but as a pass rusher, which is what you want, he is just a guy at the NFL level. Can he develop into one? Maybe, he has frame and athletic ability. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowler1215 Posted March 24, 2018 Share Posted March 24, 2018 This would be awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkokot Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 Sometimes when there just aren't many comments, that's how you know you've nailed it, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronMike84 Posted March 30, 2018 Share Posted March 30, 2018 The funny part with Nelson is that the Cowboys spent three out of four consecutive years taking Tyron Smith, and then Zack Martin and Travis Frederick who are just "boring" interior players, and then everybody's all surprised that their line is just out there steamrolling dudes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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