I’m not much for draft guessing or mock drafting as it’s known in the sports media biz. And when it comes to the Chicago Bears under Phil Emery it is sometimes easier to try and pinpoint the proper questions as opposed to searching for the elusive answers.

Question #1

Does Kony Ealy fit the Emery mold as a first round draft pick? 

Here is what I think we should look for when trying to figure the direction Emery might venture in the first round: physically gifted athlete, versatile, projected to go 10 or so picks after the Bears are slotted. With the discussion of Ealy being evaluated as a DE who can slide inside to the three-tech, the buzz is starting to grow that he may be featured at a Halas Hall press conference early next week.

Question #2

Is Emery serious about ignoring developmental quarterbacks?

He should be. From an article on NFL.com:

“I just did a little study. It’s very interesting,” Emery said, per ESPN.com. “That developmental theory doesn’t hold a whole lot of water.

“There’s entire classes of quarterbacks, since ’06, I went back and looked at from Jay’s on — when people say developmental quarterbacks, OK, so who has gotten developed? There isn’t a single quarterback after the third round since 2006 that has been a long-term starter. So you’re either developing thirds, and most of them have been wiped out of the league. So to get a quality quarterback, you’ve got to draft them high. That 2012 class is a blip on the radar that’s unusual, highly unusual.”

I’ve been arguing this forever. The notion of taking a late-round QB to develop him is a fallacy. And I would take Emery’s point a step further. If you go through those same draft classes, from ’06 on, you will find multiple long-term starters drafted at the third round at every single other position on the field. Developmental players are important. Developmental quarterbacks rarely escape the developmental label.

Question #3

What is going on with the quarterbacks?

What the Bears will be looking at when the fourteenth pick is on the clock will be entirely determined by which quarterbacks have gone off the board. Vikings? Bucs? Texans? Raiders? Browns? Everybody ahead of the Bears seems to need a quarterback but are any of these quarterbacks really good? If all these clubs adapt the “we’ll get our guy in round two” mentality, the Bears might be staring at a barren board come fourteen.