Before the draft new Bears General Manager Ryan Pace was asked if Alshon Jeffery was a “number one” wide receiver. He was complimentary of Jeffery, but he never said “yes.” New coach John Fox indicated work ethic and conditioning were a concern for Jeffery, a possible reason they haven’t approached him about a new contract.
During the Miami Heat’s first championship run with Erik Spoelstra and LeBron James, Spoelstra coined the phrase “positionless basketball.” There was no set point guard or center. It was about getting the best five players on the floor and letting them play.
The Bears have the pieces to make something similar work with their front seven.
As unpleasant as any conversation about Ray McDonald may be, there is still a football discussion needing to be had as the Bears must now replace a potentially key part of their defense. There’s no question the Bears made the right call in cutting McDonald. He needed to prove he could stay out of trouble and he didn’t. By releasing him they became a better organization. But they will be a worse team if young players don’t step up because McDonald was going to be the team’s best defensive lineman.
The Bears made it clear they weren’t going to ditch Jay Cutler without a replacement in mind. Marcus Mariota was that replacement. When Ryan Pace failed to land the Oregon quarterback at the top of this year’s draft, he realize the team’s best chance to win and his best chance to remain Bears GM is Cutler under center. While the team has only committed to Cutler for one season, there’s a good chance the new regime sees him as the guy who can potentially win them a bunch of games. If, for no other reason, because finding someone better isn’t easy to do.
Perhaps the most unexpected thing to come from the Bears new regime is the consistent praise of annual disappointment Shea McClellin.
When Vic Fangio was asked about returning players who could contribute, McClellin’s name was the second one to come out of his mouth (after Kyle Fuller, of course). John Fox admitted to liking him come out of college and said he “has a bright future.” These are two old school football men. They have done this before. They have nothing invested in Shea McClellin.
Even though they didn’t pick up his fifth-year option (which would’ve made him one of the highest-paid inside linebackers in the league) the Bears have made it clear that they see McClellin as a piece of their defense, somewhere.
They genuinely seem to like him.
“His makeup is outstanding. When you talk about work ethic, team captain, leadership all those traits that we stress around here, he brings those to the table.”
-Ryan Pace
The Bears expect Kevin White to be a star but third-round pick Hroniss Grasu could be the most important piece of establishing their new identity. Taking Grasu in the third round wasn’t sexy and wasn’t expected, but it’s not unlike 1998 when the Bears spent the 64th pick on Olin Kreutz. One major difference: Grasu’s impact should be felt more immediately.
“What if I told you the Bears could come out of the 2015 NFL Draft with four starters taken in the first three rounds? You’d be intrigued, right? Well, that’s exactly what the Bears have a chance to do if they play their cards right Thursday night.”
With a top 10 pick, the Bears need to think one of two ways: Either get a great player or get a few good players. The problem with the Bears having the seventh pick in this year’s draft is that there doesn’t seem to be seven great players, which means their best option will likely be to trade back.
Here are the standards for a top 10 pick:
How many of this year’s consensus top picks fit that criteria? The most common names are Jameis Winston, Marcus Mariota, Amari Cooper, Kevin White, Leonard Williams, Vic Beasley and Brandon Scherff. Seven guys and the Bears have the seventh pick. Easy, right?
It was a long time ago that Lovie Smith was introduced as the Bears head coach and stated his first goal was to beat the Packers. Over a decade later, John Fox and Ryan Pace are walking into a similar situation and, if they’re going to catch the Packers, they have to do exactly what Smith did by building their defense.
The common reaction from Bears fans when the NFL schedule was released was that the team was going to start 0-1 and ruin Thanksgiving by losing to the Packers. Such early negativity is a little ridiculous but there’s reason for it. If the Bears are going to change the course of their franchise and undo much of what Phil Emery and Marc Trestman did, it starts with the defense.
The Bears have been projected by many to take a wide receiver with the seventh pick of the draft. But does that really make sense?
The answer to that question isn’t as simple as determining the team’s draft strategy or analyzing the talent in the draft. It’s more about how the Bears view the best way to build their roster and, in this case, how they view their current talent.
The “best player available” argument is outdated. Every team says they’re going to take the best player available, but they always have an eye on what their team currently needs. Any player drafted in the top-10 is a player that should be a key building block for your team going forward.
In this draft, there are two wide receivers in the top tier in Kevin White and Amari Cooper. One of them figures to be available when the Bears pick, but whether or not they pull the trigger could depend on how they view their current number one receiver, Alshon Jeffery.
The trade the Bears made for Jay Cutler six years ago didn’t go as planned, but they’re as much at fault as he is.
With a new general manager, a new head coach and Cutler turning 32 years old, they’re likely going to have a new quarterback in the near future, but they can’t repeat the mistakes they made with Cutler.
