The Bears are fine with Cody Whitehair playing center in 2023, but that doesn’t mean they are not focused on the future of the position. Here are the top five at the position, per NFLDraftBuzz.

I’ve come to really like Maryland OT Jaelyn Duncan.

He’s got similar charm to 2022 OT Abraham Lucas (now starting for Seattle) in that he’s an elite mover while still showing enough power to anchor vs bull rush & displace in the run.

He needs polish, but the tools are obvious. pic.twitter.com/9Q0RKuNQIA

— Robert Schmitz (@robertkschmitz) April 3, 2023

Stetson Bennett is a gamer, and he strikes me as the kind of talent/personality that could have a fifteen-year career in the NFL as a backup. His running ability, and feel for the big moment, make him the kind of player a team with a running quarterback should target at the end of this draft. They won’t regret it.

From Lance Zierlein at NFL.com:

Overview

Bennett will turn 26 years old during his rookie season and he’s small in stature relative to today’s game. Those two things will work against him, but his history of elevating his play in spotlight games against the best competition should be a factor for some teams. He doesn’t have a plus arm and his accuracy and placement can vary from drive to drive, but he throws with anticipation and has shown an ability to get through progressions as a pro-style passer. He’s rarely sacked and has the mobility to do damage outside of the pocket. Bennett has backup potential for a timing-based passing attack that includes concepts often seen in the Shanahan offense.

Strengths

• Confidence and focus appear to elevate in the biggest games.
• Posted 308.8 passing yards per game with a completion rate of 67.7 percent and TD-INT ratio of 19:3 while going 5-1 over last six postseason games.
• Able to scan progressions across the entire field.
• Moves his feet with his eyes for throw readiness.
• No trouble coming off of primary read if it isn’t there.
• Pump fakes to freeze cornerback on high/low concepts.
• Makes throws with excellent anticipation from the pocket.
• Sacked just 24 times over the past two seasons, per PFF.

Weaknesses

• Very small and slight for the position by NFL standards.
• Game to game consistency has been an issue at times.
• Needs to navigate the pocket for cleaner launch points.
• Lacks drive velocity to fit throws into a tight window.
• Will fall off of some throws unnecessarily.
• Release timing for play-action and rollouts is uneven.
• Runs targets into collisions on zone throws between hashes.
• Struggles with placement, touch and distance on many deep throws.

Normally I save my “favorite players” for a single column draft week. But over the next month I’m going to roll them out slowly.

There are good receivers in this draft, even if those receivers don’t profile as starts. JSN is a star.

From Lance Zierlein at NFL.com:

Overview

Smith-Njigba is a possession slot receiver who lacks the shake to separate underneath and the speed to run past defenses. He’s tough in the middle of the defense and has proven he can make catches in congestion. Smith-Njigba will need to fine-tune his route running to give himself his best chance to succeed at the next level. It is impossible to ignore his monster finish to the 2021 season, and he has starting slot potential, but the speed concerns coupled with an injury-plagued 2022 season threaten to negatively impact his draft stock.

Strengths

• Averaged 192 receiving yards per game in last five contests of 2021 season.
• Plays tough in the teeth of the defense as a zone-beater.
• Elevates his catch focus when contested.
• Leverages his intermediate break points.
• Softens and extends his hands to meet the throw.
• Tracks deep throws with poise and accuracy.
• Athletic and smooth catching on the move.
• Plays to his top speed throughout the route.

Weaknesses

• Vast majority of his production came in one season.
• Rolls into his breaks with top-heavy momentum.
• Lacks suddenness for separation in and out of breaks.
• Below average top-end speed to win vertically.
• Likely to be viewed as a slot-only option.
• Lacks burst to elude after the catch.

Are the Bears Interested?

Yes.

Last year, it made sense. Maybe even more than making sense, it was the prudent decision. Ryan Poles took over the Chicago Bears in 2022, traded Khalil Mack, and signed for the status of worst team in the division. He understood how far the roster he inherited was from competing with the league’s best, and more importantly, he acknowledged how long it might take to achieve that all-important status.

He also understood the three other teams in the NFC North believed they were capable of playing postseason football last season. The Packers sold out to a quarterback they no longer wanted. The Vikings had an expensive, if overrated, roster. The Lions, fresh off a starring turn on Home Box Office, were the preseason media darling. He couldn’t come right out and say, “We’re going to let them run their race and do our own thing,” but that’s exactly what was communicated inside the Halls of Halas. The Bears needed to lose in 2022. And lose a lot. Hang the banner. Mission accomplished.

A year later, circumstances are quite different.

The Packers won’t have Rodgers anymore. Or at least, we don’t think they will. That makes them a complete mystery. The Vikings were the softest 13-win team in league history; fully exposed in January when they decided to lay down at home and make Daniel Jones exceedingly rich. (Has Jones sent a thank you note to Ed Donatell yet? If he does, he should put ten grand in the envelope.) And the Lions…well, they’re the Lions. That city and those fans deserve a winner but until we see it on the field, how can we be confident the team will deliver them such a thing?

The NFC North can be won by ANY of its four teams and the odds reflect that. The Lions are +140. Vikings are +250. Bears +350. Packers +500. That’s Vegas throwing up a big old shrug emoji and saying, “Check back in with us October 1st.”

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It is very simple.

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What I like about Lance Zierlein’s pre-draft work at NFL.com is the breadth of it. He writes detailed assessments of hundreds of prospects, and those assessments become essential sources for football writers over the next month. While I remain unconvinced the Bears will succumb to need and select an OT with the ninth pick in the draft, Zierlein’s analysis makes it clear there will be very good options available should they go that route.

Peter Skoronski, Northwestern

• Sets out with explosive kick-slide into his diagonal sets.
• Uses proactive hands to attack first.
• Excellent footwork and hand usage to counter and collect twists.
• Arches back and unlocks hips to access his rush anchor.
• Comes off the snap with low pads and explosive lift into contact.
• Races out of stance and into position for reach-block success.
• Base stays wide and balanced throughout the rep.
• Clear understanding of positioning and angles at the point of attack.
• Textbook leg drive on double teams and kick-out blocks.
• Washes down run defenders looking to shoot gaps.

Weaknesses

• Throws punch a tick late and from outside angles.
• Needs to alter his pass sets and hand attacks to become less predictable.
• Beaten by long-arm rush moves and driven into the pocket.
• Average adjustments to second-level movements.
• Can be beaten by side-stepping defender at point of attack.

Broderick Jones, Georgia

Comp: Andrew Thomas

Overview

Ultra-athletic tackle prospect with the size, length and potential to develop into a plus starter on the left side. Jones’ frame and technique both are in the developmental phase. His entry into block fits can be a little disjointed. He needs to improve his punch accuracy and timing to make the most of his length in pass protection. Jones is very talented at working into space and landing a block to help spring the running game. He has the nimble feet to mirror or recover against the rush. Jones isn’t a finished product, but the physical and athletic gifts allow for a projection as a good, long-time starter.

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We’re entering something of quiet period between the height of free agency and the draft, unless you’re someone who finds prospect visits and pro days fascinating. So, let’s see what is being discussed out there.

• Next week, DBB will be holding our second annual pledge drive. With a full graduate school workload, this last year would have been near-impossible to execute on the site without the support from last year’s drive. Here’s hoping we have another successful week and can enthusiastically steer the ship into the lead-up to the draft.
• SHOCKER! Arlington Heights residents are now worried that bringing the Bears to their neighborhood will create a “traffic nightmare”. Why are they worried? Because every single stadium built in a suburb creates a traffic nightmare. Go to Foxboro, or the Meadowlands, or Inglewood. Everyone arguing otherwise is kidding themselves.
• ICYMI. Ryan Poles was convinced he could trade back twice in the first round, accruing an additional first pound pick in 2024. Instead, he took the Panthers offer, specifically because DJ Moore was in it. No brainer for Poles. Draft picks are rolling the dice and hoping for a six. Moore is an accomplished NFL wide receiver, a true top guy, that makes his club better immediately.
• ACTUAL BEAR NEWS: New Mexico’s Department of Game and Fish is now hiring “bear huggers”. And yes, it’s as adorable as it sounds.
• Teams are starting to leak their intentions when it comes to drafting Jalen Carter, but none of them should be believed. Carter is a tremendous talent, and he has a month of meetings to convince NFL franchises that his character concerns are overstated. (For the record, I don’t see Carter as a game changer at the next level.)
• Sometimes I get a good vibe about a player after reading a few profiles, and I’m getting that vibe about Ohio State OT Paris Johnson Jr. From Doug Lesmerises at Cleveland.com: “Hard to imagine the Bears not getting a good vibe from Johnson, who was a student journalist at Ohio State, who started a charity to help veterans, who always seems comfortable with who he is. He was on the OSU roster with Fields in 2020 as a freshman even though he didn’t start. Fields was the focus of a lot of combine questions, and Johnson went into a staunch defense of him, ending with, ‘He has all the intangibles that you want.'”
• Mel Kiper has his flaws when it comes to draft analysis, but he joins a growing chorus on Northwestern’s Peter Skoronski, suggesting the kid is destined to at least start his NFL career at guard. If that is the case, would the Bears be interested if they decide to take a lineman early, as Johnson Jr. and Georgia’s Broderick Jones will also likely be on the board when they choose?
• DJ Moore’s Moore2Life Foundation “supports at-risk youth and families in need through resource distribution, educational advancement, and mentorship-based programming. Growing up with a single mom in the heart of Philadelphia, Moore witnessed gun shots, sirens, and violence on a regular basis. Through the eyes of his young daughter, Ari, Moore intends to change that viewpoint and show the importance of giving back.” Here’s hoping that DJ can bring these efforts to Chicago in the coming years. It is needed.

Things that seem very evident with videos like these, and just DJ Moore tape, generally:

• He’s constantly open deep and consistently overthrown by bad quarterbacks. One does wonder how much production these quarterbacks have cost him.
• He does two things the Bears have desperately needed: he runs in the middle of the field and makes contested catches.
• He wins matchups with top corners at the line of scrimmage.

[Note: These ideas are not entirely fleshed out. But since I have this space, I thought I would start fleshing them out in public.]

Writing a unique NFL column at this time of the year is often a difficult proposition. Look around the internet and you’ll understand what I mean. Everybody writes their “free agents to target” piece, and then their “free agents acquired” piece, and then their “free agents still available” piece, and then their “free agency round-up” piece. The kids doing this can utilize video and throw around buzzy terminology like “sudden route runner”. The byline brigade will get their off-the-record scout sources to take a break from filing a 13-page report on some Vanderbilt slot corner to provide some punch-up quotations. (“Our pro personnel guys see him as a starter.”) None of it is offensive. But none of it is particularly interesting, either.

Language.

So today I want to consider something that has long interested me when it comes to the NFL, and really the whole of American sport: language. When a European soccer club acquires a player, they “buy” him and the club they buy him from “sells” him. When a team gives a player to another team, that player is said to be out “on loan”. Players are property, athletic commodities possessed by supremely rich ownership groups, and the language used to reflect their movement in the sport reflects that. It’s honest. It’s real.

But we don’t use that kind of language here. Why? The Bears just bought Tremaine Edmunds. They own his ability to play football for the length of their agreed-upon contract. (For the Marxists in the audience, this would be his “labor value”.) But we use language like “signed him” because it’s a fine way to pretend the player possesses an autonomy he does not, in fact, possess. There is a softness to the word “signing”. It gives the player agency, as he is the one always photographed doing the signing. (We never see George McCaskey putting ink to paper.) “Buying” denotes the harsher reality.

When we hear language like, “Team X cut Player Y to Save Z” do we actually acknowledge that phrase as meaning “The Moon Monkeys fired Jim Tawilliger to save a buck”? A “cap casualty” is an economically driven pink slip, an acknowledgement to the player that the contract initially signed was (in the long run) bullshit and a reminder that his child most likely needs to make a whole new set of friends in a whole new city. Can you imagine this language being employed in any other profession on the earth? “Sorry, Bill, you’re a good employee but now you cost too much and we have set an arbitrary limit on how much we can spend on our workforce.”

And what of the salary cap, generally? ESPN pays $1.1 billion annually for Monday Night Football. Amazon pays $1 billion a year for Thursday Night Football. The three networks also kick in about a billion each year, with YouTube now ponying up another $2 billion for Sunday Ticket. That’s more than $7 billion dollars, which divided by 32, means television contracts ALONE bring each team about $220 million annually. Before a ticket is sold. Before a beer leaves the hand of a vendor. Before you get your kid that Justin Fields jersey for Christmas. The reported revenue for the Chicago Bears was $520 million in 2021. What is the salary cap next year? $224.8 million. And folks wonder why the owners pay Roger Goodell what they do.

One might argue that the European model is not a good comparison since teams don’t technically sell players to other teams. Well of course they do. They just don’t do it transparently, for money, because of the salary cap. Baseball trades often involve cash considerations, and those considerations are rarely disclosed. NFL trades don’t involve cash because it would just be billionaire owners lining each other’s pockets and that would appear unseemly. So, they trade another commodity: the draft pick. To front offices and coaches, draft picks are players that can make the roster better. To owners, draft picks are price tag.

We use the language we do for one reason: it’s easier on us. Soft terminology allows us to distance ourselves from the reality of this ruthless business. The fan relationship with sport is dependent upon a belief that the players on the field want to win a championship as much as they do. And while most are desperate to win a chip, most also don’t care where they win that chip. Their value is in their athletic ability, and they want to play where that ability yields the most financial security. In other words, they are for sale, whether we want to acknowledge that or not.

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