Good morning Twitter.
If you don’t put Devin Hester in the Hall of Fame, the Hall of Fame is a fucking joke. pic.twitter.com/hm1zAz4Mlc
— DaBearsBlog (@dabearsblog) April 19, 2021
GMT: If Hester Isn’t a Hall of Famer, Close the Building.
Good morning Twitter.
If you don’t put Devin Hester in the Hall of Fame, the Hall of Fame is a fucking joke. pic.twitter.com/hm1zAz4Mlc
— DaBearsBlog (@dabearsblog) April 19, 2021
It was the way Brad Biggs worded his Tweet that caught me somewhat off-guard.
It seems unbelievable Ryan Pace & Matt Nagy sold George McCaskey on the idea of just casting their lot with a bridge QB.
Surely, signing Andy Dalton is Part 1 of a 2-part plan & the #Bears might not be able to sit and wait for Part 2 at No. 20 in Round 1https://t.co/1BjpD1xdxk
— Brad Biggs (@BradBiggs) April 15, 2021
It seems unbelievable because it is, in fact, not believable. The Bears just spent more than a month negotiating with the Seattle Seahawks for Russell Wilson, only to have that deal be shanked in the prison yard by Pete Carroll. (And some high-profile NFL reporters still don’t believe the deal is dead.)
The Bears have been one of a handful of teams still in contact with the Houston Texans regarding Deshaun Watson – a player many in the league believe will not face serious legal issues beyond the current civil complaints. In the short-term, dealing for Watson would be a bit of a PR nightmare. (“Yes, he rubbed his dick on the masseuse but…” is a tough sell in any climate, especially our current one.) In the long-term? I don’t hear Chiefs fans complaining about having Tyreek Hill on their roster and what he did is far worse than what Watson is accused of doing.
And now the team is actively trying to make a huge leap in the draft, to as high as number four, to “solve” their issues at the most important position in team sports.
This is not new for the Chicago Bears. Despite what is constantly uttered about the team’s ownership, they have been aggressively trying to get this position right for decades. An early first for McNown. Didn’t work. So…a mid-first for Rex. Didn’t work. So…multiple firsts for Jay. Didn’t work. So…trading up one spot in the early first for Mitch. Didn’t work. So…we’re here. They have committed resource after resource after resource in an effort to avoid being what they remain: one of many teams trying to escape mediocrity without the help of a star quarterback.
And that’s what the team is doing now. Still trying to pursue Wilson. Still calling about Watson. Still packaging what they can to move up in the draft. Ryan Pace is doing EVERYTHING he can to solve this organization’s biggest problem. Whether he can do enough is something we won’t know for a while.
Very little happening. Here are some links.
One might have to go back to 2012 to find a draft that was considered so strong at the game’s most crucial position. There are four players who most seem to agree should be selected in the top ten. Another who is a clear first rounder. Several more who are at least interesting. So whether the Bears are trading up or standing pat, the 2021 NFL Draft would be a good one for the team to spend multiple draft picks on the quarterback position.
If the Bears can get high enough to get one of the four best quarterbacks, it would be hard to criticize them. Assuming that isn’t possible, however, the Bears should strongly consider taking two quarterbacks in this draft. Typically, any quarterback taken after the second round proves to be a wasted pick. But, like 2012, the 2021 crop offers rare talent, and some unknown due to the pandemic.
Anyone who saw Davis Mills from Stanford wanted to see more. Mills was one of the highest-rated quarterbacks in the country when he signed with Stanford, despite a knee injury as a high school senior. Another knee injury sidelined him until late in 2020 when he took over. He then played just five games in David Shaw’s painfully conservative offense in 2021. But the talent was so obviously there.
Kyle Trask may be a bit of a statue in the pocket (he’s probably more athletic than he gets credit for) but he throws a nice ball, especially on deep passes. His production is difficult to ignore and it’s worth questioning if he’s really all that different from Mac Jones.
I just started watching Trask…very interesting. pic.twitter.com/tCd2PD1ERF
— Andrew Dannehy (@ADannehy) December 31, 2020
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The NFL draft, which begins on April 29, is just a few weeks away, and free agency has quieted down significantly. That means we know roughly what the Bears’ roster will look like heading into the draft, which can be seen in their current presumed depth chart below.
With that depth chart in mind, let’s look at Chicago’s biggest needs as they prepare for the draft. I’m going to start with immediate needs, spots where the Bears need to find somebody who can step in and start on day 1.
Good morning Twitter.
Bears want that fourth pick. pic.twitter.com/bkSWy6W3Bo
— DaBearsBlog (@dabearsblog) April 9, 2021
There seems to be a prevailing consensus among Chicago fans that the Bears still have one of the best defenses in the NFL. Unfortunately, there is no reason to believe that is true.
The Bears had a great defense in 2018, but that was 3 years ago, an eternity in the NFL. They led the NFL in pretty much every defensive stat imaginable that season, but we’ll track their decline since then with a simple one: points allowed.
That’s right, Chicago’s defense was more average than good in 2020 (with 32 NFL teams, 16th is exactly average). That feels weird to say, right? I know I certainly didn’t think of them that way last year. But a broader look at the statistics paints exactly that picture, as you can see in the table below. DVOA is a measure of total defensive performance from Football Outsiders, and net yards/attempt (which factors in sacks and pass attempts) is from Pro Football Reference.
The only major stat where the defense ranked in the top ten was yards/run allowed. Everywhere else was mostly middle of the pack besides forcing turnovers, which they were bad at.
The journey continues…
This is probably the weakest position on the roster right now.
Eddie Jackson clearly regressed last season, though that could be as much to do with scheme with a coordinator who was hell bent on using him like a player he isn’t. The Bears have banked on Jackson being good enough to make whoever is next to him useful for the last two seasons — but that didn’t work last year.
The Bears could add a minimum-level free agent like they did in 2019 with HaHa Clinton-Dix and 2020 with Tashaun Gipson, but there might also be value in spending an actual asset to getting Jackson a terrific running mate.
The only good option in the first round appears to be Trevon Moehrig from TCU, widely considered a top-25 player. They could also look at Jevon Holland or Andre Cisco in the second or third rounds.
It could be interesting to see what kind of player the Bears want next to Jackson. They have prioritized having interchangeable safeties, but it’s inarguable that they miss the physical presence Adrian Amos provided in 2018, even if he lacked in coverage. With both cornerback and safety, it’s worth wondering if the Bears are going to try kicking the can down the road for a year in order to try to improve the offense.
Reports that the Bears have tried to trade Anthony Miller and sign Kenny Golladay make this an interesting position.
If the Chicago Bears are unable to secure a trade up for one of the five best quarterbacks in the 2021 NFL Draft, they still should be able to get a quality player.
Should five quarterbacks go in the top 20, that will push the rest of the skill position players down. And this draft is (supposedly) rich in areas the Bears could use upgrades.
Here is a quick look at some of the positions the Bears could look to fill early in the draft and the players who could fill them.
We can feel confident that the Bears see a need here based on the reports that they were going after Trent Williams. Williams re-signed a huge deal with the 49ers and there was never a thought that he would come cheap, so the Bears were clearly — if the reports were remotely true — willing to shell out a large sum of money for this position.
The Bears have an adequate left tackle in Charles Leno Jr. and Germaine Ifedi played well at right tackle last year. The pursuit of Williams tells us the Bears want to do better than adequate at left tackle.
This would be a good draft to revamp the tackle position. While five quarterbacks will surely go within the top 20 picks, along with a handful of defensive players, wide receivers and a tight end, the Bears could be looking at franchise tackle, so to speak.
The only tackle who is pretty much guaranteed to be drafted before the Bears choose is Penei Sewell — widely seen as one of the five best players in the draft. The Bears would probably love to get their hands on Christian Darrisaw from Virginia Tech or Rashawn Slater from Northwester. Slater is more likely as some teams won’t like his size and could project him as a guard or strictly right tackle.
Even if all three are gone, the Bears could grab a mauler in Teven Jenkins, though he might be strictly a right tackle.
Tackle is widely considered the deepest position in the draft, so the Bears could wait until the second round or later. A player like Standord’s Walker Little could be a great pick at 52 or they could grab Dillon Radunz from NDSU or Brady Christensen from BYU.
