That’s a hell of a division for young quarterbacks, assuming this draft wasn’t a bust:
Trevor Lawrence in Jax
Levis in Tennessee
CJ Stroud in Houston
Anthony Richardson in Indy
Well, the Bears were really focused on DT which was needed, but neither of the guys they picked were on my radar. Hope I’m wrong. One guy is the NT the other the 3-tech. We needed both so the picks make sense, but I really wanted the disruptive explosiveness of a tweener like Adebawore.
I hate that we burned a 5th rounder to move up just 4 spots to grab Stevenson. Haven’t really seen him play much, but it was a position where we needed help. Schmitz came off the board with the next pick which I think we might regret.
None of the Seattle picks have me pumping my fist, but none of them are head-scratchers either.
They used the first round to get what was probably the best WR and best CB in the draft. (I mean, you’d hope so, since they were the first team to draft either position, so if those guys aren’t the best the Hawks screwed up.)
Instead of drafting for need, they grabbed the best guys available, and made their strengths even stronger. They’re stacked at both positions now.
Second round is when they drafted for need. They absolutely need to improve the pash rush and last year showed that even if Walker is a fantastic #1 RB, they need more than one guy. So in the early second round they grabbed a guy projected to potentially be a late first-rounder, and in the late second round they got a guy projected to be an early second-rounder. Both value picks at needed spots.
All in all it has been solid so far. Their draft last year was amazing, with some people saying after the season was over that they had the best draft of the league. They got huge contributions out of almost every guy they picked. If this year’s draft is anywhere near as successful, they’re going to have a very solid young team which is promising for the future.
I just hope they figure out a long term QB solution. Geno should be good for a couple years I hope, but I don’t see him playing for the next decade.
Huge bummer, has dreams of landing Tillman for the Bears.
Also, Illinois had a DB come off the board in all three rounds.
Miami adds to their blazing speed on offense with a sub 4.4/40 running back (Devon Achane).
I’m pleased!
My 49ers drafted a kicker toward the end of the 3rd Round. Not unexpected based on pre-draft reporting. Trading up for a slot safety and snagging a tight end also track. If we can pick up Blake Freeland and Hunter Luepke…
Bears are parked at the top of the 4th. Trying to figure out which direction they go to kick it off tomorrow.
So far we haven’t added a single skill position guy and 3 of the 4 have been lineman. Fields still needs help since 3 of the 4 picks were also on the defensive side of the ball. The best guy left of my board is obviously Adebawore and I don’t quite understand why he’s slipped so badly. Many had him projected as a late 1st rounder and here he sits, available on day 3. The Bears already took 2 DLs so adding a 3rd this early feels unlikely, though Adebawore can probably play some DE.
They seem mostly set on the OL, though depth is always needed. They missed the chance to grab one of the top Centers which is the only glaring hole and I don’t think there’s another one worthy of this pick. Maybe later in the 3rd day. I doubt we look to the interior of the line. Blake Freeland is a guy I’d really like to take a chance on, but I don’t know if taking a swing guy make sense here. Then again, you can’t really have too many OLs.
We’re in dire need of an DE/Edge guy, but there isn’t much left at this point that fits the mold of a 4-3 DE. Anyone we grab is going to be pretty undersized for the role.
I think we probably look at WR. There’s a couple bigger bodied guys out there that could help Fields with a catch radius. We also don’t really have a jitterbug who can clean up the short yardage and over the middle stuff. Either option can make some sense. Tyler Scott is the highest graded guy left, but I haven’t seen him play much. None of the other WRs really stand out looking at their profiles. We might grab the best available RB or TE here, but it feels like that’s poor value.
Maybe we trade back again? Who the hell knows.
I see Henry T’ooT’oo out there.
The Bears trade back and then the Colts draft two of the guys a wanted in Freeland and Adebawore.
And the Bears grab a RB. Solid move. I would have loved Chase Browm but I suppose Bijan’s backup will have to do. Hope this guy can contribute in the passing game.
Oh Canada. A record number of Canadians (5) have now been drafted this year. Wonder what thats all aboot.
Chase Brown to the Bengals is probably the best pick of Day 3. He’s going to get work and be awesome there. Really wish he’d found his way to Chicago.
The Bears grabbed a slot WR with speed in Tyler Scott. Great pick in an area of need and, at least based on pre-draft rankings, this is a good value. We need speed and this kid can turn a short throw into a home run.
We grabbed Penei Sewell’s little brother, ILB Noah Sewell. The tape looks pretty good and he seems like a guy who can get on the field on regular downs, but this over-investment in off-ball LBs from Poles is a serious head scratcher. The games against the Lions will have a little spice if this kid gets into the lineup.
Scooped up another CB in Minnesota’s Terrell Smith. Great physical traits and is aggressive. Interesting again that Poles doubled down on CB in this draft. We already have Kyler Gordon who wasn’t exactly a star but wasn’t terrible as a rookie. Moving him to Nickel could unlock something. Between Stevenson and Smith Poles seems to be looking for a guy on the outside opposite Jaylon. Wonder if this signals a plan to not resign him.
Overall, the lack of attention to pass rush is going to be the headline from this draft after the Wright pickup. Fields gets a little help in a WR and RB, but I’m not sure either is likely to get much playing time as a rookie. Also ignoring the Center spot hints that Poles expects either Whitehair or Kramer to hold that down…which is a concern.
Packers drafted a kicker.
Man will I have to root for the cowboys now?
Could be worse: Patriots drafted a kicker AND a punter.
6th round – same round as Mason Crosby - the Packer’s all-time leading scorer. Could they got him in the 7th or as undrafted free agent? Beats me.
Brian
Drafting a kicker or punter is fine, they’re important positions. Seattle missed the playoffs one year because they had Blair Walsh as their kicker.
As long as you’re not wasting a high pick. 6th round for a good one sounds fine to me. You might have him for a long time.
As an aside, I wondered what the highest draft pick was for a kicker. Turns out it happened in 1966, when Charlie Gogolak was drafted 6th overall by Washington. Only two other kickers, Steve Little in 1978, and Sebastian Janikowski in 2000, were drafted in the first round.
Just two punters have been drafted in the first round, Ray Guy in 1973 and Russell Erxleben in 1979. Erxleben, drafted #11 overall, was both a placekicker and punter in college at Texas. The Saints drafted him to kick at both positions, but he ended up being primarily a punter in his six-year career. He was recently released from Federal prison after serving time for money laundering and wire fraud.
Carry on.
I don’t quite get this Bears draft. We took 3 cornerbacks and 3 defensive tackles. Each pick is defensible, and they all have nice traits, but I have a hard time believing that they were all best player available. This was generally considered an above average CB class but a relatively poor DL class. DT seems a bit deeper than DE, but still not anything great. Neither CB or DT were our biggest positions of need and we don’t have any big veteran cap numbers we need to offload, Depth is useful, but why load up now?
Is it simply a numbers game? Take 3 guys hoping that 1-2 pan out? Are we planning to play a ton of nickel? Are we hoping to convert a CB to a safety? Are we going to rotate 5-6 DTs every game? Are we hoping one of our DTs can slide outside? Are we doing some weird positionless thing up front? What’s the fucking plan here?
Looking past those 2 positions, we took a ILB after signing 2 pricey FAs at the position. We took an RB after again signing 2 FAs there. Neither is a premium position. Neither of these rookies are likely to beat out those veterans.
The message all off season was to get Fields all the help he needs. Let’s find out if he’s the guy or what. So, we take 7 fucking defensive players? Just one OL? One day three WR? A special teams guy at RB? It’s early, but this is looking like 2 drafts in a row that are a scattered mess. Last year we hit on Brisker and Braxton Jones. Gordon might be a keeper, but the rest is a bunch of nothing. I worry we’re going to look back and learn that only Wright and one other guy earn any playing time. Hope I’m wrong.
Both Little and Erxleben were combination kicker/punters in college, competing against each other in the old Southwest Conference (Little at Arkansas, Erxleben at Texas). IIRC, at that time, the SWC allowed kickers to use balls that they had previously loosened/softened up, and thus, both Little and Erxleben (and Tony Franklin at Texas A&M) were regularly booming 60+ yard field goals in college.
The Cardinals and the Saints both had the same idea: getting one guy who could handle both kicking and punting duties would save a roster spot. As it turned out, neither man was able to handle doing both jobs simultaneously, and both of them quickly flamed out. Little was cut by the Cardinals partway through his third season, and was in a high-speed auto accident a few hours later; he broke his neck in the accident, and became a quadriplegic.
So, from then, until Janikowski, those two men became the cautionary tale for NFL teams about drafting kickers in the first round.
Bumper Pool to Carolina as an UDFA.