Imagine getting the consensus top prospect in football with the third pick in the NFL Draft.
Myles Garrett heading to the Chicago Bears is an extremely unlikely scenario … but one the team could be staring at if all goes right (for them, at least) when the Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers make their first two selections in Thursday’s first round. ESPN’s Dan Graziano lines up every team’s dream draft day scenario, and the one involving the Bears isn’t as impossible as you might think.
Graziano paints a picture in which quarterback-starved teams jump up and take the top two signal-calling prospects off the board with the first two picks. It’s an image that should be familiar to football fans, because that is precisely what happened a year ago. In a quarterback class that was full of question marks and players who didn’t seem ready for prime time, the Los Angeles Rams made a splash and traded up to draft Cal’s Jared Goff. Not to be left out of the mix, the Philadelphia Eagles followed the Rams’ lead by selecting North Dakota State quarterback Carson Wentz, who didn’t play all that much against the best-of-the-best college football had to offer in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), but thrived against FCS (Football Championship Subdivision) foes.
It’s fitting that drafting two quarterbacks left two of the very best prospects on the board, both of whom were among the best at their positions as rookies. Ohio State defensive end Joey Bosa went third to the San Diego Chargers and racked up 10.5 sacks in 12 games. Running back Ezekiel Elliott, a teammate of Bosa’s at Ohio State, went one pick later to the Dallas Cowboys. Elliott’s 1,600-yard, 15-touchdown performance as a rookie paced the Cowboys the NFC’s best record and sets them up to be Super Bowl contenders again.
Lightning striking twice would be the best thing to happen to the Bears in this draft. Yes, they drafted Leonard Floyd to be a pass rushing menace last year. But teaming Floyd with Garrett would give the Bears a fearsome pass rush on both sides of the field. Good luck blocking that.
And it’s not as if GM Ryan Pace shouldn’t be looking to draft a quarterback, but picking up someone who can stop them may be the best case scenario at three.