Now that the NFL Combine is over, it’s time to check back in on the latest from the various mock drafts (yes, even in the HEAT of the legal tampering period, and the attendant flurry of rumors).
We have six recent mocks to cover today, and every one of them has the Bears (unsurprisingly) looking for help at either quarterback or the secondary in the first round.
It’s worth noting again that, even as the Bears are presumably finalizing a deal with free agent QB Mike Glennon, the expectation is now that the deal would not preclude the Bears from simultaneously targeting a quarterback in the draft, even in the early rounds.
First up is WGN, where Adam Hoge has his latest (version 2.0) 2017 Bears Mock draft and an interesting pick for the Bears at third overall, following injury concerns about Jonathan Allen and Marshon Lattimore: multi-positional safety-ish Jabrill Peppers. According to Hoge, Peppers floor is sufficiently high as a dynamic slot guy “who will make an immediate impact in the return game Week 1,” that the Bears could easily justify him with the third overall pick. And in fact, Hoge believes that Peppers will more likely turn into a “versatile defensive weapon” who can move all over on defense and also turn into the Bears best returner since Devin Hester. (Hoge would have preferred LSU safety Jamal Adams at three, but in his mock, he was already off the board.)
And while that means that Hoge is willing to let the first-round quarterbacks slip by, he does have the Bears going after Patrick Mahomes in the second round – a matchup we’ve heard a lot about lately. Given the apparently underwhelming review of this year’s crop of QBs, a route like this might make some sense for the Bears. For his third through seventh round picks, head over to WGN.
Next comes a trio of mock drafts projecting the Bears to take the exact same quarterback, Mitchell Trubisky, with the third overall pick. At Bleacher Report, for the first example, Matt Miller has the Bears taking Trubisky after the Browns and 49ers take Myles Garrett (consensus 1-1) and Leonard Fournette with the first two picks. In fact, Miller thinks that Trubisky might not even be on the board by the time the Bears pick, which would probably be a surprise at this point. Still, he claims that despite other top talents – Jamal Adams and Malik Hooker – the Bears “cannot afford to pass on a quarterback.”
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Echoing Miller’s number three pick is Dan Kadar of SB Nation. However, his mock has a few notable differences. Like most updated mocks, Myles Garrett is still heading to the Browns with the first overall pick, but the 49ers are projected to take … DeShone Kizer at number two overall. Although Kizer has been included as part of the first-round QBs (along with Trubisky and Deshaun Watson), he’s usually not considered the best (or at least surest bet) of the bunch. So yes, the Bears would be taking a quarterback, but according to Kadar, they’d be taking the second best one on the board. (Query whether the 49ers’ recent signing of Brian Hoyer changes this.)
One final oddity from Kadar’s mock: the possibly-injured Jonathan Allen (arthritic shoulders) is not projected to fall beyond the top five picks, while running back Leonard Fournette (generally considered a candidate for the top five) is.
Moving right along, the third and final mock to project Trubisky to the Bears is Emily Kaplan of MMQB. Like many before her, she projects the Browns to select Myles Garrett, but has Marson Lattimore going to the 49ers before the Bears take Trubisky third. Although she admits that the Bears have a laundry list of needs, the QB vacancy is just too much to pass on. She too has Fournette missing out on the top five, while Jonathan Allen sneaks in.
For the Bears’ third overall pick in the upcoming draft, CBS Sports breaks the QB mold. Instead of going with Trubisky, Ryan Wilson is projecting the Bears to take safety Jamal Adams – something we’ve seen before. Wilson’s explanation, however, is just sad enough to make you laugh: “Silver lining to being terrible on both sides of the ball: It’s hard to go wrong with whomever you select.” With that said, Wilson adds that Adams is a safe pick who could play in the box or deep centerfield, while the Bears pursue quarterbacks via free agency.
If the Bears don’t manage to get one of the top 4-5 quarterbacks in the first two rounds, then this might be a great way to attack the draft – add prospects all over the field, to the best of your ability. Obviously, that would mean that they’re skipping out on some of the top QB talents, but given their wildly varying reviews, that might be the smarter play.
We’ll have to see which way they go, but this draft is shaping up to be an especially transformative one for the Bears.
Luis C. Medina, who you can find on Twitter at lcm1986, has been covering the Chicago Bears at Bleacher Nation since 2017. Since then, he has written about 3 head coaches, 5 play-callers, and 11 starting quarterbacks. Previously, Luis wrote about the Cubs and MLB at BN (2015-16) and worked in the Chicago Tribune sports department (2011-16). He also co-hosted a Cubs postgame show, Outside the Ivy, in 2019.
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