Who Do the Bears Draft?

The NFL draft is still over a month away. However, one of my favorite things to do in all of sports is speculate on prospects. This is pretty obvious with how much I talk about the Cubs and White Sox prospects, and with how much I talk about the NBA draft as well once it comes around. Based on interests, I think I was meant to be a scout, it's just that I don't know if I would actually be any good at it. Anyway, what I am going to do is look at the draft for the Bears and at each pick and let you know what I think the Bears will do. In the first few rounds I'll actually put a name in there for who I think the Bears draft, but past that I'll just bring up position.

First Round

I'm going with Ha Ha Clinton-Dix here. I think the free agency moves the Bears have made have made it very clear that they want to go with a safety early in the draft, one that can start from day 1. Clinton-Dix is just that. While it's not certain that he falls to the Bears, there is still a very solid chance. If he doesn't fall to the Bears, I see them going with a DT, Jernigan, Donald, or Nix. I'm highest on Donald in that group, but it's questionable if he falls to the Bears as well. Calvin Pryor is the only other guy I see them going with, but he would be a bit of a reach where the Bears are, they may just try their luck and see if Jimmie Ward falls to them in the second round if they don't get Clinton-Dix in the first round. To be honest, first round picks with Emery are almost stupid to predict, because he's surprised us both years. I could have guessed the position, but would have never guessed the player.

Second Round

I'll say that Stephon Tuitt falls to the Bears here and they suck him up. It's not overly likely that he does fall to the Bears, but it wouldn't be a complete shock either. Tuitt would be a very nice boost to the Bears defensive line, most likely at tackle (Bears are set at the ends for the time being with some solid young talent, although depth would always be nice). While I see Tuitt as someone who really works best inside in a 4-3 defense, I can see him working out as defensive end depth at the same time if worse comes to worse. As I mentioned earlier, if the Bears don't get C-D in the first round, they may be hoping that Ward falls to them here, another safety they may go after if they don't get C-D is Terrence Brooks. I thought about corner for this draft pick as well, since there will be some decent corner talent there too. Marcus Roberson, Lamarcus Joyner, and Bashaud Breeland are all possibilities there.

Third Round

I'm going to go linebacker here and say that Bears go with Telvin Smith here. If he's not there, Trevor Reilly or Christian Jones may be the pick. Also, if Jimmy Garoppolo is still there at this point, I say they go ahead and grab him. While Palmer isn't a bad QB, I'd prefer Garoppolo as the backup. I think he'd fit in very well with Trestman's offense, and would actually give fans a good argument to be the guy over Jay if he comes in and plays well right away. Either way, I'm biased, but I'm high on the kid. Other picks could be a corner like Purifoy, Watkins, or Desir. In fact, I'm strongly considering changing it to Watkins, who could do well learning for a year under Charles Tillman.

Fourth Round

I'm going to say that the Bears switch to the other side of the ball and draft a center here. Roberto Garza is getting old and probably won't be around once his contract is up. They seem like they're high on Boggs as Garza's successor, but I don't know how sure they are, as Boggs was an undrafted free agent, and personally, I don't put a lot of faith at all into undrafted free agents.

Fifth Round

I see the Bears adding either another safety or another corner with this pick. They have a great mentor in Charles Tillman there for at least another year. I'm guessing that Emery will go with someone with either really good size or athletic ability who has not yet really hit their potential.

Sixth Round

With the first pick in the 6th round I will give a name. Larry Webster. Emery seems to like to take those chances based on athletic ability, and Larry Webster is a great guy to take that chance on. At 252 he is a little on the light side, but he's 6'6" and very athletic. He can be a very disruptive defensive end just with his ability to bat down balls. He's one of those former basketball players going into the NFL draft. In his one year starting though he was very productive for Bloomsburg, a division II school.

Sixth Round

I see the Bears going for some more offensive line depth here. Probably a tackle, taking a chance on a guy with great size and/or strength who may have gone to a smaller school or might just not be as ready as some of the earlier round tackles.

So there you go, an early guess on where the Bears go. I feel like this is going to be a very defense heavy draft for the Bears, but I don't see the offense being totally ignored either. In later rounds, if someone they like that is a wide receiver or tight end, or even running back falls to the Bears, I can see them going after them. In fact, I was tempted to go tight end on a couple of those picks.