Bears Draft Preview
My preference for the Bears draft conforms with that of the conventional media: Take a Left Tackle with the #14 pick. As far as I'm concerned, any of the top four guys will do (Long, Clady, Otah, Williams -- Long's already gone, of course). I'm a little leery of the fifth guy (Cherilus), though I hear the Bears are high on him. I'm leery because he's from BC and the Bears history of drafting linemen from BC is not stellar. Just like I don't want another runningback from Texas. Or Penn State for that matter. Or a Receiver from Michigan.
ANYWAYS, the point I'm trying to make is that I want to see a mammoth tackle taken with that #14 pick. Perry keeps saying he wants Mendenhall, and really, who wouldn't? He's awesome. But I keep coming back to the same thing:
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If the Bears take Mendenhall first, what are their chances of finding a decent tackle in the later rounds?
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If the Bears take a tackle first, what are their chances of finding a decent runningback in the later rounds?
That's it in a nutshell. Take the tackle, reap the rewards of everyone on offense playing better. (Hopefully.)
Then, in the second round, I'd like to see the Bears get Brian Brohm. If he's not available, try to get Ray Rice (or Jonathan Stewart if he's there, obviously). If he's not available, skip out on QBs and RBs entirely until later and grab the best available offensive lineman, defensive tackle, or safety. The rest of the RBs and QBs a big drop off, in my opinion, and you might as well wait if you're going to draft a project anyways. As for the "project" QBs, I like Josh Johnson or Dennis Dixon. I guess Booty wouldn't be a bad pick in the 3rd or 4th round either. But then again, it's not like it matters.
And that's basically it. My strategy is to fill a few key positions, then draft all Defense. Might as well try to get the defense dominant again, as that's the most likely way this team can contend this year. Only need competence on offense.
Bear Down. And don't draft losers.
Speaking of losers, did you see that Fox Sports ranked how the teams drafted over the past five years? Bears ranked.....drumroll.....7th out of 32. Seems awfully high to me, considering, but the Bears haven't been as bad really when you look at the raw number of successful picks. This ranking is largely a result of 2004 being so good. If they looked at 2005 or later exclusively, the results look a lot worse. Time for Jerry to right the ship and draft like its 2004 again. And start drafting offense like its defense.
Bear Down. That's right, a double Bear Down today for good luck.
Update (4/27/2008) - My review of the 2008 draft is up.