Bear Digest

How Chicago Bears Draft Compared to Rest of the NFC North

Most analysis shows the Bears gaining ground on the NFC North teams through the draft, although every team in division made progress addressing needs.

Gene Chamberlain

Bears receiver Rome Odunze gets loose after a catch in the national semifinals.
Bears receiver Rome Odunze gets loose after a catch in the national semifinals. / Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
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The draft can be a chaotic and disparate process.

Teams come into it with different numbers of picks, different places from which to pick and varying needs.

In the end, though, they can be compared in terms of addressing needs.

The Bears and the other teams of the NFC North had totally different perspectives and numbers of picks heading into the draft. It would have been difficult for any of the other teams to believe they had better drafts than Chicago because of where the Bears picked.

When you have the first pick and two of the first nine, and one is hands-down the top quarterback according to consensus, it's not a position easily overtaken.

Even when they had only four picks, the Bears looked to have an advantage and they did. Then they turned it into five picks.

While some analysts see other teams in the NFC North close to the Bears, virtually none of the feedback has an NFC North team with a better draft than Chicago.

Mel Kiper had the Bears, Lions and Packers all with B grades and the Vikings at C+. Pro Football Focus had the Bears and Lions at A, the Packers at B+ and Vikings at B+. NFL.com gave the Bears an A-, the Vikings B+ and the Packers and Lions B.

Green Bay Packers

  • Jordan Morgan, OL, Arizona, 25th
  • Edgerrin Cooper, LB, Texas A&M, 45th
  • Javon Bullard, S, Georgia, 58th
  • Marshawn Lloyd, RB, USC, 88th
  • Ty'Ron Hopper, LB, Missouri, 91st
  • Evan Williams, DB, Oregon, 111st
  • Jacob Monk, G, Duke, 163rd
  • Kitan Oladapo, S, Oregon, 169th
  • Travis Glover, T, Georgia St. 202nd
  • Michael Pratt, QB, Tulane, 245th
  • Kalen King, CB, Penn State, 255th

The Packers lacked the top-end punch with their picks. However, what they did better than anyone was throw numbers at their problems. Somewhere in that pile of 11 picks might be answers to their problems.

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It's not often a team playing in the divisional round comes back with 11 draft picks. They had none in the top 24, but they had five in the first two days. The best thing about this is the lower cost for these players. Also, they're still high quality even if they lack top-end sizzle.

Jordan Morgan is an offensive lineman viewed by the consensus of 211 internet big boards on NFL Mock Draft Database as an early second-rounder, 36th specifically. Benjamin Solak of The Ringer, had him going as high as 24th to Dallas but no one else posting had him as high as where he landed.

Cooper and Bullard, on the other hand, were drafted right in the slots where most determined they'd go and they fill real needs.

The Packers were next to last in interceptions last year and No. 28 against the run. They're installing a new defense under a new coordinator.

They also added Hopper, another linebacker, in Round 3 and the consensus big board had the Missouri player as a solid fifth-rounder. The player who is a steal for them mainly because of his position is Caleb Williams' former teammate Marshawn Lloyd in Round 3 at No. 88. Lloyd is versatile enough to start and also can be a player on the field all the time as an excellent receiver.  In days gone by he might have been a second-rounder. Backs had more value then.

The player they took in Round 4, DB Evan Williams from Oregon, was judged a seventh-rounder by the mock draft data base.

King, their last pick, actually was projected the previous year to be a player who could go in the middle first round. They drafted him in Round 7. He didn't have an injury or anything of that sort, just a final season so poor it scared everyone off, then he ran over 4.6 in the 40. For a cornerback that won't fly.

Detroit Lions

  • Terrion Arnold, CB, Alabama, 24th
  • Ennis Rakestraw, CB, Missouri, 61st
  • Giovanni Manu, T, British Columbia, 126th
  • Sione Vaki, S, Utah, 132nd
  • Mekhi Wingo, DT, LSU, 189th
  • Christian Mahogany, G, Boston College, 210th

Detroit had a draft class only one player more than the Bears but had only two in the top 100, none higher than 24. The impact should be limited, except for Arnold.

He was a cornerback projected earlier in the predraft process as middle to top 10 of Round 1. So this could be considered a steal to get him as late as No. 24. Manu is massive at 6-8, 350, and might be a massive reach because he played in Canada. Handling NFL speed will be a problem. Vaki isn't the fastest of safeties. Mel Kiper loved Wingo, and had him as the top player available on his board for about all of Sunday it seemed. Mahogany is a guard many projected to the Bears in mock drafts as early as Round 3 at No. 75. Getting him so late is also fortuitous.

They drafted well for need because they were ranked 27th against the pass last year, but it's interesting to note they drafted no linebackers. When coach Dan Campbell said he was glad Justin Fields was out of the division, it's because his linebackers weren't fast enough to keep up with Fields' running. Are they fast enough to cover Bears receivers now against a better passer?

Minnesota Vikings

  • J.J. McCarthy, QB, Michigan, 10th
  • Dallas Turner, OLB, Alabama, 17th
  • Khyree Jackson, CB, Oregon, 108th
  • Walter Rouse, T, Oklahoma, 177th
  • Will Reichard, K, Alabama, 203rd
  • Michael Jurgens, OL, Wake Forest, 230th
  • Levi Drake, DT, Texas A&M Commerce, 232nd

They got the player regarded as the best college pass rusher by many at No. 17, which is a steal. McCarthy was the fifth QB taken in the top 10. Whether he actually should have been drafted this high is a real question.  No doubt he was a winner, but playing in a system where the run was so heavily emphasized didn't show what he's capable of as a passer, so the Vikings are going on instinct with this pick. Jackson is an interesting pick because he's 6-foot-4 and there aren't many 6-4 cornerbacks. Minnesota chose one of the better college kickers in Reichard to try and address what always seems to be a problem they have. The last two picks are stabs in the dark, like all seventh-rounders. Minnesota's draft had two players in the first 107, which isn't ideal. Turner is the one no one can criticize.

Bears

  • Caleb Williams, QB, USC, 1st
  • Rome Odunze, WR, Washington, 9th
  • Kiran Amegadjie, T, Yale, 75th
  • Tory Taylor, P, Iowa, 122nd
  • Austin Booker, DE, Kansas, 144th

The class is small but conducted entirely within the first 144 picks. When you get a possible passing connection in the first 10, the best QB, the third-best receiver and the best punter, it's already a success. Those are three players thye know will immediately impact their games. The questionable selections were Amegadjie 75th and Taylor, but at least with Taylor there is no doubt about his abilities. It's taking a punter in Round 4 when you have other needs that bothered many. They addressed that need, though, with the next pick, 22 spots later, and didn't lose quality at the position.

The top-end punch makes this the division's best draft.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.