Bear Digest

Mel Kiper Explains Best Two Paths Bears Can Take in Draft

Speaking on AM-1000's Waddle & Silvy Show, ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. sees two paths the Bears can take with their second pick in Round 1 after taking Caleb Williams No. 1.

Gene Chamberlain

Rome Odunze attracts a Michigan crowd in the national title game.
Rome Odunze attracts a Michigan crowd in the national title game. / Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
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To the dean of draft analysis, the Bears face a simple choice at No. 9 in Round 1 and it revolves around a receiver.

Speaking on AM-1000's Waddle & Silvy Show about his latest mock draft, Mel Kiper Jr. said the Bears need to think first about one particular receiver.

"I think Rome Odunze, if he's there, you don't think about it," Kiper said. "You just take him."

Kiper has Odunze available at No. 9 and the Bears taking him, but acknowledges funny things can happen ahead of them so he would go before they pick. He sees two options for the Bears, the first of which is Odunze, the Washington receiver.

"So at the end of the day if Rome Odunze happens to slide to Nine, I'm taking him," Kiper said. "If he's not available at Nine, he's gone, which I think is a strong possibility because he's a great player and he's the fifth highest-rated player on my board right now, then you think about trading down.

"I think getting that (second-rounder), if you can't get the two, try to get a three, but move down and get that pass rusher, get that edge rusher opposite Montez Sweat which turned out to be a great trade for Ryan Poles, and now you can get a guy like, say Laiatu Latu if you want to go down, Jared Verse, somebody like that."

Kiper thinks both Verse, from Florida State, and Latu, from UCLA, have flaws some scouts have seen that can push them to the middle of Round 1, where they'd be if the Bears traded back to gain a pick or two later in the draft.

"There's a point in (Round 1 of) the draft where a little tightness in the hips for Verse doesn't bother you as much, (or the) neck injury, prior neck injury for Latu doesn't bother you as much moving down and recouping a draft choice," Kiper said.

Should the Bears get Odunze, Kiper still believes they can find a pass rusher in Round 3 at No. 75.

"Let's say you got Odunze, (it) would be Brennan Jackson from Washington State and Mo Kamara from Colorado State are two very good pass rushers that could drop into the third round," Kiper told Tom Waddle and Mark Silverman.

You won't find Kiper in the group who think the Bears could somehow come away with Marvin Harrison Jr. or that Malik Nabers would slide to them. It's probably going to be Odunze or trade.

Kiper also had another Washington receiver on his mind as a possible receiver to take if the Bears traded down and got a second-round pick.

"Jalen McMillan is a steal in the second round," Kiper told Waddle & Silvy.

McMillan made 164 receptions for 2,143 yards and 17 touchdowns at Washington, while the 6-3, 200-pound Odunze had 214 receptions for 3,272 yards and 24 TDs.

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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.

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