Bear Digest

Mock Drafts Reach the Full Distance in Finding Bears Players

Numerous seven-round mocks have come out envisioning Caleb Williams throwing to Rome Odunze, and then it's a guessing game.

Gene Chamberlain

Texas' Adonai Mitchell goes up for the TD catch and counts contested catches as a strength.
Texas' Adonai Mitchell goes up for the TD catch and counts contested catches as a strength. / John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
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The bell sounds when track runners hit the last lap.

It's ringing now for mock drafts, and as such, the seven-round full mock drafts are starting to dominate with the selection process starting at 7 p.m. Thursday at Detroit.

The overwhelming opinion points to the Bears at No. 1 with Caleb Williams and No. 9 has gradually led to Washington wide receiver Rome Odunze, although the more creative mock drafts point at a Bears trade back. The end result of those is usually a defensive player going to the Bears.

The one thing everyone agrees on is the Bears are getting the best available quarterback in this draft, if not best available in a very long time.

ESPN's Matt Miller set the tone for seven-round mock drafts with one of the earlier attempts and in it he produced a comment Bears fans will enjoy about their new QB.

"Williams is not only the best one in this class, but also the best of the past decade," Miller wrote.

The Bears can consider the draft a rousing success if Miller is right, regardless of who the other players they take are.

Here's who the mocks that went the full distance saw the Bears take.

NFL.com's Chad Reuter

Reuter forecasts a trade down after the selection of Williams, and has them getting the Colts' second- and fourth-round picks while they move back from No. 9 to No. 15, but they also must give up the No. 75 pick.

Apparently Chris Ballard is wearing a mask these days and holding up stage coaches. Wow.

If Ryan Poles made this deal, then someone should run him out of town.

With the 15th pick the Bears took defensive tackle Byron Murphy II from Texas, the player Pro Football Focus has graded highest among all defensive tackles not just in 2023 but since 2022.

He's a pick more and more mocks see as a possible Bears pick not just at No. 15, but possibly even No. 9. They would have their 3-technique answer with his selection.

Also in Reuter's mock, the Bears do get a wide receiver for Williams at No. 46, Adonai Mitchell from Texas. Longtime NFL writer Bob McGinn cited unnamed sources expressing concern over Mitchell as a reult of a report he is diabetic.

The selection of Murphy left the Bears without the edge rusher, even though Murphy did have a huge number of sacks for a college defensive tackle (8) last year. Reuter has them solve this with Alabama's Chris Braswell at No. 117, the pick they acquired from the Colts. Braswell is a bit undersized for an end at 6-3 1/2 and 251 but has a good wingspan (top 33% of ends). It just seems unlikely the Bears would get Alabama's third top edge rusher from the last two year in the fourth round.

At 122, the pick was Missouri tackle Javon Foster, who apparently would try to come in and take away the job of another Missouri tackle, backup Larry Borom.

Josh Edwards, CBS Sports

Odunze is Edwards' second pick in Round 1 at No. 9 after Williams and cites their new QB as the reason.

"Rome Odunze is the third wide receiver off the board and another example of Chicago supporting its young quarterback," Edwards wrote. "Few rookies have walked into a better situation than the one in Chicago where Williams will be throwing to D.J. Moore, Keenan Allen, Cole Kmet and now Odunze."

Edwards' next two picks do very little to help the Bears other than supply depth.

At No. 75, he has them take Dominick Puni, a 6-5, 320-pound tackle from Kansas who projects as a guard. He played first at Central Missouri and his older brother, Derrick, was an undrafted free agent with Dallas in 2018.

With the last pick at 122, the Bears took Houston Christian edge rusher Jalyx Hunt, a 6-4, 247-pounder who had 13 1/2 sacks the last two seasons and would be a long shot coming from so small of a school. Normally, Poles hasn't been in the habit of drafting smaller school players the way Ryan Pace did.

Dane Brugler, The Athletic

Brugler drafted Williams and acknowledged the team will have chances to trade back at No. 9.

He held a mock without a trade here, though. So he took Odunze at No. 9.

"With only four draft picks this year, general manager Ryan Poles will be enticed by trade-back opportunities here to recoup draft capital. But when the Bears are feeling left out in the second round, they can throw on Odunze highlights and feel just fine about this decision," Brugler wrote. "Adding Keenan Allen was a no-brainer, but he might only be a one-year rental."

Brugler's mock probably reflects a more accurate assessment of Braswell's value as he has the Bears selecting the Alabama edge rusher at No. 75, rather than 117, like Reuter. 

He called the edge rush pick "imperative" after the Bears ranked 31st in sacks last year.

Perhaps something's up here because he has the Bears taking the same fourth-round pick at No. 122 as Reuter. That was Foster.

"He'd be an ideal mid-round draftee to contend with Braxton Jones at left tackle," Brugler wrote.

Matt Miller, ESPN

Miller followed the same pattern with Williams and then Odunze at No. 9. They're all apparently confident the top three receivers will not be gobbled up before No. 9.

However, his third pick at No. 75 was Utah's defensive lineman Jonah Elliss, son of former Lions defensive lineman Luther Elliss.

"Adding Montez Sweat was huge for Chicago last season, but the team needs someone opposite him," Miller wrote. "Elliss is a little undersized at 6-2 and 248 pounds, but he had 12 sacks last season."

His final pick at No. 122 carried with it some magic for Poles. He is 6-3, 314 and he is from Boston College, Poles' old school. Mahogany is graded higher than this on several internet big boards, so the Bears would have good value at a position where they can use the depth.

Ian Valentino, The 33rd Team

The last mock, from The 33rd Team's Valentino, was merely a seven-round Bears mock draft but he ended up using six of the rounds because of trades.

Just as BearDigest did in an earlier mock, Valentino had them trading back with Jacksonville at No. 9 after selecting Williams, and the Jaguars gave the Bears No. 17 overall, the 48th pick in Round 2 and No. 212 in Round 6.

However, after trading back he had the Bears select Florida State defensive end Jared Verse. It's possible Verse is the most versatile edge in the draft, as he relies on his great strength (31 reps, bench press) to hold the edge while rushing.

"There are two schools of thought regarding what the Bears should do with the ninth pick," Valentino wrote. "Chicago can almost surely pick from a top receiver like Malik Nabers or Rome Odunze or a highly-touted tackle prospect.

"Should the Bears stay here and essentially accept that their draft class revolves around the two top-10 picks—or should they move down and take advantage of the class' depth?"

His trade down reflects his answer.

Valentino still found a receiver at No. 48 with the pick from his trade for the Bears in Ja'Lynn Polk of Washington, Odunze's big-play sidekick. Polk made 69 catches for 1,153 yards last season and is 6-1, 203.

That left the third-rounder at 75 and they filled it with Kris Jenkins of Michigan. This seems a bit of a stretch at this point for the Bears to pursue Jenkins, who might project better in a different style of defense. But Valentino gives an excellent reason for pursuing a defensive lineman.

"Neither Dexter nor Pickens played more than 41 percent of snaps as rookies," he wrote.

So they need help with Justin Jones gonoe.

In Round 4, the pick was Dadrion Taylor-Demerson, the safety from Texas Tech who has had a Halas Hall visit.

He made seven interceptions and 147 tackles in the last two years, so he'd fit right into Matt Eberflus' vision for safeties as ballhawks.

The final pick in Round 6 thanks to the trade was Miami guard Javion Cohen, a 324-pounder who seems a bit large to play the position in the Bears offense but could come in handy if Nate Davis or Teven Jenkins suffer from injuries like they did last year.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven

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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.