April Means Mock Frenzy

The mock draft season hits a peak this month and two mocks land the Bears players of note, although not all of them seem ideal selections.

The need for Bears wide receiver help in the draft is trumpeted constantly on social media and talk radio.

It stems from Justin Fields' need for better targets and in recent mock drafts conducted the need apparently remains high. This need didn't get addressed first in Sports Illustrated's mock draft released Friday, however.

Kevin Hanson's latest mock for SI.com found the Bears taking a player who coach Matt Eberflus could love but one who would leave Bears fans angry or scratching their heads at best.

The Bears selected Houston defensive lineman Logan Hall with the 39th pick, which could easily be explained by the fact Georgia wide receiver George Pickens had been taken by the Detroit Lions, Washington had drafted cornerback Kyler Gordon and the Jets drafted Central Michigan tackle Bernhard Raimann ahead of the first Bears pick.

While Hall was the best on a good Houston front line, he is a 4-3 defensive end at 6-foot-6, 277 pounds. That's fine, the Bears are playing a 4-3 again and lost one edge rusher when they traded away Khalil Mack. But Hall is not athletic and explosive enough to move inside to three technique and the Bears do have other players at end for their 4-3.

Trevis Gipson might be a fit for the 4-3 end spot. They signed Al-Quadin Muhammad. The only way this works as a necessary pick is if they trade or cut Robert Quinn. That could be coming, certainly, but the Bears have far bigger needs than another end and this pick missed the mark.

The truth is the Bears are at a stage in a complete overhaul where a player drafted at about any position would be of help.

Fortunately for the Bears, Hanson found a receiver with their next pick in this two-round mock draft. It is one unfamiliar to many but certainly rising in popularity among the mock draft sect.

The Bears selected Skyy Moore, the 5-foot-9 1/2, 195-pound slot receiver from Western Michigan.

Moore ran 4.41 in the 40 and has been called a player capable of lining up all over the field but best used in the slot, by NFL Draft Bible.

The Bears would be left hoping they get something more as a rookie from Moore than the Seattle Seahawks got from a similar player from the same school last year, D'Wayne Eskridge. The Seahawks' second-round pick was half an inch taller and 5 pounds lighter and they took him 56th overall. And in his first season, Eskridge roduced 10 receptions for only 64 yards.

In another mock conducted by Yahoo Sports' Eric Edholm, the former Pro Football Weekly writer, the Bears selected Pickens at No. 39.

"With one of the worst WR rooms in the NFL currently, the Bears badly need some playmaking and length here, and Pickens can provide both," Edholm wrote about the selection.

Pickens has been mocked to the Bears on a regular basis across the internet, as have Purdue's David Bell and North Dakota State's Christian Watson. All are X-receiver types and would fill the hole created by the loss of Allen Robinson.

Edholm's draft was a single round, but he expanded it to include at least one pick from all the teams lacking first-round picks, which is a good move to maintain reader interest.

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