Bears Link to Jalen Carter a Strong One

Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter seen as the top pick for the Bears at No. 1 by ESPN's veteran draft expert.

USA Today

The dean of mock drafters has spoken and should surprise no one who ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. named as the top pick of to the Bears.

Kiper had been calling Jalen Carter the best player in the draft beforehand and he backed this up by calling Georgia's defensive tackle the player the Bears will take with the first pick.

Kiper's first mock did not include a trade down and he had the Indianapolis Colts winding up with Bryce Young even though they are drafting fourth. He had Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud going to Houston at No. 2.

It's a one-round draft and he later expands it to include other rounds and trades.

"An explosive interior pass-rusher and run-stuffer, gets the nod over Alabama edge rusher Will Anderson," Kiper wrote."He's the best player in this draft, a Day 1 starter in the middle of this defense."

Carter fits a drastic need on the defensive line and has been projected by numerous mock drafts recently, including BearDigest. However, mock drafts on the Internet continue to call Will Anderson Jr. the top pick by the Bears on NFLmockdraftdatabase.com. Since the end of last week, though, the percentage of mock drafts with Anderson as the top pick to the Bears has dropped from 82% to 74% on Wednesday.

The Bears had only 6 1/2 sacks from all their defensive ends combined last year. Defensive tackle Justin Jones had three sacks to lead defensive tackles and defensive end Trevis Gipson had three to lead defensive tackles. They were led in sacks by safety Jaquan Brisker with four. 

The 20 sacks by the Bears were the fewest they've had since 2003.

The Bears had no first-round pick last year but Kiper had the pick he made for the Bears right in 2021. He just had the wrong round. His pick was Teven Jenkins at No. 20 and the Bears took Jenkins but at No. 39. They moved up in Round 1 to draft Justin Fields at No. 11 that year.

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