I spend time on this and don't get paid, so just read it
- My White Sox column for the Beachwood Reporter is up (or it will be in the morning), so check it out. Now with a cool picture!
- I thought the Bears draft was pretty good. One thing I disagree with: the way they went about the whole thing. Listening to Jerry Angelo and Greg Gabriel speak, it seems clear to me that the Bears have their draft complete before it starts. That means that they knew that, no matter what, they were taking Williams at 14, Forte in the second round, and Bennett in the third. They don’t react to the way the board breaks at all. Most people considered Virginia guard-tackle Branden Albert a better prospect than Williams, but I doubt the Bears even considered taking him. If Williams was there, the Bears were taking him. Same goes for Forte. It didn’t matter that most of the good receivers were still there, they knew all along that if Forte was available, he would be their second pick.
I’m not sure this is a terrible thing, because it’s good to have people you like, and not just take who Mel Kiper thinks is the best player available. And I think Williams will be really good (he better be), and I’m high on Forte and Bennett.
- If it wouldn’t have cost them next year’s first round pick, I would have been totally in favor of the Bears trading back up in round one to grab Mendenhall. I’m sure I didn’t have to tell you that though.
- Speaking of Shard, I’m not sure I like that he’s going to Pittsburgh. He needs to be The Man somewhere; now he has to split carries with one of the best backs in the AFC. He’ll still be real good, but I just wish he’d get more carries. The first few years of a running back’s career are always their best.
- What I would have done (not including the trade up):
1. G-T Branden Albert, Virginia
2. WR Malcolm Kelly, Oklahoma (or Limas Sweed or Desean Jackson. Three of the draft’s best four receivers, all there in the second round.)
3. RB Jamaal Charles, Texas (though I like Forte more, and he easily could have still been available for this pick)
3b. WR Mario Manningham, Michigan
Now I do like Bennett, Harrison, and Steltz a lot. Plus Steltz totally looks like Sunshine from Remember the Titans, so that’s pretty cool. And they needed a safety and defensive tackle pretty badly. Does anyone else find it funny that they are trying to replace Archuleta with another white safety and Tank Johnson with another defensive tackle with character issues? I thoroughly enjoyed that.
And in my scenario, they may not get a tackle (if Albert doesn’t work out there). But that’s what I would have done.
- Finally, I don’t mind not drafting a quarterback, which I guess everyone is pissed about. Trading up for Brohm would have been nice, but, like I said earlier, I’m sure that wasn’t even under consideration. If not Brohm (or possibly Woodson in the fifth), then why waste a pick on a quarterback in the third or fourth round who surely won’t help you this year? Rookie receivers, d-tackles, and corners help out right away, quarterbacks don’t. Plus, next year, if the Bears are real bad, now they have no qualms about drafting a quarterback in the first round. Start watching Georgia’s Matthew Stafford this fall.
- Stompy mentioned this in his draft diary (which i really enjoyed, though the system kept eating my comments after a while for some reason), but how the hell does Favre get Madden cover! As a Madden lifer (every one since 94!), I could not be more pissed.
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Comments
Ok we got it. Check your email, you can put it back in. It may not have the links (if you even had any), but it's all there.
Why the fuck did da bears select Kellen Davis in the fifth round? With G. O. as their top pick last year, and resigning Clark for 2 years, Davis won't be shit, unless of course, they move him to OLB or DE, which is something the bears do NOT need. Kellen Davis will only cause problems on the team, seeing he was recently rumored to have tried to drown someone.
Well you guys would know better than anyone, but I liked that pick. You need three tight ends and I'm sure Davis will be better than John Gilmore right away. For a fifth round pick, I don't think he's so bad.
Hey you're right. Anyways, Bears will be 5-11 this year. I'm calling it now
Weird. I wrote almost the same exact thing: http://zonersports.com/?p=1224
It seems they go for solid , productive players instead of those with big game/play potential. You just know that's why they picked Forte and Bennett instead of say, Charles and Kelly or DJax.
I am always a little scared of anyone with the last name Forte involved in professional sports:
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Forte)
But at least he will have a succesful NFL Europe campaign...
I don't mind the Williams pick, and the logic behind it. Angelo said they liked Williams more than Otah and Albert because he had more high level experience at the left tackle position.
The front office didn't like that Albert had only 4 starts at LT, and although he's the higher ceiling prospect at LT, he is still inexperienced enough to warrant some concern.
I just realized that Stompy's running draft blog is basically gone. I have no idea how that happened (everything's been fucking up lately though), but i'll see if we can get it back up.