Bears should be excited about talent available in second round

Posted April 24, 2020 1:00 am

Hub Arkush

If you're a Chicago Bears fan - or perhaps even Ryan Pace or Matt Nagy - and your head hit the pillow Wednesday night hoping just enough teams would reach in the first round of the NFL draft Thursday night to leave you even more talent than expected when you went shopping for your 43rd and 50th pick on night two of the draft, your dreams have come true.

We knew going in this was a strong draft crop and particularly deep in a few of the Bears greatest areas of need.

But I'm not sure we could have imagined the second round would begin with nine players remaining with first-round grades on them.

Equally exciting, the Bears will go to market with all of the top safeties and tight ends, two of the top five and four of the top eight cornerbacks, two of the top six and five of the top 11 wide receivers, a wealth of talent on the offensive line, and perhaps most surprisingly, the top four running backs all still available.

Of course, should the Bears stand pat and not move up from 43, some of those players will be gone. But at the beginning of the night there will be 16 players graded higher than 43 and 21 ranked better than 50.

This also creates much better value later in the round and in round three should Pace elect to trade back and add additional third- or fourth-round picks.

As ironic as it might sound for a team that did nothing Thursday night, the evening could not have gone much better for the Bears.

Here is the updated list of the bounty available for them to target Friday night.

1ST ROUND GRADES

1. - 12. A.J. Epenesa, 5-Tech / 4-3 DE Iowa 6-6, 280 5.14 - 40

2. - 16. Yetur Gross-Matos, ER Penn State 6-5, 264

3. - 18. D'Andre Swift, RB Georgia 5-8, 2124.48 - 40

4. - 22. Jonathan Taylor, RB Wisconsin 5-10, 226 4.39 - 40

5. - 24. Jaylon Johnson, CB Utah 6-0, 195 4.50 - 40

6. - 26. Zack Baun, OLB Wisconsin 6-3, 240 4.65 - 40

7. - 29. Lloyd Cushenberry, C LSU 6-3, 312 5.27 - 40

8. - 30. J.K. Dobbins, RB Ohio State 5-9, 209

9. - 31. Trevon Diggs, CB Alabama 6-2, 207

2ND ROUND GRADES

10. - 34. Raekwon Davis, DT Alabama 6-7, 312 5.12 - 40

11. - 35. Xavier McKinney, S Alabama 6-1, 200 4.63 - 40

12. - 36. Bryce Hall, CB Virginia 6-1, 200

13. - 37. Laviska Shenault Jr., WR Colorado 6-1, 227 4.48 - 40

14. - 38. Josh Jones, OT Houston 6-5, 319 5.27 - 40

15. - 39. Tee Higgins, WR Clemson 6-4, 216

16. - 40. Kristian Fulton, CB LSU 6-0, 200 4.46 - 40

17. - 43. Ross Blacklock, DT TCU 6-4, 3054.90 - 40

18. - 44. Tee Higgins, WR Clemson 6-4, 216

19. - 45. Ashtyn Davis, S California 6-1, 195

20. - 47. Ezra Cleveland, OT Boise State 6-6, 311 4.93 - 40

21. - 49. K.J. Hamler, WR Penn State 5-9, 178

22. - 50. Cam Akers, RB Florida State 5-10, 217 4.47 - 40

23. - 51. Jacob Eason, QB Washington 6-6, 231 4.89 - 40

24. - 52. Grant Delpit, S LSU 6-3, 203

25. - 53. Terrell Burgess, S Utah 5-11, 192 4.46 - 40

26 - 55. Cole Kmet, TE Notre Dame 6-6, 262 4.70 - 40

27 - 56. Michael Pittman Jr., WR USC 6-4, 223 4.52

28 - 57. Jake Fromm, QB Georgia 6-2, 219 5.01 - 40

29. - 58. Denzel Mims, WR Baylor 6-3, 207 4.38 - 40

30. - 59. Harrison Bryant, TE Florida Atlantic 6-5, 243 4.73 - 40

31. - 61. Jalen Hurts, QB Oklahoma 6-1, 2224.59 - 40

32. - 62. Antoine Winfield Jr., S Minnesota 5-10, 205 4.45 - 40

33. - 63. Jordan Elliott, 5-Tech Missouri 6-4, 315 5.02 - 40

34. - 64. John Simpson, OG Clemson 6-4, 321 5.24 - 40

35. - 65. Marlon Davidson, DE/ER Auburn 6-3, 303 5.04 - 40

36. - 66. Jeremy Chinn, S Southern Illinois 6-3, 219 4.45 - 40

3RD ROUND GRADES

37. - 67. Donovan Peoples-Jones, WR Michigan 6-2, 212 4.48 - 40

38. - 68. Bryan Edwards, WR South Carolina 6-3, 212 Inj.

39. - 69. Kyle Dugger, S Lenoir-Rhyne 6-1, 220 4.49 - 40

40. - 70. Terrell Lewis, ER Alabama 6-5, 258

41. - 71. Damien Lewis, OG LSU 6-2, 327 5.24 - 40

42. - 72. Lucas Niang, OT TCU 6-6, 315

43. - 74. Saahdiq Charles, OT LSU 6-4, 321 5.05 - 40

44. - 75. Logan Wilson, LB Wyoming 6-2, 2414.63 - 40

45. - 76. AJ Dillon, RB Boston College 6-0, 2474.53 - 40

46. - 77. Ben Bartch, OT St. Johns 6-5, 309

47. - 78. Chase Claypool, WR Notre Dame 6-4, 238 4.42 - 40

48. - 79. Jared Pinkney, TE Vanderbilt 6-4, 257 4.96 - 40

49. - 80. Zack Moss, RB Uta h5-9, 223 4.65 - 40

50. - 81. Julian Okwara, ER Notre Dame 6-4, 248

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