A round-by-round look at players Chicago Bears could take in NFL Draft
The Bears are missing a third-round pick this year after trading it last year to move up to take QB Mitch Trubisky.
Rumor has it that GM Ryan Pace wants to get back into Round Three, and the best way to do that is by trading down in the first round. It doesn't sound like Pace wants to move down more than a few spots, but he needs a willing partner to make a deal, so for now we'll assume they remain at No. 8. Here's a look at seven players they could land in the NFL draft.
Round 1 (No. 8 overall)
The pick: offensive guard Quenton Nelson, Notre Dame
After four straight seasons with at least 10 losses, Pace has to feel the heat, even though he has only been around for three seasons. The Bears have several positions that could benefit from this pick.
What makes Nelson the most attractive option is that he's perhaps the closest thing to a can't-miss star in this draft, and Pace cannot afford to miss after picking Kevin White in 2015, and Leonard Floyd in 2016. White has just 21 receptions in three years because of injuries. Floyd has been a more productive pick, but he's missed 10 of 32 games.
The 6-foot-5, 329-pound Nelson could be a Pro Bowl-caliber guard as a rookie and might be good enough to play left tackle.
Round 2 (No. 39 overall)
The pick: defensive lineman Harrison Phillips, Stanford
Can the Bears depend on 2016 third-round draft pick Jonathan Bullard to be the full-time starter at right end? Maybe. But that's not good enough. If Bullard had lived up to expectations, he would have replaced journeyman Mitch Unrein as the starter last year, and he did not. Phillips may not be as athletic as Bullard, but he's taller, heavier, stronger (42 reps of 225 pounds on the bench), and he plays hard all the time.
Phillips also had 14 sacks over the past two seasons, although he's not considered a great pass rusher. The 6-foot-4, 307-pound Phillips played nose tackle at Stanford but still had an amazing 103 tackles in 2017.
Round 4 (No. 105 overall)
The pick: outside linebacker Dorance Armstrong, Kansas
The Bears have to get more pass rush off the edge, and after going in other directions on the first two days, they will be thrilled if Armstrong is still available at the start of Day Three. He surely fell on some draft boards when he had just two sacks last year after getting 10 as a sophomore in 2016, when he had 20 tackles for loss.
A defensive scheme change was more responsible for Armstrong's drop-off than poor performance. His 4.87 40-time won't impress anyone, but he's 6-foot-4, 257 pounds and has long arms (34.75 inches). He had a 33-inch vertical and did 25 bench-press reps of 225 pounds at KU's pro day.
Round 4 (No. 115 overall)
The pick: inside linebacker Josey Jewell, Iowa
He ran 4.82 at the NFL Combine, which should knock a 6-foot-1, 235-pound inside linebacker into the sixth or seventh round. But Jewell ran a 4.68 at his pro day, and he plays faster than that because he's a film junkie who plays with great instincts and takes good angles to the ball.
A shoulder injury last year knocked him out of five games and probably down a few notches on many draft boards. But the Bears got a steal last year in the fourth round on safety Eddie Jackson because he fractured a leg at Alabama in 2016, and they could do likewise with Jewell. He piled up 250 tackles in 2015-16 before the injury limited him to 97 last year, but he still had 11.5 tackles for loss in 2017.
Round 5 (No. 145 overall)
The pick: outside linebacker Josh Sweat, Florida State
The Bears' returning outside linebackers had just 8.5 sacks last year, so it's worth using another late pick on an edge rusher. Teams are concerned with the health of Sweat's left knee, which was severely injured in high school (ACL, MCL and PCL damage) and nicked up in 2016 with meniscus damage. If he checks out medically, Sweat could have a future in the NFL as a situational pass rusher.
He's 6-foot-4, 251 pounds, has 34.5-inch arms, and he ran a 4.53 40 at the NFL Combine, where he had a 39.5-inch vertical. He had a modest total of 10 sacks over the past two seasons and needs to get a lot stronger to make any impact at all as a run defender.
Round 6 (No. 181 overall)
The pick: wide receiver Trey Quinn, SMU
Depth at wide receiver is still a concern for the Bears after they lost Cam Meredith to the Saints. Quinn isn't huge (6-foot, 212 pounds) or super fast (4.55), but the LSU transfer put up impressive numbers in his only season at SMU, catching 114 passes for 1,236 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Quinn has excellent hands and much better quickness than flat-out speed. He's probably limited to a slot role, but Quinn is a strong runner after the catch and has enough size to be an effective blocker.
Round 7 (No. 224 overall)
The pick: cornerback Levi Wallace, Alabama
You can never have enough cornerbacks in the NFL, and you have to love a kid who walked on at Alabama, didn't play for two years, finally earned a scholarship in 2016 and became a starter in 2017. Wallace has bulked up to 183 pounds but is still skinny at an even 6 feet, though that doesn't prevent him from supporting vs. the run. He doesn't have much speed (4.63), but he'll compete with anyone. Had three interceptions last year and led Alabama with 15 pass breakups.