Bears Draft Grade

 

The first two rounds of the draft for the Bears were amazing. I was finally happy with the picks that Jerry Angelo was making and was actually complimenting him on twitter for making smart decisions, then in the third and fifth rounds he made huge mistakes. First, lets talk about the good though. 

In the first round, the Bears had their sites set on an offensive lineman from the start. They knew that was the need that needed to be addressed first and took care of it nicely. They draft Gabe Carimi; you can read the post I wrote about him here. I was very happy with this pick and look forward to seeing Carimi grow as a player. Jerry Angelo gets my approval on that pick. 

In the second round, the need to be addressed was well known again. We needed a defensive lineman. We took one. We took a player from Oregon State named Stephen Paea. I look forward to him growing on the Bears. He already looks like a good player from the scouting reports I have seen and looks to have a bright future. He will probably play a similar role to what Corey Wooton played this last year. Now Wooton has moved up and Paea will get a chance to play every once and awhile, but will probably not be a regular starter for the Bears yet. 

In the third round, things got a little messy. Some people thought the Bears should have taken a wide receiver, some thought that a safety or cornerback should have been taken. A safety was taken and a lot of Bears fans were upset. I was not happy with this pick, but understand it a little. Overall it is a stupid pick, because we are letting all of those safeties that we have drafted in the past pass by without giving them a chance to become good NFL players. This is the first pick that I did not agree with Jerry Angelo on and he didn't give me much confidence in him with the next pick. 

In the fifth round, the Bears selected yet another late in the draft quarterback. They tried the same thing last year and ended up letting him go. If you are going to draft a quarterback, don't wait until the high talent is all gone. I don't think they should have been drafting a quarterback in the first place, but at least draft one that will make a name for himself one day. Right now the Bears have Jay Cutler and Caleb Hanie, and I'm happy with them. Most likely, Jerry Angelo was thinking that he didn't want to have to deal with signing a third string quarterback and he saw this kid, so he went out and got him. I don't think that's a very smart thing to do in a draft, but it's Jerry Angelo and we couldn't expect him to have a perfect draft. 

Overall: I give the Bears a C on this draft. The first two picks were As but the last two were Ds to level it out to a C. 

Jerry Angelo did better than he does most years, but he still needs to draft better or else the Bears are never going to win another Super Bowl. 

First Round Draft Pick...Approved.

As the Bears turn was approaching, I was looking at possible offensive line guys for the Bears to take. I was also looking at twitter and the guy that seemed to be wanted the most was Gabe Carimi. After looking him up, I joined in on the beg for Carimi tweets. When the Bears announced they would draft him, I was immediately happy. The best part was Jay Cutler's fiance Kristen Cavallari tweeting that she was happy the Bears drafted an offensive lineman. She doesn't want her man to be hurt like he was this past season, and I find it really funny that she actually tweeted it.

Onto a more serious note, I really like what this kid has done. He is a great pass and run blocker. Today, the offensive line coach for the Bears, Mike Tice, said that Carimi would stay at tackle and would not be moved the the guard position which they also need to fill. The Bears would have liked to take a guard, but finding this kind of talent with the pick they had was too much to pass up and we also needed a tackle. In my opinion, this was a great pick and will play out well for the Bears in the future.

On a side note, when the Lions picked Fairley I almost peed my pants and I'm almost certain that Jay Cutler DID pee his pants. Having Fairley and Suh on the same defensive line is going to be a tough challenge for this growing offensive line. I hope Jay Cutler doesn't die the first time we play the Lions.

Bears YouTube Video Of the Day
The embed codes won't work, so no video for today. I had a good one too.

Eagles Draft Prep

Now that the coaching staff is finally in place, and with the 2011 NFL Draft is looming, there are a lot of things for the Eagles to consider. What takes priority? Clearly, the squads needing the most work are the defensive and offensive lines. I've gone over how the Eagles can address defensive line issues in the free agency, but what about young talent?

Philadelphia owns the 23 pick in the first round of the 2011 draft. Assuming they don't collect more first-round picks in a Kolb-unknown team trade, they will be at the lower-end of the first round. Scout Inc.'s draftee-ranking list has plenty of offensive and defensive line players around it's lower-midsection, so the Eagles could really get something out of it.

Temple's Muhammad Wilkerson is ranked 23rd by Scout Inc., but NFL Draft Scout has him pegged as a second-round pick. If picked up by the Eagles, Wilkerson and his Temple MVP trophy could easily move down Broad Street and spend half the season behind or even displace Trent Cole or Antonio Dixon on the right side, and could potentially add power if the Eagle's don't pick up a cornerback in the free agency to complement Asante Samuel on the left.

Missouri's Aldon Smith is could be an interesting choice for the Eagles. He's ranked 16th by Scout Inc., and he's projected to go in the first round, though there's a hitch. He received a leg injury that slowed the beginning of his season, and some teams may decide that entering the draft now is a mistake, like ESPN's Gil Brandt. This could benefit the Eagles if they pass on him early by allowing them to pick him up later. He could fulfill a role similar to Wilkerson as a defensive end, possibly backing up or outright replacing Juqua Parker on the right side. He could also be used to add depth to or help prop up the Eagles linebacker corps, saving the team money in the free agency.

On the offensive side, Wisconsin's Gabe Carimi, ranked 17th by Scout Inc. and projected to go in the first two rounds could help stop up the cracks defenses found in the Eagles' offensive line as the season dragged on. Having him learn behind Winston Justice or even start next to him, displacing Nick Cole could help protect Vick better from late-season and playoff defensive lines. Strength and depth is not something the Eagles can afford to overlook in this defense-needing offseason.

I'll post more draft preferences, predictions, and analysis as the April 28th event draws nearer, and as things develop in this very fluid offseason for both the Eagles and the NFL as a whole.

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