Lovie Smith Attends Justin Blackmon’s Pro Day

Chicago Bears head coach Lovie Smith is on the wide receiver world tour, making his latest stop at Oklahoma State’s Pro Day to check out another top wide receiver prospect in Justin Blackmon.

I’ve seen some recent mock drafts that have Blackmon slipping a bit, even dropping out of the Top 5 in some.  Early mocks had Blackmon as a shoe-in for the Rams at #2 overall, but with the RG3 soaring to the top of most mocks, Blackmon’s status is a bit more up in the air.  Since he didn’t run at the Combine, a lot of scouts were anxious to see him run at his Pro Day.

Blackmon ran well, clocking in times between 4.41 and 4.50 depending on whose stopwatch you trust.  But it wasn’t his speed that let him down on Friday, it was his hands:

"The low point of two-time All-American receiver’s workout came when two of the 15 passes thrown to him went off his hands and incomplete. Blackmon did catch two 50-yard passes from fellow pro prospect Brandon Weeden, who completed 42 of 52 passes with several of the incompletions glancing off his receivers’ hands.“Brandon put the ball on the spots,” said Blackmon, a two-time Biletnikoff Award winner and potential top five pick. “We had a couple drops but overall it went well.”"

There’s no way Blackmon drops down to #19 for the Bears, so they would need to trade up to get him.  If you’re a Bears fan, you know that’s highly unlikely.

Here’s my question of the day.  The Bears fired Jerry Angelo and got themselves Phil Emery, who cut his teeth in this business scouting college talent.  So what in the name of Papa Bear Halas is Lovie Smith, the Bears’ defensive oriented head coach, doing scouting wide receiver prospects?