Chicago Bears 2015 Draft Prospects

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With the Bears season on the brink of being over at 5-7, it’s time to turn our focus to next year and what prospects might be available to fix our beloved Bears. With the draft being in Chicago this year, the draft is even more exciting than most years for Bears fans. Even if the Bears manage to win out and sneak into the playoffs, they still have plenty of holes on both sides of the ball and need to build some quality young depth. I will be breaking down prospects at every position with some focus on players I think the Bears could target. At some positions that aren’t as glaring of a need for the Bears like RB (unless they trade Forte) and maybe guard, I will focus less on the players projected to go early and focus more the mid-round prospects who the Bears presumably could target.

If you are sick of watching the Bears, there is some really exciting football being played on Saturdays this season and these lists will identify some players to keep an eye on during the last few weeks of the college football season and the initial college football playoff.

Position Summary: Matt Forte is my favorite Bears player and I hope he spends his whole career in Chicago, but the Bears aren’t close to being a Super Bowl contender and their best plan of action would probably be to rebuild (Cubs style). The fastest way for the Bears to get better would be to trade their older assets for draft picks and then find a GM that isn’t going to blow those picks. If the Bears realize that they are a few years away from winning, then trading Matt Forte is probably their best bet at landing an additional 1st round pick.

The value of running backs has gone down considerably with no RBs even being drafted in the 1st round the last two years, but a team that is in “go for it” mode could be willing to trade a late 1st rounder for Forte. Let’s say the Broncos don’t win the Super Bowl this year and Peyton Manning decides to come back for one more season, you don’t think the Broncos would give up the 30th pick in the draft for Forte? Or if the Colts GM Ryan Grigson finally admits he made a mistake with T-Rich and trades their late 1st rounder for Forte? Adding Forte would make either of those offenses the best in the league.

I don’t want to even imagine watching the Bears without Forte next year, but he will be 30 at the end of the 2015 season and that is also the final year of his contract. So does a bad Bears team extend Forte’s contract for the big money he deserves for his 31-34 year old seasons? Or do they trade him now, while he’s still awesome and get a late 1st rounder or at worst a mid-2nd round pick for him? Just in case the Bears do deal Forte, I listed a couple of the top RB options in this years draft.

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* These aren’t ordered rankings, just RBs I think could end up on the Bears depending on how the offseason shakes out.

1.) Melvin Gordon, JR Wisconsin

Attributes – 6’1, 207, 4.5

Bears spin – See above. If the Bears deal Forte, they may be looking for a work horse RB. This year’s 4th rounder, Ka’Deem Carey, could be pretty good, but he’s undersized and hasn’t shown that he has any special traits.

Scouting report – Holy crap! If you watched Gordon’s 400+ yard game against Nebraska two weeks ago, you know what I mean. Gordon has elite burst and acceleration through the line. Gordon might not have elite straight line speed, but his first 20 yards is faster than anyone’s I have seen since I started watching football. LaDanian Tomlinson and Eric Dickerson are the only two RBs that I’ve seen who have that same burst through the hole. Gordon is going to be special and will make Bears fans feel better about losing Forte if they could nab Gordon with their first round pick. My only worry with Gordon is that he does run high (like Dickerson) which could leave him open to big hits, but if Gordon can stay healthy he is going to be a 1,500 yard+ rusher in the NFL. He’s that good.

NFL comparison – Eric Dickerson

Projection – Top 25 pick

2.) Todd Gurley, JR Georgia

Attributes – 6’1, 232, 4.52

Bears spin – Would be a bad fit under the current coaching staff, but under a more traditional coach who likes to establish the line of scrimmage and run between the tackles, Gurley could be a great fit. Again, it wouldn’t make since to draft Gurley with the Bears 1st or 2nd round pick if they still have Trestman and Forte, but if not Gurley could be the Bears work-horse RB for the next few years. Gurley’s recent ACL tear could be a blessing in disguise for the Bears if Gurley lasts till early in the 2nd round.

Scouting report – Pre-ACL tear, Gurley was about even with Melvin Gordon for the #1 overall RB. The ACL tear could be a concern for some teams, but it isn’t a career ender like Marcus Lattimore’s and Gurley is expected to recover his pre-injury form. Assuming health, Gurley is an absolute monster. When healthy and at his best, Gurley can overpower LBs and outrun DBs. Gurley has good vision, soft hands as a receiver, a fierce stiff-arm in the open field can run away from NFL DBs. Gordon and Gurley are the two best RBs to come out of college since Adrian Peterson.

NFL Comparison – a faster Marshaen Lynch

Projection – Late 1st / mid 2nd

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3.) Tevin Coleman JR Indiana

Attributes – 6’1, 210, 4.58

Bears spin – Good all-around RB who can stay on the field all 3-downs. I’m not saying that he’s a Matt Forte clone, but he has similar vision, can catch the ball out of the backfield, and is a good pass blocker.

Scouting report – He doesn’t have great size, he’s not blazing fast, and he’s not going to wow anyone at the combine with his 20-yard split or 3-cone times. Somehow, Coleman just keeps breaking 80 yard+ runs every week. Not only that, but Coleman is putting up monster numbers against defenses that know Coleman is Indiana’s only weapon. He’s facing 8-9 men in the box every play and still averaging 7.9 yards per carry. I was arguing with a friend last week about Coleman’s NFL viability during their game against Ohio St, who probably has the fastest defense in the Big Ten, and mid-argument Coleman broke a 90-yard TD run. Coleman doesn’t have any traits that are going to stand out at the combine or that would make you think Coleman can be special… but what separates Coleman is his elite vision and his elusiveness. Neither of these traits are measurable and that will probably drop Coleman a round or two lower than he deserves, but that could end up benefitting the Bears if Coleman is available in the 3rd round.

NFL Comparison – DeMarco Murray

Projection – 3rd round.

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Chicago Bears 2015 Draft Prospects : Running Back

By Mike Flannery | Nov 28, 2014