Bears Awarded Three Compensatory Draft Picks

The NFL announced the Chicago Bears will receive three compensatory draft picks for the upcoming draft.  The system is designed the award additional draft choices to teams that lose players that sign large contracts with other teams.  Interestingly, the system doesn’t measure the talent of the departed player, but the size of the contract signed by the player with his new team.  No doubt the large contract Bernard Berrian helped the NFL’s decision to give the Bears a few extra chances in the draft.

The Chicago Bears now have the 14th pick in the first round, the 13th pick in the second round (44th overall), 7th pick in the third round (70th overall), 27th pick in the third round (90th overall), 11th pick in the fourth round (110th overall), 7th pick in the fifth round (142nd overall), 9th pick in the sixth round (175th overall), 15th pick in the seventh round (222nd overall), 36th pick in the seventh round (243rd overall), 40th pick in the seventh round (247th overall), and 41st pick in the seventh round (248th overall).

It’s hard to get excited about the Bears abundance of 7th round draft choices, but one thing is certain, the Bears will have a lot of rookies coming into training camp and a lot of opportunities to find impact players.  They won’t find the next MVP with the 248th pick, but it gives the organization to add depth and take some chances on risky draft picks.  Perhaps a player dealing with an injury or questions about their personal history could be worth the gamble.  Let’s hope the Bears can take advantage.