Bears Official Draft Visits (Part 2)
TE Austin Hooper, Stanford (6’4 | 254 | 4.69) – Left college after just two seasons and may not be ready to step into the starting lineup as a rookie, but has the potential to be a quality starting tight end early in his NFL career. Hooper doesn’t stand out in most aspects of the tight end position; He runs decent routes, gives good effort as a blocker but can be overpowered, drops too many catchable passes, and isn’t going to wow anyone after the catch… but Hooper has the unique ability to make highlight reel catches in traffic. In every game I watched last season Hooper made a high-point catch in traffic while absorbing contact. It’s a rare skill and should get Hooper drafted no later than day two.
He needs to get stronger, improve his routes, and clean up his blocking technique before he can be a 3-down starter, but all of those inadequacies are fixable. Hooper is fast enough to stretch defenses and has the ability to be an impact play-maker in both the seam and the red-zone, which gives him a lot of value in a very weak tight end draft class. The Bears are thin at the tight end position and Hooper would be a solid complement to Zach Miller in the Bears offense.
OT Germain Ifedi, Texas A&M (6’6 | 324 | 5.25) – Has prototype size for an NFL tackle, some of the longest arms in this draft class (36″), and quick enough feet to play on the left side. Unfortunately for Ifedi, his play hasn’t matched up to his impressive physical tools.
Ifedi started at guard as a red-shirt freshmen and was awesome, being named a freshmen All-American. As a sophomore he moved to right tackle and was almost as good, getting a consensus 2nd round grade if he were to enter the draft. Ifedi decided to stay in school for another year and was projected to move over to left tackle last season but struggled so badly that he was moved back to the right side.
Despite being demoted back to right tackle, Ifedi had a solid junior season and was named 2nd team all Big 12. Even with his sloppy technique and inconsistent play, Ifedi was talented enough to still be an elite college right tackle. He has the size, long arms, footwork, and athleticism to be an All-Pro at the next level, but Ifedi still needs a lot of coaching to get there. Bears o-line coach Dave Magazu may be the right coach to unlock Ifedi’s potential and develop him into the stud left tackle his skill-set projects.
Next: Lawson & Whitehair