Bears: 7-Round Mock Draft 2.0

Round 5 (#148) – OLB Ejuan Price, Pitt (5’11 | 250 | 4.68)

Edge rusher isn’t the Bears biggest need, but teams can never have enough players who can get to the quarterback. The Bears finished in the top ten in sacks last year, but two of their top three pass rushers, Willie Young and Pernell McPhee, are on the wrong side of 30. The Bears do have one explosive, young pass rusher in Leonard Floyd, but eventually the Bears will need to find a young counterpart across from him.

Price is an undersized edge rusher who has been very productive for the Panthers the last two seasons with 43.5 tackles for loss and 24.5 sacks. His stats were almost identical the last two years which shows a good consistency level.

While Price lacks even average height for an NFL edge rusher, he does have longer than average arm length and uses his small frame to his advantage. He gets extremely low to the ground coming off the edge, making it difficult for opposing blockers to get their hands on him. Price has an explosive burst off the line, a lightning-quick spin move, pursues the QB relentlessly, and has shown a knack for finding gaps in the offense line.

While Price has shown he can use his speed and frame to his advantage against the pass, he’s probably going to be a liability against the run at the NFL level. He might be relegated to just pass rushing duties, but that still has plenty of value to NFL teams. Price has drawn comparisons to undersized NFL pass rushers like Elvis Dumervil and Dwight Freeney.

Besides Floyd, the Bears lack speed rushers off the edge. Young, Houston, and McPhee are all primarily power rushers, but Price would give the Bears an explosive weapon to deploy across from Floyd on passing downs. The Bears defense struggled to get off the field on third downs last season, but adding an explosive edge rusher like Price could change that.

If Price were taller, he wouldn’t be available this deep into day three. He’s a risk with a few major injuries early in his college career and his obvious lack of length. He’ll probably be limited to passing downs, but with teams passing more than ever, a pass rush specialist has significant value. If Price can help the Bears defense get off the field on third down, then he should probably be drafted even higher.