Re-Grading Chicago Bears 2011 NFL Draft
6. J.T. Thomas, LB, West Virginia
Thomas is just a lower end story of what we had in Paea and Conte. He tore a ligament in his knee in 2016, but in the previous two seasons, he had made 21 starts for the Jaguars and Giants. It is early into the offseason, but Thomas is currently slotted into a be a starter for the Giants again next season. While he will be one of the lower end starters on the field, he is still making an impact. However, while Paea and even Conte may be able to help the Bears this season, Thomas would not have been a scheme fit in their current defense.
7. Harvey Unga, FB, BYU
The Bears lost their 2011 seventh-round pick by taking Harvey Unga, from BYU. Unga was a fullback who could rush the ball and was known in the college community. However, he broke rules at BYU and entered the supplemental draft. Unfortunately, he was a failed experiment and just spent one season as an active NFL player. Still, only losing a seventh round pick is not a terrible price to pay.
Next: Re-Grading 2010 Bears Draft
Overall: F
At the end of the day, the Bears drafted three low-end starter caliber players in this class. That is not bad, but when that is all you walk away with, and those players are starting for other teams with better records, it tends to look very bad on you. This was the last draft made by Jerry Angelo.
Angelo would find a few gems here and there but the majority of his drafts featured big misses. The last few drafts made Angelo clearly set the franchise back and has them still building up from where they are now. The hope now is that new management can learn from these drafts and understand where these picks and decisions went wrong.